Skydiving Instructor Brett Bickford, 41, Committed Suicide During Tandem Jump By Loosening Harness, Police Say

According to Ryan Schutt, a skydiving instructor in Vermont, both instructors and students wear a harness on jumps. There are also two parachutes, the main one and a backup, attached to the instructor. To detach four metal buckles that connect these two people accidentally is nearly impossible.

“The idea of the instructor not being in the harness anymore or falling out is essentially unheard of and the pair ‘can’t become disconnected once they are connected,” Schutt said.

That’s why police now consider the death of Brett Bickford, a 41-year-old skydiving instructor, a suicide. According to investigators, Bickford loosened his harness in midair intentionally.

“State Police interviews with other skydivers and industry officials concluded that no experienced skydiver would loosen a parachute harness by mistake,” police told NBC News.

Authorities said that Bickford’s family members and Skydive New England officials have been notified of the investigation’s conclusion.

On September 27, Bickford and his student jumped out of the plane at around 2 p.m. EST. Investigators determined that the two became separated at about a mile off the ground. Bickford’s student landed unharmed and called Maine State Police immediately. Bickford’s body was found a day later at about 750 feet from the Lebanon Airport runway.

Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said that Bickford did not have a backup parachute.

According to News Center Maine, several people have gotten injured and one person was killed while using Skydive New England.

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A spokesperson said that the injuries were “small in comparison to the 20,000 skydives the company completes a season.”

Police are still investigating the incident and trying to clarify details further.