Dead man was 'experienced jumper'

The man's death was the second at Headcorn Aerodrome this year

A man who died during a parachute jump in Kent was an experienced parachutist who had made more than 1,000 jumps and was on his fourth of the day.

The man, in his 40s, died after apparently misjudging his landing at Headcorn Aerodrome on Saturday.

He has not been formally identified, but a fellow club member told the BBC the victim was an experienced jumper who would have known what he was doing.

It was the second death of a parachutist at the airfield this year.

'Unfortunate year'

The man was one of nine members of Headcorn Parachute Club making jumps at the same time on Saturday evening at the airfield near Maidstone.

The club's chief instructor, Peter Sizer, said the man was seen to make some sort of manoeuvre just before landing.

Mr Sizer said: "It appeared that his parachute opened without too much problem, but he was observed to turn his parachute quite near the ground and hadn't got it fully under control.

One accident is too many Peter Sizer, chief instructor

"Therefore he hit the ground rather harder than he had planned to.

"I think it's likely that he just misjudged the landing, he wasn't in the lit area that we had arranged, he was just outside that.

"He was approaching it and then turned away, that may have been to avoid something."

Another man, 27-year-old Ethan Brentwood, from Horley in Surrey, died making a parachute jump at the aerodrome in April.

Mr Sizer said: "We've had an unfortunate year - we had a previous accident this year, but we didn't have any last year.

"But one accident is too many."