A skydiver suffered serious injuries on Halloween after his parachute malfunctioned mid-jump near Humphries County Airport, sending him crashing into a nearby baseball field instead of a planned landing zone. The impact reportedly broke both of his legs below the knee, and he was flown by medical helicopter to a hospital in Nashville for treatment.
According to WSMV, the man had organized the jump through a skydiving company located near the Humphries County Airport for Saturday, October 31. Something went wrong once he was airborne: his parachute failed to open properly, forcing him into an abrupt, uncontrolled landing in a nearby baseball field rather than wherever he was supposed to touch down.
Injuries Described as Serious but Not Life-Threatening
Despite the violent landing, authorities say the man is expected to pull through. The sheriff's office reported that none of his injuries were life-threatening, even as the broken legs required him to be airlifted rather than driven to a hospital. The Waverly Police Department also responded to the scene to assist during the aftermath of the crash landing.
No further details about the man's identity, age, or the name of the skydiving company involved have been released, and it's not yet known what caused the parachute to malfunction in the first place.
A Grim Echo From Last Year
This isn't the first time a Middle Tennessee skydive has made headlines for going badly wrong. In October 2025, instructor Justin Robert Fuller, a 35-year-old from Murfreesboro, died during a tandem jump after he and his student became caught on a step of the aircraft, according to NewsChannel 5. An FAA report cited by Fox 17 found the pair remained stuck to the aircraft for roughly 10 minutes before Fuller became dislodged from his harness; he fell without a parachute, while his student's reserve chute deployed successfully and the student survived. That student, a 46-year-old, ended up stuck in a tree with an open parachute before crews brought him down, and three other skydivers who had jumped moments earlier that day landed safely. There is no evidence connecting last year's fatal tandem incident to this year's Halloween landing, and the two events remain separate cases.
Skydiving accidents, while relatively rare, have drawn scrutiny from federal regulators before. The National Transportation Safety Board has previously reviewed dozens of accidents tied to parachute-jump operations as part of a broader safety study, though the specifics of that review's findings and timeframe aren't detailed in available records.
For now, the man injured in Saturday's incident is recovering in Nashville, and no additional updates on his condition or the investigation into the parachute failure have been released.
