SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A man who was seriously hurt in a skydiving accident last year helped to educate others about skydiving safety during Skydive Suffolk’s annual safety event Saturday.
Cody Marsh says he’s been skydiving for over a decade, but last July he broke his femur, pelvis and more trying to land a high-speed maneuver.
Marsh spent 76 days recovering in three different hospitals, but now he’s turning his accident into a lesson for other divers.
“We’re addressing those situations and decisions we can all do to make this a safer sport,” said Marsh.
“It’s a high risk sport,” Skydive Suffolk Owner Mike Manthey tells 10 On Your Side. “So I mean you’re jumping out of airplanes, but we can mitigate and reduce the injuries…the fatalities with just some basic safety procedures.”
Manthey says it’s often wrong decisions that lead to injuries or fatalities, not equipment failure. That’s why all of his employees are getting a refresher on what to do when jumping with and without other people.
“They are the guys that have the most jumps, they take safety serious, because this is their job,” said Manthey. “We review emergency procedures with them, we review all the steps that they need to do.”
Marsh’s accident wasn’t going to keep him out the sky. “This is more than a sport, its more than event for a lot of us,” he said. “It’s a way of life.”
