An 18-year-old man was seriously injured after he slammed into a mountainside above Mokuleia while parachuting yesterday evening.

The man was with a group of friends that climbed to an area known as “Climbing Wall” about a half-mile from Camp Erdman, said Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig. The four were equipped with parachutes and they either jumped or let the wind fill their chutes so they could glide down to the beach, Seelig said.
Several of the jumpers made it to the beach below, but the 18-year-old ran into trouble and he started to spin, Seelig said. The jump-off point was “at least a couple thousand feet” high and the man fell a couple of hundred feet before crashing into the side of the mountain, he said.
Fire rescue crews were called at about 6:30 lastnight and managed to lower the man to safety at 7:50 p.m. The man suffered serious injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment.
“It was near the top and we had to hike up to reach him,” Seelig said.
He added that he had not heard of this type of extreme sport.
“It wasn’t hang gliding, it wasn’t paragliding. It apparently was a parachute and the air fills up the canopy and it either lifts them off as they edge closer to the cliff or they have to step off,” Seelig said. “He was successful in taking off. It’s just that at some point his equipment either failed or he didn’t operate it properly, but it started to spiral down. It did slow him down and he didn’t hit it at the full speed. But it was enough that it seriously hurt him.”