An experienced skydiving instructor who fell to his death during a tandem jump in York County in September committed suicide by intentionally undoing his harness, Maine State Police said Monday. 
 
 Skydiving instructor Brett Bickford, 41, of Rochester, New Hampshire, fell a mile to his death after separating from the student during the jump on Sept. 27, police said. The student landed safely with the parachute. The tandem jump was conducted by Skydive New England in Lebanon, where Bickford had been an instructor for 10 years. 
 
 IF YOU NEED HELP WHERE to get help if you or anyone you know is battling depression or has had suicidal thoughts: Maine Crisis Hotline: 888-568-1112 Other state resources in Maine: Dial 211 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255 
 
 Bickford’s body was found the next day about 750 feet southwest of the Lebanon Airport runway by a team of game wardens, a state trooper and two members of a search-and-rescue team. 
 
 The cause of his fall had been the focus of a nearly two-month investigation, and skydiving experts said it was difficult to imagine how it could have been an accident. 
 
 State police said Monday that the state Medical Examiner’s Office concluded Bickford’s death was a suicide. 
 
 Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said Bickford did not leave a suicide note. 
 
 McCausland said investigators concluded that Bickford loosened his harness in midair and that it was an intentional act. State police based their findings on interviews with other skydiving instructors and industry officials, who agreed that no experienced skydiver would loosen a parachute harness by mistake. Bickford was a member of the U.S. Parachute Association and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. 
 
 Nancy Koreen, director of sport promotion for the U.S. Parachute Association, said her staff told her that Bickford loosened his leg straps and other securing straps after the tandem parachute had opened. 
 
 “In this case, if his death was in fact a suicide, it appears he intentionally detached himself from the equipment,” Koreen said in an email Monday night. 
 
 Koreen said that tandem skydiving has a solid safety record, with an average of one student fatality per 500,000 tandem jumps over the past decade. 
 
 Bickford, a lifelong Rochester resident, had a pilot’s license and a drone license, and was designing and building drones, his obituary said. 
 
 “Brett was one amazing smart young man,” it said. “Those who knew Brett know he had a free spirit of life to live one day at a time. Brett’s smile and laughter live on in all who knew him.” 
 
 Tandem jumps typically are made with the student and instructor in separate harnesses that are attached, with the instructor secured behind the student. The instructor wears the parachute and controls its deployment during free-fall and landings. 
 
 Maine State Police, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration worked together to determine how Bickford fell to his death, authorities said. 
 
 Gillian Graham can be contacted at 791-6315 or at: 
 
 [email protected] 
 
 Twitter: grahamgillian 
 
 Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at: 
 
 [email protected] 
 
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 filed under: ||||| A New Hampshire skydiving instructor intentionally took his own life by undoing his harness during a tandem jump, police say. 
 
 On September 27, Brett Bickford, 41, was in the middle of a dive with a student when he became separated and fell to his death, The Eagle-Tribune reported. 
 
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 The incident took place in Maine, where Bickford had been an instructor with Skydive New England for at least 10 years. 
 
 Just one day after the tragic incident, Bickford’s body was found 750 feet southwest of the Lebanon Airport runway, The Tribune reported. 
 
 Since his death, police have been conducting a two-month-long investigation in hopes of finding out how such an experienced instructor’s harness would mysteriously loosen while in the air. 
 
 Skydiving experts have found it nearly impossible for Bickford’s death to be an accident as they claim no instructor at his level would make that mistake, Spokesman for the Main Department of Public Safety Steve McCausland explained to The Press Herald. 
 
 The Press Herald also reported that the State Medical Examiner’s Office has also ruled Bickford’s fall a suicide. 
 
 “Bickford, an instructor at Skydive New England, was jumping with a second man at the time. Investigators concluded that Bickford loosened his harness in midair and it was an intentional act,” police said in a statement obtained by The New York Post. 
 
 The student, who has not been named, landed safely and is unharmed, The Press Herald reported. 
 
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 According to Skydive St Andrews, tandem jumps are typically done with the student and instructor in separate harnesses. The instructor wears the parachute and guides the jump. It is not clear but it appears Bickford attached the parachute to his student instead. 
 
 In addition to being a skydiving instructor, Bickford had a private pilot’s license, a drone license and was a member of the US Parachute Association and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, according to his obituary. 
 
 Last month on Oct. 26, Bickford’s brother Jason Bickford opened up about his death on what would have been his 42nd birthday. 
 
 “I’m thankful for being able to grow up with him and to have such an amazing person to look up to and just watch how he lived life. He amazed me at everything he did and was always great at anything he felt was worth his time,” Jason wrote on Facebook. 
 
 “He was the most unique person I have ever known, one who made choice because it was what he wanted, never because it was what someone else wanted or expected and I will envy that part of Brett for the rest of my life.” 
 
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 “You are missed every day, and will be loved forever,” Jason concluded. 
 
 Skydive New England did not immediately respond for PEOPLE’s request for comment. 
 
 If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). ||||| CBS 13 | BDN CBS 13 | BDN 
 
 • November 26, 2018 2:22 pm 
 
 Updated: November 27, 2018 9:40 am 
 
 Investigators believe a man who fell to his death after becoming detached during a tandem skydiving jump in Lebanon two months ago died by suicide. 
 
 Brett BIckford, 41, of Rochester, New Hampshire, was the instructor strapped to a client on a two-person jump for Skydive New England on Sept. 27 when he was reportedly separated from the second person about a mile above ground. 
 
 “State police interviews with other skydivers and industry officials concluded that no experienced skydiver would loosen a parachute harness by mistake,” said Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. “Investigators concluded that Bickford loosened his harness in midair and it was an intentional act.” 
 
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 It took search crews nearly 28 hours to locate Bickford’s body after he did not land with his client, who was not hurt, according to police. Bickford was ultimately found about 750 feet southwest of the Lebanon airstrip, according to police at the time. 
 
 The case perplexed industry officials, including the head of the U.S. Parachute Association, who said in the days after the death that it was “ unheard of” for an instructor to come undone from a tandem harness system. 
 
 To reach a suicide prevention hotline, call 888-568-1112 or 800-273-TALK (8255), or visit www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
– A skydiving instructor who fell to his death during a tandem jump in Maine in September intentionally loosened his harness in what authorities now say was a suicide. Brett Bickford, an instructor at Skydive New England for 10 years, was doing a tandem jump with a student in Lebanon on Sept. 27 when the 41-year-old fell a mile, landing about 750 feet from the Lebanon Airport runway, while his student landed safely. The head of the US Parachute Association, of which Bickford was a member, later said it was "unheard of" for an instructor to become untied from a tandem system, which includes separate but attached harnesses, per the Portland Press Herald. The association's director of sport promotion says she's since learned Bickford loosened securing straps, including on his legs, after the tandem parachute he wore was opened. "State police interviews with other skydivers and industry officials concluded that no experienced skydiver would loosen a parachute harness by mistake … It was an intentional act," a Maine Department of Public Safety rep tells the Bangor Daily News. He notes no suicide note was left behind, per the Press Herald. Bickford's brother paid tribute to the instructor on Facebook a month after his death, on what would've been his 42nd birthday, per People. "He was the most unique person I have ever known, one who made [a] choice because it was what he wanted, never because it was what someone else wanted or expected and I will envy that part of Brett for the rest of my life," Jason Bickford wrote on Oct. 26. "You are missed every day, and will be loved forever," he added. (An army sergeant tried to kill his wife on a skydiving trip.)