Australian skydiver Douglas Ball has died after a hard landing at Laguna Quays

An Australian skydiver has sadly died after he suffered critical injuries in a hard landing during a jump in North Queensland last week.

Douglas Ball, a highly experienced skydiver and instructor, was landing a solo dive at Laguna Quays, 50km south of Airlie Beach, just before midday on April 16 when the tragedy unfolded.

Laguna Quays is listed as the regular drop zone for Airlie Beach Skydivers.

“Unfortunately, he has had something go wrong close to the ground and he has impacted very heavily there,” Queensland Police Inspector Andrew Godbold said last week.

“We understand his chute did deploy, it is just that he has impacted the ground fairly hard.”

He was flown to Mackay Base Hospital in a critical but stable condition.

Mr Ball, 52, a long-time member of the Queensland skydiving community, was later taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, where he died over the weekend.

The Australian Parachute Federation (APF) is investigating the cause of the horror accident.

APF CEO Richard McCooey said equipment failure was not at issue.

“This particular case, it appears the parachute opened normally at 3000 feet, the descent was all normal, there was nothing wrong at all,” he told the Courier Mail.

“It appears in that final bit of the landing, that something has gone wrong. It is almost definitely not an equipment failure.”

Mr McCooey told the publication even experienced jumpers could have hard landings.

“The most experienced Qantas captain will have a bad landing,” he said.

“With a plane, you have got engines to help you out. We can’t do that – we have got to get it right on the first go.”

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The skydiving community has paid tribute to Mr Ball with one friend describing him as a “bloody awesome human being”.

“You mean so much to all of us … You will be forever in our hearts,” the friend wrote on Facebook. “Life already doesn’t feel the same without you.”

It is understood Mr Ball worked as a tandem instructor with 1300 Skydive Australia, a company with branches across the country, including Airlie Beach Skydivers.