Police have now confirmed the person died on the way to hospital. WorkSafe has been notified.
Two St John ambulances and one police car were at the scene.
Police said the death was "an accident" and has been referred to the Coroner.
The man who died is reported to have been a competitive sports skydiver.
An Skydive Tauranga, who did not give his name, told Radio New Zealand: "For us, the most important thing is to make sure that his family is good and then all of the people in our groundcrew here are supported. So we've just suspended operations for the next few days while we all make sure everyone is supported."
