| Date | Location | Category | Age | # Jumps | AAD?/RSL? | Dropzone.com Report | Dropzone.com Discussion | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21/07/2000 | Headcorn, England | MAL,EXC | 36 | 250 | Y/N | |||
| Description: The deceased was making a skysurfing jump, having made perhaps 50 such jumps previously. It seems that the main was never pulled, and the reserve had inflated though the handle was still in the pocket. He landed under a spinning reserve. The CYPRES had not fired, as the reserve deployed well above firing height. He was jumping a TearDrop container. He had cutaway his board, though the cutaway cables were not recovered. | ||||||||
| Lessons:200 jumps is very few to be taking up skysurfing. Skysurfing presents many new complications to the average skydive and should only be undertaken with good preparation and training, along with substantial experience in freeflying, freestyle or related disciplines. | ||||||||
| BPA Description: An Experienced Parachutist with 264 jumps was making a solo Skysurfing jump, his 54th. There were 15 parachutist on board the LET 410 aircraft, including 4 Tandems.
The aircraft climbed to approximately 12,000ft AGL and made a ‘jump run’ across the Dropping Zone (DZ) above the Parachute Landing Area (PLA). Three solo parachutists exited the aircraft followed by the Nigel. The remaining parachutists exited on the same ‘run in’ in four separate groups. The deceased was not seen in free fall until approximately 1,500ft. He appeared to be tumbling out of control. Shortly after, at approximately 1,000ft his reserve parachute was seen to deploy. Once the reserve parachute had deployed it was seen to be turning quickly and continued to turn until he was lost from view, just prior to impact. Shortly before being lost from view a number witnesses stated that they saw his skysurfing board release. |
||||||||
| BPA Conclusions:At some stage after exiting the aircraft the deceased lost stability and control whilst in free fall, which he was unable to regain. At approximately 1,000ft AGL the reserve parachute deployed, either by the himself, (by pulling the Reserve Static Line (RSL), or the reserve ripcord housing), or because some part of his body or equipment contacted with part of the reserve deployment mechanism.
Once the reserve parachute deployed, it deployed with severe twists in the rigging lines, (probably due to an unstable deployment) and started to rotate quickly. No attempt appeared to be made to stop the rotation, either because he was trying to release the skysurfing board or because he was unconscious. The skysurfing board was probably released at approximately 50ft AGL, either by himself or because the board ‘foot’ bindings had loosened at some stage during the descent. The Board do not know why the skysurfing board was not released during the free fall part of the jump, but it is possible that he did activate the ‘board’ release mechanism at a high altitude, but that his feet remained in the bindings. The release pad and cable was not found with him, or anywhere near by. It is also possible that he felt that he could regain stability and control, or he may have lost consciousness due to the possible effect of spinning uncontrollably. The Board believes that it is not possible to know precisely what happened during this jump. |
||||||||
| Name | Nigel Thomas | |||||||