| Date | Location | Category | Age | # Jumps | AAD?/RSL? | Dropzone.com Report | Dropzone.com Discussion | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27/07/2002 | Hibaldstow, England | LOWT | 24 | ?/? | ||||
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| BPA Description: At approximately 06.45 hrs on Saturday 27th July 2002, Oliver Reynolds boarded an SMG-92 aircraft along with nine other parachutists, which was to be the first lift of the day for that aircraft.
This lift was the start of the first ‘round’ of the British National Championships in FS and Oliver was a member of a 4-way team taking part. The aircraft climbed to 10,500ft AGL. A ‘jump run’ was made over the centre of the PLA. When the aircraft was over the ‘exit point’, Oliver, along with his four fellow team members exited in order to carry out their planned FS jump. The remaining parachutists exited shortly after. The free fall part of the descent went without incident, during which a number of FS manoeuvres were completed. At approximately 4,000ft AGL the parachutists separated and deployed their parachutes between 2 - 3,000ft AGL. All parachutes deployed normally and Oliver’s parachute appeared to be flying correctly. At approximately 200ft AGL his parachute was observed to be flying over the landing area designated for Experienced Parachutists, approximately 100 metres from the parachute centre buildings and control point. At a very low altitude Oliver’s parachute was seen to make a radical turn, either left or right, (there was some confliction between witnesses as to the direction of turn). The parachute completed approximately 180° of the turn, at which point he impacted with the ground. |
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| BPA Conclusions:The Conclusions of the Board are that Oliver made an uneventful free fall descent, deployed his main parachute at the correct altitude, remained in a suitable area in order to land in the intended landing area. At a very low altitude he initiated a radical turn in order to face into wind for landing, though there was very little wind and a satisfactory landing could have been achieved facing in any direction. He then struck the ground at high speed before fully completing the turn.
The Board do not know why Oliver made such a radical turn so close to the ground and can only conclude that he was not aware of how low he was prior to initiating the turn, or that he may have felt he could have executed the turn successfully. |
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| Name | Oliver Reynolds | |||||||