Date | Location | Category | Age | # Jumps | AAD?/RSL? | Dropzone.com Report | Dropzone.com Discussion | |
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03/03/2001 | Maricopa, AZ | MAL,EXC | 23 | 450 | Y/N |   |   | |
Description: This jumper was making his first skysurfing jump, using a borrowed small (~2 feet long) board, which is normal for beginners. It appears he received no formal instruction on it's use, and probably did not even watch the instructional video. He had a good exit from a Pilatus Porter, and was videoed in a good standup, doing turns, going inverted, and returning to his feet. At 5000, they broke off. Note that recommended deployment altitude for a first skysurfing jump is 5500. This would indicate a lower-than-appropriate pull. It is unclear what happened at pull time; one theory suggests that he accidentally deployed the pilot chute between his legs. In any case, he was found near to his cutaway board and main, suggesting they were cutaway quite low, probably below 1000'. He impacted feet first; the reserve was found with the slider halfway down. It is unclear if he had an RSL. His main was something smaller than a Stilletto 120. Friends report this jumper was generally calm and level headed, jumped regularly, and was a good canopy pilot. | ||||||||
Lessons:This jumper appears to have taking up skysurfing without sufficient training or preparation. While he performed well on the board, he ran into trouble during the most important part of every skydive: deployment. Whether the reserve malfunctioned, or he just took too long handle the malfunction are secondary problems. If you're thinking of taking up skysurfing, be sure to get professional (or at least pretty-darned-good) instruction before heading up. | ||||||||
USPA Description: This jumper was making his first skydive with a training skysurf board. There were no witnesses to the incident. The jumper was found face up with the reserve out of the freebag, but the degree of inflation was not known. (Paramedics had cut all the lines on the canopy). Damage to the body indicated impact with the ground at high speed. The skyboard and main canopy had been released. The main canopy was found 280 feet from the body. The freebag, cutaway handle and reserve ripcord were all within 30 feet of the body. The brakes were stowed on both the main and reserve canopies. |
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USPA Conclusions:This evidence points to a low-altitude cutaway and reserve deployment. It is not known whether the jumper received any training on jumping with a skyboard. The main canopy wsa a highly-loaded tri-braced elliptical, probably not the best canopy choice for a first jump with a skyboard, much less for someone with 450 jumps. Jumpers who are making extraordinary skydives need to make sure that they are porperly trained and equipped for all aspects of the procedures invloved. Initiating emergency procedures at a higher altitude or a reserve static line may have changed the outcome of this skydive. |
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Name | Keith |
Date | Location | Category | Age | # Jumps | AAD?/RSL? | Dropzone.com Report | Dropzone.com Discussion | |
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04/07/2008 | Skydive Perris, CA | MAL | 51 | 2000 | / | 353 | #3258666 | |
DropZone.com Description: Jumper suffered some sort of malfunction where the Removable Deployment System became entangled with the main canopy. The jumper attempted to land this but the canopy ended up sprialing at a low altitude until the jumper struck the ground. | ||||||||
Lessons: | ||||||||
Name | Keith Colwick |