1 Matches (out of a total of 833 incidents)
  1. Date Location Category Age # Jumps AAD?/RSL? Dropzone.com Report Dropzone.com Discussion
    31/03/2001 Lodi, CA MAL 49 3000 Y/N    
    Description: After videoing a two-way, this jumper experienced a main malfunction (a spinning something-or-other). When she cutaway, her reserve bridle caught on her front-mounted still camera. She had pulled all the handles, and had managed to reserve the helmet before impact. The ring sight tangled with some of the lines, and the locking stows of the freebag did not release.
    Lessons:Adding anything which can catch lines or fabrics can make this type of problem possible. This incident also shows that cutting away the helmet doesn't always solve the problem. If you wear a helmet with a camera, you are accepting the possibility that this can happen to you -- unless your camera mount is snag-free.
    USPA Description: This experienced videographer was filming a tandem skydive. The tandem instructor deployed the tandem parachute and then observed the videographer falling away unstable. The videographer then deployed her main canopy while still unstable, which resulted in a main canopy malfunction. The main was released, and the reserve was deployed as she continued to fall unstable. The reserve canopy never came out of the freebag, and she continued to tumble all the way to impact. Post-accident inspection reveleaed that the reserve bridle had entangled with her camera helmet and subsequently choked off the reserve lines, preventing the reserve from clearing the freebag.
    USPA Conclusions:This jumper had experienced previous stability problems, in particular, instability following a cutaway while wearing a camera. Stability becomes more important to proper parachute delpoyment when the jumper is wearing cameras or other special equipment that could lead to an entanglement.