| Description: [I am assuming this is incident 3, reported in Parachutist 10/98] After a typical 6-way skydive, with normal breakoff and opening, the deceased performed a slow front-riser turn into the landing area. At about 50', his canopy collapsed on one side, and did not reinflate. He died of head trauma. On previous skydives, the deceased had noticed the canopies instability in light turbulence, and (on this jump) chose to land in proximity to tall (40') trees. He was jumping an AeroGlide Griffin 120. |
| Lessons:Know thy canopy. There is some additional risk to jumping a canopy, which may not be as thoroughly wrung-out or tested as those produced en masse by a major manufacturer. However, it is not imprudent to stop jumping or to change your flying behaviour, reguardless of canopy type, if you notice unstable behaviour in particular situations. Given the size of the deceased's reserve (170), it would not be surprising if this canopy was loaded at 1.5 or higher, though this is speculation. |