| Date | Location | Category | Age | # Jumps | AAD?/RSL? | Dropzone.com Report | Dropzone.com Discussion | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06/05/2001 | Elsinore, CA | BIZ | 39 | 64 | N/N | |||
| Description: This jumper cutaway from his main at low altitude, perhaps 300-400'. He was reported as deploying his main at around 3000'. The canopy was never observed to be in any sort of malfunctioned state. The cutaway was found pulled, with the cables entirely out of the housing. He impacted without getting a reserve canopy out. His main landed less than 300' away, on a 10mph day; this reinforces the observation of a cutaway below 500'. The reserve pilot chute was deployed by the impact. He had spoken to many people the night before about wanting to try skysurfing and perhaps an intentional cutaway sometime, though some people report he was less-than-receptive to advice given. Note that with very little experience, he was jumping a Jedei 150, against the advice of other jumpers. | ||||||||
| Lessons:It is unclear why this jumper chose to cutaway from probably fine canopy. Suicide or a remarkable level of foolishness are both possibilities. An AAD would have been unlikely to help, though an RSL might have made a difference. | ||||||||
| USA Description: After an uneventful freefall and main canopy deployment, this jumper was observed to release from his main parachute at approximately 500 feet. The main parachute appeared to have been flying with no problems prior to the release. He did not activate the reserve parachute. | ||||||||
| USA Conclusions:If there was a problem with the main parachute, the decision to cut away and deploy the reserve should have been made much higher. For a jumper of his experience, the SIM recommends a decision height of no later than 1,800 feet and execution of emergency procedures by 1,600 feet. However, the evidence in this case suggests a suicide. | ||||||||
| Name | Michael Hoff | |||||||