SFL-2024-003 · Cause: Equipment problem
Partially verified Facts as reported in the sources below. This is not an official investigation.
Incident
- Date
- 31.01.2024
- Country
- USA
- Drop zone
- Skydive Arizona
- Place
- Eloy, Arizona
- Context
- Sport / fun jump
- Jump type
- Belly / RW
Jumper
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 73
- Total jumps
- 7,113
- Years in sport
- 32
Equipment
- RSL / MARD
- RSL
Cause
- Category
- Equipment problem
- Malfunction
- Other
What happened
4-way formation jump from a Twin Otter at 13,000 ft. The formation funnelled and he regrouped with two others. His main was then seen spinning with only one riser attached; his cutaway handle had most likely been knocked out by contact with another jumper. He hung limp in the harness until impact.
Lessons for safety
Protect handles in close formation work, and know what to do with a single riser release: cut away and deploy the reserve.
Sources
- www.uspa.org Federation, USPA 2024 fatality summary, case #7 (anonymous)
Is something wrong or missing? Send a correction and mention SFL-2024-003.