SFL-2024-030 · Cause: Landing – problem not involving turn
Partially verified Facts as reported in the sources below. This is not an official investigation.
Incident
- Date
- 02.08.2024
- Country
- USA
- Drop zone
- Skydive Perris
- Place
- Perris, Riverside County, California
- Context
- Work (instructor, staff, demo pro)
- Jump type
- Tandem
- Role
- Tandem instructor
- Phase
- Approach & landing
Jumper
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 28
- Ratings
- Tandem instructor
- Total jumps
- 4,500
- Years in sport
- 12
Cause
- Category
- Landing – problem not involving turn
- Contributing factors
- Wind / turbulence
What happened
Tandem from a Twin Otter at 13,000 ft, 105 °F with winds of 10 mph gusting to 20. On the base leg they turned away from a dust devil near the landing area. At about 30–40 ft on final they hit strong turbulence or a second, unseen dust devil; the canopy turned violently and the pair hit the ground.
Lessons for safety
Dust devils are a known desert hazard: stop jumping when they are forming near the landing area.
Others who died in this incident
Sources
- www.uspa.org Federation, USPA 2024 fatality summary, case #3 (anonymous)
Is something wrong or missing? Send a correction and mention SFL-2024-030.