SFL-2022-044 · Cause: Landing – intentional low turn
Partially verified Facts as reported in the sources below. This is not an official investigation.
Incident
- Date
- 15.09.2022
- Country
- USA
- Drop zone
- Skydive Atlas
- Place
- Crete, Nebraska
- Context
- Student
- Jump type
- Tandem
- Role
- Tandem passenger
- Phase
- Approach & landing
Jumper
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 34
- Total jumps
- 1
Cause
- Category
- Landing – intentional low turn
- Contributing factors
- Wind / turbulence
What happened
Tandem passenger on his first jump. After a normal freefall and opening, the instructor (1,374 jumps) tried a 180° turn from about 100 ft in winds of 22 mph gusting to 32 mph. The pair hit the ground hard in a diving turn. The instructor was seriously injured.
Lessons for safety
No turns near the ground, especially in strong, gusty winds.
Sources
- www.uspa.org Federation, USPA 2022 fatality summary, case #12 (anonymous)
Is something wrong or missing? Send a correction and mention SFL-2022-044.