SFL-2022-046 · Cause: Low cutaway
Partially verified Facts as reported in the sources below. This is not an official investigation.
Incident
- Date
- 03.10.2022
- Country
- USA
- Drop zone
- Skydive DeLand
- Place
- DeLand, Florida
- Context
- Sport / fun jump
- Jump type
- Belly / RW
- Phase
- Freefall
Jumper
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 72
- Total jumps
- 4,702
- Years in sport
- 56
Equipment
- RSL / MARD
- Disconnected
Cause
- Category
- Low cutaway
- Malfunction
- Line twists
What happened
26-way formation jump. He was seen spinning in freefall (a medical problem was suspected by witnesses), deployed a main with severe line twists, then cut away and pulled the reserve at about 250 ft, too low for it to inflate. An RSL was fitted but not connected.
Lessons for safety
Keep the RSL connected. With line twists low down, there may be no time for a cutaway.
Sources
- www.uspa.org Federation, USPA 2022 fatality summary, case #20 (anonymous)
Is something wrong or missing? Send a correction and mention SFL-2022-046.