SFL-2022-059 · Cause: Entanglement
Unconfirmed Facts as reported in the sources below. This is not an official investigation.
Incident
- Date
- 23.09.2022
- Country
- Poland
- Drop zone
- Piotrków Trybunalski airfield
- Place
- Longinówka, near Piotrków Trybunalski
- Context
- Sport / fun jump
- Jump type
- CRW
- Phase
- Canopy flight
Jumper
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 49
- Nationality
- Romania
- Licence
- D
- Total jumps
- 3,700
Cause
- Category
- Entanglement
What happened
Very experienced jumper and instructor (about 3,700 jumps) training for a canopy formation (CRW) record attempt with 16 other jumpers from about 4,000 m. While he moved into position, a wave in the formation collapsed his canopy; it drifted back into another jumper and the two canopies became entangled and spun for more than two minutes. Neither jumper completed an effective emergency procedure and neither reserve was used. He died on impact; the other jumper was seriously injured. The PKBWL found the cause was his unsuccessful attempt at the emergency procedure, with joining the formation before it had stabilised as a contributing factor.
Lessons for safety
In CRW, wait for the formation to stabilise before docking. Practise reaching your release handle in the CRW gear you actually jump, and agree a hard deck for cutting away from a wrap.
Sources
- bezpieczenstwo.dlapilota.pl Official report
Is something wrong or missing? Send a correction and mention SFL-2022-059.