SFL-2022-027 · Cause: Landing – problem not involving turn
Partially verified Facts as reported in the sources below. This is not an official investigation.
Incident
- Date
- 10.07.2022
- Country
- USA
- Drop zone
- Skydive Chesapeake
- Place
- Ridgely, Maryland
- Context
- Student
- Jump type
- AFF
- Role
- Student
- Phase
- Approach & landing
Jumper
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 52
- Licence
- Student
- Total jumps
- 5
Equipment
- AAD
- Installed, fired
Cause
- Category
- Landing – problem not involving turn
- Contributing factors
- Obstacle / off-landing
What happened
Category D AFF jump (her 5th). After the instructor released her she tumbled and did not deploy; the AAD fired the reserve at or below 600 ft. She came down into dense forest, struck the treetops and fell to the ground. She died later in hospital.
Lessons for safety
Students who become unstable must still pull at the assigned altitude. Landing areas next to forest call for planned alternates.
Sources
- www.uspa.org Federation, USPA 2022 fatality summary, case #1 (anonymous)
Is something wrong or missing? Send a correction and mention SFL-2022-027.