SFL-2022-040 · Cause: Landing – intentional low turn
Partially verified Facts as reported in the sources below. This is not an official investigation.
Incident
- Date
- 28.08.2022
- Country
- USA
- Drop zone
- Skydive Midwest
- Place
- Sturtevant, Racine County, Wisconsin
- Context
- Sport / fun jump
- Jump type
- Swoop / canopy piloting
- Phase
- Approach & landing
Jumper
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 36
- Total jumps
- 730
- Years in sport
- 4
Equipment
- Main canopy
- 103 sq ft
- Wing loading
- 1.85 lb/sq ft
Cause
- Category
- Landing – intentional low turn
- Contributing factors
- Water landing
What happened
Practising for the USPA National Championships. His turn to final over the swoop pond was too low; he hit the water at about 45 degrees while still descending steeply. He stood briefly, then fell back into the water unresponsive. He was flying a 103 sq ft cross-braced canopy at a wing loading of 1.85.
Lessons for safety
Swoop ponds soften mistakes but do not remove them: a turn that ends low still ends in a high-speed impact.
Sources
- www.cbsnews.com Media
- www.uspa.org Federation, USPA 2022 fatality summary, case #7 (anonymous)
Is something wrong or missing? Send a correction and mention SFL-2022-040.