SFL-2022-050 · Cause: Landing – intentional low turn
Partially verified Facts as reported in the sources below. This is not an official investigation.
Incident
- Date
- 21.10.2022
- Country
- USA
- Drop zone
- JumpTN
- Place
- Jonesborough, Tennessee
- Context
- Sport / fun jump
- Jump type
- Demo jump
Jumper
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 55
- Total jumps
- 1,480
- Years in sport
- 22
Equipment
- Main canopy
- 79 sq ft
- Wing loading
- 2.15 lb/sq ft
Cause
- Category
- Landing – intentional low turn
What happened
Demonstration jump at dusk into a high school football stadium. He started a 360° turn to set up a high-performance landing, did not level out or flare, and hit the ground at a high descent rate. He did not hold the PRO rating the landing area required. He was flying a 79 sq ft cross-braced canopy at a wing loading of 2.15.
Lessons for safety
Demo landing areas are small and unforgiving: no high-performance approaches, and jumpers need the right rating.
Sources
- www.uspa.org Federation, USPA 2022 fatality summary, case #9 (anonymous)
Is something wrong or missing? Send a correction and mention SFL-2022-050.