SFL-2023-036 · Cause: Equipment problem
Partially verified Facts as reported in the sources below. This is not an official investigation.
Incident
- Date
- 07.10.2023
- Country
- USA
- Drop zone
- Skydive Space Center
- Place
- Titusville, Florida
- Context
- Sport / fun jump
Jumper
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 69
- Total jumps
- 6,000
- Years in sport
- 24
Equipment
- Wing loading
- 2.30 lb/sq ft
Cause
- Category
- Equipment problem
What happened
Normal exit, freefall and opening from a King Air at about 14,000 ft. He spent altitude removing his slider and steering with rear risers, drifted away from the landing area and at about 200 ft made a hard right turn into a driveway. The left steering line was found knotted around the rear riser. Cross-braced canopy at a wing loading of 2.3.
Lessons for safety
Check toggles and brake lines after opening. If a control problem appears, decide early whether to land it or cut away.
Sources
- www.uspa.org Federation, USPA 2023 fatality summary, case #9 (anonymous)
Is something wrong or missing? Send a correction and mention SFL-2023-036.