SFL-2025-006 · Cause: Landing – intentional low turn
Partially verified Facts as reported in the sources below. This is not an official investigation.
Incident
- Date
- 16.02.2025
- Country
- USA
- Drop zone
- Skydive Arizona
- Place
- Eloy, Arizona
- Context
- Sport / fun jump
- Jump type
- Swoop / canopy piloting
- Phase
- Approach & landing
Jumper
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 47
- Total jumps
- 25,782
- Years in sport
- 24
Equipment
- Main canopy
- 57 sq ft
- Wing loading
- 3.60 lb/sq ft
Cause
- Category
- Landing – intentional low turn
- Contributing factors
- Low currency
What happened
Swoop competition. Likely his first jump after several months off. He made three 360° turns (1,080° in total), finished too low, hit the ground at high speed about 300 ft short of the pond and slid about 280 ft. He was flying a 57 sq ft cross-braced canopy at a wing loading of 3.6 with a weight belt.
Lessons for safety
Even world-class canopy pilots need currency before multi-rotation approaches.
Sources
- www.folkfuneralhome.com Other, Obituary
- www.uspa.org Federation, USPA 2025 fatality summary, case #1 (anonymous)
Is something wrong or missing? Send a correction and mention SFL-2025-006.