Incident Overview
A team of four parachutists was practicing for a skydiving competition using a Cessna Aircraft Company Caravan. They had completed seven parachute descents prior to the accident flight, each recorded by a cameraman with a helmet-mounted camera. On the accident flight, the aircraft climbed to 14,000 ft with the team of four parachutists, their cameraman, six other parachutists, and the pilot.
Sequence of Events
At the drop altitude, the team performed a 'pin check' to verify the release pins for main and reserve parachutes were correctly positioned. Approaching the drop zone, a roller blind covering the exit doorway on the left side was raised. The cameraman positioned himself on the step outside and to the rear of the exit. The first three team members positioned themselves in the doorway: the one nearest the front faced out, the next two faced in, and the middle member grasped the jumpsuits of the adjacent parachutists. The fourth member remained inside, facing the exit.
As the team exited, the middle parachutist's reserve parachute pilot chute deployed. Due to the parachutist's bent-over position, the ejector spring pushed the pilot chute upward and over the horizontal stabiliser, pulling the reserve canopy with it. The parachutist passed below the horizontal stabiliser, causing the reserve parachute risers and lines to tangle around the left elevator and horizontal stabiliser. Eleven seconds later, the empennage separated from the aircraft; the left elevator and the parachutist separated from the empennage. The parachutist descended to the ground with the reserve and main parachutes entangled, landing 800 metres west of the drop zone landing strip. A short section of the elevator was tangled in the parachute lines. The parachutist's rate of descent was estimated to be 3.6 times greater than that for an average parachutist under canopy.
Aftermath
Immediately after the empennage separated, the aircraft entered a steep, nose-down spiral descent. The pilot instructed the remaining parachutists to abandon the aircraft; the last one left before the aircraft descended through 9,000 ft. The pilot transmitted a mayday call, shut down the engine, and left his seat. Upon reaching the rear of the cabin, he found the roller blind had closed, preventing his exit. After several attempts, he raised the blind sufficiently to exit, deployed his parachute at approximately 1,000 ft above ground level, and landed safely. The aircraft, minus the empennage, descended almost vertically and crashed on the drop zone landing strip, destroyed by impact and a post-impact fire. The empennage, in several pieces, landed 600 metres west of the landing strip. A Country Fire Authority fire vehicle arrived within two minutes and extinguished the fire. The parachutist that had been entangled was fatally injured; the injuries sustained when entangled on the horizontal stabiliser made the parachutist incapable of operating the main parachute. The other parachutists and the pilot were uninjured.