What happened
On September 19, 2015, at approximately 14:27 UTC, a student skydiver participated in a jump from an altitude of 1,200 m AGL near Oldřichovice, Czech Republic. The individual had already completed two successful jumps earlier that day.
After exiting the aircraft in a stable belly-to-earth position, the skydiver attempted to activate the main parachute approximately three seconds into the freefall. During this attempt, the skydiver began to rotate horizontally. This movement led to a loss of stability, resulting in an uncontrolled, rotating freefall. Throughout the descent, neither the main nor the reserve parachute was deployed by the skydiver. The descent ended with a high-velocity impact into the canopy of a large tree, followed by a fall to the ground. The skydiver sustained fatal injuries.
The investigation
An investigation by the ÚZPLN established that the skydiver was a student in good physical and mental condition, with a valid license and recent training. The investigation examined the parachute equipment, including the M 291 main parachute, the PZS-92 reserve parachute, and the MPAAD automatic activation device (AAD).
Technical analysis of the equipment revealed that the AAD functioned as intended, cutting the closing loop at the required altitude. However, the reserve parachute remained inside its deployment bag. The investigation also noted that the impact with the tree caused significant damage to the harness and the deployment system, including the detachment of the main parachute's deployment handle. The investigation could not determine why the reserve parachute failed to deploy from its container despite the AAD's successful activation of the closing loop.
Findings
- The skydiver was inexperienced and lacked practical experience in managing emergency situations.
- The primary cause of the accident was the failure to successfully activate the main parachute and the subsequent failure to manually deploy the reserve parachute.
- The attempt to activate the main parachute triggered a horizontal rotation, which destabilized the skydiver's body position.
- The skydiver did not react to the developing emergency with the necessary coordinated movements to stop the rotation or initiate reserve deployment.
- The meteorological conditions were favorable and did not contribute to the accident.