Covering form of preliminary or final report
| Date of event : | 2020-06-13 |
| Incident number : | CZ-20-0274 |
| Report : | Final report |
| Place of event : | Hořovice airport |
| Registration mark : | Accident |
| Weight category MTOM: : | <2250 kg |
| Type of operation : | Recreational and sport aviation |
| Plane / SFM : | Para |
| Type of plane / SFM : | SAFIRE 2-209 |
| Health effects of event : | The fatal injuries |
| PDF document : | 
|
Description:
SUMMARY
Synopsis
On 13 June 2020, the AAII was notified of a parachuting air accident at LKHV. The parachutist made a parachute jump from the altitude of 2,200 m above the ground. The jump was carried out in a standard manner, but the parachutist activated the main parachute too low at about 500 m above the ground, and kept descending in a sharp left-handed spiral until he crashed against the ground. The parachutist had suffered injuries to which he succumbed on the spot.
Factual Information
The parachuting flight was proceeding as usual. The aircraft was smoothly climbing up to the determined altitudes of 800, 1,200 and 2,200 m above the ground for individual rounds where the parachutists were performing jumps in a given order, one round at a time. The parachutist left the aircraft in the third round at the altitude of 2,200 m above the ground. He jumped out of the aircraft on his own as the fourth one and was not performing cooperation in free fall with another parachutist. Having jumped correctly out of the aircraft, he was maintaining a stabilised position in free fall until the altitude of 1,200 m above the ground. His free fall from the altitude of 1,200 to 600 m above the ground was probably in an unstabilised position. At the altitude of 600 m above the ground, the main parachute was activated. Immediately after the canopy was inflated, the main parachute started descending in a sharp left-handed spiral, and following approximately 10 spins, the parachutist flew through the branches of dense full-grown trees and then crashed onto the ground. The main parachute canopy spread over the top branches and parachutist’s lifeless body remained partially lying on the ground, suspended in belts.
Analyses
According to the parachute logbook and records in the safety device, the parachutist was not performing a parachute jump from such an altitude and with such float in free fall for the first time. He had already carried out and known the task, and managed it well in previous jumps. Thanks to the use of an acoustic altitude signalling device, he activated the main parachute during previous jumps always at the same altitude of some 1,100 m above the ground, which is a safe, so to say an exemplary method to complete a free fall.
Nevertheless, it was not the case during the critical parachute jump on 13 June 2020. From the moment of jump from the plane to the altitude usual for activating the main parachute, a free fall was performed in a standard manner. The constant free fall velocity of about 49 m∙s -1 which was recorded by the safety device, is evidence of the stabilised position of the body (chest position) during the free fall.
At an altitude of about 1,200 m above the ground, after the acoustic signal sounded, the parachutist did not activate the main parachute, probably because he failed to take hold of the parachute in the pocket under the cover by the leather-ball-shaped handle. From the altitude of approx. 1,200 m to approx. 650 m above the ground, the parachutist was falling in an uncontrolled free fall in an unstable position and after approx. 10 seconds he managed to activate the main parachute in an unstable position at approx. 580 m above the ground. Due to the incorrect position of the body, the high performance elliptical canopy was opened incorrectly, which led to the subsequent rotation.
The parachutist did not negotiate the critical situation by immediately dropping the non-functional main parachute and by subsequent activation of the reserve parachute, but was approaching the ground in an uncontrolled manner, without the possibility of controlling the main parachute, for about 23 s in a sharp left-handed spiral at a vertical speed of approx. 18.5 m∙s-1. After about 10 turns, he flew through the vegetation of full-grown trees along a field road and crashed into the ground at a vertical speed of about 18.5 m∙s-1. The impact on the ground caused to him injuries incompatible with life.
The parachutist did not solve the defect on the main parachute and its rotation, did not drop the main parachute and did not use a reserve parachute. There are several possible explanations for not solving the parachute defect:
- partial unconsciousness,
- inactivity due to low altitude and time stress,
- the inability to raise arms and deal with a situation overhead,
- inactivity due to little experience and relatively old age.
Conclusions/Causes
The cause of the parachute accident was an incorrect activation of the main parachute
and subsequently a critical situation, which he failed to manage properly, a descent on the main parachute in a spiral, to which the parachutist did not respond immediately by dropping the non-functional main parachute and activating the reserve parachute.
Safety Recommendations
Given the circumstances of the air accident, the AAII issues no safety recommendations.
Attached final report in PDF file is in original Czech language.