Parachute Inspector Preaches Safety
One man is dead and the other in critical condition after a skydiving accident in Fremont County over the weekend. Officials are saying that the normal parachute and the emergency parachute tangled up. KRDO Newschannel 13 spoke to a parachute inspector to find out how something like this could happen.
F.A.A. Senior Parachute Rig Inspector Rodney Brannon says there are a lot of safety procedures involved with checking a parachute to make sure it is worthy of being deployed.
” Everyone double checks, triple checks, and has their buddy check them in case they missed something. Skydiving is a very safe sport,” said Brannon. But no matter how many times you check, there is always a risk.
“No matter if it is perfectly packed and perfectly maintained. There is always the potential that the main canopy might not work,” said Brannon. At the Fremont County Airport on Sunday, that possibility became reality.
” For some reason that we have not determined yet, both parachutes deployed and became tangled up, “said Captain Don Pinover of the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office.
It is not unheard of, to have trouble with a main parachute. ” If there is a problem with it, you will be able to cut the main parachute away. At that point, you would then deploy your emergency back up, ” said Brannon.
In the case of the accident in Fremont County, both parachutes were out at the same time. Brannon says is not supposed to happen.
“The training and regulations are in place so that the main parachute and the emergency parachute would not be able to be deployed at the same time, and then tangle up. But I am not familiar with the details of the parachute that was used in this case.,” said Brannon.
“We are going to examine the harnesses and all the riggings on the chute to determine what happened and that may or may not give us some answers, ” said Captain Pinover.
The instructor involved in parachute accident in Fremont County had more than 600 jumps worth of experience, including 50 tandem jumps.
