Last Tuesday the Fredericksberg United States Parachute Association declared two skydiving deaths the Orange County Airport unrelated and purely due to human error.  The deaths, which both took place less than two months from each other on Sept. 21 and Nov. 1, sparked some controversy and a question whetherany criminal activity was present.  An ongoing investigation with the Virginia state police is however still in progress.

 

A 23-year-old skydiver was killed while skydiving on Sunday morning in Nylstroom, South Africa.  The anonymous man was pronounced dead to to a high speed impact with the ground after his main chute and reserve chute failed to open.  The man was a licensed skydiver of the Parachute Association of South Africa, having experienced 98 jumps.

 

One of the more recent skydiving accidents which left two survivors with five people dead in Brisbane, Australia was found to be due to malfunctions with the group’s Cessna 206 plane.  Shortly after takeoff, the plane’s right wing clipped a nearby tree, sending the plane crashing to the ground.  Queensland coroner, Michael Barnes, discovered the Brisbane Skydiving Centre had witnessed a number of unsafe practices in relation to the plane. 

A list of the planes problems include:

• The aircraft was about 245lbs. overweight at the time of takeoff
• None of the passengers were wearing harnesses or helmets
• Incorrectly stored fuel which was used for the flight
• A partial engine failure occurred during takeoff