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Just heard of a 38 year old man with partically open canopy. Does anyone have any more information on this? Sincere condollences to his friends and family.
http://www.ktvb.com/home/Man-killed-in-Twin-Falls-after-parachute-fails-129191023.html


edit for thread title ~TA

I inspected the gear following this fatality.

I will post a full summary once I have a few spare minutes. I am teaching right now, so my time is fairly limited. I have a fairly good set of facts about the incident, but unfortunately no real conclusions or answers.

The family has been officially notified, so names can be shared. The deceased jumper was Pete Certain, BASE 683, from Alabama. Pete was a very skillful and highly experienced jumper with more than 1100 BASE jumps.

thanks Tom.

fly free Pete... we'll miss ya' buddy.

Pete was one of my best friends. I'll miss him so dearly. Tears on my keyboard. He had about 950 jumps (not 1100). He actually climbed Mt. Everest and was the most amazing person I've ever met. We called him Tarzan. He was exceptionally skilled as a jumper and as a person, often running 20 miles a day. Man, this sport is so harsh sometimes that I'm crying about losing my best buddy.

I've learned more from Pete than I have from any other jumper. He was always so magnetic and caring. He was comfortable in his own skin, and never tried to pretend to be someone or something that he was not.

I'd been jumping with him a lot lately, and we'd been planning some more jumps together when he got back from his trip out west. He called me just the day before yesterday from the motel he was at to talk about his trip. i just can't process the idea that he is gone... one of his 20+ rigs is sitting in my kitchen right now that he'd been loaning me. I've been sobbing all afternoon and I just can't believe it.

Such an unbelieveably skilled jumper, such a pure person. Words can't even come close to expressing what a monumental loss this is for us all.

Speechless!!!! BSBD brother!

I met Pete a few days ago and only went on a few loads with him, but in that time he made me feel as though I had known him forever. I can only imagine the loss his true friends must feel. Fly free.

Unfortunately there are no clear answers here. I do not know what malfunction Pete’s parachute suffered, or what caused it. Here are the best set of facts and observations I’ve been able to assemble.

No jumper actually witnessed the deployment, although one jumper in the landing area was stashing gear and heard the sounds of the accident. The accident was witnessed by at least three non-jumpers on the river, but it is challenging to reconstruct the facts of a parachute deployment by questioning non-jumper witnesses.


Summary of event (as best we can reconstruct):

Pete performed a clean aerial and deployed the PC at a reasonable altitude. The PC extracted the pins and pulled the canopy to line stretch. The canopy trailed in a streamer and did not inflate for around two seconds. Impact occurred at high speed with an open container.



Observations from jumpers in the area:

The canopy was heard to be “flapping” or “fluttering” for more than a second prior to impact. No opening “bang” was heard.



Observations from non-jumpers on the river:

Pete performed an aerial, probably a triple gainer. He was seen to pull at a reasonable altitude (around the bottom of the arch, where the steel meets the cliff wall). This was probably about a 2.5-3 second delay.

After pitch, the PC was seen to be fully inflated and pulling behind him.

The canopy was observed to be behind him at or close to line stretch.

The canopy was observed to trail in this position for approximately 2-3 seconds before impact.

The canopy was reported to be either “twisted” or “spinning” above him.

The canopy made a “flapping” or “fluttering” sound as it trailed behind him.

The body was recovered from the water to a boat shortly after impact.

The canopy was recovered along with the body, and was retrieved by the lines, pulling on the lines to drag the canopy into the boat.



Facts from gear inspection:

Container: Consolidated Rigging, Perigee Pro, Manufactured in 2001
Canopy: Consolidated Rigging Ace 260, Manufactured in 2001, hybrid topskin (ZP front third)
Pilot Chute: Asylum 42” A/V. All black mesh and black tapes.

The rig was still buckled to his body.

The cutaway handle had been pulled and was lying on the boat deck a few feet away from the rig. The right side three ring assembly had separated and the right side riser was approximately six inches away from the right side harness. The left side three ring had not separated--the rings were still interlocking even though the yellow cutaway cable was not present.

The brakes were still stowed when the canopy was inspected.

The slider was trapped down at the front links and the lines were routed outside the slider grommets and keeper rings.

There was no evidence of damage to either the closing pins or the grommets. The lower closing loop had no washer around it and had pulled back inside the grommet, but this undoubtedly occurred during or after gear recovery.

There were no twists or wraps anywhere in the lines. They were straight and untwisted from the risers to the canopy, where they had been rolled or looped in with the canopy fabric.

There was no evidence of tension knot or line over malfunction in the lines.

There was no readily apparent damage to the canopy. Neither the nose nor the tail showed any sign of significant line burns.

Masking tape had been used as a tailgate. The masking tape was recovered from the bottom skin of the canopy. The tape was cleanly torn open.

The primary stow was still set when the canopy was inspected, but had been removed from it’s position under the tail pocket. The primary stow was quite loose, and easily came out when lifted away from the canopy. The primary stow was a medium rubber band, cut in half lengthwise and wrapped a single time around a bight of lines.

The right side of the canopy was inverted back through the line groups. It is not clear if this inversion occurred during deployment or in the process of recovering the canopy from the water.

The left stabilizer had an ‘L’ shaped tear, approximately 10 inches long in one direction and 4 inches long in the other. The tear had been patched with a fairly substantial amount of gaffers tape, applied in multiple layers, on both the inside and outside surfaces. The tape showed a significant amount of wrinkling, which did not appear consistent with how this portion of the canopy would have been folded in a pack job, but could be consistent with the canopy being stuffed into the stash bag after a jump. It was not clear how long this tape had been on the canopy.




Questions:

When was the canopy torn? How long had the gaffers tape patch been in place?

How could the locking stow have stayed in place while the tapegate was torn open?

How could the locking stow stay in place when the canopy was recovered from the water by pulling on the lines?


Apologies for typos or mistakes in this post. It's late, it's been a long day, and I'm pretty worn out.

We are all less fortunate now. i'll not forget that wierd mofo.

I can give half an answer to the first question. I had been with Pete for several days before he arrived in twin and he did jump his Ace at terminal prior to his arrival in Twin Falls. He did mention to me while we were driving to Twin that he had had a tear in his canopy for "quite some time" (not an exact quote, but something to that effect) and had been jumping it with the gaffers tape on it with no issues.

He also mentioned to me that he was planning on trying to jump as much as possible while he was in Twin. I know that Pete was traveling with two rigs, A vertigo 2-pin rig with a dark colored vented canopy (sorry I know thats a little vague) and the rig that he was jumping during the incident in question, which was a red and silver Ace in a perigee pro.

My one big question to anybody that had witnessed him jumping prior to the incident is did he ever do a water landing or get his canopy wet in any way?

I am just wondering if getting the gaffers tape wet could have caused some of the glue from the tape to bleed out and cause his canopy to hesitate during the deployment.

This may answer why his canopy did not inflate, but it doesn't explain any of the weirdness concerning his tapegate ripping open while his locking stow stayed closed.

I would like to make it clear that anything beyond what Pete actually told me and what I saw for myself is 100% pure speculation, please don't take any of this post as an explanation of what happened.

And not that it is of any importance at all, but He mentioned to me that he had 1040 jumps just a few days before his incident.

The other canopy he had with him, the darkly colored canopy, was his Rock Draggon. He liked jumping that one from buildings and low A's with tight landing areas. The other red and silver canopy was one of his Ace's. The tear in the canopy came from a tree landing after a wingsuit flight in LB. He had just came back from the trip maybe two weeks ago or so.

I just wonder if after his aerial (seeing as how no jumper saw the deployment exactly), his pc may have become entangled with a leg causing a horseshoe type of mal. It could have resulted in his canopy looking twisted or spinning behind him.

Not that it really matters I guess. Couldn't sleep much last night. Poor Pete, I love that guy and I'm so sorry this happened. I hope with all my heart that if there is a place for us to go after this life that he is there enjoying things that make the sweetest wingsuit flight on earth pale in comparison. Damnit Pete, save some space for us wherever you went. I won't stop missing you brother.

I don't think he got it wet. I spoke with him late Friday night and he told me about his jumps and didn't mention a water landing... I'm going to his mom's today. His brother is out of the country and they haven't been able to get in touch with him. I still can't believe it...

Deanna

our community has lost a great jumper. lots of experience and loved kiss. pete youll be sharing an exit point with all of us now buddy. look out for us.........

Damn it. Its was great talking to you when I did. You'll be missed!

So if the locking stow wasn't released, then there was no tension on the canopy. It seems like the only way that could happen would be a temporary horseshoe mal from a brief pilot chute/bridle hangup on some part of his body during the triple gainer. Or it could be some sort of hangup of the canopy on the container. Did Pete's body have any rope burns or bridle burns on him?

Cheers for the quick inspection Tom,did you get any pictures of this damegede and other weird stuff on this equipment?

Fly free Pete

R.I.P.

Really sad to hear. Spent only a day jumping with him. We did 3 jumps that day and I saw him climb 315' nonstop in the hot Florida heat for a 4th jump at the end of the day. Dude was a beast! Super friendly and a really great overall energy. RIP brotha'!

Svin

Hey Tom, did you notice if ALL of the lines were in the primary stow?

I looked for them and did not see any. He did have a lot of abrasions and bruising, especially on his torso, but to me they looked more like results of the impact, recovery and CPR attempts than line burns.

By the time I saw the primary stow, only about half the lines were in it. However, they were falling out as I followed the lines up to the canopy, and the rest of the lines were right there below the stow, so I assumed that they had just fallen out of the stow as I was lifting the lines to follow them.

..thinking. Would it have been possible if he was throwing triples that he pitched.. container opened and deployment began but he over rotated right into the canopy as it deployed? Sucks no matter what...

If the lines were easily coming out when you inspected them how does that explain that the person in the boat was pulling on the lines to pull the canopy to the boat?

The lines you saw that were not still in the primary stow could have been pulled out of it during the recovery from the water. This could also explain why the tape gate was torn and pulling the canopy in trapped and 'strained' the tape into the canopy.

It's totally inconsistent and very confusing.

The only theory I could come up with was that there was some sort of obstruction or entanglement in the primary stow that stayed in place through recovery, but fell out before inspection. That's a pretty wild guess kind of theory though.

Has anyone considered a bridle wrap that cleared itself low enough to allow for extraction but not complete line stretch? I am always pretty skeptical of eyewitness reports, especially in situations like this. If they did see something towing behind him, it seems like it could have just been a bridle and PC. I still don't really see how the primary stow could have been locked into place for any length of time.

Could it be another instance of this weird mal when bridle wraps around tailpocket? That would explain the intact primary stow and the streamer. The wrap could have come undone either on impact or during recovery.

How many layers of masking tape was used? Most jumpers, I noticed, use very weak tapegates - a couple of layers, which can easily be broken by flapping canopy.

Sure.

The simplest explanation would be that the eyewitnesses (none of whom were jumpers) simply mis-estimated his pull height, and that this was simple low pull resulting in high speed impact with an open container and partially deployed canopy.

There are lots of possible explanations. Unfortunately, we don't have enough facts to know what actually happened for sure.

It looked like two. I think it could have been broken by a flapping canopy, even if the canopy was not inflated.

im too busy thinking about all of the good times, and going through pictures to really expand on my thoughts on what happened but the facts i do know are that:

gaffers tape
---applied july 30th in france
---stablizer had a tear from a tree landing
---the lower part of the stabilizer line was restitched after it was yanked free(done in the valley on the 31st after we found some needle and thread)

edited to add a photo after the first jump on it after the repair

Pete was both strong and talented, but amazingly humble even after being up Everest. I had the pleasure of jumping with Pete on Memorial Day 2010 off of an unusual object. He was just a super nice guy who was happy to help anyone. I've know a lot of fatalities in my 40 years of jumping, 29 in BASE so most don't bother me much anymore, however Pete's hurt. Too nice a guy to bounce that young. Good reminder, none of us are exempt. Like Carl Boenish always said, but failed to do on his last jump, "Pay Attention to Detail".

Rick
38

Do you know who pulled it and when?


Why do you think it looked this way?

44

No one could specificially remember pulling the handle. It seemed strange to me that someone would do that while leaving the harness still buckled, but in high stress situations we often do things that seem a little odd in retrospect, and we often forget having done some little things.

I think that the handle was probably pulled after both Pete and his gear were aboard the boat, around the time CPR was initiated. I'd guess that the risers were never pulled off the harness, and that one of them remained attached, while the other fell off during CPR.

i tend to agree with your theory Matt... but, i guess we'll never really know.

regardless, it breaks my heart. Pete was undoubtedly an amazing guy. i remember jumping with him on his first jumps back after a lengthy hiatus, he was so ridiculously passionate about jumping since then and would often bounce ideas off of me and ask for advice when in reality he was much more accomplished. he went hard, but had the skills... i guess sometimes it still catches up with you.

really wish i hadn't lived so far away these past few years. love what ya got, cuz you never know when it will be gone.

BSBD buddy.

Trying to gather an image and data for the incident in the BFL
http://www.blincmagazine.com/...i/BASE_Fatality_List

And that is really all it is: a theory. Without experienced eyes or video, we won't ever know. Either way, we lost one of the coolest guys I have ever met in BASE. I'm disappointed that I didn't get to spend more time with him but that is just the way it goes sometimes.

Pete had a tension knot after a wingsuit flight at the ITW a month or two ago on his European trip. He spiraled into the trees and amazingly avoided injury. Was this the same canopy that was on his death jump? lowcountrybase?

I tend to agree with the thoughts of Matt and Elliot. All we know is that it didn't get open in time. Pete told me after many jumps that pulling low was not something to be proud of...... so i'm leaning towards the fact that he didn't over-delay the deployment, and some other factor caused the delay...... but who knows

Chris, Pete showed me the video of the tension knot landing and it was under a red and silver canopy, the one that was in the perigee pro rig with his name and 683 on the mudflaps. He got lucky as fuck on that landing..... right in between two trees and slid in on his ass..... it was awesome.

None of this shit is funny at all, actually heartbreaking, but the comment of the water spreading the glue from the tape to the rest of his canopy and preventing an opening is redicilious. He jumped that canopy damp and wet many times in Switz, after the tension knot incident, without any problems.....

What a loss.........
Blue Skies Pete, We'll think of you often.

Given that:

1) no one remembers pulling the cutaway handle;

2) the slider was trapped on the front links; and

3) a flapping sound was heard by most witnesses,

this suggests the possibility (as opposed to a probability) that during the course of his flippy-dos he inadvertently fired the cutaway handle himself, disconnecting one side and causing a streamer.

I would be curious to know if:

a) the cutaway handle on this rig could be accidentally fired; and

b) what are the respective cutaway cable lengths for the two sides, as in: when pulled to a certain point, do both sides release at the same time, or could one stayed connected while the other disconnects?

The reason for the latter question is that, unlike a two-parachute rig, where the cable lengths are critical because a cutaway is an emergency procedure as well as an ease-of-canopy-swapping device, BASE rig cutaway cables don't need to be manufactured so precisely.

Moreover, the reason for this line of inquiry generally is that the jumper's significant jump numbers and time-in-sport experience make it unlikely that he'd had this kind of clusterfink mal without some other oddball contributing factor -- and if the answers to a) and b) above are "yes" and "the cutaway point is different," then we have something else to ponder because one loaded and one unloaded side would help explain why the locking stow was still half-there after both the malfunction, the impact and the "pulling by the lines" reported above... and a partially-pulled handle could then easily be fully dislodged during that same impact and pull-in while remaining trapped within the gear and thus not lost in the water.

Certainly this is a one-in-a-million possibility, but given this jumper's reported skill/experience, not much less likely than a random streamer on a slider-down jump.

44

 
Occam's razor: he had some kine of entanglement due to the triple gainer.

Well thought out Robin. That's an excellent point.

 I was on the boat with Pete after he was pulled on board the boat. This is the first time I have had to deal with a situation like this and I tried my best to be of help to Pete. I was 1/4 of the way out of the canyon when I heard a loud splash, nothing more. I looked and I saw a red canopy in the water and Kathy the boat driver was quick to get to him. A kayaker got on board to help Kathy pull Pete out out of the water. It was a very stressful situation to say the least. Kathy was calling for help and a ran down to the boat launch by the LZ and stripped down to my boxers and jumped into the water and got on board the boat.

Once on board, I saw Pete laying faced down on the boat and I took his helmet off because the chin strap was tight around his neck. Pete was not breathing and I was able to turn him over on his side, and then on to his back when I gave Pete CPR to try to get him breathing. We quickly got to the boat dock to meet the awaiting paramedics.

I CUT AWAY THE CANOPY SO THAT THE MEDICS COULD GET THE CANOPY PULLED AWAY FROM PETE. THIS IS A NON-ISSUE. I did not pull the canopy away from Pete because there was nothing that could have been done to save Pete when the medics looked at him. He died on impact, without any suffering. He was wearing the rig that had Pete on the left Mud flap. I did not look at the other mud flap. The canopy was silver and red. I did tell my good friend, to tell Tom A that I cut away the canopy, and that it had nothing to do with the accident. I don't understand why this is even being mentioned.

I offer my prayers and condolences to his family and friends. I am very sorry for your loss. We tried our best to help Pete, and it is very painful to be in a situation where there is nothing that could have been done to bring Pete back He must have been a very special person to have been loved so much by his friends. I am sorry I never had a chance to meet him.

Thank you for posting this clarification FrankieB!

And even more thanks for rushing to his side and performing CPR, even if you knew he was already gone. huge thanks...and I know he would have done the same for you.

Thanks Frankie. I had done some amazing jumps with Pete in Switzerland recently, and jumped with him that morning. The jump we did just prior to the accident, Pete did a beautifully executed double gainer. One of the best I have seen. He hopped off in clean style with a huge grin on his face. He had NOT landed in the water that morning. When Frankie told me what had happened, I went down right away. I was there before Tom inspected the gear, but was a bit too upset to get much of an inspection. Pete was gone, he had died instantly. I did tell Tom about the cutaway handle, but he may have forgotten. On Pete's prior jump he had been wearing a gopro, it was not on his helmet when I saw him. If anyone knows if it was found in his belongings, this would be good to know. Just want to offer my deep condolences to Pete's family. He was a legend. I can't believe this could happen to someone of his caliber. Frankie and Kathy did an amazing job of handling the situation, nothing more could have been done.

BSBD Pete
-gardner

[quote
Occam's razor: he had some kine of entanglement due to the triple gainer.

I would have to agree. The simplest explanation is the most likely cause of this unfortunate accident. I saw some footage of Pete doing a double on an earlier jump he made that same day. Forget about this tape non-sense, and cut-away handle non-sense. Pete probably had a bridle in tow or a low pull from doing gainers, where the canopy was either in tow, or Pete hit the water just prior to line stretch and the lines were still in the stow at the point of impact. Pete impacted the water at a very high speed, as evident by his injuries, which indicate that Pete impacted belly to earth. I don't remember seeing a Go-Pro attached to Pete's helmet when I removed it. It may be at the bottom of the river if his camera is not in his car. The video of the earlier jump that day may indicate if Pete was wearing his Go-Pro. Please stick to the facts in respect to Pete and his family.

Did he have a GoPro that tore off from his helmet on impact? If it had its waterproof container on and if it was on there, can a diver retrieve it?

[quoteDid he have a GoPro that tore off from his helmet on impact? If it had its waterproof container on and if it was on there, can a diver retrieve it?

Yes, most likely it could be retrieved if it's in the river. If it tore off, it may indicate a bridal snag on the Go-Pro, or it got knocked off on impact, or possibly when Pete was being pulled out of the water. Having struggled to get Pete turned over to give him CPR, I can only imagine the effort it would have taken to get Pete out of the water and dragging a canopy full of water out of the river, by two Non-jumpers who most likely did not know to pull on the tail-pocket to get a canopy easily out of the water. RIP Pete

The Sheriff's deputy on scene briefly raised the possibility of sending divers into the river to look for the GoPro. I'm not sure if anything ever came of that.

I obviously forgot. My apologies.


Frankie, do you know if the canopy was lifted into the boat before or after Pete's body?

Cathy told me that Pete had been pulled in first, and then the canopy pulled in by it's lines (which is what I noted above) but the way that things were laying, it looked to me like the canopy had been recovered first, and Pete pulled in by the lines and risers. I say this because the canopy was underneath Pete's legs, and also because the lines were still in a tight bundle, as if someone had grabbed them below the (still in place) locking stow and used them to pull Pete into the boat.

If that's the case, then the locking stow still being in place makes more sense, and this looks a lot more like a low deployment (either from a low pitch or from a bridle entanglement that was cleared very low). That wouldn't match up very well to the recovery that Cathy described to me, though.

The situation was Extremely Stressful, but I do remember Pete was on top of the canopy when I got on board the boat. I don't know how else you could get Pete pulled out of the water than from pulling the lines and then the risers from a boat that's at least a foot above the water line. Imagine pulling 160-180 lbs out of the water. I had difficulty turning him over on to his side and then on to his back, let alone the effort it took Cathy and the kayaker to get Pete out of the water.

Just out of curiosity, who actually pulled pete out of the water? My limited experience in TF left me less then confident of Cathy as a rescue service as don does. Is this a factor? my condolences to Petes friends and family?

Was Pete split at all? I'm trying to analyze what happened, like was he feet to Earth. If so, his crotch would have suffered a lot of damage. My friend recovered from a high speed impact injury that resulted in her being split 3 inches up her crotch. And Steve Gyrsting was gutted at Bridge Day in the 1980s. Steve was split in half from his crotch to his heart according to my mentor Steve Morrell who witnessed it from the ground. If he didn't suffer a major crotch injury, then we had to have been horizontal, indicating too low of a pull. I know Pete did freefall jumps from ridiculously low altitudes - not so much low pulls.

 

Cathy and the paddle boarder who was just below the bridge during the accident. I suspect that most of the lifting was done by the paddle boarder.

I believe Pete was dead on impact. I don't think that the speed with which he was retrieved from the water was a factor at all.

I did not appear so. I have to go to the Coroner's office this afternoon, so I can ask if they saw any evidence of that, but at the time I certainly did not see any.

There is a kind of "line entangement with jumper/equipment" malfunction that causes baglocks in skydiving and might or might not be a reason for this fatality. Probably not everyone has seen how this happens, so I'll try to share my experience.

A single line or linegroup / riser getting trapped somewhere on the jumper can prevent the rest of the lines reaching line stretch. That's a possible explanation why there were still lines in the single stow, although the canopy might have been trailing behind the jumper for some seconds.

I've attached a drawing to make clear what I mean.

I've seen baglocks happening this way. I think it's less likely to happen in base, because all the fabric is already in the air, flapping around and wanting to inflate. But it still might be possible. However, I would have expected to find linetwists afterwards. Massive linetwists early in the opening sequence can lock the uneven linegroups in place, and also hold the canopy too tight together to inflate completely.

At the time of gear inspection, the lines were all in one bundle from slightly above the risers all the way to the locking stow. No line (or group of lines) had been pulled out of this bundle, and no line twists were evident.

I doubt that such a mal could prevent or even cause any significant hesitation in the inflation of a freepacked parachute. Seems like a problem for bagged/sleeved canopies. I do agree that it likely to cause linetwists/offheading.

So long Pete, sorry we never got to make that jump! This is very sad, you'll be missed by many!
BSBD

I was the paddle boarder that helped Cathy pull your friend Pete into the the boat. I'll try to explain what i saw. Keep in mind that i'm not a jumper.

I saw Pete just as he reached the bottom of the arch of the bridge. At about that time i saw the little chute come out and shortly after the the big chute. The big chute did not inflate at all. There was alot of flapping sound and then he hit the water. I've seen many jumps off the bridge and it looked normal to me except the main chute didn't inflate. It was pulled out by the small chute, just no inflation.

I got to the boat roughly a minute and a half after Pete hit the water and 30-45 seconds after the boat reached him. The boat driver had Pete by the harnes shoulder straps with part of the main chute in the boat. I asked if he was unconcious and she said he was gone. It took alot of effort to get him into the boat, then i pulled the rest of his main chute and the little one on board. The boat driver said she would take care of it from there and i got back on my paddle board and she turned around and picked up another jumper that had started to swim out.

It sounds like your friend Pete was an incredible person. I'm sorry for your loss

thanks for assisting and posting your account of the event.

thank you for assisting cathy get pete out of the water.

were the lines between pete and the main parachute fully stretched as you watched him impact the water or was there any part of the parachute lines or bridle (piece between the main and little chute) hung on any part of his body?

Thank you for assisting, and thank you for sharing your account of the events.

Does anybody know if Pete used any tools for packing (i.e. pull up cords to keep lines straight or clamps that could have delayed inflation but came off in the water)? If so can these be accounted for in his personal belongings?

I've never met Pete in person, but before I started jumping he always kept in touch. He was the first to call me after first jumps at the Perrine. He would keep in touch via email and phone every now and then.

We were supposed to hook up many a weekends for that "special" jump that a few of you know about, but we could never make happen due scheduling conflicts.

I never met Pete, but talking to him, he was a stand up guy and a pleasure to talk to. He occasionaly checked on my progress. I wish I could have got that jump in with him.

BSBD Pete

Yes, and yes.

We picked up Pete's packing tools from under the tree at the edge of the landing area, and I took them to the Coroner's office yesterday.

I was hoping that I'd find something obvious (i.e. only three clamps in his stuff or something like that) but it looked pretty normal (4 clamps, rubber bands, pull up cords and a drag mat) to me.

It appeared that the lines were tight from what i saw

High line twists could delay inflation.

Line twists, entanglements, none of those would have been possible without loading and releasing the primary stow. Even a horseshoe would have put tension on the primary stow with the wind speed rapidly approaching 100mph. It seems to me that especially with the eye witness paddleboarder describing what sounds like a clean deployment, the most likely option would have been a low pull. It's just not physically possible for a slider down base canopy that's packed even close to correctly to simply not inflate after that long of a delay, especially since we know that there weren't any tools left in the packjob. Perhaps the eyewitnesses experienced tachypsychia, a slowing of perception, during the stressful event and the time his canopy was out was perhaps only a fraction of a second before impact.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachypsychia)

Agreed, and it was a triple gainer right? So what minimum delay would that be - three seconds?

Probably, I'm sure that if your rotation rate was a little off and you were trying to get it around for the third it would be really easy to lose altitude awareness. I hate it, wish there was something we could do to get him back.

There were no line twists at the time of gear inspection.

It's possible that somehow the twists were removed during or after recovery, but I think that's reasonably unlikely.

There are no facts regarding what Pete did on this jump. Maybe it was a triple, maybe a double, maybe something else. We just don't know. I think the only reasonable guess is that Pete either pulled too low, or had an entanglement of some kind ( he may have cleared it too late) which caused impact just before line stretch. Many of the comments written on this incident are pure speculation, which isn't all that helpful.

It IS helpful because if nothing else, it forces analysis and introspection of ones own jumping style and habits.

Also of note, form JohnFulk
It's a point of view I have long been in agreement with, and I think this is worth repeating.

Give yourself a margin, one day it may save your life.

See ya later 683.

Tom said that witnesses on the ground saw him do either a double or triple gainer; I think the quote was "probably a triple".

It's very difficult to assess what, exactly, was going on in free fall based on a non-jumpers account.

I spoke with one witness who said they saw him doing "flips."

I spoke with Pete on Friday and he told me he was trying to work on double and triple gainers.

I spoke with some other jumpers (Jordan among them, if memory serves) who said that he was working on double and triple gainers.

Based on that one witness account, combined with estimates of his pull altitude (from non-jumper witnesses), and also from speaking with both Pete himself and some other jumpers, my best guess is that he performed a triple gainer.

Please note that this is a "best guess" and is not factually verified information.

In my second post in this thread, I tried to separate facts that were verified (and recorded in photographs by the Sheriff's evidence technician) from observations that were related to me in verbal interviews with witnesses. Any information about the freefall portion of this accident belongs in the second (observations) category--definitely not the first (verified facts).

Absolutely true. Even the best pilot chute can get in a burble for a half second or more and put you right in the hole. It happened to me on my 33 BASE jump, a B back in 83 and I still carry some nasty scars and limp. Leave yourself a couple seconds at least. Is the third gainer really that much more worth it than the first 2 when jumping from 486'? If you want more time for aerials, go higher, not lower.
Rick

I've watched hundreds of jumps from the landing area and what looks like a low pull usually is a low pull.but if your on the boat or on the river it's hard to tell.after 1 seckond of flaping you should hear the crack of the conopy on a slider off jump.if the opening was started at the top of the arch something went really wrong.mabe the angle of the witness looked like it was higher than it was if he was under the jumper on the river.sorry to his friends and faimly this really sucks.