A parachutist remained hanging from the tail of a small plane at around 4,500 meters above sea level after accidentally deploying his reserve parachute during a jump in northern Australia, an incident from which he managed to escape with minor injuries, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) confirmed to EFE this Friday.
The event occurred last September 20 above Tully Airport in Queensland when a Cessna Caravan plane carried 17 skydivers for a formation jump from 15,000 feet or 4,500 meters above sea levelalthough this has not been revealed until now. At the start of the exit maneuver, the handle of the reserve parachute of one of them caught on the wing flap, causing its immediate deployment.
The parachutist was dragged backwards and hit the left horizontal stabilizer with his legswhich suffered significant damage, while the parachute became entangled in the plane’s tail, leaving it dangling beneath the plane. “The pilot noticed that the aircraft was suddenly banking and the speed was decreasing rapidly,” ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said in a statement.
He initially thought it was a mistake, but after being informed that there was a parachutist stuck in the queue, reduced power in an attempt to maintain control. While 13 skydivers left the plane for safety reasons, two others remained behind to observe how the person involved used a special knife to cut up to 11 reserve parachute lines.
In less than a minute, he managed to free himself, enter a free fall and then open his main parachutewith which he landed with minor injuries. The pilot, who activated an emergency signal and prepared to abandon the plane if it lost control, eventually managed to land safely at Tully, despite damage to the stabilizer.
The ATSB released video of the incident and stressed the importance of skydivers carrying safety knives. “Carrying a knife, although not required, can save lives in the event of premature deployment of the reserve parachute,” Mitchell said. The agency also indicated that, although it did not directly influence the accident, the investigation detected deficiencies in the plane’s weight and balance calculations, recalling that errors in this aspect have caused fatal accidents in the past.
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