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Skydiving Fatalities: 2004: North America: Impact after low cut-away

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Impact after low cut-away

	Location		Jump Information
Date:	2004-06-09	Category:	Malfunction
Country:	United States	Factors:
State:	Colorado	Jump Type:	Camera or Video
Drop Zone:	Skydive The Rockies
	Gear		Personal Information
Container:		Sex:	Male
Main:		Age:	41
Reserve:		Jumps:	491
AAD:		Years in Sport:
RSL:		Name:	Tony Usalis
Description
The jumper was filming a tandem at the DZ he was employed at. An eyewitness reports that the jumper was descending normally on his main parachute when he went into an abrupt turn about 400 feet from the ground, causing the lines to become twisted and making the parachute uncontrollable. He cut-away his main parachute and deployed is reserve at about 100 feet, too low to allow sufficient time for his reserve canopy to open. It is unclear what caused the initial abrupt turn.
Lessons

Related Safety Resources:

Related Links: News - Skydiving vet dies in jump National Incident Notification Network