Blue Skies, Mr. Chesworth

Craig Chesworth was killed in an accident at Skydive Sebastian, located in Florida. After reading numerous incident reports with the ubiquitous and certainly ambiguous statement "the parachute failed to open fully", I decided to find out what type of malfunction he experienced. As a jumper, I find that articles written by the mainstream media often say that "the parachute failed to open", when it is often other causes which created the fatality. And as a jumper, I feel that one way to honor the deceased is to learn from their mistakes. So, this morning, I called and spoke with Mr. Mick Hall, the Safety and Training Advisor at Skydive Sebastian.

Mr. Hall was gracious, accepting an unannounced call from me with no hesitation. He was forthcoming, and seemed as frustrated about the lack of media knowledge as I was. I found him eager, in fact, to make sure I understood the events, so that this article would be as complete and accurate as possible.

It is thought that the following scenario is what occurred.

Mr. Chesworth likely opened a little lower than he had intended to, but his parachute did open fully. His reserve was not used, as it was not needed. As a consequence of opening a little lower, Craig was long on his spot. As is drilled into a jumper's head, an "out" was spotted and chosen. Craig had chosen a good, grassy area, near homes, and was flying with the wind toward his out.

According to one witness flying near him, Mr. Chesworth turned low to be into the wind, misjudged, and, while completing the turn, hit the roof of a building.

"Did he turn so he wouldn't land downwind?" I asked

"We can't know for sure, but we think that may have been a factor", agreed Mr. Hall. "I surmise that he may have felt a bit high, and, in trying to bleed off altitude so he wouldn't overshoot the grass area, he turned," said Mr. Hall. "As far as we can tell, that's what he was trying to do. Of course, no-one can tell what he was thinking at the time but we feel that he may have been worried about overshooting the out, and simply misjudged with no time to correct."

Mr. Chesworth, 23 years old, was an intermediate level skydiver, with 200 successful jumps. The fatality occurred on his 201st jump. A visitor to Skydive Sebastian, Craig's home dropzone is located in Nottingham, England. This was his first time at Skydive Sebastian. It is reported that he held all regular BPA licenses available for his level. Mr. Chesworth weighed 150 pounds without gear, and was jumping a Fandango 135, with a Techno 146 Reserve. He did have a Cypres, and is thought to have had an RSL that was disconnected. The weather was clear, and considered "good".

He leaves behind a young child.

Our condolences are with him and his family. Blue skies, Mr. Chesworth, blue skies forever.

~ Written by Michele Lesser