Low Turn Fatality

[Zennie 0]

This post is a follow-up to Richard's "Blue Skies Shane" thread in the Talk Back forum. I'm crossposting it in Talk Back, Safety & Training, and Swooping & Canopy Control forums so that maybe people can learn from it.
As I said in my post, I wasn't there when it happened, but I've talked to people who witnessed it. One point of clarification... Shane wasn't filming a tandem. He never filmed tandems, though he was learning to fly camera.
This is what happened as far as what I've gathered from others...
Shane exited a Cessna and had an uneventful jump & canopy deployment. At somehere between 60 and 100 feet, flying downwind, he initated a hard front riser 180. He hit the ground still in double-fronts. My understanding is that he wasn't flying too-heavily a loaded canopy... somewhere between 1.4 & 1.7. Still obviously enough to kill you.
It is also my understanding that he was not really known for doing hook turns. That's what puzzled a lot of people.
The two theories being floated around are:
1. He was low, downwind and heading for the tree-lined fenceline. Being boxed in, he decied to try to get back into the wind, opting for a riser turn rather than a toggle hook.
2. The fact that he, procedurally, did a textbook 180 front riser turn indicates he was doing an intentional hook. He initiated with a front riser and finished in double fronts.
Both theories have their problems. If he was boxed in, why not opt for a braked turn? And why would you be in double fronts at the end of it if you're just trying to get turned around? If he was really trying a hook turn for the first time, why so incredibly low?
Ultimately, why he decided to try a hard front riser 180, so close to the ground, for apparently the first time, is only known by him. None of this is intended to be casting blame. The best we can do from terrible accidents such as this is to try and learn from them. That is the spirit in which this is offered.
And if anyone here did witness the accident or knows I got something wrong, please offer your correction.
Blue skies forever Shane. Let's all play safe!
"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

[Designer 0]

This kind of tragedy always bothers me.Who really knows what is going through a mind at a time like that.We hope and pray they are not saying "I CAN MAKE IT".Suppose the real answer to this kind of problem is better preparation from a higher altitude.Mistakes at 1000 ft compound themselves at 500 ft and so on at 100 ft.I,m deeply saddened at any canopy related death.My sincere thoughts go out to family and friends.Be strong and learn from the pain this has caused.

[rgoper 0]

only those close to Shane would've known his "depth perception" was bad f**ked up, he did not have his contacts in for this particular dive, at least, they weren't retrieved. Shane was a good canopy pilot, i"ve personally flown with him (i'm no expert) he knew what he was doing, he made a bad call.................we all know sky diving demands "snap judgement calls" make the wrong one, it may well be your last. we had a jumper just off of student status at the DZ today hit the power lines, thank god she only hurt her back....
Richard
"Gravity Is My Friend"

[LittleJumper 0]

Really sorry to hear about Shane. It's always sad when a fatality happens. Sounds like he had 2 things against him that day...no contacts & first time filming a tandem.
Hopefully he lived a good life and had lots of fun doing it.
My prayers go out to the family & friends.
What you "think" you cannot do ...you CAN if you "think" about it

[skydiver51 0]

I'm very sorry to hear of the loss. It reinforces what I make myself do right after I open. I check for other canopies then where i'm at and am I going to get to the landing area then what are my options if I can't make it. Make your decisions high enough to keep from making low hard turns. I find it's better to walk alittle further and find out I could have made it where I was going when i'm not real sure.
Blue Skies, Sad Heart.
Idiocy = Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

[jtval 0]

Its always a shame to hear of these things. i hope some how his friends and family can find peace in knowing he was doing what we all love to do!
getting high is fun, but coming down is the best part
JT

[rgoper 0]

To Everyone:
thanx for your sentiments, Tiae (Shane's Wife) appreciates them more than ya'll know. Shane once told me (sky diver...buddy talk) that if he ever got killed sky diving to tell everyone that he went doing what her really loved doing. i've left the same instructions with my wife (she doesn't jump) i know, every jump may be my last, we all know that, good, bad or indifferent, that's the way it is. a friend told me just the other day, "stay in this sport long enough, and somone close to you will die in the sport" he was right. let's all just try to learn from it, and teach our "newbies" all we can, to keep them safe! time to close this chapter.................."and the otter's keep flying, and flying...."
Richard
"Gravity Is My Friend"

[Jumperpaula 0]

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One point of clarification... Shane wasn't filming a tandem. He never filmed tandems, though he was learning to fly camera.

Thanks for clearing that up, Zen. The DZ has a full time video staff and it makes no sense that Video guys would be giving their work away and taking a chance that a customer would get a less than quality video.
I had not heard about his contact lenses, but that would certainly add to the theory of misjudging the turn.
One more thing that came up on Safety Day seminar, he was observed doing a number of spiral turns under 1,000 feet, right before his set up. It is speculated that dizziness or disorientation might have been a factor.
This has been tragic for his friends and all the jumpers and Staff at the DZ since this was the first Fatality on our DZ.
Blue Skies Shane and my prayers go out to his family.
Fly Your Slot !

[QuickDraw 0]

Speaking as a newbie, I feel uneasy commenting on something as sensitive as this.
But like all of us on here weather we knew him or not, he has earned the respect of this community ...and therefore "our's"
As was mentioned in some of the previous post's he "Died with his boots on" and I think that should comfort his family (and him) at this moment in time.
I look at it as an "honour" dying for something you love so much. (no flaming intended)
BSBD
..Billions of people living out their lives..Oblivious..

[rgoper 0]

**One point of clarification... Shane wasn't filming a tandem. He never filmed tandems, though he was learning to fly camera.**
i now have a question of my own, well three, well now four questions. (i forgot to add question # 4)
1) did he have a camera helmet on this dive?
2) was there a tandem on that load?
3) if he did have a camera on that dive, what happned to the video??
4) who was piloting the cessna 182?
if the answers to these three questions are no, i've been terribly miss-informed by a source VERY close to shane, and i hardly think that person would miss-inform, and the fourth question is important as well, but i gotta know.....
Richard

[skycat 0]

Good point, this can very easily be cleared up as to what he was doing on the dive by tia since I'm sure she got all his personal effects back from the DZ the day the accident happened. I doubt she has looked at it, but in time she may be able to help shed light on the subject.
Also it would be a good tool for all of us to learn something, especially if you see him looking at his altimeter right before he started his front riser turn. Please don't get me wrong I don't want to see the video, just maybe from those who have seen it, what things he did that led him to such a sad end.

[freeflir29 0]

I bailed out of one yesterday and ended up surfing about 6 ft off the ground. Strong winds were really screwing with my depth perception. So...I bailed early....Be careful out there.
"I only have a C license, so I don't know shit..right?"-Clay

[nacmacfeegle 0]

"Strong winds were really screwing with my depth perception."
How do you work that one out?
Probably more like strong winds making your canopy fly in an 'unfamiliar' way, eg more lift at lower ground speed?
Not flaming you Clay, I know you are non-flammable-nomex guy.....
Cya on the ballon in may.
D

[gemini 0]

Shane was wearing a camera on the jump. Since I stayed with him until Life Flight arrived I did not see the video, but was told that it showed his approach and the low turn. I was under the impression from things he was saying he knew he was in trouble.
Shane was a nice guy who was really funny at times. He loved skydiving. We will miss him at the DZ.
Blue skies forever!
Gemini
... Fear? Fear is riding the plane down ...

[freeflir29 0]

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How do you work that one out?

Decent amount of wind made my dive look much steeper than normal. I chickened out and let off the risers. (Only jump I did Sunday) Ended up flying level about 5 or 6 ft off the ground.
"I only have a C license, so I don't know shit..right?"-Clay

[billvon 2,436]

***If he was boxed in, why not opt for a braked turn? And why would you be in double fronts at the end of it if you're just trying to get turned around? If he was really trying a hook turn for the first time, why so incredibly low?[/quote\
I've seen this happen maybe four times, and there's never been any good explanation for it.
One was a woman with perhaps 300 jumps, good under canopy, never hook turned. One day she was on final with no problems, and she did a toggle turn at 50 feet and broke half a dozen bones - she lived, barely.
Another one was a guy I had never even met before. He got to 100 feet, pulled down both front risers, and held them until impact. He died right there in front of me, across the runway. He didn't usually do high performance landings.
Why did they do it? Why on earth would someone get on front risers and hold them all the way in, or turn with no obstacles in front of them? Sometimes there's just no explanation, much as I'd like to think there was a simple one (like gear failure.)
-bill von

[skymedic 0]

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(like gear failure.)

I have said it a million times...the most important peice of gear we bring with us to the DZ is a functioning BRAIN!!!!! if you have been partying a little too hard the night before...worked late...yada yada yada...even GLOC type of things can affect what we do on final....this is just a very sad thing....
marc
BSBD

[skycat 0]

You are so right, I've heard to many people say that the reason they just had a bad landing was cause they were thinking about the skydive, what they did wrong, what they can do better, and they totally forget that the skydive isn't over, the most dangerous part has just began. Personally I try very hard after every skydive to concentrate on the canopy ride, blocking out the skydive until I'm on the ground. Especially if it was a bad jump, or a really really good jump.

[MrHixxx 0]

Terrible to hear... My condolences to those in mourning who were affected by this tragedy...
-Hixxx
"Sous ma tub, Dr. Suess ma tub"

[Sebazz1 2]

I had a friend who was a conservative canopy pilot and did not fly a high performance canopy. He did an aggressive turn close to the ground and died....Nobody knows why he did it. Either way we miss him. I am sorry for your loss and the loss to our community.....................
Blue Skies..............
Sebazz............

[cloudseeker2001 0]

i saw shane crash. i was sitting in a chair in front of the hanger next to the concrete pad and i could see his canopy the entire time-but not his body because he was behind the corner of the hanger. before his crash, he was flying north down the east side of the hanger and along the beer line and between 70-100 feet in the air the canopy hooked sharply 180 into the east(the wind was out of the east and very low). at this point in time his body was behind the corner of the hanger but i could see his canopy clearly. when i raised up out of the chair, i saw him hit the ground, bounce up about 3 feet, do a 180(his body) and he came to rest on all 4's facing east. the impact left 4 inch deep divots in the dry ground! an EMT was jumping there(i have never seen this guy before) and he cut shane's rig off and rolled him over on his back, put a neck brace on him and performed basic emergency care. it was clear shane was hurt bad. he was completely out for about 10 minutes and when he did wake up he knew his name but that was about it. he kept telling the people who were giving him emergency care that he wanted to be rolled over on his belly and that he could not breath. then he tried to get up a few times but about 4 people were holding him down. at some point in time someone told him he was hurt real bad and to stay still-it did not help and he was still trying to move and even yelled at people to let him go. it took forever(20 minutes maybe more) for the angleton EMS to get there, but not long after that life flight showed up and took him away. he had his camera rig on and i saw the video and it was not nice-he jumped from the cessna and i am 100% it was a hop-n-pop and no tandams on that load at all. based on what i saw, i cannot help but to believe that he was trying some kind of high performance landing. the person who showed me the video said he had a riser in his hand-it can be seen in the video for a second-but it looked like a toggle to me. at any rate, it was a RADICAL canopy manuver too low to the ground and nothing soft about it. if he were trying to avoid flying into the trees(again) all he had to do was a soft flat turn and he would have made it just fine. as for who has the rig and camera equipment and video now, i have no idea.

[MarkM 0]

This sucks. If it was intentional, maybe it was a matter of losing respect for the dangers because of familiarity?

[Iflyme 0]

Thanks for the details, cloudseeker2001. I think it is important we all know the circumstances of any skydiving fatality, because it makes us all more aware of how quickly fun can turn to disaster, and it lets us know what to watch out for. I had a landing a few weeks back where I didn't flare until I was almost on the ground. I just wasn't focused. Thank goodness for my big forgiving canopy, and the soft and muddy field we land in (winter is rainy season here)!
Shane sounds like the sort of person who would made a great buddy. My thoughts go out to everyone who knew him.
"Men weren't meant to ride
With clouds between their knees"
Five For Fighting

[ltdiver 3]

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he was observed doing a number of spiral turns under 1,000 feet, right before his set up. It is speculated that dizziness or disorientation might have been a factor.

I saw a video of someone doing this same thing at a foreign boogie and the results were the same. Determination was that he was too disoriented and dizzy when he came out of the spin to know both how low he was and when to flare. Very nasty.
So sorry about this loss...the loss of another friend to many.
Blues,
ltdiver
__________________________________________
http://www.discover.net/~ltdiver

[PhreeZone 15]

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he was observed doing a number of spiral turns under 1,000 feet, right before his set up. It is speculated that dizziness or disorientation might have been a factor.

I can attest that if you spend too much tim in spirals its totally easy to get disoriented. I was screwing around at altitude last fall and spirled for 1500 feet. I felt like forever after I let the toggles up Till I felt totally back into the skydive. Luckly I was still at ~2000, but lower spirls could easly lead to impaired judgement IMHO.
Cause I don't wanna come back down from this cloud... ~ Bush