Danish man, 30, dies after skydiving accident in Chonburi

[HelloWelcome77]

4 hours ago, Yinn said:

100% NOT thai error. 

 

 

 

 

You are probably be right. Any evidence to support your statement, though?

[gamesgplayemail]

it's not the first time, how many died there already ? is there only one skydiving company in Thailand ? So they always die when using the service of the same company ?!

 

 

once a year is not bad...

 

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by gamesgplayemail

[gamesgplayemail]

16 hours ago, roo860 said:

How many skydiving clubs in Chonburi? I've found one that's using USA standards, they require you to show your logbook and licence before any solo jump is made, as any club around the world would, Chonburi  club run by foreign instructors.

 

 

I think that there is only one, but if you believe that they respect any standard, you are funny ????

 

 

[Soikhaonoiken]

R. I. P. Stefan, far to young, 

[neeray]

18 hours ago, LazySlipper said:

I believe the real question here is what makes the police experts here. Will they call in experts or will they guess at the cause?

I seem to recall that Old Fatty has the badge on his uniform for jumping (out of a pickup).

Perhaps call upon him for an expert opinion. 

[Tagged]

4 hours ago, gamesgplayemail said:

it's not the first time, how many died there already ? is there only one skydiving company in Thailand ? 

 

once a year is not bad...

 

 

 

 

Im not sure how many jumps they do on this dropzone each year, but US statistic have 100 000 jumps one fatality. Many dropzones produce 300 000 jumps or more without fatalities (Nb not pr year but total jumps) Back in the 80íes the statistic was 30 000 jumps, and Im quite sure this DZ do not produce more than 20 - 30 000 jumps a year. With a Pilatus Porter which takes 10 people, they need 3000 loads a year with full machine to make 30 000 jumps, that would be 300 days with 10 loads each day,  so one pr year is an aweful statistic. Realistic 15 000 jump a year, even that is quite alot for a small DZ (DZ Drop Zone)

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by Tagged

[mike787]

21 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Call me a cynic, but with public safety standards here, I would not trust a local skydiving outfit to have high quality equipment, nor well skilled technicians and maintenance people to handle the equipment, nor to make sure their customers are given the best chances of a safe experience. Sorry to hear about this guy. Has to be quite a horrific feeling when your chute does not, will not, and cannot open. My guess is poor equipment, and bad maintenance. 

 

You can never count on this administration to take public safety, nor traffic safety seriously. Frankly, I would be just as cautious about the small plane here, as the equipment. 

Your right!!!  Just look at thailand's road fatality highest in the world, that should say something about the mindset or lack of safety here.

[hotchilli]

21 hours ago, missoura said:

At the end of one demonstration, a soldier asked "What should I do if none of the corrections work?

Reserve chute?

[geriatrickid]

23 hours ago, Yinn said:

Dangerous sport.

Maybe he panic.

 

RIP Stefan

Maybe he didn't pack his own chute.

[Tagged]

14 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

Maybe he didn't pack his own chute.

Temporary accident report have been given. Read the previous posts. 

[BKKBike09]

6 hours ago, gamesgplayemail said:

it's not the first time, how many died there already ? is there only one skydiving company in Thailand ? So they always die when using the service of the same company ?!

 

 

once a year is not bad...

 

 

 

 

And if you bother to read these reports you'll see that both of these accidents - as with the latest one - happened to experienced sky divers. They're all tragic accidents and RIP to the guys who died doing something they loved. None of them however involved random tourists who'd never jumped just being given a chute pack and then left to it. If that was the case there'd be one a week. Skydiving is an inherently dangerous sport, like climbing, riding a motorbike, private flying. Also, certainly in flying, the risk often goes up for a while as experience builds: a 50 hours pilot is less likely to kill himself (I'll stick with 'himself' since it's usually guys) than a 500 hour pilot who thinks he knows more about flying than he really does and tries a slick manoeuver in an aeroplane not designed for it "because I know I can do this". After a couple thousand hours the risk reduces considerably.

 

[Rimmer]

Troll post removed

[Tagged]

16 minutes ago, BKKBike09 said:

And if you bother to read these reports you'll see that both of these accidents - as with the latest one - happened to experienced sky divers. They're all tragic accidents and RIP to the guys who died doing something they loved. None of them however involved random tourists who'd never jumped just being given a chute pack and then left to it. If that was the case there'd be one a week. Skydiving is an inherently dangerous sport, like climbing, riding a motorbike, private flying. Also, certainly in flying, the risk often goes up for a while as experience builds: a 50 hours pilot is less likely to kill himself (I'll stick with 'himself' since it's usually guys) than a 500 hour pilot who thinks he knows more about flying than he really does and tries a slick manoeuver in an aeroplane not designed for it "because I know I can do this". After a couple thousand hours the risk reduces considerably.

 

Risk is parsonalized, and also risk due to the administration and management on each and one DZ. Many dropzones do not allow swooping (hook turn, high speed low turns) expept on properly designed erea and during training. 
 

Equipment these days are quite high tech, and many things can go wrong, with equipment, and many things can go wrong do wrong by the certified riggers. As mentioned before, my reserve would never have opened if I tryed to use it, due to rigger mistake. Luckely I did not need to cutaway my main parachute to discover it during my time as skydiver. 
 

I had 3 mailfunctions, and 3 succesfully reserve rides.
 

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by Tagged

[Tomahawk21]

On 2/2/2020 at 8:59 AM, Yinn said:

Dangerous sport.

Maybe he panic.

 

RIP Stefan

i bet he did. RIP

[genset]

22 hours ago, Gary79 said:

Stefan rest in peace mate. Just to clarify,   Stefan was a very experienced skydiver and often travelled to Thailand to take part in jumps. 

 

22 hours ago, SomchaiCNX said:

Yet again a lot of wrong information in the article and replies.

 

Chute was deployed (open)

Low turn (hook turn) causing a hard contact with the ground.

The accident was filmed by another skydiver

The previous dead was somebody who got a hart attack during his skydive.

 

As somebody mentioned 99.9% is human error.

 

I activated my account again just to reply. My last jump was 28 years ago.

 

R.I.P.  Sorry for your loss Gary79

 

First of all, I'd like to offer my sincere condolences to Stefan's friends and family.

 

For those with an open mind, i want to add a little more information to this thread, as it seems a little unfair to point the finger at the DZ operators, equipment malfunction, and/or Stefan as being at fault for this unfortunate incident, without knowing the specifics . The details are a little light, other than those offered in Somchai's post.

 

I've been skydiving since the mid 80's and have held a USPA 'D' license since 2000, during which i was jumping at The Ranch in Gardiner, upstate NY (1997 to 2001). I have seen huge advancements in the sport during that period, as we've moved from chest mounted reserves, and sleeved Aeroconical (round) canopies with limited steering capabilities, to piggy-back systems and RAM air canopies with incredible flight characteristics.

 

Skydivers are a cliquey bunch, in a similar way to surfers. We have our own language, are constantly looking up at the sky, checking weather conditions and spend waaaaaaay too many hours hanging around the DZ. The common refrain used to be that Skydiving causes AID's (Altitude Induced Divorce Syndrome). Girlfriends, wives etc., will usually be supportive in the early days, but they never really understand why we're drawn to this sport, how it feels when you peel out of an aircraft at 15k and slide into a beautiful head-down position, in close proximity to your mates, flying circles around each other as you rip through the sky at 180mph... but i digress ????

 

Although Skydiving is obviously a high risk activity, it's can also be very safe. When i first started jumping there were no AAD's (Cypres being the most common), or even RSL's, but as the sport has become 'safer', new (and fun/exhilarating) disciplines have developed (such as freeflying and canopy swooping), which have lulled a lot of newer jumpers into a false sense of security IMHO.

 

Any honest skydiver who has really been bitten by the sport and spent significant hours hanging around DZ's (you know who you are...), will understand and freely admit the biggest problem within our sport. It's a combination of inexperience and over-confidence when it comes to downsizing of gear.

 

I'll try not to get into the weeds from a technical perspective, but downsizing of gear relates to 'wing-loading'. If you weigh 200lbs, and you jump a 200sq ft canopy, your wing loading is 1:1 (1lb per Sq Ft of Canopy), the lower the wing loading, the more docile and forgiving the canopy is as you pilot it to landing. But guess what... people don't want docile, forgiving canopies, they want little rocket ships with incredible performance characteristics (and a smaller rig profile), so they can 'swoop' and land at high speed. It's exhilarating to do, great to watch, but the risk to the canopy pilot increases exponentially, the smaller the canopy and more you downsize. If you weigh 200lbs, and you jump a 90sq ft canopy, your wing loading is 1:2.2 at this wing loading everything changes, the smaller canopy is much quirkier on opening (if not totally stable, chance of line twists are higher) the flight characteristics change, the canopy flies faster and reacts much quicker to any pilot inputs and is altogether less forgiving of errors.

 

What Somchai describes above as a hook turn, is old terminology, and is more accurately described these days as a 'front riser turn'. Risers are commonly manufactured with loops, which when pulled down, distort the leading edge of the canopy, enabling the pilot to dive at high speed and parallel with the ground, this is normally done in a spiral dive, you pull out as you approach the ground and swoop at high speed to land.

 

You can get an hours practice kicking a football around with your mates, but for a skydiver to get an hours freefall practice and canopy flying experience, it will take him approx. 60 jumps (depending on fall rate, whether he's belly or freeflying). I would jump 10 times a day on a Sat/Sun at the Ranch, but if the newbie jumper makes 5 jumps a week on average, that's 3 months, to get one hours practice, which frankly speaking is nothing, especially if you are going to downsize to high performance wing loading.

 

How long you've been jumping is not really a benchmark of experience, but how many jumps you have is. I don't know how many jumps Stefan had, but if Somchai's comments above are correct, the most reasonable explanation would seem to be either a mis-timed high speed landing, or malfunction during landing, as wing loading increases as you pull out of the dive. I saw a similar situation in NY, when the nose of a canopy being flown by a very experienced jumper, folded just before she pulled out of a dive, at a speed which allowed her no time to recover.

 

The reason for this post is simply to point out that DZ operators, rig checks, equipment condition etc., should be considered in equal measure with pilot experience, wing loading and approach/landing behavior. Skydiving has been my passion for over 30 years and I firmly believe it's a safe sport, if risk is fully considered and sufficiently well mitigated.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by genset

[George Bowman]

3 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Reserve chute?

Reserve chutes can also have malfunctions.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, missoura said:

Reserve chutes can also have malfunctions.

Main chute fails... reserve chute fails, I'd sack the packer!

[johnbarpic]

Really why jump out of a perfectly good airplane R.I.P Stefan

[Tagged]

eyewitness describe it as an cross wind landing,  and make a low turn after discovering other canopies approching from the other direction on landing, which resulted in a fatal low turn. A panicked low turn. Remember no official report have been filed and released yet. 

 

[Isaanbiker]

On 2/2/2020 at 9:03 AM, RotBenz8888 said:

Probably not experienced, did he get proper training/instructions before he jumped?

 

Horrible death. RIP.

Even well experienced skydivers can have bad luck. A tragic accident where the diver had a heart attack right after jumping.

 

There's nothing wrong with the gear. Mods, I hope it's allowed to post this link? If not, please feel free to remove it. 

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/national/30314413

 

   

   

Edited February 3, 2020 by Isaanbiker
RIP

[thai006]

want to do skydive ??  NOT IN THAILAND  !!!!

[gamesgplayemail]

It's just like old men driving motorbikes...

 

They do not deserve to die, but they are looking for it more than people who drive cars...

 

 

 

 

[genset]

9 hours ago, Tagged said:

eyewitness describe it as an cross wind landing,  and make a low turn after discovering other canopies approching from the other direction on landing, which resulted in a fatal low turn. A panicked low turn. Remember no official report have been filed and released yet. 

 

This isn't a criticism of anybody related to the DZ or even Stefan himself, but in the interest of emphasizing the responsibilities of certified skydivers (generally BPA or USPA), and that landing is not a disorganized 'free for all'; it is the responsibility of each jumper to know (or ask) the wind direction and speed at altitude (exit point) and ground level, so that drift can be accounted for and you have some idea where your opening point will be in respect to the landing area.

 

Furthermore, each drop zone will (or should have) an agreed left or right hand landing pattern, which may change according to prevailing wind direction (usually starting at about 1,000ft, downwind, base and final legs), so that all jumpers are aware of the approach and landing pattern which canopies will use below 1,000ft... again, even if the DZ don't post this info, or brief jumpers at manifest, it's the responsibility of each jumper to ask, follow the pattern (unless skies are clear and you're last to land) and importantly, never place other jumpers at risk because you want to swoop in. If you do want to swoop, discuss with the ground staff beforehand and agree a plan, exit the aircraft last, don't fly head down (as the increased fall rate may result in you opening below belly jumpers who exited the aircraft before you) and don't punch below 3k AGL to give other jumpers with larger canopies time to land.

Edited February 3, 2020 by genset

[Tagged]

29 minutes ago, genset said:

This isn't a criticism of anybody related to the DZ or even Stefan himself,

Useally on bigger dropzones, there is clear rules and also safety briefings, as dedicated landing areas for newbies, and experienced jumpers, as swooping ponds etc. 

 

Anyway, <deleted> happens, when you got traffic, and also other jumpers comes out of the blue, and you need to avoid collisions. I have been there, and it is like almost crash on the roads, you deal with it, and in most cases it goes okay. I would say Thailands traffic pictures is a very good picture of what you can experience as a skydiver at a dropzone. Once and awhile everything comes at you from every angle, and you need your skills to get out of it. Unfortenaly Steffan did not make it this time. There is no reasons to blame anyone here yet, before the official report is filed. 

 

What you can look at, it is a DZ statistic, that will show you how well it is being run by its owner and staff. Skydiving have become a safe extreme sport, if you have the resourhes you need available. Rules, Gear, competent riggers, instructors, manager, etc. 

 

 

[Thomas J]

Sign seen in Chonburi

[genset]

19 hours ago, Thomas J said:

Sign seen in Chonburi

 

Poor taste Thomas, enough said...