THE Australian Parachute Federation will investigate after the death of a young skydiver, who was making a solo jump in Jurien Bay yesterday afternoon as part of the Virtual Nationals Skydiving Competition.
WA Police said between 1pm and 2.30pm yesterday the man jumped from an aircraft and it was believed his parachutes failed to deploy correctly and he fell to the ground.
The man received critical injuries and died at the scene.
Skydive Jurien Bay co-owner Christine Sparrow said the man was competing in a wing suit event as part of the week-long competition being conducted at several locations across Australia.
“This is a terrible day for the skydiving community,’’ she said.
“We have never had a fatality in the 10 years we have operated the business here in Jurien Bay, or in any of our previous skydiving operations.
“Our thoughts are with the man’s family and friends as well as the first responders at the event yesterday.’’
According to Topend Sports Encyclopedia of Sports wingsuiting, is a variation of skydiving where a special jumpsuit called the wingsuit is worn.
The wingsuit has two arms wings and a leg wing with inflatable pressurized nylon cells and usually at the end of wingsuiting, a parachute for skydiving or base-jumping is used.
Australian Parachute Federation (APF) chief executive officer Richard McCooey the APF would thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident and a coronial inquest would be held.
“We understand the man was a very experienced skydiver who had undertaken 6000 jumps,’’ he said.
“Regardless of the level of experience involved, safety is paramount and we take every incident very seriously.’’
A Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) spokesman said the authority approved peak bodies to run aviation sports and the APF would help police prepare a report for the coroner and develop a report for CASA.
