On August 1, 2024, the Vannes Bretagne Sports Skydiving School organized a parachute drop for 14 people. The skydiving center is a non-profit organization that operates its aircraft under AIR OPS.
The aircraft was a Cessna 208 Caravan, a single-engine turboprop, registered in France as F-HVPC and owned by the skydiving center. It was configured for skydiving, with two benches, one of which seats five skydivers and the second seats seven.
Up to three skydivers can sit on the floor between the benches or next to the door, for a maximum of 15 skydivers.
Each parachute system included a harness, a reserve (backup) parachute, the main parachute, and an automatic safety device designed to deploy the reserve as necessary. Parachutes are connected to their harnesses using risers: straps that group the suspension lines.
When jumping from the plane, the skydiver pulls on the handle and releases it, causing the pilot’s small parachute to come out of a cloth bag on the back of the harness. The pilot parachute traps air which initiates the deployment of the main canopy.
The parachutes had been inspected four months before the jump, on April 4, 2024, with the reserve repackaged by a certified packer and valid until April 4, 2025.
For that day’s flight, two jumps of about 1,200 meters and 4,000 meters were planned. (~4000 feet and 13000 feet).
At 1,200 meters, the first jumpers were three experienced skydivers practicing precision landings and two students under the supervision of the skydiving instructor. Then, at 4,000 meters, the remaining skydivers and the instructor would jump together.
Parachutists performed checks on their equipment on the ground before boarding and repeated them during the climb before reaching jump altitude. The deployment handles for the main cover, reserve cover and cutaway cover can be easily detached from their housings with minimal movement.
The instructor was responsible for checking the two students’ equipment, which he did. He had C and D licenses, which allowed him to supervise other skydivers and perform demonstration jumps. He was training for federal instructor qualification.
The pilot had a commercial license with 6,600 flight hours, of which 5,500 as a skydiving pilot.
It was a hot August day, 28-30°C (82-86°F) and the cabin would have been stiflingly hot. They left Vannes and climbed, ready for their jumps.
The skydivers were seated according to their jumps, with the eight second-jumping skydivers seated closer to the cockpit, with one on the floor between the benches. The skydiving instructor sat at the end of the longest bench, with a student on the bench to the instructor’s left and a student to the right of the bench, sitting on the ground. The three experienced skydivers practicing precision landings were closest to the door, one on the short bench and two on the ground. The three paratroopers on the ground (one student, two precision) sat shoulder to shoulder. Everyone was sitting with their backs to the booth.
The aft door had a vertical sliding design of plexiglass slats. The Cessna 208 was certified to fly with the door open as part of its parachute operations. The only restriction was that the door had to remain closed during takeoff and below 500 meters, so that the occupants could not fall to a height too low for the canopy to deploy. The director of the skydiving center confirmed that it was common for skydivers to partially open the door to get fresh air when temperatures were high, in order to cool the cabin. There was never any problem partially opening the door. The pilot had given explicit permission for this before the flight.
The skydiver sitting on the ground closest to the door had been assigned the task of operating the plane’s vertical sliding door. He had a lot of experience: he had C and D licenses and also a federal instructor certificate with 3,600 registered jumps. He had attended a pre-flight briefing to learn about the gate and the precautions to take when operating it. The pilot had told him that he could partially open the door during climb to ventilate the cabin.
It was very hot in the cabin. After checking if there was any anomaly, the parachutist raised the slats a little to ventilate the cabin. He opened the door about 4 inches (10 centimeters) to let in air, a little less than the height of a soda can.
The instructor, sitting at the end of the bench furthest from the door, began checking his students’ parachutes. He began with his student sitting on the floor. The more experienced skydiver sitting next to him on the ground moved towards the door to give the student some space.
The skydiver sitting by the door placed his foot to act as a door stop. He felt the paratrooper in the middle move towards the door and press against him. He didn’t move, but turned his chest to the right and moved a little out of the way.
In doing so, he must have crushed the leather ball of the pilot’s parachute between the parachute and the ground. What no one realized was that a piece of his pilot parachute had fallen out of the cloth bag.
The wake from the open door caught the parachute and tore it out of the plane. This caused the main canopy to open, the start of the sequence to deploy the main canopy.
The parachutist sitting on the bench heard something from the door. He turned to look and saw the pilot’s parachute of the skydiver closest to the door fly out of the plane. The main parachute container was open and being dragged out. He grabbed the suspension lines but was unable to replace the container.
The parachutist who was on the ground was relentlessly dragged towards the door.
The main parachute opened outside the plane under the left horizontal stabilizer, the small wing on the tail.
As the skydiver was being dragged out of the plane, the upper loop of the right elevator caught on the door frame and then broke under the pressure. The main canopy was now only partially connected to the harness.
The paratrooper felt himself being dragged along the bottom of the door, and three slats broke under the pressure. He felt a sharp pain in his leg as he crossed the threshold. He didn’t know it yet but his leg was broken.
The broken lift meant that the main canopy was now only partially connected to the harness. The reserve canopy deployed upwards and towards the tail. It brushed against the horizontal stabilizer, enough to leave a mark, but luckily it didn’t get caught in the tail.
The man sitting on the bench looked through the broken door and saw the paratrooper outside the plane under the reserve deck, with the main deck still partially attached.
From the skydiver’s point of view, he suddenly found himself outside the plane. He quickly saw that the reserve had been deployed but that the main canopy was still partially connected to the harness. He began using the reserve deck to control his descent while keeping the main deck out of the way so it wouldn’t tangle with the reserve. Meanwhile, the earth was rushing towards him.
He hit the ground hard. He broke his back, fracturing five lumbar vertebrae. All he could do was stand there and wait for someone to find him.
Meanwhile, in the cockpit, the pilot heard a loud noise. They were at about 2,000 feet, halfway to their jump altitude. His staff vibrated strongly. He wasn’t sure what was happening and thought maybe an elevator had failed. He withdrew power and began to descend. The vibrations stopped but he decided it was best to abort the jump, as he was not sure what was wrong with the plane.
The paratroopers must have been in shock. The one on the bench said they were already descending when he considered saying something, so he assumed the pilot realized what had just happened.
I think it’s fair to assume that everyone was shocked.
They landed safely within a few minutes. The pilot did not realize he had lost a passenger until he headed to the parking lot. He immediately called ATC to say they needed an emergency search for the skydiver.
There are no details about the search and rescue other than the pilot told the BEA that rescue services “quickly found” the parachutist.
In fact, overall, I’m disappointed by the details of the BEA report. There are a number of angles that seem to have not been explored at all. That said, I like that the report is careful not to assign blame or question anyone’s decisions. The door was authorized to be opened to let some air into the hot cabin and the skydiver assigned to the door was experienced and properly informed. All equipment checks were completed as expected.
The key here is the position of the skydiver. This meant that the leather ball of the pilot’s parachute was almost certainly crushed between the parachute and the ground. Many skydivers prefer the leather ball: it is easier to grip and does not break as easily as a plastic ball. But leather also slides less easily, which explains why it got caught, ripping off the pilot’s parachute.
Additionally, the pilot’s parachute bag, on the rear right side, was directly exposed to the wake. It was a sequence of events that no one had considered.
When the right elevator caught on the door frame, the textile loop holding it was cut, causing the reserve to deploy, exactly as designed. It was pure luck that neither of the two canopies caught on the horizontal stabilizer. The skydiver managed to get both canopies to the ground, which speaks to his level of experience.
The report concludes that although the risk of a parachute getting caught in the horizontal stabilizer or elevator is a known danger of skydiving, no one had thought about the airflow interaction of the partially open door.
As a result of this incident, the skydiving center no longer allows the door to be opened during the flight, even partially, except during the descent phases.
It must be very hot in the cabin, but that’s better than suddenly discovering that you’re outside.
