A jumper with about 400 jumps experienced a hard opening on his 170-square-foot non-elliptical main canopy with a wing loading of approximately 1.3:1. When he looked up at the canopy, he discovered that a few of his suspension lines had broken, but the canopy itself seemed to be intact. After a controllability check to make sure that he could turn and flare the canopy, he decided to land it. Unfortunately, the landing was a lot harder than he expected, resulting in a broken ankle and a trip to the hospital operating room for repairs. He later said he didn’t realize that he was in trouble until he was too low to cut away safely. Even though everything seemed OK during the controllability check, the canopy was actually descending more quickly than normal, and the jumper’s landing flare did not slow his descent properly. He said if he had it to do over again, he would have cut away and deployed his reserve. Chalk one up for the school of hard knocks—another lesson learned in a painful way. more »
Curt Bartholomew is a relatively new jumper who became a force in canopy piloting both nationally and internationally in 2009, his first year of competing. Bartholomew took first overall in 2009’s Canopy Piloting Circuit™ Championships. He also placed sixth overall in the 2009 USPA National Skydiving Championships of Canopy Piloting, securing himself a spot on the 2010 U.S. Team for the World Canopy Piloting Parachuting Championships. His goal is to become a world champion canopy pilot, and based on his recent success, there’s a good chance he will.