Unfortunately there are no clear answers here. I do not know what malfunction Pete’s parachute suffered, or what caused it. Here are the best set of facts and observations I’ve been able to assemble.
No jumper actually witnessed the deployment, although one jumper in the landing area was stashing gear and heard the sounds of the accident. The accident was witnessed by at least three non-jumpers on the river, but it is challenging to reconstruct the facts of a parachute deployment by questioning non-jumper witnesses.
Summary of event (as best we can reconstruct):
Pete performed a clean aerial and deployed the PC at a reasonable altitude. The PC extracted the pins and pulled the canopy to line stretch. The canopy trailed in a streamer and did not inflate for around two seconds.
Impact occurred at high speed with an open container.
Observations from jumpers in the area:
The canopy was heard to be “flapping” or “fluttering” for more than a second prior to impact. No opening “bang” was heard.
Observations from non-jumpers on the river:
Pete performed an aerial, probably a triple gainer. He was seen to pull at a reasonable altitude (around the bottom of the arch, where the steel meets the cliff wall). This was probably about a 2.5-3 second delay.
After pitch, the PC was seen to be fully inflated and pulling behind him.
The canopy was observed to be behind him at or close to line stretch.
The canopy was observed to trail in this position for approximately 2-3 seconds before impact.
The canopy was reported to be either “twisted” or “spinning” above him.
The canopy made a “flapping” or “fluttering” sound as it trailed behind him.
The body was recovered from the water to a boat shortly after impact.
The canopy was recovered along with the body, and was retrieved by the
lines, pulling on the lines to drag the canopy into the boat.
Facts from gear inspection:
Container: Consolidated Rigging, Perigee Pro, Manufactured in 2001
Canopy: Consolidated Rigging Ace 260, Manufactured in 2001, hybrid topskin (ZP front third)
Pilot Chute: Asylum 42” A/V. All black mesh and black tapes.
The rig was still buckled to his body.
The cutaway handle had been pulled and was lying on the boat deck a few feet away from the rig. The right side three ring assembly had separated and the right side riser was approximately six inches away from the right side harness. The left side three ring had not separated--the rings were still interlocking even though the yellow cutaway cable was not present.
The brakes were still stowed when the canopy was inspected.
The slider was trapped down at the front links and the lines were routed outside the slider grommets and keeper rings.
There was no evidence of damage to either the closing pins or the grommets. The lower closing loop had no washer around it and had pulled back inside the grommet, but this undoubtedly occurred during or after gear recovery.
There were no twists or wraps anywhere in the lines. They were straight and untwisted from the
risers to the canopy, where they had been rolled or looped in with the canopy fabric.
There was no evidence of tension knot or line over malfunction in the lines.
There was no readily apparent damage to the canopy. Neither the nose nor the tail showed any sign of significant line burns.
Masking tape had been used as a
tailgate. The masking tape was recovered from the bottom skin of the canopy. The tape was cleanly torn open.
The primary stow was still set when the canopy was inspected, but had been removed from it’s position under the
tail pocket. The primary stow was quite loose, and easily came out when lifted away from the canopy. The primary stow was a medium rubber band, cut in half lengthwise and wrapped a single time around a bight of lines.
The right side of the canopy was inverted back through the line groups. It is not clear if this inversion occurred during deployment or in the process of recovering the canopy from the water.
The left stabilizer had an ‘L’ shaped tear, approximately 10 inches long in one direction and 4 inches long in the other. The tear had been patched with a fairly substantial amount of gaffers tape, applied in multiple layers, on both the inside and outside surfaces. The tape showed a significant amount of wrinkling, which did not appear consistent with how this portion of the canopy would have been folded in a pack job, but could be consistent with the canopy being stuffed into the stash bag after a jump. It was not clear how long this tape had been on the canopy.
Questions:
When was the canopy torn? How long had the gaffers tape patch been in place?
How could the locking stow have stayed in place while the tapegate was torn open?
How could the locking stow stay in place when the canopy was recovered from the water by pulling on the lines?
Apologies for typos or mistakes in this post. It's late, it's been a long day, and I'm pretty worn out.
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