Two Chutes Became Entangled During 8 Person Maneuver

Two of the eight members of the Red Line Parachute Team were killed when their parachutes became entangled during practice for the U.S. Parachute Association national sky-diving championships in October. The jumpers were working from The Parachute Center in Acampo, near Lodi, California.

File Photo

The Sacramento Bee reports that the skydivers, identified by the Parachute Center as Barbara Cuddy of Carson City, Nevada, and Robert Bigley of the Bay Area, were taking part in a close proximity canopy formation when the accident occurred.

Bill Dause, owner of The Parachute Center, told CNN that the team was practicing a formation in which they form a wedge by stacking parachutes near one another, but the last two in the formation experienced a docking problem. A third skydiver was able to get free of the entanglement, but Cuddy and Bigley could not, and were not able to deploy their reserve chutes.

FAA Spokesman Ian Gregor said the agency is investigating, and hopes to be able to acquire the video tape that was supposedly made during the jump. He said the FAA would have jurisdiction over how the parachutes were packed, and by whom. "Obviously, in a situation like this, we certainly want to look at how the parachutes were packed," he said. "But it's possible that what happened is beyond our regulatory capability."

FMI: www.faa.gov