Skydiver’s chute fails to open on D-day jump
A Toronto man was recovering Friday after both his main parachute and a secondary chute failed to open properly during a jump in Hamilton to commemorate D-day.
The 44- year- old was taking part in a demonstration to mark the 75th anniversary of D-day at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport on Thursday afternoon, police said.
Investigators said “trouble began” when the man’s main parachute appeared to become tangled. He deployed a secondary chute but that didn’t open effectively either, although police said it did slow his fall.
The man, who police called an experienced skydiver, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Fred Vermeer, who works at the airport and captured video of the incident, said he felt sick to his stomach watching the skydiver plummet to the ground.
“I thought I’d just watched somebody die,” Vermeer said in a phone interview. “It was pretty freaky. He hit the ground pretty hard.”
The jump appeared to be going well at first, Vermeer said, but it quickly became apparent that something was wrong. “As he was going down, he started pirouetting. I thought it was just part of an acrobatic display ... but he didn’t stop doing it,” Vermeer said, adding that he started filming so that there would be evidence of the incident.
Hamilton police said Transport Canada has been informed of the incident. The federal agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, which organized the D-day event, did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.