New evidence in skydiving death inquiry
AUCKLAND: New Zealand’s aviation watchdog is assessing newly obtained evidence connected to the 2019 skydiving death of Irish tourist Jack Creane.
The evidence before the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) suggests a former staff member may have given the 27yearold victim a smaller and higherperformance parachute than intended before the fatal jump at Skydive Auckland’s Parakai base.
However, the drop zone operator is standing by its processes.
It is adamant Mr Creane’s equipment was properly checked before the jump and he knew exactly what size canopy he was using.
Media has revealed the staff member at the centre of the new evidence was later appointed to a senior skydiving role, despite having been censured for ‘‘cavalier’’ behaviour in connection with an earlier fatal skydiving accident overseas.
The man, whom media has chosen not to name, said he was one of several people distributing parachutes on the day Mr Creane died and was only following instructions.
He was not responsible for knowing what canopy Mr Creane was using that day or assessing his level of ability, he said.
Speaking from Ireland, Mr Creane’s sister, Abby, said she was shocked by the new allegations and concerned they had taken over three years to emerge.
The new evidence raised questions about safety, whether her brother knew what size canopy he was using and whether this contributed to his death.
She called on the CAA to reopen its investigation.
‘‘He was my brother and I deserve pened.’’
The new evidence, presented to CAA investigators in July, is a Facebook messenger conversation between the staff member and a colleague days after Mr Creane’s death.
It suggests the man provided Mr Creane with a friend’s parachute but mistakenly thought it was a larger canopy than the Safire 3 129 (129sq ft) that Mr Creane was using when he died.
The man allegedly wrote: ‘‘He was on a Safire3 139.’’
His next message reads: ‘‘Yo [redacted] just checked and said 129.’’
This represents a reduction in canopy size of 10sq ft (0.9sq m).
Experts told media this is significant because smaller canopies allow pilots greater speed and performance, but less recovery time should things go wrong.
The colleague messaged back to clarify whether the man had given Mr Creane a canopy without knowing its actual size. to know what hap
The man said: ‘‘I did’’.
The man was at Parakai that day as a ‘‘fun jumper’’, not a staff member, he said to media.
He said he was asked by an Icarus Canopies representative to get a parachute from a female jumper and give it to someone else.
‘‘So I did that.’’
He believed at the time the parachute was a 139sq ft canopy, and that it was the same size chute Mr Creane had been jumping with that day, he said.
‘‘The canopy he was on before, I believe was the same size. It was just an earlier model. That’s what I was led to believe.’’
It was not his responsibility to know what canopy Mr Creane was using. That responsibility was Mr Creane’s, as a licensed sports skydiver, he said.
It was also the drop zone operator’s responsibility ‘‘to check whether they’re on the correct gear’’.
The screenshot provided to the CAA was only a fragment of a longer series of messages, which needed to be read in context, he said.
Skydive Auckland and New
Zealand Skydiving School (NZSS) joint director Tony Green said regardless of how equipment was acquired, certified sport skydivers were responsible for having equipment checked and approved through Skydive Auckland’s processes before use.
Mr Green said Mr Creane’s equipment was checked and approved. Mr Creane was also aware of the canopy size he was jumping on, which was recorded in his log book, Mr Green said.
‘‘The CAA and NZPIA [New Zealand Parachute Industry Association] both conducted investigations into the accident and were provided with all the information and facts.’’
Due consideration was given to the overseas fatality before the man was hired at Parakai, Mr Green said.
After receiving the new evidence, CAA investigation and response safety team leader Dan Foley wrote back to the informant on August 2 asking for further information about Mr Creane’s training ‘‘or his knowledge of the canopy size he flew that day’’.
The CAA said it was assessing the new information and working to determine its ‘‘validity’’.
‘‘Our investigations team follow a robust and thorough process.
‘‘The additional information that has been provided has been noted by the investigators and will be factored into their work.
‘‘Findings of the investigation will not be released until it is complete and relatives have been consulted.’’
Mr Creane, who had just graduated from the NZSS, hit the ground at speed after attempting a dangerous lowaltitude turn during a solo jump on March 15, 2019.
He was airlifted to Auckland City Hospital and died the following day.
A CAA investigation report released a year later found he made no attempt to ‘‘flare’’, or slow down, before impact, nor did he adopt the emergency landing position before striking the ground.
Mr Creane — who had completed about 260 jumps, including nine on the canopy size he was flying on his final descent — was correctly qualified, with no previous record of parachute handling incidents, the report said.
It made no reference to any issues with his equipment on the day he died. —
❛ He was my brother and I deserve to know what happened