At about 1530 hours EST on the twenty-first of February, 1972, a parachutist
was drowned in a dam following a static line parachute descent.
The student parachutist, was making her first jump and was
under the supervision of the Sydney Parachute Group, which had conducted her training.
The training included instruction in the techniques of aircraft exits,
canopy control, and landing procedure.
The parachutist was equipped with a 28 foot diameter main parachute and a
24 foot diameter reserve parachute. For this descent the main parachute was to be operated by
means of a static line and the reserve was equipped with a hand operated ripcord. No defect was
discovered in either parachute, the harness, or any of the release mechanisms, which might have
contributed to the accident.