Two stray skydiving parachutes, cut free in mid-air and left to fall onto powerlines in separate recent incidents, have prompted renewed calls from a residents’ group for changes to Skydive Australia’s Wollongong operation.
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The chutes came down on powerlines on Corrimal Street and Kembla Street, on the afternoon of February 10 and Sunday morning, respectively.
John Riggall, chairman of Protect Our Parks Inc, said the incidents highlighted the safety and public liability risks posed by the cutaway practice, where a skydiver’s main parachute is jettisoned when there is a risk it has malfunctioned, allowing the reserve to deploy without an entanglement.
Mr Riggall said the recent incidents strengthened the case put forward by his group for moving Skydive Australia’s Stuart Park drop zone to a lesser-used part of the city, Fairy Meadow’s Dalton Park.
“Whereas the skydivers have got a controlled landing, the [cutaway] chute just falls to the ground, so what happens if it falls on the freeway and drops on a car windscreen and someone runs of the road or into another car?” he said. “It’s a safety issue. And generally what happens when accidents occur and insurance companies get involves is they [the companies] look around and say, ‘who approved this? Council. Oh good, we’ll have a go at them’.”
But a spokesman for Skydive Australia said cutaways were rare.
“We are unaware, in 19 years of operating at this location, of any recorded instances of discarded canopies landing in such prominent positions in such a short space of time,” he said.
“Cutaways happen very rarely and when they do, most of the time the discarded parachute lands back at the designated landing area without incident.”
In Wollongong the sight of a cutaway chute often prompts emergency calls from onlookers who believe they are witnessing a skydiver plummeting to the ground under a canopy that has failed to open.
Protect Our Parks Inc is campaigning to move Skydive Australia’s drop zone. Its members argue the company, previously Skydive the Beach, has taken over popular parkland intended for public use, through “exclusive approvals and deals” with council.
But the company says its existing drop zone is “world class” and a key element of its operation, and contribution to the region’s economy.
“Fairy Meadow is sub-optimal because it is only suitable in certain wind conditions and it doesn’t offer the logistical advantages that Stuart Park does, said the spokesman, who added the company had already taken every possible step to limit cutaways.