Dominik Ertl

Dom leaves the trench line and flies into the Schattenbach Canyon. After leaving the canyon, he performs a corkscrew, which appears to cause him to lose speed.

He continues flying to the right, down to the Stolle forest, following the Hinderlaui trench low above the trees.

After a flyby over trees at approximately 744 m.a.s.l. (200 m above landing), he continues flying along the terrain, directly above the Chriesistei path. Just above landing at about 80 m (maybe even lower), he initiates a flare with little or no gain in altitude (deceleration instead of flaring).

First pull attempt: He reaches back with only his right hand (asymmetric pull) and does not find the handle.

Second pull attempt: Due to his asymmetrical position, he rolls slightly to his right and fabric from his arm wing appears to get in the way. He grabs more fabric than handle and performs a pull movement but does not throw the pilot chute.

Third pull attempt: Once he reaches back with his left hand as well (symmetrical pull), his right hand gets to the handle and he has a successful pull. PC extracts the canopy from the container but he impacts in a horizontal body position before line stretch (primary stow still in place). Dom appears to remain calm and focused until end.

Interpretation and conclusion:

Dominik enjoyed every single flight until the very end and often separated late from the terrain. The altitude that he gained from the flare was often needed to get a good pull altitude. On this flight he did not have a Flysight (GPS) with him.

A combination of factors contributed to the accident:

• Loss of speed following his corkscrew after leaving the canyon
• Late and only marginal separation from terrain
• Flare was ineffective resulting in the deployment process happening at lower-than-expected altitude
• First pull attempt: Asymmetric pull results in tilt to right, further loss of altitude.
• Second pull attempt: He couldn’t get to the pilot chute because of fluttering fabric on his right arm wing (low airspeed and depressurizing wingsuit).
• Individually, each of these points would probably not have been a problem. In total, they were fatal.

Recommendations:

• Give yourself margin for the unexpected.
• Don’t depend on a good flare to get reasonable pull altitude.
• A flare can work 100 times and it can fail on the 101st time.
• A “no-pull-find” can happen to all of us. Give yourself some margin to deal with it.