Ash and I decided to a 2 way exit with him on the left and me on the right. His plan was to start a track and then roll over onto his back facing back up towards me, then roll back over to his belly and at this point he'd track left and I'd track right for deployment.

We left the tower at the same time straight into a track... his angle was slightly steeper than mine so he dropped below me. He rolled over onto his back and then back again onto his belly. At this stage he was still a bit too under me so I tracked hard away as I didn't want to be above him when he deployed.

I deployed. He continued to track for too long, deploying right before impact. He had lines and canopy out but no inflation. It took me a few minutes to get down and over to him. He was killed instantly.
After we reviewed his footage we can only come up with the speculation that he has either lost altitude awareness or become fixated on an object as this is where he came to rest next to the only tree in the paddock.

I've jumped with Ash a bit over the Christmas period and we had just become good mates. He was a talented guy and Im so sad and sorry that we have lost another amazing human. My thoughts and condolences go out to Ash's family and close friends through this very tough time.