This was Todd's first BASE jump. Conditions were good on the day, with an average amount of water flowing over the falls. The exit was chosen so to allow easy access and a good launch from rocks.
As it was a first jump Todd expressed a wish to be PCA'd. The exit was perfect. The canopy opened with an off heading 100 degrees left. As Todd corrected the off heading the edge of the canopy just made contact with the edge of the waterfall. A surge of water then struck the left end cells of the canopy, causing a collapse of the left side of the canopy. Now in a stalled configuration, the canopy was sucked into the waterfall, collapsing entirely.
The canopy stayed above Todd's head as both dropped at waterfall speed to the pool below. Todd impacted the rocks at the waterfall pool edge. He died on impact. Proximity to waterfalls is a major risk factor in this style of BASE jumping. In this case all the holes in the cheese lined up and through a combination of factors, water level, proximity, off heading and air currents.
Todd was a well experienced skydiver and excellent canopy pilot. I would urge everyone to consider the absolute worst case scenarios and calculate these when choosing to jump waterfalls.
RIP Todd. You will be sorely missed.