This fatality was the result of mis-routing the bridle and creating a total malfunction. Kali popped her pin while getting her gear out. She asked another jumper on the load for a pull-up cord while they were gearing up. She then threw it back at him, said thanks, and started putting her gear on.
The other jumper had to connect his suit to his rig and took longer.
Kali waited for him and they went to the exit together. She jumped first and he watched her jump. She had a good exit, good flight, she flared, pulled and he noticed her pilot chute in tow. She started losing altitude fast and reached back before getting unstable and impacting the trees.
This type of pin lock malfunction cannot be cleared by pulling on the bridle, and the pin cannot be released by pulling on the bridle below it. To fix the mal, you must open the pin flap and pull the bridle out from between the two pins – this is not really possible in a wingsuit in flight.
She was a smart jumper and we can only assume she didn’t know about this malfunction.
All jumpers should know that you should never replace a popped pin unless you fully check your bridle routing all the way from PC to canopy attachment points.
The video shows very clearly how the pin and bridle was mis-rigged and how this leads to a total mal..
Can you help us with incident interpretation? We are interested in any details regarding personal experience, gear, weather conditions and any other circumstances related to the incident.
