On August 12th, 35-year old Italian freefly champion, Mauro "Mago" Tannino died at the dropzone in Ravenna, Italy. He was making a camera jump, filming a student after an exit from 4500 m [14,000 feet]. He experienced a malfunction on his Stiletto, and either failed to or was unable to cutaway before having to deploy his reserve. The reserve tangled with the main, and he landed under the entangled canopies and died on impact.

BASE jumper Valentino Ventori (30) from Italy died on his first BASE jump ever at Kjerag, August 5. He did not get far enough away from the wall, says an eyewitness. The jumper reportedly tumbled several times after the exit from #7, then he hit the wall before the canopy opened. The norwegian base association will investigate the accident.

43-year old skydiver Tom Minturn form Omaha died August 6, at the Crete Airport in Nebraska. He was making a jump with another skydiver from a Cessna 182. Each was making his 100th jump. The second skydiver landed first and watched his friend come in. He reported that the deceased made a left turn onto what appeared to be final approach and then made a hard right-hand 360 degree turn immediately, which put him into a fast downward spiral and slammed him into the ground. Emergency workers rushed him to a nearby Hospital and then to BryanLGH Medical Center West in Lincoln, where he was pronounced dead.

Five Fatalities in Europe

Fatality in Austria

A 54-year old experienced austrian Skydiver died in Carinthia, Austria, September 2. After he successfully opened his main, he seemed to have some problems with it, and he started spinning at 200 m [650 feet]. It's not clear yet, if he tried to cut-away and pull his reserve. He got in a very fast spin and hit the ground hard. He died on impact.

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Fatality in Belgium

A skydiver from Brussels died August 26 in Lathuy, Belgium, after a demonstration jump. Neither his main nor his reserve canopy deployed properly. Numerous spectators witnessed the tragic accident. No further information are available.

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Fatality in Germany

A german skydiver was killed in August at Schweighofen, Germany. Reportedly he was performing a low turn and hit the ground hard on landing. The dropzone refuses to give further information.

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Fatality in France

A 26-year old dutch skydiver died on August 16 at Soulac sur Mer in France. The jumper was taking part in a SL learning progression. On his 8th SL jump, he experienced a malfunction on his main canopy. Instead of first releasing is main, he just pulled his reserve ripcord. It is not clear if any attempt was made to release the main, or solve whatever problem there was with the main. It appears that the reserve pilot chute did not generate enough drag to pull the reserve out off the free bag. After some time he probably realized the mistake he had made and released the main. Unfortunately it appears that the reserve pilot chute had managed to (at some point, prior to or after releasing the main ) travel through the left and right line groups of the reserve causing the reserve bridle to be wrapped around the free bag resulting in bag-lock malfunction of the reserve.

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Fatality in Slovenia

A 30-year old skydiver died August 20 in Ptuj, Slovenia. He was making a camera jump and had some sort of malfunction. He tried to cutaway, but did not succeed. He deployed his reserve which tangled with the main, and he landed with the parachutes in this configuration.