Hi,
We jump at a very small, but quit nice (and safe)dropzone in Belgium (Europe), called PC Hoevenen. Last Sunday we had our annual Speedstar 5 club competition. Approx. 90 jumps were made on Sunday. However, in this one day, two main canopies got ripped to pieces during opening, in two seperate incidents. Both jumpers did OK and landed safe under their reserves. Something like that never happened before. Conditions were all normal (weather, jump altitudes, pull altitudes, etc). Jumpers are both experienced. They pulled under normal conditions (speed, altitude). It was there private equipment, with normal wing loads. One is a Stilleto 135 from 1992 with less than 1000 jumps on it. More surprisingly, the other chute is a Crossfire 150 (?) with only 400 jumps on it (manufactured 2000).
The pictures are at
http;//homepage.mac.com/Phaida01/PhotoAlbum10.html
and
http;//homepage.mac.com/Phaida01/PhotoAlbum11.html
Question:
What is your idea about this. Has anybody had similar experiences. 1 out of 45 jumps that day are quite high odds for pure coincidence, no?
greetz,
Vaut.