How often does a parachute malfunction?
A variety of causes can lead to a parachute malfunction, but the jumper can control most of them. They include design choice, inspection and maintenance, packing, how the jumper puts the parachute on, how careful the jumper is with his or her gear in the airplane, and stability on opening. There is no requirement to report parachute malfunctions, so how often they occur is difficult to estimate. One widely accepted estimate is that in 600 to 1,000 random parachute openings of the main parachute, one will result in a malfunction requiring the use of the reserve parachute. (The reserve parachute is inspected, packed, and used under more controlled conditions.) On its membership renewal application, USPA asks members to report the number of parachute malfunctions they had in the previous year. Of the participating USPA members who completed the survey, 3,105 reported having malfunctions in year 2000. Of them, 462 members reported having two malfunctions that year and 180 members reported
