Parachute Accidents (Hansard, 26 November 2002)

§ Dr. Moonie

Since 1990, 11 members of the armed forces have died as a result of parachuting accidents. To ensure that Service personnel confidentiality is not compromised, it has been necessary to group the data by cause and year, and by location and year, in the following tables:

Deaths due to parachute accidents by location: between 1 January 1990 and 15 November 2002
	Great Britain	Overseas
Royal Navy	1	0
Royal Marine	0	2

180W

Deaths due to parachute accidents by location: between 1 January 1990 and 15 November 2002
	Great Britain	Overseas
Army	1	5
RAF	1	1
Total	3	8

Note:

No deaths have occurred in Northern Ireland or Germany.

Deaths due to parachute accidents by year: between 1 January 1990 and 15 November 2002
	All deaths
1990	1
1992	1
1994	1
1995	1
1996	2
2000	2
2001	1
2002	2
Total	11

Boards of Inquiry into military parachuting are conducted by the RAF, who have responsibility for conducting and regulating all military parachute training by members of the armed forces.

There have been six completed Boards of Inquiry into these deaths. One Board of Inquiry is not yet complete, one death is pending a decision as to whether a Board of Inquiry is appropriate and the status of one is unknown. As two deaths involved personnel who were parachuting while off duty, Boards of Inquiry were not conducted.

The following procedural changes have been introduced as a result of these Boards of Inquiry: (a) Pre-sortie briefings given to the safety boat personnel have been amended to be more specific on the recovery of parachutists from the water. (b) Regulations and advice governing carriage of knives by parachutists and safety boat personnel have been amended. (c) Regulations have been amended to make it mandatory for all parachutists using square parachutes to carry hook knives. (d) Regulations governing the preparation of the parachutist's personal weapon have been amended to reduce the possibility of rigging lines snagging on the weapon. (e) Pre-descent briefings to parachutists have been amended to include an explanation of the reasons for adopting a good position on exit from the aircraft. (f) Pre-descent emergencies briefing to parachutists has been amended to include actions to be taken in the event that the handle, which cuts away the main parachute and activates the reserve, becomes dislodged from its retaining pocket on exit from the aircraft. (g) Guidance on writing air instructions has been amended to ensure that instructions reflect the full nature of the activity to be undertaken. (h) Syllabus of training and pre-descent emergencies briefing to parachutists have been amended to warn parachutists that the harness may ride up on deployment of the main parachute. (i) Syllabus of training and pre-descent emergencies briefing to parachutists have been amended to instruct parachutists to make visual identification of main parachute cut-away pad and reserve parachute handle before cutting away the main parachute and operating the reserve. (j) The incident reporting system was amended to fall under the auspices of the Inspectorate of Flight Safety (now Defence Aviation Safety Centre). 181W (k) Syllabus of training and pre-descent briefings to parachutists have been amended to include action to be taken on encountering turbulence close to the ground. (l) Pre-descent emergencies briefings to parachutists amended to include the possibility of turbulance when winds are at the higher end of the permitted range. (m) Syllabus of training and pre-descent briefings to parachutists amended to emphasise the minimum operating height of the handle, which cuts away the main parachute and activates the reserve, through better use of visual stimuli.

Financial year	Naval Service officers	Naval Service other ranks	Army officers	Army other ranks	RAF officers	RAF other ranks	Officer total	Rank total	Total
2001–02	219	1,973	543	4,982	275	1,740	1,037	8,695	9,732
2000–01	167	1,327	531	5,311	241	1,690	939	8,328	9,267
1999–2000	238	1,676	442	5,314	213	1,757	893	8,747	9,640
1998–99	164	1,706	509	5,947	243	1,742	916	9,395	10,311
1997–98	170	1,754	458	5,744	216	1,555	844	9,053	9,897
1996–97	136	1,877	373	5,851	192	1,526	701	9,254	9,955
1995–96	118	1,404	353	6,513	167	1,838	638	9,755	10,393
1994–95	95	1,087	254	6,377	141	1,432	490	8,896	9,386
1993–94	47	1,328	191	5,571	178	1,273	416	8,172	8,588
1992–93	146	1,548	319	7,490	288	1,791	753	10,829	11,582
1991–92	209	2,289	590	8,740	293	2,632	1,092	13,661	14,753
1990–91	254	2,919	704	10,811	332	3,250	1,290	16,980	18,270
1989–90	233	2,654	769	12,058	400	3,891	1,402	18,603	20,005
1988–89	209	2,118	691	11,641	359	3,276	1,259	17,035	18,294
1987–88	203	2,454	723	10,610	336	2,264	1,262	15,328	16,590

There is no single reason why individuals decide to leave the services and reasons are not necessarily the same across all three services, but some common reasons can be gleaned. These are as follows:

Current and future job satisfaction;
Wish to take up another career;
Better employment opportunities outside;
Family stability;
Promotion prospects;
Separation from family.

For the Naval Service from the Ratings Notice Giving Survey 2001–02, the following are the most common reasons listed in order of importance as to why people leave the service:

The desire to live at home;
Wish to take up another career;
To marry/raise a family;
Ability to plan long term;
Time spent on mundane tasks;
Level of job satisfaction experienced;
Extent of family disruption;
Pay in general;
Always intended to leave after a number of years.

The Army routinely carries out a survey of leavers. The six most frequently cited reasons for leaving the Army given by leavers are identified below.

Lack of job satisfaction;
Amount of separation from spouse/partner;
Better civilian job opportunities outside the Army;
Effect of the Army lifestyle on marriage/relationship;