A Navy SEAL was killed in 2014, an Air Force commando went missing over the ocean in 2019 and an Army Green Beret will likely lose an arm in 2023. Each experienced a rare but catastrophic accident after their parachutes unexpectedly deployed when hit by wind gusts, violently ripping them out aircraft doors and prompting lawsuits questioning the safety of their gear.
All three were wearing the T-11 reserve parachute, which sits on a jumper’s chest and is pulled if their main canopy fails. Critics argue that the parachute’s fabric ripcord is more sensitive to strong winds than the 50-year-old rig with a metal ripcord that it replaced a decade ago.
While the number of accidents is small, the consequences can be dire. The military knows of the concerns. Evaluators altered the parachute as recently as 2021 to prevent openings from wind blast. Still, critics say small changes haven’t stopped the problems, and the product should be replaced.
Army Staff Sgt. Brycen Erdody, a Green Beret medic, nearly died last year 1,250 feet over Fort Bragg, N.C., when his T-11 reserve opened after a wind gust came through an aircraft door. The parachute inflated and sucked him out, slamming him against the door frame, ripping off his helmet and partially severing his arm. An Army investigation cleared him of negligence in the accident.
Erdody has undergone five surgeries since then.
“Both my first ribs were fractured, my sternum was caved in, my bicep was cut in half, my nerves were pulled from my spine,” Erdody told The Washington Post. “They’ll probably end up having to amputate my arm because there’s no nerve activity and never will be again.”
Erdody and his wife Cassidy filed a federal lawsuit Monday in the Eastern District of North Carolina against the T-11’s manufacturer — Airborne Systems of North America — accusing the company of designing a faulty parachute and failing to warn service members about its issues. The danger is greatest for jumpmasters, experienced parachutists who lean out of planes to spot drop zones, a role most victims were performing at the time of their accidents.
Airborne Systems did not return requests for comment made by phone and email Monday.
The complaint filed by Erdody’s lawyers argues that the T-11 reserve was originally tested with safety pins installed, which provided more resistance and prevented accidental openings. Those pins aren’t used in the rig given to troops, the complaint alleges, leading to deaths and, in Erdody’s case, life-changing injuries.
Victims of these accidents can’t sue the Defense Department due to the Feres doctrine, which prevents service members injured on duty from collecting damages from the federal government. But Erdody’s attorney, Natalie Khawam, is still hopeful the lawsuit against the manufacturer will put the military in the spotlight, too.
“This is not going to bring back Brycen’s arm, but hopefully it’ll stop this from ever happening again to one of our service members,” Khawam said. “When I talked to a subject matter expert, he said, ‘In the military, we keep using gear until someone dies.’ But several people have died from this product and they’re still using it.”
It is the second time Airborne Systems has been sued over problems with its T-11 reserve parachute.
Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer Bradley Cavner was killed over El Centro, Calif., when his T-11 reserve was activated by a wind gust and his head struck the aircraft’s door frame as he was swept out. A lawsuit filed by Cavner’s parents ended in a confidential settlement in 2017, according to court records.
Air Force Special Operator Staff Sgt. Cole Condiff also died when his T-11 reserve opened from a wind gust, pulling him from an aircraft flying over the Gulf of Mexico. His body was never recovered.
Citing in-flight video footage, the Air Force investigation blamed Condiff and his teammates for not noticing that a protective fabric insert — added to the ripcord flap after Cavner’s death to prevent another accident — was extended one inch too far. It therefore couldn’t stop the wind from deploying the parachute as intended.
A military parachute instructor with 20 years of experience who is not a plaintiff in Erdody’s lawsuit said the fabric inserts were a “Band-Aid.”
“They keep trying to find small solutions without actually doing what they’re supposed to do and say ‘the system’s unsafe’ and take it out of service,” said the instructor, who still works for the military and asked that his name not be used to protect his career. “The old (reserve parachute) was a metal handle that was tucked away and wasn’t affected by wind. With this new system, just the way the wind gets under it, that can deploy it from either direction.”
Erdody’s 2022 accident happened despite the fabric inserts being used. An Army investigation shared with The Washington Post stated that Erdody and his fellow jumpers performed all actions, including pre-jump inspections, properly. His jump rig was even inspected twice before the accident by different soldiers, the investigation stated.
“One of them would have caught an issue with the reserve,” an unnamed witness cited in the investigation said.
The T-11 reserve was developed to be a more reliable parachute with a slower rate of descent than the equipment it replaced. The rig also allows a jumper whose main parachute has failed to pull the ripcord using either hand and from any direction.
It’s not clear how many accidental openings there have been. The Army’s parachute malfunction review board at Fort Lee, Va., only knew of three incidents in the last 10 years. Meanwhile, the Air Force investigation into Condiff’s death tallied seven by 2019. And an Army Infantry School bulletin said there had been reports of “more than a dozen” before the first death in 2014. Regardless of the number, the consequences are stark.
“Although the number may seem statistically minute, the Airborne community responded by implementing increased safety measures to reduce the likelihood of any such incidents in the future,” said Army spokeswoman Onyx Taylor-Catterson. She pointed to the fabric inserts as one important change, as well as efforts in 2021 to change the shape of the T-11 reserve ripcord handle to prevent the risk of wind blast.
Taylor-Catterson said the review board audits safety measures four times a year. More changes could always come. But critics hope for a larger overhaul.
“They’re still jumping the same system I used when I got sucked outside of the airplane,” Erdody said. “There’s been nothing, no fixes.”
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