Parachutes cut by a deft hand
By ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Randy Davey/Daily News
Marine Sgt Carlos Snead shows how a MC1-1 C parachute is packed at Camp Lejeune. 13 parachutes were sabotaged, and three marines were forced to use their reserve chutes in mid-air as a result.
Camp Lejeune authorities again Tuesday said that safety and security procedures were sound despite the sabotage of 13 parachutes, nine of which investigators said had lines cut in such a way that that traditional inspection methods would not have detected the damage.
Three Marines on Sept. 21 were forced to use reserve chutes after jumping from a C-17 Globemaster flying over a drop zone at Camp Lejeune’s Camp Davis training complex.
The Marines from Air Delivery Platoon, 2nd Transportation Support Battalion, 2nd Force Service Support Group suffered minor injuries.
Jumpmasters Sgt. Britton Howes and Sgt. John Laverde halted the training mission when they realized that three of five jumpers departing the aircraft went out without their main parachutes, according to the Camp Lejeune Public Affairs Office.
Upon landing at Cherry Point Air Station, they discovered that suspension lines to Laverde’s parachute had been cut.
Gunnery Sgt. Vic Ziliani, parachute rigger in charge of the 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company Paraloft at Courthouse Bay, explained that during jumps a static line remains attached to the aircraft and pulls a bag containing the main parachute out of the jumper’s backpack.
The parachute normally slides out of the bag because it is still attached to the jumper’s harness by nylon suspension lines and straps called risers.
When Howes and Laverde pulled the five static lines and bags back into the aircraft after the Marines jumped, three bags still contained the main parachutes instead of staying with the jumpers.
After the plane landed, Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents confiscated 22 main MC1 parachutes and discovered that nine more of them had severed suspension lines which were cut in such a way that traditional inspection methods would not have detected the sabotage, officials said.
NCIS agents are scheduled to analyze and test the 13 sabotaged MC1 main parachutes and associated T-10 reserve parachutes as part of their investigation. There is also a Judge Advocate General’s investigation of the incident.
On Tuesday, parachute riggers Staff Sgt. Shawn O’hea and Sgt. Carlos Snead from 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company laid four parachutes on a pair of long tables to demonstrate to the media how they carefully pack the rigs.
“It takes about 35 to 40 minutes to correctly pack a parachute, depending on the experience of the rigger,” Ziliani said.
Working in tandem as they are required to do, they walked the length of the tables, running their hands over the lines, working the different fasteners and looking for signs of problems.
Snead ran his fingers inside and outside of the green silky material to check for damage and folded the sections lengthwise as they prepared to gently place the parachute into the deployment bag and eventually into the pack tray assembly.
A parachute log record book is with each rig. It includes the name of the packer, the inspector, the deployment bag number, the date packed and the unit, Ziliani said.
“Only two of my sergeants and above have keys to this (paraloft) facility and even the (duty) officer of the day does not have a key,” Ziliani said. “(After they are packed) the chutes remain locked in the chute locker until we are ready to use them.”
Officials did not release the location of the facility where the damaged parachutes were packed or stored, but did say that all parachutes belonging to 2nd Transportation Support Battalion and 2nd Radio Battalion were being inspected and repacked.
Air Delivery Platoon maintains a paraloft facility on McHugh Boulevard in the French Creek Area of Camp Lejeune that supports both units. No other parachutes belonging to these commands showed signs of tampering and only those that were on that flight on Sept. 21 are in question, officials said.
Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, ext. 236.
