What is ‘swooping’, the skydiving technique that killed an Australian skydiver in Texas?

A 29-year-old skydiver from Australia reportedly died in Texas while testing a new method of the sport called ‘swooping’. The champion skydiver from Perth, Melissa Porter was an instructor at Skydive Spaceland Houston. She was attempting the new high-risk method that eventually led to a hard landing, due to which she fell into shallow water, as per ABC 13 Houston.

As per witnesses, Melissa’s parachute deployed during the “advanced landing manoeuvre”. As per the Australian media company, news.com.au, the parachute was too close to the ground. Melissa was declared dead after being rushed to a nearby hospital.

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Investigators noticed no blunt force trauma to her body and were unsure if she had suffered a medical emergency either. Her actual cause of death will be determined by the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Melissa’s mother, Vonnie Porter, was asked to call the hospital in the United States. She subsequently received the heartbreaking news of her daughter’s death. "I said, 'I'm ringing about Mel Porter.' I said, 'She's been in a skydiving accident'," Vonnie told 9News. "He said, 'She is dead.'”

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"She's my baby and she's not coming home,” Vonnie said, adding that Melissa "loved" the sport. "That was her happy place. She'll forever be in the sky roaming the world now," she said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is now "providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian woman who died in the United States".

"We send our deepest condolences to the woman's family," a DFAT spokesperson said.

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Last month, Melissa helped set a skydiving record in Queensland. She was one of only 23 women who jumped at Skydive Ramblers in Toogoolawah on May 6. Melissa finished the ‘2-point 23 way’, which is an Australian women’s total-break sequential record.

What is ‘swooping’ in skydiving and why is it risky?

Skydiving swooping is a more advanced version of canopy piloting where an individual induces speed through specific manoeuvres and dives the canopy towards the earth, all while leaving enough time for the canopy to level out and glide horizontally across the ground.

Skydiving, in general, and swooping, in particular,involvecertain margins of error and hence is a risky sport. When it comes to swooping, it adds additional risks as the entire premise is to dive a high-performance parachute towards the earth to generate exceptional speeds. In this, the margin of error is dramatically reduced.

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The type of parachutes used for swooping is vastly different from the parachutes usually flown during your tandem skydive and even the parachutes piloted during your solo skydiving training.

(With inputs from agencies)

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