DUBAI – One of Dubai's famed “jetman” killed in a crash in November failed to deploy the emergency parachute attached to the winged engines strapped to his back, an investigative report released Thursday found.
Investigators from the United Arab Emirates' General Civil Aviation Authority gave no explanation for why Vincent Reffet, 36, of Annecy, France, didn't use his parachute in the fall during a training flight in the desert of the sheikhdom.
Describing Reffet as an “experienced professional skydiver” and jetwing pilot, the investigators said video from the Nov. 17 crash appeared to show him lose control and go into a backflip hovering some 240 meters (800 feet) off the ground.