″We have no idea why she went off course because a trainee before her carried out the exact same jump and landed in the designated area without any problems,″ he said.
I remember that happening. It would be interesting to see how high the influence of the rotor induced airflow reaches and could affect a parachute descent path in light winds. I was once hover taxying behind another B212 and watched a buzzard get 'sucked' into the disc. It was flapping furiously but was unable to avoid being drawn in. It was actually the second of a pair - the first one 'disintegrated' (parts of which we collected on our windscreen!) and this one got hit at the shoulder, had a wing severed and was thrown across the apron, whereupon it hopped around furiously trying to avoid capture. I think it ended up in a stew!