We need to wait until the investigation by BS is completed before we consider jumping to conclusions.
A few things to think about for those not knowledgeable in skydiving.
1: Skydiving is inherently safe. Tandem containers are over-engineered and are inspected during the reserve repack for airworthiness. And no DZ in the UK will let a tandem container back into circulation that is not airworthy. The harnesses that the students wear are also inspected regularly.
2: No parachute (canopy) is guaranteed to open. That's why we have a reserve. The forces acting on an opening canopy are pretty wild. The individual or pair can affect how the canopy reacts when it opens. Not being symmetrical in the harness can cause the canopy to open in a turn. This shouldn't be an issue with a tandem canopy or a student copy, as they are loaded at a low wing loading and are very docile.
3: A tandem instructor must be thoroughly familiar with various emergency and non-emergency drills when addressing nuisance factors and malfunctions. If you get these wrong, the results can be fatal. Tandem instructors reduce mischaracterisation of malfunctions by practising their drills in front of another tandem instructor at regular intervals and then being signed off as current.
4: AADs do not 'open' the reserve parachute. When they activate, a propellant charge initiates the cutting of the reserve closing loop, which keeps the reserve securely in the container. Without going down a rabbit hole! The malfunctioning main canopy acts as a large pilot chute, serving as an anchor in the sky that pulls out the reserve bag as the parachutist falls away. The reserve then inflates normally (or not). You can manually activate the reserve by pulling on the reserve handle on the left side of the container. This handle is attached to a metal or fabric cord that ends with a metal pin. The metal pin passes through the reserve closing loop, keeping the reserve in the container. Upon pulling the reserve handle, the pin is extracted from the closing loop, and a large metal spring, contained within a smaller parachute, fires off the parachutist's back and acts as an anchor, much like the malfunctioning main parachute mentioned earlier.
5: Dunkerswell is quite within its rights to open again. While some might find this unpalatable, accidents happen. It's a commercial operation. As long as all the required investigative paperwork is completed, witness statements taken, and they have the ok from the police and British Skydiving. Then they are free to operate. I don't have first-hand knowledge of what happened, but following previous deaths in the UK that I was privy to and around. I know that British Skydiving has a very thorough process. And Dunkerswell will have internal checks that they will perform before allowing any revenue jumping to commence.
6: Tandem deaths, as tragic as they are. Do increase the number of people doing tandems, as this was mentioned to me by a DZO in the aftermath of a fatality.
7: We sign a lot of waivers before we are allowed to jump. In the US, it's way worse; you sign your life away. However, the dangers of skydiving are downplayed during the tandem brief. They are not hidden in any way. Tandem students know exactly what they are getting into. In my opinion, previous comments suggesting that students are unaware of the dangers associated with the sport are incorrect.
Condolences to all at Dunkerswell, to the TI, the tandem student, and their families.
BSBD.