Chris Jones was the head of chemistry at Wellington School
A parachutist who died after spiralling out of control was knocked unconscious when the parachute opened too quickly, an inquest heard.
Chris Jones, 61, died of multiple injuries after hitting the ground on a jump from 6,000ft (1,800m).
He packed the parachute himself and died at Dunkeswell Aerodrome near Honiton, Devon, in July.
The Coroner Dr Elizabeth Erland passed a narrative verdict.
Updates on this story and more from Devon
She said "the fast hard opening of the parachute was due to the manner of its packing" and concluded Mr Jones's "death was instantaneous".
She also said she hoped this case would highlight the dangers of the sport and encourage those taking part to be aware of the proper packing of parachutes.
Mr Jones had made 1,021 parachute jumps since 1987, the inquest in Exeter heard.
'Take breath away'
A report by the British Parachute Association (BPA) found no fault with the equipment.
Jeffrey Montgomery, BPA safety and technical officer, said: "If he had been conscious he could have released the right toggle which was causing the problem".
He said Mr Jones experienced "an almost instantaneous opening of his parachute", which could have caused him to fall unconscious. He said parachutes should normally take between four and five seconds to fully open.
Joseph Graves, who was the drop zone controller at the airfield, told the hearing he saw Mr Jones freefall for 19 seconds before his parachute opened.
He said it soon began to spiral and "it continued to spiral but Chris did not seem to make any move".
Mr Montgomery said such "hard" openings could be caused by untidy packing of a parachute and could "take your breath away".
Another witness Andrew Shaw told the court that Mr Jones' parachute had been repaired after a previous hard opening in April last year.
He had also been advised to look at the way he packed his parachute but it had been marked as serviceable less than a week before his death, the inquest heard.
A post-mortem examination found Mr Jones suffered with moderately severe coronary problems but the pathologist could not be sure they had caused him to lose consciousness during the descent.
Mr Jones, from Pontyclun, Rhondda Cynon Taff in South Wales, was head of Chemistry at Wellington School, in Somerset.
- Published3 August 2015
