I am a former Jumpmaster and Instructor. On takeoff, all the jumpers move as far forward as possible. I have never seen them do anything else.
This crash may have been due to contaminated fuel, overloading, or some other failure, such as improper flap settings. They’ll find out. I highly doubt if any of the jumpers moved around and changed the center of gravity.
One of my friends was killed in the Golden Knights jump many years ago. I heard that the weight transfers had something to do with that.
There is nothing like freefall work. I loved exiting last, then having to dive to catch up with the other jumpers. In a dive one can exceed 200 mph...flying like superman. You cannot beat that thrill.....except for today’s wing suits. WOW!
One of my old jumps, the pilot aborted his takeoff, I had not seen so many helmets go on so fast.
Old skydivers like me have too many stories. I’m very happy I did it.
Way back in 2001 IIRC was walking from the parking area to the Air Show at Randolph AFB in Universal City, TX (NE of San Antonio) on Sunday and The Golden Knights Demo was happening and 1 of the Team the Main didn’t open (tangled/fouled) and I never saw a Reserve deploy. I started Praying and watched as the Diver went into a grove of trees at the edge of the Airfield. Saw the Emergency Vehicles responded instantly.
Never found anything out about Him. I contacted someone here on FR and He couldn’t find anything about it through His connections. I still wonder about the Diver’s fate to this day...