your problem is really simple, you changed the precache path for the custom model, but you forgot to change the model path @ entity creation.
Code:
para_ent[id] = create_entity("info_target")
if(para_ent[id] > 0) {
entity_set_string(para_ent[id],EV_SZ_classname,"parachute")
entity_set_edict(para_ent[id], EV_ENT_aiment, id)
entity_set_edict(para_ent[id], EV_ENT_owner, id)
entity_set_int(para_ent[id], EV_INT_movetype, MOVETYPE_FOLLOW)
entity_set_model(para_ent[id], "models/parachute.mdl")
entity_set_int(para_ent[id], EV_INT_sequence, 0)
entity_set_int(para_ent[id], EV_INT_gaitsequence, 1)
entity_set_float(para_ent[id], EV_FL_frame, 0.0)
entity_set_float(para_ent[id], EV_FL_fuser1, 0.0)
you were precaching the custom model, while calling the default model.
change the path and when you deploy the chute it should load properly.