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JaapSuter

Hitting line stretch at fifteen feet...

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Hey everybody,

I've been getting some PM's after my drunken post from last night. My comment about hitting line-stretch fifteen (15) feet above the water was not a joke.

I went stowed and took a two second delay. I was using a 42-inch non-vented ZP pilotchute. There were about five basejumpers who witnessed it. One was on the big landing area. One was on the beach. One was on the bridge and the last two were on the boat. There were also another 20 whuffo's standing at the side of the bridge. They got quite a show. Two of them drove down to the boat later to make sure I was allright, and to give me a hug for my mom. :)
I got a full gear- and pin-check right before I climbed over the railing, from an experienced jumper with over 180 jumps. According to witnesses, my PC throw was not sloppy. Yet somehow my pilotchute never inflated and never got away from my body. I kept falling and falling, and started to realize shit was wrong. Around the time land disappeared from my peripheral vision and all I saw was water, I realized I was going to die. Maybe I should have rolled on my back to clear a possible burble or reached back and do something. I suppose such words are always easy in hindsight, and it'll probably take a more experienced jumper to actually do such a thing. Maybe next time. ;)

Interestingly, at this point, I was in a very calm and slow place. Emotions are gone, and the brain is processing thoughts at an amazing pace. There was no panic, no regret, no happiness. Just acceptance. It turned out to be a bit like Tom describes over here.

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The third moment is quite rare. However, it is this third moment that makes me know that if I die BASE jumping, I will die in a perfect place. I tried to explain this to a new skydiver (not yet a BASE jumper, but with aspirations to do so) who knew one of our friends (his jumpmaster) who had died on a BASE jump. I explained it to him something like this: "I know that in his final moments, Skypunk was in the zone. I don't know how to explain this, but if you become a BASE jumper, you will know what I mean." Whenever I have experienced a problem in BASE (parachute malfunction, off-heading opening, over delay [and resultant impact], etc.) I have reacted in a Zen-like trance. I don't think. I don't even consciously act. I just AM. It all happens, and I just seem to be along for the ride. I have experienced riser corrections, toggle hangups, object strikes, even near terminal impacts, and still they all happened in a perfect place, a near Zen trance-state. I only emerge from that place well after the emergency has passed. D-Dog once describe this as “seeing God.” To me, it feels more like “being God,” in some, weird, sufiistic moment of universal consciousness. I know that if I die BASE jumping, I will be deep in the zone. Some people hope to die in their sleep, or while having sex. I cannot imagine a more perfect final moment than that deep, trance-like state. I am one of the few jumpers on earth to know this (having survived not one, but two accidents, both of which should have been fatal), but it gives me some comfort (some--I'd still prefer that I get to know our friends before they go in) knowing that Skypunk, Dr. Death, Cold Steel and all the rest of our fallen brothers (forgive the melodrama) died in this magic place.



Another weird thing was how slow the water seemed to be approaching. It is hard to judge height when you only see the brown surface of the water, but it actually looked like I could live if I braced for impact.

Which is what I did. At a very low altitude, I tucked my knees in and put my forearms in front of my face. One theory is that doing that may have actually cleared my pilotchute, and saved my ass. A split-second later my canopy opened. According to the people on the boat at that point I was as high to the water as my canopy was above me, which would be about fifteen feet. Another nano-second later I landed in the water.

The impact was hard enough to have caused death or at least serious injury if it had been over hard ground.

I quickly emerged from the surface, screaming "I'm okay!" Collin came running out from the trees. He was standing on the big landing area and had seen me disappear behind the trees without a parachute out. Clem and Denise were on the boat and they were amazing.

Instead of being all shaken up and shocked, they were laughing and applauding. At that point, that is the best reaction you can face. I was all shaken up and scared shitless myself, and you don't want to have a bunch of other people doing that too. You want smiling faces and trivializations about what happened. Denise or Clem actually said: "Risk it all..... for nothing!" which was so funny!

Thank you very much for a great boat-ride back to the dock. It was good being surrounded by you guys (Ted, Clem, Collin, Denise, Don) at that point.

Anyway, this post was to clear up some questions people have PMed me. It doesn't address the most important issue though. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?

Tom, Tedd and I discussed the accident a little more this morning and we have since learned that the way I packed my pilotchute can cause a hangup. I would say with 95 percent confidence that is what caused this. I have used this method on several stowed jumps with success, but there is a significant chance that the bridle can't feed out of the pilotchute before the pilotchute inflates, yet the pilotchute can't inflate because it's still close on your back.

I am in Twin Falls right now, and I want to first go and make some more jumps. When I get home, I will make sure I explain how NOT TO PACK A PILOTCHUTE. I will shoot some pictures, and maybe a video that shows how it can snag and you can actually apply significant force without it opening up.

I'm stoked I'm still here. This has been a great experience this early in my base career. It's about as close you can get to learning a lesson without actually dying. I always knew and accepted the risks of base, and I honestly think that I started base knowing what I was getting into. However, now that I've been in this place, the understanding has gotten to a whole new level.

I'm about to head out and do my first jump since this incident. I'm more nervous than on any of my previous jumps, even more so than on my first base jump. I'll have great and experienced people standing right next to me though.

Fortunately Cornische is sending me lots of incredibly good vibes. I had also put a tailgate on, so what could possibly go wrong? ;) I'm going to put tailgates on my motorcycle, they totally make it safer. :D



Damn, what a weekend here. Total and utter chaos. I'll have to write another post with all the stories. But first I'll make sure I post about my packing error when I get home.

Other interesting trivia about this incident:

  • As I exited, Collin screamed jokingly: "Smoke it LOW!" I certainly did what he wanted. ;)Low altitude smoking had been an ongoing theme this weekend. Nobody actually did it though, until I f'ed up.

  • As I walked out on the bridge, I told some spectators that we were jumping on the other side and that it was better to watch from there. Because (quote): "If I die doing this, I better have a good audience." :D

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Oh by the way, there's a much bigger lesson we can take away from this than how not to pack a pilot chute.

Always leave the camera running!



No, unfortunately we do not have video of this incident.

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Did you get to your risers before you hit the water ? ;)

I'm assuming you rotated into an upright position when you braced ?

Glad you made it dude.

-- Hope you don't die. --

I'm fucking winning

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I'm sooo glad to hear u made it Jaap! how's the bruising from impact?

I guess it's still my turn to take u out for sushi!



the ground IS the limit

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OMG man... glad you are alright.
Leroy


..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio...

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Crazy, Jaap!

I'm so glad you're ok! That must have been one hairball experience...

Glad to hear about the calm you felt in that moment. That's a good thing to know.

Peace,
K

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193 did something similar--well, the result was similar, but the reason was not--when he took an inadvertent 7.5 second delay at Bridge Day '98. IIRC, he had line stretch at "splashdown."

You're in good company. Don't do it again. :)
rl

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Hey Jaap.....don't know u dude ......

hopefully someday we can meet........

I'm glad that everything turned out for you


========================
Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting - "fcuk me what a ride!"

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From your profile

"Reserve Canopy: Tries flapping arms as wings"

Next time perhaps :P
My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

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Wow Jaap, I'm glad I'm not sending that carrot back to you with a get well card or worse!

I'm really anxious to see how not to pack your pilot chute. Also to hear how your next jump went. :D

--------------

(Do not, I repeat DO NOT, take my posts seriously.)

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"Reserve Canopy: Tries flapping arms as wings" Next time perhaps



Roflol. There's actually a theory that me not flapping my arms but tucking them in is what ultimately caused the PC to dislodge.

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Glad to hear about the calm you felt in that moment.



Yeah, I agree. I must admit though, that despite the calmness and the peace, there's definitely still a part of you that thinks: "This sucks, I hope it's not going to hurt."

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how's the bruising from impact?



Interestingly enough, I only had a sore neck the next day. Which has me wondering about the opening speed of my canopy. Normally a slider-down five second ride can bust you up pretty badly.

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Wow Jaap, I'm glad I'm not sending that carrot back to you with a get well card or worse!



:D:D:D

I hear carrots are good for eye-sight. I'll have to start eating some, so next time I can experience the groundrush even better! ;)

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I'm really anxious to see how not to pack your pilot chute. Also to hear how your next jump went.



Unfortunately we got winded out today. We're going to try and get two jumps in tomorrow morning before my flight leaves.

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Did you get to your risers before you hit the water



Haha, :D nice one! My canopy ride was definitely too short for that. I hadn't realized my canopy had opened until I was under water and noticed I was still alive. It went pretty much like this:

  1. shit I'm going to die
  2. brace-for-impact
  3. unexplainable last nano-second slowdown
  4. massive splash into the water
  5. coming back up and seeing canopy floating in the water
  6. yelling I'm okay
  7. seeing huge grins on Denise and Clem's faces

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Glade you made it buddy, I´d have kicked your ass if you were not there on the 25th...
;)

I´m in Nice airport, heading to US.
Talk to you soon dude.

Jul.
JFK #1013
PM Me
No Adrenalin.... No Fun!
"Minds are like parachutes the

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hahaha! ya dood, "internet vibes, blah blah blah!" In fact, I was sending margarita vibes from Outback while you were splashing down.

Have you finished developing the pilot-gate? You know thats ultimately the answer to any pilot-chute related problems. After that, the tailgate takes over.

Let's add one more thing to the discussion. How in the world are you in zero pain after that long delayed slider-down opening. Wierd. Anyone with 4+ second slider off/down experience want to shed some light?

cya,
Abbie Mashaal
Skydive Idaho
Snake River Skydiving
TandemBASE

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Hey Jaap, good thing you didn't jump that one off our object eh? That conveyer could have been bad news. I am very happy to hear that you are alright. At least now you know how not to pack your PC, I am looking forward to seeing how you did it when you post the pictures step-by-step.

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Interestingly enough, I only had a sore neck the next day. Which has me wondering about the opening speed of my canopy. Normally a slider-down five second ride can bust you up pretty badly.

It seems like if you took a 5 sec delay that when the pc hesi cleared it would open your parachute pretty damn fast and did if the people on the land couldn't see your canopy out by the time you passed the trees and it still opened in time. Maybe the reason you aren't too busted up is if your bracing position put you head high.


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you mean 175, B.L.

Rhonda, call him, he's been in the hospital with pneumonia.
Looks like a death sandwich without the bread - Steve Deadman Morrell, BASE 174

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"5-Second Jaap"... Shit, man...that was surreal...beyond words...

From my vantage point, you went below the trees with nothing out. I heard the "crack" of a canopy and an almost instant splash, followed by "He's okay!" and "I'm okay!". On my way through the trees, down to the beach, I actually paused for a second and said to myself in somewhat stunned disbelief, "What?"

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Other interesting trivia about this incident:



You forgot to mention how you screamed "Oh shit!" before the canopy opened...in English, rather than your native Dutch. :D

-C.

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Were you packed slider down?



Yes, the canopy (Rock Dragon 266) was slider down.

I'm answering for Jaap, because he's probably just getting off the plane in SLC, and I know he won't get home until sometime very late tonight.
-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

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Tom as you were arround(and perhaps still is online(i didnt chek) could you then explaine how he packed that PC?
I mean if another person does the same in the time it takes Jaap to get home we might lose a brother or sister on this bad thing.
cheers:)

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

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Tom as you were arround(and perhaps still is online(i didnt chek) could you then explain how he packed that PC?



He S folded the bridle into the bottom half of the fully extended mesh, _before_ folding the mesh in half into the PC bundle. This effectively trapped the bridle inside the PC bundle. My digital camera is, by random coincidence, also in the SLC airport right now, so I can't post pictures of the "Dead Jaap Pack" but I'll try to do so once I have a camera, assuming Jaap doesn't get to it first.
-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

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I have nothing better to do during my two hour layover at Salt Lake City airport, so attached is a sketch of the packing techniques. I still plan on shooting a little video that displays the technique and actually demonstrates how it can create a snag.

If you open up the picture, you will see two cross-section drawings of a good and a bad pilotchute packjob.


  • The black line is the bridle.
  • The green line is the mesh.
  • The red circle is the cap.
  • The blue line is the fabric (ZP).


One advantage of the top bad packjob, is that the bridle is cupped inside the mesh. That means that if you grab the pilotchute and pull it out, you are certain that you will pull the bridle with it. This reduces the risk of bridle being left in the pouch causing a hang-up that way.

However, a much better way of making sure the bridle comes with you, is making sure you actually grab the bridle by making sure it is all the way deep in the knob sticking outside the pouch.

Anyway, notice the purple arrow. That is the direction in which the bridle needs to feed out in order for the pilotchute to get away from your body.

In the bad packjob, the bridle cannot feed out until the pilotchute actually inflates, because the mesh is cupping it in there, creating a snag point where the purple dot is.

Now there are two important things that happen at once, that lead to the ultimate problem.

The bridle cannot feed out from the pilotchute until the pilot chute inflates

The pilotchute cannot inflate until it gets sufficiently far away from the body. And for this, the bridle needs to feed out.

Notice that a sufficiently powerful throw will make this packjob work most of the time (like on all my previous stowed jumps). Several witnesses agreed that my throw on this jump was not sloppy. Yet apparently it was not powerful enough for the pilotchute to unfold enough for the bridle to feed out.

Anyway, I'm paying 56 cents a minute for internet here, so I'm going to stop writing. I hope this posts made sense, and I encourage everybody to pack their pilotchute the bad way and see how it can create a nasty "tug" or "snag" point when the pilotchute is still close to your body. Ofcourse, don't actually jump it.

My drawing of the 'good' packjob needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as there is also the supermushroom, which would have a different cross-section, but also works great.

I'll post a video in one or two days, and I'll also share some thoughts about the lessons that can be learned from this incident.

Cheers,

Dead Jaap

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Where did you learn to pack your PC that way, or did you make it up yourself?
NEVER GIVE UP!

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Interesting. I've used the same method, for the same reason, for maybe 100 jumps without anything I could recognize as hesitation. I'll definitely do some testing, and probably update my pc packjob. Can you describe more the conditions in which you notice a snag when testing this on the ground? Thanks!

Michael

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