BASE Fatality 11/11/2005

[NickDG 23]

Every busted leg tells a story and we probably miss some lessons by not keeping better track of non-fatal accidents. When it was smaller the BASE community is a harder place to go unnoticed when you pranged and some of the BASE magazines of the day printed those as accident reports complete with conclusions.

The un-intended results are sometimes heated exchanges when the injured jumper writes the editor saying, "You f-ing bonehead! You got that all wrong!!! I'm got more jumps then you, you f-ing moron, and another thing you f-ing . . ."

It "was" somebody second guessing someone else and it didn't work. It's a lesson I keep in mind when writing the fatality reports and I sweat being correct as possible. But, I'm sure when I get to heaven some BASE jumpers will be waiting for me with, "You f-ing . . . bonehead!!!" So when the time came I didn't print accident reports in the Fixed Object Journal unless the injured jumper wrote the piece, or at least someone who was there did.

I remember at least two non-fatal wire strikes, but I think there's been more. In one the jumper entangled the guy wire and slid down until the canopy burned through and dropped him into a water channel. The other jumper still on top said, "It was a million to one moon shot."

NickD BASE 194

[fab777 0]

I think we should build a real experience return system for this kind of things. Via a dedicated website, maybe?

Fabien
BASE#944

[TomAiello 25]

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I think we should build a real experience return system for this kind of things. Via a dedicated website, maybe?

Dropzone.com maintains an incident database for skydiving. I wonder if we could convince Sangiro to replicate the engine and create one for BASE?

I think I'd prefer to see something linked to the List, though, rather than to DZ.com.

Even then, we're only going to get a sampling of the accidents.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Sean621 0]

it needs to be well guarded...there are a lot of sharks who lurk here who will hang us with the info.

http://www.extreme-on-demand.com

[cpoxon 0]

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Now, if you intentionally decided to fly between the wires prior to exiting, then it is a different story. That requires good flying skills. If you are intending to "fly the wires", you should have lots of vertical space between the wires or the angle of the wires should be close to your glide ratio. Can I suggest some CRW training to teach a bit of canopy relative skills?

At a recent legal event in Hungary, I had the opportunity to take a short delay (the locals wouldn't allow a slider-up jump through the wires until a slider-down jump above the wires was executed first) on a Blaw-Knox style tower, which gave me the chnace to fly around and through the guy wires in broad daylight. Doing this with a wide, slider off toggle arrangement, was an education, completely different to any Canopy Relative Work I have previously undertaken. I'm not sure what benefit it would be due to the wide angle lens, but if anyone would like me to post the video, I would be more than willing to. My head was on a bigger swivel than when I was under canopy on any 100+ way that I've been on...

Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

[Lee846 0]

About flying between the wires -- looks not so easy here -- because that A is 1) SQUARE, 2) has 5 levels of wires -- 2 lower attached to one point on the ground and 3 upper... And unexpectedly short delay that means short separation from the construction. And poor skills -- some 30 jumps.

RIP.

Between two evils always pick theone never tried

[TVPB 0]

This may be graphic for some viewers, so please turn away if you get offended by blood and guts and constructive feedback given in a blunt manner!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Nick

I used to think the same r.e. political correctness and not offending anyone r.e. accidents. But then I used to get MANY calls from media after STUPID accidents, I used to get newbie jumpers demanding that their method of progression/learning was correct and mine was too slow, I have had friends of deceased jumpers abuse me for not looking after their mates (even though their mates would not listen to logic or sanity), I have had people say that they can't explain their offheadings and fifth accident in 6 months and that it is just bad luck (on their 40th jump doing aerials on lower objects with no out landing areas, etc), I have been told by "senior/experienced jumpers that I am detrimental to the sport because I tell people the realities of poor risk management and trying too much too soon, . . . . . .

In a nutshell, people can't be told nicely that they are being idiots or doign the wrong thing and that they should temper their enthusiasm for rapid advancement with some common sense and logical/sequential skill development. So you have to tell them bluntly!!!

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You f-ing . . . bonehead!!!"

Quite frankly, I have seen too many mangled bodies, too many burned sites, increased security, and too many penalty increases due to idiotic behaviour that some parts of the BASE community want to put down to just bad lack. BULLSHIT - people have to occassionally accept that a certain percentage of incidents and accidents are due to poor management and a total disregard for safety, common sense, and lack of respect for the sport.

Any professional person / organisation knows that accident investigations generally lead to information/systems/procedures/equipment that can help protect the lives of future participants in the sport. I fully accept that individuals may want to remain anonymous or private and to a certain extent I accept that as their right. We (including me), have done this in the past, and it is NOT productive..

Withholding information or chastising others for trying to advance our sport, share information, and basically save the lives of other BASE jumpers, is not fair. Not getting the facts of an incident fully correct may not be the ideal situation. But even a discussion of possibilities promotes advancement/progression, etc.

I support Nick's past practice of printing incident reports. I also believe that we should protect the rights of the individual in terms of anonymity, embarrasment, etc. But sharing the information is more important.

How to share? Incident reports to registered emails? People can access a database by secure logon? We could also have a tips and tricks site - if people have an incident, they could add learnings to a site dedicated to knowledge and skills (a site without gossip and stories), perhaps Jaap's BASE Wiki could deal with this.

Conclusion: the first step to overcoming a problem is to recognise that the problem exists. Whilst most real BASE jumpers are open minded and honest enough to fit into this category, we do have some jumpers that operate under the philosophy that "it's not my fault and it wont happen to me"!!!!

Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck

The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.