Basejumper.com - archive

from www.teletext.ch (page 112)

A 35 year old british jumper deceased saturday after jumping from xxxxxx, above "a village in a famous valley". His parachute deployed too late and the unfortunate "crashed" in a field.

This athlete was considered as experimented in a disciplin considered much more hazardous as freefalling from an airplane.


BSBD
condolences to family and friends, and all the BASE community

edited for name of places.

News story here.

Family has now been notified, so name of jumper is public knowledge.

I jumped with him in a few random places around the globe. He was one of the good guys, and will be missed.

Initial reports indicate a fumbled PC on an early use of the BASE PC pouch on a wingsuit.

Condolences to family and friends...

Mark

Can you elaborate a little on this Tom ?

From the birdman site:

Is this what your referring to ? or am i way off the mark ?

Condolences to all his family & friends.

Not really. I'm passing on thirdhand info. I think that any real accident analysis will have to wait until the folks who were present get home, and have a chance to sort through things.

This is unfortunate news, a real bummer.

RIP

BSBD

My deepest condolance to his family and freinds.

i still dont have any words

fly free brother

Deepest sympathies to his family & friends.

BSBD

I wasn't there but he was a mate of mine. I've been out of the sport for a little while and unfortunately hadn't had the opportunity to see him in a while but he was one of the nicest guys I've ever had the pleasure of meeting and jumping with. I was totally shocked when I got the call on Saturday.

As indicated above, he died due to an impact following a deployment problem but since I wasn't there I don't want to post the full details. The guys who were there will be posting details shortly and it'd be good if people didn't fall into the usual pattern of rumours until one of the guys there confirm the full details.

BSBD mate, you'll be missed by all of us.

Craig

This a shock for all of us, we had a few beers for you brother, thnkx for the parties and the fun we shared all aound the world.

We miss ya...

Belgian crew

I knew this jumper, he contated me and came out to Perris not long ago to be trained in wingsuit flight. Did quite well, all jumps made BOC. My understanding about the incident is that he had just converted to the "Base Specific" p/c pouch on his S3, and when his BASE logbook was reviewed he had been see not be pushing lower and lower deployments.

A hell of a nice man, I'm sorry to hear about this. BSBD.

You were one of the Good Guys..........
Fly Free brother.........

You will be missed.

Being one of the few kiwi jumpers, Duane and I had exchanged emails before actually meeting. The first time we met, we flicked a quick 2-way from the waterfall, geeked in freefall and had a general yahoo. We knocked off a few more jumps, had a beer then went separate ways. Only a few weeks back we had been in email contact again with the plan to hook up in LB, unfortunately work commitments kept me in NZ.

Deepest sympathies to DTs wife and familiy. He was a nice guy.
Neil

http://www.averybadenhop.com/duanethomas.jpg

 
Oh my god, i'm at a loss for words... DT was without a doubt one of the nicest people i have met while travelling. We chatted every day at Perris and he was interested in making a trip out here soon...

My sincerest condolences to his family, may angels watch over you in your time of need.

Fly free wherever you are brother, see you there someday.

BSBD

I only met Duane a coulpe of times but he was instantly likeable. A genuinely good guy.



Gus

AVery.

That photo is duane in a nutshell. It sums him up perfectly. I will miss him and his "drink milk" hat dearly. One of the good guys is an understatement of epic proportions.

Missing him already.

deepest sympathy to his family, wife and close friends.

I was lucky enough to see something similar to that photo for myself at Easter. Duane was jumping off the yellow face just before me. As he exited he did a barrel roll and geeked the scared newbie (me) who was waiting to jump.

I only met him a couple of times, I wish I could've got to know him better.

Will

Today is a sad day for me , I became a very good friend of Duane , he will be missed a lot.... He was a very kind person and I really enjoyed hanging with him .

Se Libre Duane .

Tu Amigo Gabriel

I unfortunately only made a slack handful of jumps with Duane

He really was one of the good guys, he will be greatly missed

My deepest sympathy to his wife and family

Fly free

Nice guy, a smile always at the ready. We hung out & chatted at Perris a few weeks ago - he was training & flying his WS, totally excited about heading over to LB.

Deepest condolences & prayers to his loved ones.

Fly free.

I met Duane in Russia in 2003 and we did a few jumps together. He was a top bloke and so easy going. He will be sadly missed.

Meeker

Just found this one on my PC, Duane visiting Belgium.

cheers mate

I was in Lauterbrunnen when it happened, and spoke to UK jumpers who witnessed the event.

What I gather is that DT made his first wingsuit jump, and that he had a tendency to pull low. His pull on this jump was low, he took time to extract the PC, and he fell for some time with his wings deflated (leading to increased fall rate). He hit the ground on line stretch. His wife saw it all....

I was jumping with a NL friend at the other side of the valley, and only found out about it when we went to Air Glacier for some general weather info.

So, this info is second hand, but from witnesses on site.

Needless to say, we loose another base jumper. Condolences to his family.

Ronald Overdijk
[www.liveskyproductions.nl]

Oh, Duane!

I worked with Duane many times over the phone, sending him accessories and such to England. He came to Perris and we did the doux, having a wonderful time. Duane was truly a nice guy, always smiling and enjoying the moment. I'm glad to have met him and jumped with him. I'll be sure to eat a bowl of Froot Loops for him when I get back to the States.

Fly free, Duane, and sincere condolences to his wife, family, and friends.

Peace,
Karen

Will miss you friend, every time I "drink milk" I'll remember your great smile and words of wisdom.

we'll jump together again one day.

Duane, Neil, Dan and Koleshaker on top of 240ft B in london:
Duane- Last time i jumped this B i landed in that tree down there...
We all jump.
Dan- So Duane, that tree your hanging from, is it the same tree you landed in last time?...
Big smile from Duane.

Duane, wherever you are, i've got to tell you i'm not happy about all this!

Laters Duane.
Dan-the-Man (and Koleshaker.)

he almost had his tree landing number...i think the only one he needed was the A..i did a linked two way with him from one of the high bridges in southern france after which he landed in a very tall tree...whilst shimmying down he put his foot in a bee's nest which added injury to the insult...eventually needing some treatment to the stings on his head and a tree surgeon to retrieve the canopy...one of a long line of tales that made us all laugh over the years that we hung out...the guy was a rock star and will be sadly missed

Thanks for your fantastic company and all the good times at Petronas! I still think your job ruled! :)

You will be missed!

RIP

iiro

may the angels cherish what our hearts will miss.

fly free bro...

Damion,

Don't revive old threads with titles like "BASE Fatality in Whateverland." I thought for a second it was new . . . and it scared me.

Nick
BASE 194