Basejumper.com - archive

I have questioned whether to post this. I wonder if its worth doing and whether people read it and learn from it, i question whether people think I am trying to grab attention, or whether its worth putting injury reports up so the media get their hands on it and say "these guys are mad"

I am hoping what I have written is something I have written and at least one person says "mmmmmmm"

I would be interested in what others say about the way I have tried to report my accident, I would also be interested if you think reporting an accident like this is beneficial............

I would like to hear your thoughts about my accident in anyway............

I expect some negativity from posting this, and realise I aint the first person to ever suffer a BASE injury - I just hope I have conveyed my thoughts about my injury enough to have someone question something..............

Oh well, flame away.............

Interesting reading.... maybe I should do the same

Only thing I would say: surely "lessons learned" should be "don't repeat the 4 errors highlighted above"...........

For sure,

I think the fact you thought about BASE for a few years, the fact you had 1000+ skydives, the fact you were a sensible and thoughtful jumper, the fact that out of all the new jumpers I ever spoke to you were the last person I would think of getting injured so soon, the fact you fucked your leg on a perceived "normal jump", the fact that BASE bites the most sensible person I know, the fact that this year I have seen my first actual friends die or get injured, - may help show others that it does not matter who you are - things go wrong and hurt you someday........

just look at the last people on the list, in fact just look at the people on the list who were deemed experienced..................

No one is safe..................

please people, just be careful..........

Hi Mike,
Interesting read, and well written. I am not a base jumper, having had a very short base career (2 jumps at BD 2003, the second of which resulted in a shattered heel).
I just wanted to tell you about some awesome shoes I now have that take a lot of the pain out of walking. My injuries resulted in arthritis in most of the joints in my foot, so everyday life is painful.
http://www.zcoil.com/index.html
These shoes may look pretty ridiculous with the huge metal spring in the heel, but they say they remove 80% of the impact from each step as well as giving me some "suspension", as my foot joints are seized.
I don't think they are sold in the UK (I'm from Scotland living in Houston, BTW) but if you are willing to take a chance on getting the size right, I can't tell you how much I recommend these shoes.
All the best with your recovery.
Nick

Bad crack, mate.

There's a lesson to be learned in one of the things that turned out well but could've made this even more messy. The fact that your crew had the ability to extract you from the situation by removing the obstacle shows the need for contingency to be well planned.

Everyone should think about this on every jump. If it goes bad, will you be able to be extracted without waiting for medical assistance or rescue by the authorities? What happens if you land in that tree? What happens if someone lands in the tree and loses consciousness? What if you all get injured? Will your GC be able to handle the full load?
I know this is just for shits n grins but there are consequences and they are far reaching in most cases.

Sorry to hear about the job too. I guess that's what you can expect from the pencil-necked bean counters.

Be careful out there. It's close to the ground and someone might get hurt.

Heal fast, Mac. Best wishes,

my true approach to each jump from here will be focusing on what will happen when it goes wrong.......... If I am not happy with being able to be rescued or happy I will be ok with a problem, then I aint gonna jump......... I have met many people recently that after some pretty bad injuries they only look at "what happens when this goes to real shit" - maybe experience jumpers all think this way? I know I will now............ maybe I am just progressing on the normal path..........

I thank the people with me that night, as without them I would have maybe lost my foot......... I will never again be so comfortable and never again be in a situation that if that happens to my friend I dont have a clue what to do................

body armour and trauma courses ARE the future.............

dont be the one that could have done something that could save your friends limb............. but you did not know what to do..........

I thank Uncle Tom, Sean, and Greeny for being there on my jump........ without you guys I dont know what I would have done - thanks fellas........ I owe you big!!! (never again will i do solos!!!!!)

shits and giggles it is.......... but one day it maybe a fucking bastard.............

funny i told myself that as i were down aswell,but fact is that i did the first jump again after my injury as a solo...

Why i cant tell you besides i felt that it were the way to do it.Face the beast,which im happy as today.

One thing i learned from my acsident is that when shit happens your already in big trouble and you better be prepared for the worst.

When things happen as you solo you better keep your head clear or you might wont see the day in the right light again.
Learn how your body works,what is needed to treat the best way and what to do just to survive.
Wear a phone,and body armor.wear a belt or alike in case you have a big bleeding,and perhaps one of thouse(i dunno the word) silver blankets in case you need to keep you warm.
Have a light to signal whith and perhaps a wistel( ? thouse things you can blow in and get a high sound),oh and then i never jump whith out my morphine pills

but ofcourse GC that can help you out is the best choice,just not always somthing you have or want(atleast i dont)....

the fact of the matter is that BASE is dangerous...its all about comprehensive risk management...if you cant manage the risk then sell your rig and do some reminiscing...

i think you guys did a great job mate,i will jump near any objects whith you guys.

besides i just saw some old video from feb trip.what you did to Macs car do it again but harder just before he returns it
reedited video will soon headding your way

have fun dont do somthing i wouldnt,and say hello to Vickie,i really enjoyed your guys drunk calls

Hi,

This is awesome. I wish more people would (and less people should, of course) do this kind of thing.

Your list of perceived errors does not include the fact that your brake setting hung up. It seems to me that this ultimately became the final error that lead to your accident. Am I right in assuming this?

What kind of brake setting hang-up are you talking about here. Did you miss the toggle, and would different toggles have helped? Or did you not pull hard enough, or all the way-down, so the brake-setting didn't come unstowed? Or was there an actual packing error that resulted in a lock-up that could not have been fixed even if you would have had the time to do it (opened higher)?

While you may have come to the decision to no longer freefall under some altitude, there are going to be jumpers who will continue to try this (not me, mind) and they're going to need technology that will prevent such 'hang-ups' in the future. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on what could have been done to prevent this from the gear point-of-view.

Also, if you're not too busy, I was wondering if you could make a simple 2D sketch of the landing area and its obstacles, and then draw out the planned landing pattern (what the other jumpers did), your actual flight path, and any winds/turbulence.

Can you elaborate on what kind of trauma training your friend has taken? Is it much beyond what a two day first-aid/CPR course offers? Are you planning on taking such a course yourself now?

What kind of shoes and body-armor were you wearing, and would different shoes and armor have affected the outcome at all?

Finally, was anybody on the crew carrying any painkillers of some sort? Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Eipmoez

(edited to add question about shoes and armor)

Due to the positive replies to Mac's report, I have done my own, but I'm not entirely comfortable posting it in the public domain. If anyone is interested, I will happlily email it to you - just PM me with your email address....

Cheers
Ivan

(Mac; still having problems with Blinc - can you cross-post for me? Email: evilivan@dropzone.com)

Someone should step up and do an online database / web site where people could upload accident reports to (anonymously, if they wish).

I think that would be invaluable to the field.

Is that you volunteering?

if he does volunteer, he might as well use 813's format and make it into a database. I can make a template database if someone is serious about it....

my perceived errors were more to do with the errors I personally made rather than equipment problems - the use of equipment i was unfamiliar with lead to the brake setting hang up.



I beleive that although I had popped the toggle off I had in fact not pulled hard enough to free the setting, factored with the "newness" of the lines and setting and my lazy pull down the setting stayed and with my sudden "oh shit" and release of the setting when trying to flare, and the lack of alitude, this made for a very hard energy impact.


More testing and more jumps on my gear before taking it so low would have prevented this happening.


I have attached something - but its pretty crappy............ not sure its of any benefit at all......... especially as the scale is probably fucked up..... but hey I tried and you may get some idea.


Due to his work he has very advanced trauma training. And yes, before I return to jumping I want to have taken an outdoor activity first aid course (the one I have planned is used for instrutor ratings for rock climbing etc) - I dont ever want to be in a position of not knowing what to do for the best.


I was wearing some pretty sturdy hiking boots, a helmet and knee pads. The boots had stopped my tib from breaking the skin at the bottom of my foot and compounding - if I had been wearing my vans trainers (as I had done on many jumps) my ankle and leg would have been in a much more serious state.


The body has an amazing way to deal with the pain, and unless someone had specific medical training I would say that giving me pain killers is unnecessary - of course I would have loved pain killers, I just had to wait 2 1/2 hours to get to the hospital where they actually put me out to realign and reduce the fractures.


Well I hope in some way my dodgy explainations are clear.

if you wrote it whith out a hangover i would like a copy mate

Thanks BASE813, much appreciated!

One more thing I was wondering about. What kind of turn does your canopy make when you unstow one of your brakes and leave the other one in there?

I was actually jumping a certain canopy a few weeks back, and the person I rented the gear from had warned me about the toggle settings. He told me to "pull the toggles below the nipples" to make sure they come unstowed. Of course on my first jump with this canopy which was also one of my first base jumps overall (at the Potato bridge) I forgot about this and I didn't pull one of the brakes far enough. This only resulted in a really slow and flat turn, easily correctable by counter-steering with the one unstowed toggle. Of course, if your DBS is deeper it would turn more aggresive, and even more so if you let the other toggle completely up.

Plus, your jump environment was a lot more advanced (you were lower, at night, obstacles, etcetera).

What kind of toggles, and toggle stows (velcro, rubber-band, tab) did you jump with, and how far do you have to pull them down to get them unstowed? Ears, neck, nipples, belly or below your feet ? I tried finding this information in your report but couldn't find it. My apologies if it's already in there.

I'll have to play with this kind of stuff once I can take my canopy for some skydives.

Once again, thanks!

Cheers,

Eipmoez