Basejumper.com - archive

http://www.magicvalley.com/...ws_local_state.2.txt

BASE jumper injured in fall
By Karin Kowalski
Times-News writer

TWIN FALLS -- A BASE jumper was injured Saturday afternoon after her parachute failed to open, according to emergency dispatchers.

Rescuers responded to the call about 3 p.m. when a 31-year-old woman fell onto the Snake River Canyon wall from the Perrine Bridge.

The woman had two broken legs, but was conscious and breathing, according to dispatchers.

BASE stands for bridge, antenna, span and earth. The 486-foot-high Perrine Bridge is the only one in the country that permits BASE jumping year-round.

More detailed information about the accident was unavailable at press time Saturday.

Two BASE jumpers have died jumping from the Perrine Bridge: Brian Stout in 2002 and Jason Corcoran in 2003. Another BASE jumper, Roger Butler, died in 2000 jumping from the Hansen Bridge. His chute deployed but he landed in the Snake River and drowned.

This is pretty bad journalism.

The total extent of the jumpers injuries was one small chip in one leg bone, plus a laceration on the other leg. The jumper was stitched up, the bone was stable, and the jumper was held overnight at Magic Valley for observation.

I'm a little stunned at the poor quality of the reporting.


Technical details of the jump:

The jump was a tard-over in exit headwind of approximately 7 mph. There were around 12 other jumpers on the load, around half of them had already exited and were at the bottom when this accident occured.

The jumper experienced a 180 off heading, and some line twists. She was able to kick out of the line twists, but at that point was very low and had to land out (across the river). She was retrieved by the boat, brought into the dock, and removed by ambulance to MVRMC.


My report is mostly first hand (I was approximately 4 feet behind the jumper when she exited, and arrived at the dock shortly after the boat).

I think I may call the paper today, and see what they have to say for themselves.

Absolutly!! They need to be held accountable for this.

Not likely. I hope they are though.

If your parachute did not open after jumping from said object, and you only broke your legs, this article would be about a miracle, not a mishap.

Tom,

Do you know why the 180 and line twist?

Why? I'm not sure we can ever definitely say what the cause was.

On the video, the canopy twists 180 while the jumper and canopy are still in free fall, prior to inflation. It also appears that the right toggle fires immediately upon inflation (so it might have been dislodged earlier).

http://www.magicvalley.com/...ws_local_state.6.txt

Tom, if you dom't mind:

Was she jumping slider up or down? If up what kind of slider? If down, tailgate?

Also, Did she land hard because she did not have time to flare?

Thanks!

She was slider down.

I believe the canopy was tailgated, both from the inflation video, and because I collected the gear after the accident and there was a tailgate in place (although, of course not closed) at that time.

I didn't see the landing (she had passed under the bridge and landed on the other side, so no one at the exit point saw the landing). Jumpers in the boat reported that she had very little time to flare (she finished clearing the twists just prior to landing). She had also lost one toggle.

This jumper was wearing light running shoes and shorts. I suspect that boots and knee/shinguards would have pretty much turned this into a "land hard and walk away" situation.

Did they come out with this second story because you called them and talked to them about their bad reporting the first time? Or did they just do it themselves?

I did call them, but I suspect the second story was not because of that. I'd say they probably realized themselves that they had exaggerated things a bit.

Great. Now, based on this story, we've got a local TV station wanting to run a story on BASE "safety precautions and injuries." Joy, joy.

 

Yeah. The TV reporter called me and started in with "I heard there was a major accident out there this weekend, and..."

After some intensive video review, here's my take on what happened.

* Jumper is doing a Tard-over jump with the canopy in one hand, and the lines in the other hand.

* Jumper exits and the canopy completes a complete 180 degree turn (clockwise from exit point perspective)before linestretch and bottom skin inflation.

* Simultaneously, the jumper turns counter clockwise in freefall and is facing 90 degrees to the left at linestretch.

* At linestretch, the total 270 degree twist is further compounded by the right toggle firing while the canopy is pressurizing.

* When the canopy is inflating, the jumper has a full 360 degree twist with the right toggle fired. (The canopy is flying 180 degrees off heading) As the canopy completes inflation, the twist is continuing.(The canopy is now flying under the bridge)

* During the final phase of pressurization, since the right side of the canopy tail is inverted and not held down by the control lines, the left side of the canopy drives past creating a heading slightly to the right. This puts the jumper on a course for the north wall.

* It looks on the video that if the toggle had not fired, the jumper may have flown over the river and not hit the wall.

At this point, the jumper flies out of view and I can't see what occured after this point.

Can you clarify this for us 'not yet BASE jumpers' please?

What is it?

A TARD-over is an unpacked jump.

You hold the canopy (pretty much propacked) in your hand(s), not in any kind of container. Then you perform a front flip over the canopy. As you fall away (past the canopy), you reach line stretch and the canopy inflates.

This is a variation on the TARD (a similar jump, but without the front flip--you loft the canopy up and drop off underneath it).

I've seen TARDs and TARD-overs done with the canopy and lines in the same hand, as well as with the canopy in one hand and the lines in the other. I personally prefer using both hands when possible (which is the style the jumper used in this case), but it is much easier to do this with some kind of stable launch platform (which was also present in this case), so when people are doing them from outside the handrail with no exit platform, they sometimes opt for the "canopy and lines in one hand" style TARD.

TARD is an acronym for "Totally Awesome Rapid Deployment". The TARD varies from the WAD ("Wild Ass Deployment") in that the TARD canopy is loose and hanging, where the WAD canopy is essentially packed into the jumpers hand(s).

Thanks Tom, I'm not sure, is there a similar exit called a 'Mconkey'?

Or is that a brit thing?

(excuse my ignorance, trying to learn...)

According to jumpers on the boat, she didn't actually hit the wall. She missed the outcropping and landed on steep, loose talus below it. I'm unclear on if this was by chance or as a result of steering input just after clearing the twists.

I do know that the blood stains on the talus began about 15 feet above the point where I collected the gear, which was about 35 feet below the wall. This is circumstantial evidence that her slide started on the talus slope, rather than on the wall above.

The McConkey, or Rollover, is done with the canopy already at line stretch, hanging below the jumper. In practice, it's tended to have a lower malfunction and off heading rate than the TARD, likely because the canopy is already at line stretch (and the majority of off headings develop while the canopy is moving to line stretch).

This maneuver was first done by paragliders (there's a web page with photos somewhere, maybe someone can dig it up). I was the second person in my area to do this with a BASE canopy, and at that time I posted some photos on the internet, christening the maneuver "The McConkey" for Shane McConkey, the first kid on my block to do it. The name has stuck to some extent.

 

Thanks guys...

There is a TARDover (aka McTARDy) near the end of this video:

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/...ion=file&id=1619

It happens up in the top left of the screen, at the same time as a freefall assist (chain).

Lots more examples, from the same site as this incident, here: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/...ion=file&id=2501

Dave

I meant the canyon wall in general, not specifically the wall she landed next to.

When I was talking to her in the boat, trying to determine how she hit (so I could think about possible injuries) she told me that she "steered away from a big boulder" that she was flying towards, and then flared before landing.

http://www.gradient.cx/.../bridgejump/jump.htm

To follow up on this:

I've spoken to the folks at the newspaper, and given them my contact info. They've agreed to contact me to ask for details on future accidents. I'm not saying I'll be able to control what they print, but I ought to at least give them some straight facts before they go to press. I'm also talking to the news editor about coming and giving a presentation about BASE to the staff.

i were on the boat as this incedent oqur.

From studying the video whith Chad i do agree whith him.
However i do belive that she might could have landed in water instead if she had tryed to climb the twists and stear towards the water.

As i rember i had just done a TARD over just few mins before the 1 hand metode resulting in a 180,from headwinds and messed up "packjob".

She seemed werry concentrated about the line twists(i understand why)and therefore didnt think about her onheading,she cleared the line twists in a altitude too low to make any kind of turn away from the spot were she landed(atleast safely),and i think she did a good job landing the canopy were she did(nasty area and dont want to think of is she landed other places just nearby by the force she did.

Im happy that she didnt got more injuryed than she did...