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I didn't get a chance to thank everyone who helped get me out of the predicament I got myself into. The break was pretty severe, compound tib/fib on me left ankle. I also have some damage to my right ankle but am unsure of the extent.

Lesson #1 - If you get injured jumping around Beckley, WV suck it up and spend the extra time going to a Charleston hospital where they have more than one doctor and an emergency room staff that doesn't cringe at the sight of blood. If you want more on that experience PM me.

Regarding the jump itself... I went HH from 250' but rather than dropping straight down as I had seen others do I launched diagonally to give myself more head room. I had seen others launch this way also, but they were PCA'd or SL'd. Launching in this direction brings a cement pillar into play should you experience an off heading left. I didn't really think I would reach the pillar even if I experienced the worst-case off heading, which I did.

Lesson#2 - If there is a chance of hitting something have a DBS and use it. My Flik didn't come with a DBS and I have not been proactive about installing or testing one. I felt the need but always let other things interfere with the endeavor.

Upon opening I was staring at the cement pulling on my right rear riser yelling F!@k, F!@k$, F!@k. I got it turned but was out of altitude and had no forward glide. As my body swung back under the canopy I impacted the ground.

I definitely wonder if toggles instead of risers would have turned it around quickly enough with less altitude loss. I only needed about five more feet to have a landable situation.

Lesson#3 - This may be completely obvious but always consider the landing area that you may be faced with if the jump doesn't go as planned. I've found myself more than once planning for things going well and missing a major landing issue should something not goes as plan.

Thanks again to everyone who carried me out and got me to a hospital. I hope I never have to repay the favor but gladly would.

Tony,

Glad you're ok, or as good as can be, considering the circumstances. And thanks for the "lessons learned." Can't wait til I hear the rest of the story!

Too bad we won't get to jump before I leave the country in December (long story, PM me.)

David

Does your "FLIK" have the 5th control line?? If so, thats the reason it doesn't have an additional brake setting.
Spence used it after your accident and had it laid out by the packing area after his jump. I offered to pack it, but I don't think they liked my comment about tension knots.

Thanks for posting your thoughts and lessons on the accident...

Have a quick recovery

PS I posted my accident to BASEWiki as I thought it was something for others to perhaps learn from... perhaps do the same?

http://www.basewiki.com/...hp/Stories/MacBusted

Sorry to hear about your injury. Sounds bad

I wish I was there for you like you were there for me last year in Moab, mate.

Heal well, and don't second guess yourself too much. The nature of these things is that you will learn from it and come out a better jumper. I didn't see it, but I can tell you this: You did well enough my friend.

Lesson for others: Be prepared - its coming for you, and it gives you no warning before it tries to tear your life away from you in a split second.

Be Safe.
-Bill

yes, the local hospital is terrible. they misdiagnosed my broken tailbone a decade ago and tried to release even though my blood pressure kept dropping to 50/20. they didn't even give me any painkillers. the hospital dropped the fees after realizing that their physician was so imcompent. definetly go elsewhere if you are hurt.

You are welcome. Thank you for keeping my streak (3 years) of carrying somebody out of that place. Hope you heal fast.

P.S. You are a heavy fucker.

You think maybe, thats the reason he has that nickname..................

No problem buddy. You took it well with laughs n jokes on the way out. Or maybe that was your way of keeping the fact that magot had your busted ankle in his hands off your mind?

And yes, you are a heavy fucker. Hope you heal quick doode.

P.S. "Hey, by the way, what's your name again?"

later

Yes, toggles are better at conserving altitude and better for turn rate.
"Anything you can do with the risers, you can do WAY better with the toggles"
http://miller28.server101.com/...risersortoggles.html

Hey Tony,

Sorry to hear you got banged up but glad it wasn't more serious.
I imagine you will be laid up for a while recovering.
You need anything? Jump flicks, porn, etc.?

I strongly disagree. If you want to have the argument, we can start another thread, but in short, my view is that:

a) Toggles are better if you must conserve altitude;
b) Risers are better if you must conserve distance to object strike.

Hey Tony

Glad to see you're OK enough to post.

Sorry I didn't stick around to see your jump, I was busy carrying another jumper out to go to hospital.

Good lessons learned, I would like to add the following:

the exit height is 230 ft

the section we went from is NOT in center between the pillars, there are 11 sections and we went from number 5 from the pillar to the left

you have enough canopy time to hit either pillar with a staticline, a PCA, a freefall assist, a handheld freefall and even a stowed freefall, if you had gone from the center between them and got an offheading towards either pillar

you only need to watch where people land to realise this

heavier people with bigger canopies cannot safely freefall the same low heights as lighter people with smaller canopies

no-one should be freefalling this object if they are not QUICK on the toggles and know how to fly their entire canopy flight in deep brakes and get a stand-up landing while flaring from deep brakes

hope you recover well and quickly

cya

WHOA!!!! Sounds like a static line/PCA for anybody in the 300sqft. +/- range. I jumpa troll 305 and I wouldn't freefall it.

Heal fast man.Thanks for the use of the rig.

Dude! Ouch. It sounds like you're recovering okay? I'm really glad to hear that you managed the situation as well as you did.

Heal fast!!!

I'm glad I was not there carrying your fat ass out!

It could have been worst dude.

i was hoping someone else might point that out. there's a big difference in 20ft... it's the last few feet that matter the most.

No problem, I'm just happy that I had your ankles for most of the trip... as somebody mentioned, why couldn't people call you skinny tony?

Thanks for the info Sam. I agree with most things you said. You even mentioned we were closer to the pillar I ended up aimed before you exited. The one thing is the altitude. From directly under the exit point I lasered it the day before at 84yds or 252ft to impact. The desired landing area was about 5 to 6 feet higher than that. Where I impacted was probably higher than the preferred landing area although I don't know how much because I didn't consider the possibility of landing there (see Lesson#3 I believe)

As for the jump itself I do not regret my decisions I would like to try it again. I knew how high it was and understood the added risks. I didn't take into account the distance to the pillar and didn't have the altitude necessary to recover from the evasive manuever.

No problem brother man, hope you heal fast.....then lose about 20....my god damn back hurts....and those sticks around the blanket isn't exactly 21st century

Get well.
BK

...but indeed they helped...

230 ft? Man, I saw you jump from way lower... OK, that was SL. Heal fast, cross the ocean, drop me a PM, jump some of our E's and you'll know why that rock is too low for me now ( I'm now a scared little thing, and if I can't jump my wingsuit of an object, I'm not jumping it...)

Take care

Weight is an issue for lower freefalls for sure. 230ft is definitely within my freefall limit as a heavier jumper under a bigger canopy, but you have to expect significantly less canopy time than other lighter jumpers and you won't make it as far, so if the only landing area is a flight away (or you have obstacles to clear to get to it) then i'll err with the static line.

Weight doesn't seem to be such an issue with static lines or PCA's in my experience. and you can go down into the 140ft and less range without much to worry about (above and beyond the normal worries any jumper might have that low).

With regards risers or toggles on this jump....who knows if you made the right decision? Maybe toggles might have gained you some altitude, but maybe you wouldn't have got the canopy turned away from the pillar as soon. Perhaps if you'd popped the toggles you'd have surged into the concrete and might be dead now. You'll never know the answer to that one.

Heal fast and beware cold weather from now on. It really sets the arthritis off.

ian

Hey Tony,

The lady who took the pics of the jump kindly sent me those.

It's the freefall of you and Nick.

FYI Nick is freefalling an Ace 240 (No vents) with a 46".

Tony had his Flik 293 with v-tec and a 47".

few more just to rub it in!

Tony u did everything right remember i was ther and saw the hole thing the boggy monster slammed u into the ground I dont know what u did to piss him off but it was all him the basterd even luaghed when he walked by me. anyway if i could giive u any advise it would be loss some wieght
because u are really heavy when my little tight tasty ass has to carry u and dont pisws of the boggy monster. heal fast and dont free fall 230 in the bad winds u crazy fuck
all my love maggot
ps ill carry u anywhere

Post a pic of the Boggy monster.

I was searchig the web for a pic of the bogy monster and here is what i came up with.

Yeah... It was just one of those things. You deal with the shit on your plate until you run out of altitude and then you deal with that. I wish I had swooped the landing dragged my leg and yelled yee haw as I stood it up next you guys with a smile on my face, but that's not how it happened this time. I did still have a smile on my face. And as I said previously I don't regret the jump and next time I'll know an object the distance of that pillar can easily come into play.

Just for my own reference, how far away would you say the pillar was (horizontally) from your exit point? My apologies if I missed that in the above...

Hey Tony

Anytime. Thank YOU for making my first jump ALL THE MORE memorable and really hitting home just how serious this sport can be. The whole weekend was a pretty sobering one for me. Hope you get back on your feet soon.

I wonder if that bridge has more jumps on it now then the NRG Bridge?

Don't feel bad about the hospital either. I live in Fairmont, WV and whenever I get hurt.... I have someone take me to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, WV which is 30 mins away from my house. Fairmont General Hospital is only 5.. go figure...

DBR

I believe that the distance between the pillars in 280... so the max you could be away would be about 140'

five highway spans: with 4 pillars 180'-280'-280'-280'-180'...
Pillars are 77' to around 226'

Anyway, Tony it was fun drinking with you thursday night. Heal up fast. I got there after you had been carried out.

Next year we'll have to get the photo-copier out for those complimentary drink cards-

justin

I would say about 100 feet. From the video it looks like about 3-4 seconds from inflation to impact had I not turned. It was definitely an object of intense concentration for a couple of seconds. In my video with a .6 lens it was all you could see for a second or so.

Sorry I missed out on Friday and Saturday night but I assure you you don't want to be as fucked up as I was those two nights...

Another quick question? What were you wearing on your feet?

ian

I was wearing a good pair of Merril boots. I have landed hard in them a couple of times and they have really proven their ability. I would have still broken my one leg wearing Hanwag's or Crispi's. I had a screw in the ankle from a previous injury racing motorcycles and it bent the screw. The Dr. was completely bewildered that I could impact hard enough to bend that screw.

Five things may single-handedly prevented this accident. There may even be others that I have not yet discovered.

1. Don't jump
2. PCA or SL
3. Exit in a different direction
4. Toggles instead of risers
5. Turning left instead of right

All are options I didn't take.

Stupid bridge. This is day 6

No pain though!

I think that object has banged up nearly everybody I know.

edit: pic

TJ you are one sexy bitch. And young too.
What exactly did you injure ? (I *assume* you saw a doctor)

TJ: AHA! i told you your toes would soon turn purple...

Yep yep! It was one hell of a fall off a skateboard

Just a sprain. No break and the joint is tight. I should be back in the air by turkey time.

damn TJ. that looks... rough.

He sprained his ankle. Very similar to my fire-jumping incident at xenia a few months ago. His foot seems to be following the same progression of misery that mine did. Mine still feels weak and hurts 2 months later...

I highly recommend seeing a doctor too (theyll give you some reeeeally nice halloween candy.... just make sure you whimper in pain every time they touch it)

fire-jumping incident at xenia? heh. i haven't heard this one... do share! :-D

Cheers for the answer. Wasn't trying to catch you out. Just wondering if you had Vans on or something which might have been a factor. So many injuries could be avoided with proper footwear and ankle protection - this wasn't one of them.

ian

Bones always heal better than joints...Once the foot has healed and the swelling is down you will definitely want to do some rehab: Start with rolling the ankle in circles to loosen it and re-build muscle, eventually some swimming would help.

Hope you heal well.

Lots of alcohol, big bonfire lined with large block-shaped rocks, and a bet with mooch for a packjob. I swear to god i made it on the first attempt... but just to prove that i won, i just haaaaad to do it again. I fell about 2 inches short and heard a really strange noise come out of my ankle.....

3 days and about 18 vicadin later, just when i thought i was about to go through a withdrawal, I show up in cincinnati to work on a tower, and my boss hands me another bottle of vicadin...