Basejumper.com - archive

what can i do to make it more safer to base jump i have plans to begin in March 2008 on the course from Apex

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/detail_page.cgi?ID=64

http://www.dropzone.com/...etail_page.cgi?ID=64
http://www.basewiki.com/...Base/GettingIntoBase

Buy health insurance - so the TF community doesn't have to absorb your health costs in the event of an accident. That's one of the best things you can do for the locals as well as your family...imho.

Helicopters suck a shitload of gas.

Good luck and have fun.

never beg.

"There's a kind of distortion of liberalism which says that we live in a democracy and people should be able to do what they want. That's not true if you're not playing with a full hand." ~John Bird

The most current copy of that article is here.

I dont know if you were serious, but the fuel used in a life flight is about 2% of the cost of the flight itself, its actualy pretty much less than 20% of all heli costs.

average patient paid Life Flight-8000 USD.

time used in heli for life flight (spool up, get to site, fly patient to hospital, fly back to heli base) about 1 hour.

fuel drain in bell 205 in one hour-210lbs jet A (35gal)

average US price for jet A- 4.20$ gallon

price of fuel for one hour life flight-150 $

Damn dood - analysis paralysis.

You are correct sir, but I was trying to simplify the point that insurance=good thing for newbie base jumper.

I wasn't trying to attest to the weight of an unladen African swallow.

Buy a used skydiving rig big enough for your BASE canopy and put a bunch of jumps on the combination. You'll learn how to fly and accurately land BASE canopies a lot faster when you have thousands of feet of canopy time instead of hundreds, your pack jobs take 6 minutes instead of 60, and you can catch a plane ride to altitude instead of hiking/climbing. Fly backwards, make deep brake accuracy approaches, and get used to landing at less than full flight.

Skydiving with contemporary canopies teaches you to fly a consistent pattern and a bit about the effects of wind but otherwise does not translate to BASE jumping.

Learning about the differences the hard way is not good.

Start inspecting & repacking your own reserve with rigger training and supervision.

Good advice. Put a bunch o skydives on your BASE canopy. You'll have enough to worry about during a jump then thinking about the canopy flight/landing.

Other then having a basic plan, don't even start setting up until you're at 300'. Practice low flat turns and don't be put off when the skyjumping people are going "ooohhh" when you turn it 180 at 150'. You'll need to be comfortable doing that. Hit the tuffet while you're at it.

Two thoughts:

most people (by my understanding) only buy a rig in time for their FJC, if then (they may rent or borrow even for the course and a while after)

good point, but doesn't mean they have to wait to their FJC. It's better if they don't do what "most" do.

And I said set up a landing pattern at 300ft. Not open

Try again turbine baby, at least 400$.

That's great.....

In fact, the Saint Alphonsus Life Flight out of TF flies Eurocopter EC 135's... They burn about 460 - 520 lb/hr at cruise speed. So do your math (6.6 lbs /gallon) and figure all that out if it's really important.

Helicopters are expensive. So are medical procedures.

What's more important is the fact that spending some time beforehand developing the necessary canopy skills and pre-requisite knowledge about BASE jumping might give you a chance to avoid being a passenger in one during your stay in TF if you are jumping .

It might not depending on your luck as well.... Sometimes things happen.

There are no guarantees in BASE....

In which case;

http://www.boiseonlinemall.com/storeframe.php?ID=58

See you all in TF memorial day.

_justin

here in colorado we use bell 205 jetranger, specified as 100-150liters/hour.

but thats besides the point, the point is,
even IF the fuel is burned at -1000lbs-/hour, the cost of a average life flight is MOSTLY insurance, med staff, maintenense, and pilot.

we are cheap in CO, (tiny lil chopers, not your rich ass eurocopter shite) i was on a life flight once, granted, i was asleep,, but the space is so limited, my head touched the firewall, and my feet were hitting the panel.

There's also the cost of buying helicopters, creating landing pads for them and stations for them to sit at, and paying the flight crew even when they are not flying.

Honestly, I think Life Flight is a bargain at 50 bucks a year. I can pay that for the rest of my life and they still won't make back what they'd spend ferrying me out of the canyon once.

I agree get insurance......had I not been in the military at the time i'd still be paying off the 280 grand it cost for all my medical bills.

I made around 75 skydives on my base canopy in a few months before my first jump.

It was the best decision I ever made.

It showed me crew can be a ton of fun too.

thanks for all the Good advice
see are

How about learning to spell 'beginning'?