Basejumper.com - archive

For the sake of reference it seems, except for a few past and far between incidents, pilot chutes suddenly seem to be telling us, "Hey fellows, I may be the simplest part of your rig, but I deserve some extra loving too."

From memory the past pilot chute incidents include Steve Gyrsting's 1987 Bridge Day fatality in which his hand held pilot chute never inflated. Will Oxx on a cliff jump who's pilot chute seemed to do the same thing only it did inflate, at the last moment, and allowed him to survive a water landing with a partially inflated canopy. In addition many BASE jumpers have suffered unexplained "hesitations" those type where you land and think, "Man, that deployment took way longer than normal." And in a BASE jumpes mind "way longer" can only be a second or two.

In 2003 Bill Frogge was killed in Moab by making what many thought was so far the biggest mistake a BASE jumper could make. While the pilot chute was correctly attached to the bridle, the other end, the one below his rig's shrivel flap was not. As near as anyone could figure Bill had passed the biter end of the bridle through the steel ring on the canopy but was distracted before making the Lark's Head that would have secured it. That particular bridle had a thicker than normal "fold over" where the bar tacks formed the lower loop. This fold over was however small enough to fit through the steel canopy ring but "catch" if you lightly tried to pull it back out. It is thought when Bill returned to assembling his gear this fooled him into thinking it was already secured.

Like Yuri stated the problem very succinctly with a single word, "Amazing," it's also beyond me, how first Bill's, and now this latest incident can occur. There is no other part of a BASE system as important as the bridle and pilot chute. You can deal with a damaged canopy, you can deal with broken lines, you can deal with a line over, but you absolutely can't deal with "no canopy" over your head. The starting point in people's thinking should be, "No pilot chute – No canopy!" I feel stupid even having to write that, but what we have to guard against is the same thing that happened in skydiving. As BASE gear gets simpler and more reliable, the people using it get simpler and less reliable.

I recall some earlier BASE equipment that had a one piece bridle and pilot chute. The pilot chute and bridle end came fixed and sewn down from the manufacturer. The lower end was the only part that needed to be affixed to the rest of the system. I realize that the way we mix & match gear nowadays that isn't a viable option as the bridle and pins of one system may not fit another, but it might be time for the manufacturers to bring that back, at least as an option, on complete systems.

The question we have to ask is assembling a pilot chute and bridle now too complicated for newer BASE jumpers? I hate to say it but it's starting to seem that way. Throw in the guy who had two consecutive three ring failures probably because correctly assembling a three ring was beyond him, and it's not too complicated to see its happening already.

In general the first generation of BASE jumpers tended to be very experienced skydivers, many of them riggers, because they were already parachuting before BASE became a sport. The next generation came to BASE with the minimum number of skydives or whatever the prevailing wisdom of the day said was the minimum. And now we have people, and more than ever before, banging on the clubhouse door who've never even made a skydive before. We can ignore them, but sooner or later they will just start ignoring us.

Do you want to know what keeps me awake nights? Do you know what the nightmare scenario is? It's this, and it's not too far fetched as it already happened in skydiving. To gear manufacturers the worst part of the business is dealing with the end user. And believe me if Apex, Morpheus, and Asylum didn’t have to do it they wouldn't.

So one fine day, and as the sport grows that day is coming closer, someone is going to open a "distribution" company called "BASE One" and they will purchase gear directly from the OEMs in bulk and then re-sell to end users. And with big bucks to be made they may not be so particular about to who they sell. And like a Wal-Mart, the small BASE manufactures who may not like the way "BASE One" operates may face the situation of either play ball or die. This is the next logical step in BASE gear retailing. As more and more BASE gear industries spring up all over the world the individual market share of each company shrinks. The Euro market for U.S. dealers has been slowly vanishing as "local" is always better in terms of duties, shipping, and taxes. Even without that aspect "local" has always done better in parachute sales than buying from afar.

"BASE One" like it's sibling in skydiving (and you know the particular "One" I'm referring to) will offer un-matched pricing, service after the sale, and big color catalogs along with point and pay websites containing all the BASE gear available in the entire world and they will flourish. The OEM's will take a bit less if they don't have to answer the phone and talk to end users, they will take a bit less if they are more insulated from the possible litigation from an end user, and they will take a bit less if someone else is doing their advertising and marketing. In deference to the litigation point I'd imagine this company will spring up in Europe, or at least outside the U.S.A..

And at first "BASE One" will purport to be "responsible" and they'll point out educations avenues and maybe even begin with certain standards regarding to who they sell. But just like that other "One" when the bucks start piling up they will abandon that and say educating new BASE jumpers is not their jobs. What this all means is the "problem" of handling new BASE jumpers will wind up right back where it began, "square" in our own laps.

Let's look ahead a few years. Johnny throws down his credit card and purchases the whole she-bang from BASE One. And I'm sure they'll have the generic "Starter Package" at an attractive price. Then Johnny shows up at the Potato. Who would stop him? Who could stop him? Physically preventing him from jumping would only be considered "assault" by the real authorities. Try explaining to a policeman that you punched Johnny in the nose because he wasn't following the "wisdom of the day" as far as BASE jumping is concerned. Hello! Say hey to Buba, as you'd go straight to jail.

A few years ago I mentioned something almost no one took seriously. But I'm absolutely sure we can teach BASE jumping from scratch if we went at it whole hog. I'm not talking "death camp" in a hook'em up and sling'em sort of way, nor Tom's way which is better (and he only jokingly refers to it as Death Camp.) But in a whole new way of looking at BASE training.

How about a brand new drop zone concept that isn’t for skydivers, but only for BASE jumpers in training. "BASE World" would start you with static line Cessna jumps for canopy control training, larger versions of Tom's training devices, and someday even vertical wind tunnels built so you launched into them from the top instead of the bottom. "BASE One" would have a satellite shop on the BZ (BASE Zone, he he he!) and there we go!

Jumping actual BASE gear at the BZ could also be possible. We just get the newly minted Judge Fred Morelli to force the FAA to issue us a wavier in both gear and altitude because without it, and because of the FAA, a certain class of parachute jumper is dying and being injured from a lack and availability of proper training. Proper training the FAA is directly preventing us from offering.

What we can do is endless if we only use our imaginations. But the worst thing we can do is nothing. There was a time, long ago in BASE jumping we always said, "Watch out. They are coming." Well, I've got news for you, "They are here now!"

NickD
BASE 194

Pre-requirements for BASE

-500 skydives
-1000 $
-Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering.

I understand your intent but your last requirement (BEng) made me giggle.

Last week one of my engineers and I were discussing the idiocy of a fellow engineer who turned up to a site and had forgotten to bring his laptop. We burned this guy for his stupidity.

On wednesday the same engineer who laughed with me forgot to bring his laptop to the office. From my high altitude pedestal I burned him cruely for the rest of the week.

If you're an engineer long enough, one day you too will forget your laptop. I have written a special letter for my family in case this ever happens to me.

Blue skies Black Keyboard.

To late Nick, that day is here. Already I've seen more than one jumper, buy gear, and drop it off to have it assembled by a rigger. I've seen more than one jumper who doesn't pack, nor do they know how.

I support you on this! I spend endless days and nights fixing engineer's of all types and architect's F#$k Ups because they no shit about absolutely nothing. Keep the engineers out and things will work. Keep them in and things will work in theory.

ohh yeah, i could list 10-15 persons i have jumped with who doesn`t know how to pack...and doesn`t care how to learn to pack..but hey, i have make some easy money out of this guys when i take care of the packing

My 3 best friends owe me a collective 40 packjobs. they know how to pack, they just know im a sucker for it. of course, when they have a cumulative 100 BASE jumps, and I have 340, well, Ill stick to packing my own shit.

I don't get it. The few jumps I have done on other people's packjobs were not as "fulfilling". To me, the reward comes from looking up, knowing I hucked off an object, and my handywork got me to a safe soft landing.

This is Absolutely unacceptable Guys.

Who, What, and How can we try to correct this? Is it even possible to actually do?

Why guys? Why is Gear being sold to people that dont know what the fuck they're doing? Even more so, why are You guys packing for these other jumpers? Wouldnt your time be better spent teaching them how to pack, instead of packing for them?

(and that is only directed to those who are doing these things, Im not asking this Q to those who are not involved on either side of these actions)

In the past I've seen people pay a BASE-jumping-rigger for a Bridge Day or El Cap pack job. But those folks were making one-off jumps and not on their way to becoming full time BASE jumpers themselves.

However, the trend of never packing for yourself in BASE is sort of easy to understand. Our newest BASE jumpers are coming over from skydiving where not packing, or even knowing how to pack, is accepted as normal by a lot of people. And for what it's worth when "packers" first started appearing on the DZ we had the same conversation as is going on here. "It's unbelievable," and "the end of the sport," many said.

And forget the "technical" side argument as in, "the mechanics of BASE rigging are a big part of BASE," as the technical side of skydiving was, at one time, exactly the same thing. I saw the decline in expertise of the average skydiver begin in the early 90s when I worked at Square One in Perris. We had to hook up demo canopies all day long for fairly experienced jumpers who didn't know how a Three Ring went together.

Maybe this is an offshoot of "easy access" so don’t be too surprised when soon some will be making a living packing at the Potato. And rental rigs "by the jump" are probably not too far off either . . .

When I first worked for a BASE gear dealer it was easy to explain the workings of a BASE rig to new BASE jumpers. When I last worked for a BASE gear dealer it was almost impossible. Where once a reasonable question was, "Which way does this shrivel flap thing go on?" It soon become necessary that we send out the rigs assembled and packed so the jumper could "unpack" them to see how they went together. The worst thing I remember, and we were rolling on the floor when this phone call came in, and only because it was so sad, was a guy who passed the smell test in that he had a mentor we knew, and the right amount of skydives. He called us after receiving his gear to ask why his new BASE canopy was missing two cells . . .

NickD
BASE 194

I wholeheartedly agree.

At an absolute bare minimium (after the 1st 4-5 BASE jumps), if you cannot CORRECTLY assemble/disassemble, configure/reconfigure, pack, and maintain your BASE rig and it's components, then you have no business jumping.

Also, always have enough sense to have another competent and sober person check your rigging work.

you might be right about that, but would it be better if i let them do the try and error method?..i don`t wanna waist my time to try learn a person who is not willing to learn how to pack, i rather earn some money on they...they might be good jumpers even if they can`t pack they`re chutes...

The mindset must definitely be different in Europe. I'm not wasting my time messing with other peoples' gear. The weather conditions or what not could change, then nobody gets to jump. I've got better ways to spend my time. I'll pack somebody else's rig for $100.00 US. I guarentee they double their efforts to learn how to pack.

Ill explain.

Hopeless...

Maybe in So Cal, but not most other places in the world :) That did seem fairly common at Perris.

fairly experienced jumpers who can't: assemble a 3 ring,
remove a d-bag, attach a pilot chute, pro pack, or pack

I have seen all of these in skydivining and it is sad.
If I ever saw any of this crap in BASE I would cry!

get the tissues.

Mmm...

Of course, a base jumper (and a skydiver for that matter) should know their gear 100%, and should know how to pack.

In skydiving, a student is NOT teached how to pack before the actual jump (I know, I know, skydiving is not base). Good reason IMHO for this is not to overload the student with information. All he gets to know it what gear looks like, how it works and how he should handle it, including emergency procedures. My first base jump was handled the same way (I had about 3500 skydives by then). So, I am not fully convinced about the packing course before the 1st jump.

After that it's a different story, look at the 100% mentioned above.

Now, let's have a look at what's happening. Many new skydivers don't know shit about their gear. From what I hear and read this trend is moving into base. Maybe it would make sense to check not just the 200 jumps criteria for skydivers moving into base, but also check them out on their equipment knowledge?

My 2 cents,

Ronald

Not all skydivers learned the current way - I packed for my first static line skydive in 1975. But I started in a "club" and not a commercial skydiving center.

My FJC was held in the evenings and lasted an entire week. And, sure, I packed that rig under close supervision and it took a few more times before I was "signed off" to pack for myself, but I was still considered a student when that happened. This was the way a lot of us "oldies" learned skydiving. So I had at least a working knowledge of how the gear worked before I first used it. Since then how we teach skydiving has always seemed ass backwards to me.

We also had a "club president" the equivalent of a DZO at a commercial DZ, but the difference was if we didn’t like what he was doing he got booted out and we elected someone else.

Anyone remember the story from not too long ago about the woman who had 300 skydives when she brought her rig into her rigger wanting to know what the faint "round thing" was under her reserve flap? Of course it was the outline of her spring loaded pilot chute but I about choked on that one.

I'd love to see clubs come back to skydiving in a big way. Once you take the profit motive out of the equation we could get back to doing what's right in skydiving. Yes, I know there is nothing more convenient than going down to a commercial DZ and paying to hop on the next Otter going up, but there is a bigger price to pay for that convenience, and it manifests itself in other ways besides your wallet.

BASE is a tougher nut to crack. The catch-22 is in skydiving there isn’t enough freedom and in BASE jumping there is too much.

The price we pay in BASE to keep our freedom results in the very problems we are talking about. Freedom means freedom for all, the ones who know what they are doing and also for the ones who don't, or don't care, or worse, don't know enough to care. And the sad end result is we aren’t losing money we are losing lives . . .

NickD
BASE 194

 
You know it's just a thought, but we could just stop doing for these little fucks. It's been a while sence I sold a base rig to any one. Printing t-shirts may not be as sexy but you can make a liveing at it just fine. If they want to base jump bad enough then let them build there own base riggs. I did.

Lee

When this happens, 1108 BASE Gear LLC will outsource BASE gear to sewing shops in China. They will be sewn right next to Donna Karen handbags and Nike shoes.

1108 BASE Gear LLC will offer a lifetime warranty against total mals with our rigs. If you have a total mal, we will gladly refund your money. Please note: This warranty will only be valid to the original purchaser when used by the original purchaser, and the sole remedy will be a refund of the original purchase price, excluding any custom options or features.

1108 BASE Gear LLC will also package our rigs in pretty, full color retail packaging, complete with SKU numbers (bar codes for those dense people out there). I personally was very disappointed when my rig came in a plain brown box.

Of course, the intellectual property will be held by a wholly owned subsidiary of 1108 BASE Gear LLC based out of Ireland. In doing this, we will actually sell BASE rigs for a paper loss (because the licensing fees will be artificially inflated), thereby circumventing the high corporate tax rates here in the US.

Sorry Asylum and Apex and Morpheus...but once my infomercials hit the TV...you guys will have to be added to "The List".

But seriously, its just globalization...don't take it personally.

And oh yeah...don't chew on our three rings...they might have lead in them.