Basejumper.com - archive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtL0MjgPzns

Just found the above video which show how not to launch a Speed-Flying canopy - BASE style...

The guy is very lucky it wasn't fatal crash.

He was flying a Gin Nano 13m² Speed-Glider

jesus. that was a nasty flight. he looked really nervous as well.

looks like he will make a full recovery though.

what happened? possibly a C or D line snagged? or a constant deep stall? the exit looked fine, not entanglements that i could see.

Looks like the wing doesn't get full inflation (asymetric) as it turns very quickly to the left after the exit and then TE collapses in deep stall before it starts to spin out of control.

Wondering if it was his first attempt at this type of launch ?

I think he stalled it into twists.

It opens almost 90 left but then it appears to be a right rear riser with way too big an input stalling it to the right.

Wonder if the "pilot" had any prior rollover experience or any linetwist training.

hmm... I dont think that a speed wing like that would have much problem with quick inflations/pressurizations. I think the pilot was not very skilled at sub-flight speed inflations or line twist reactions. He is useing a PG harness, so I assume he was a PG pilot, not a BASE jumper. from my experience in paragliding training, little attention is paid to things like line twists or rollovers. and a speed wing is a really REALLY small wing for paraglider pilots. this is like a noob skydiver getting tossed under a velocity 89. PGrs get away with it because they are good, and are not trying to break record swoops. but they are also used to full speed ski launches or ground launches where they can run, not ~0 airspeed openings.

but I agree with the other poster, I think it was a over-correction deep stall that spun up into linetwists.

Im actually pretty sure it was a PG pilot, and he did have some rollover training, just not with a small wing. he was expecting a huge surge and a frontal/tuck. this does not happen with speed flying wings in anywhere near the extreme of a acro or any paraglider wing. In some ways he did the right thing, for the wrong equipment.

experienced pg pilot.
one previous rollover with the nano from baloon i think.

complete accident report here:

http://www.danny-strasser.de/unfall.htm

in german though.

Remember the days when PG was safe and Base was dangerous.

Ronald

Here is the German version.
I would do a rough translation but am busy at work.
Take care,
space
The link:
http://www.stern.de/tv/sterntv/603703.html

Here ya go.

Dramatic accident in the mountains

Max Biedermann fell nearly 500 meters off a mountain. The fact that the extreme sportsman is still alive borders on the miraculous. Biedermann describes the accident for _stern_ television, and explains why it turned out to be "minor".

The 27-year-old is one of the best in his discipline: With paragliders, Max Biedermann has been achieving breath-taking feats in the air for many years. In 2006 he participate even in the paraglider Akrobatik world championships, and came tenth.

For the past two years the extreme sportsman has also been practicing so-called Speed Flying. These small and extremely agile canopies are used mainly on ski slopes, in order to fly down slopes. It was using such a canopy on the Swiss Wetterhorn that he suffered his dramatic accident in late June.

"120-percent sure that it would work"

Biedermann wanted to demonstrate a daring "Stunt": from a closed gondola station over a ravine, he intended to make a jump, and then to sail his canopy down the course. He rehearsed intensively for the Stunt and carefully explored the place in the mountains. Max Biedermann was sure of "120-percent that it would function", he says.

But it turned out differently: after the jump, the canopy opened -- but the small Speed Flyer was pointing in the wrong direction, namely directly toward the cliff. Here Biedermann's memory ends. For what happens next, we rely on his friend Danny Strasser, who was filming.

Biedermann falls 400 meters into the ravine, at a speed of 30 meters per second. By a miracle he survives, tries to get up -- and slips another 40 meters down. He moves again, and falls down another 50 meters. When the rescue forces finally reach him one and a half hours later, they can hardly believe that he had an accident like this and survived.

He broke both ankles and a shoulder. A concussion with internal bleeding caused his memory loss: Biedermann cannot remember the two weeks after the accident.

"The risk is worth it to me for the kick"

Three months later Max Bidermann is back out there: he is flying paragliders again -- without fear, because he cannot remember his accident.

Risk is a part of extreme sports, says the 27-year-old. He is willing to risk a broken bone or a torn muscle: "the risk is worth it to me for the kick". But he is more careful now, he doesn't wish to play with his life again.

its fucking scary how familiar that accident sounds to me.
especially the amnesia part.

I wouldn't call speed flying paragliding, it grundles up a lot of PG'rs undies when that gets brought up. at a local sight here, I was welcome and played around at this great launch for months, and then i asked if i could bring my speed wing to the site in the winter. the um, 'moderator' (old school bastard) he flipped out (i just ASKED). not on the best of terms anymore with them.

but Ronald, I agree.

 

different site. there they hate me for different reasons.

and i even told them it was not a speed wing, but a much slower BASE canopy that flies the same way. much safer. still, they dont like me. still gave me a rating though. USHPA, like the USPA, has its weaknesses.

May someone explain, without bashing me for asking, why the same has very little chance to happen with a 7 cells usual base canopy?

For us less-informed folk, why their grudge against speed wings?

its kinda the same site issues with BASE. ish.

speed flying is a new and relativity untested and un-governed sport. a lot of times skydivers or the like show up at paragliding sites and just fly, with little regard or even knowledge of the amount of time it took to open the site in the first place. paraglider pilots don't want this new sport to ruin their access to the sites they worked so hard to open.

Luckily, for me, i started paragliding at a un-governed site. I fucked up. A lot. got hurt (BAD). etc. now the Me and my crew fly there more than anyone else, (my crew did the same things as me to learn, but i learned the lessons first, and the hard way), we paid to get certified, and now fly there with 'respect' from the oldies. but when i mention speed flying, they say that i will get hurt again, and get the place shut down. its not that big a deal, because the oldies really only like to go to their meetings and make new rules that are not enforced. they rarely fly.

speed flying is to paragliding now, as BASE was to skydiving 15 and 20 years ago.

It probably has a similar chance of going off heading initially, but the rear riser correction (right side stall) to bring it back on heading has a MUCH lower chance of causing the linetwists/lineover seen in the speed wing video. Some reasons include the lower aspect ratio and line trims of the BASE tarp compared to the high aspect ratio and flat trim of the speedflying tarp, and the lower wingloadings generally used in BASE. I might be tempted to include the shoulder attachment of the canopy in BASE vs the hip attachment used in PG as another reason, but I haven't had that much experience with PG harnesses.

I have flown both ways (seated and hanging) with all three wings (PG, speed wing, BASE canopy), the thing about speed flying is they are not supposed to be 'opened' like in the case of a rollover, for the reason you suggested (flatter trim/higher loading, etc). I prefer the seated position for everything but opening and landing. it was weird when I started PG, but i really like laying back now.

Thank you.

scary jump

I love the part where the cameraman asks if the photographers are ready (yes) and then tells the guy "whenever you want". he replies



to which a third voice responds



and the cameraman then says


NO KIDDING, that's the conversation before he goes.

be safe out there, all that shit that's coming at you is really hard.

happy new year,
flummi