Basejumper.com - archive

http://news.bbc.co.uk/...d/europe/7596528.stm


A wing or leg release seems to be pulled but the jumper still can't take control of the parachute for some reason?

Good find mate.
That was crazy...seems to have slipped under the forum radar this one?

and I look forward to hearing the details.

His canopy looked to be ok, at least I couldnt see a lineover or other mal.
Toggles were still stowed till the first strike (and there after).
??
Possibly a jumper injury or problem that stopped him turning away? dislocated shoulder for example

sems like the PC bridle got somehow entangeld with the brakes/ brakes´galery lines (right). saw this in the video at around sec. 39.
heal fast Hans!

things like this scares me, also the malaysian footy...

edit for spelling.

This just made it onto the news at 10 on ITV too. Footage spliced together from two different jumps on two different walls.

Freeze the video at 38 seconds. You can clearly see the shadow of his deformed canopy. Right side is pulled down.

Heal fast man.

 What really happened Hans will tell himself......
Cool fact that shows the level of VKB[...is that when Hans was flown to the university hospital in Trondheim, Rickard, himself a member of VKB and an orthopedic surgion, was waiting to do the operation! coool!(?)

Also made it to CNN headlines:

http://edition.cnn.com/...jumper.ap/index.html

VKB rules the world!

Sorry for a dumbass question but wtf is VKB?

Also, the posters are right ..at 38 seconds you can see canopy deformed slightly on one side.

As a seperate issue. The male news presenter on that video needs to be thrown off the same cliff as this jump but without a rig of any sort.

I saw this same clip on an American cable channel yesterday. They played the clip, said that he parachute failed to open, and that he had died from his injuries. I hope that there was just some back journalism here.

Stinking media...

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VKB

Just like a rigger makes a useful addition to a CRW team, BASE teams go one better and have an orthopedic surgeon on hand!

NBC Today Show

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/

Interested in hearing what Hans has to say. I cannot see any canopy deformation. He said something about being nonchalant in the CNN interview.

Kris

and if you go down to the bottom of the page and look at the "week is sports pictures" there is GC at KL.

TWO different BASE topics on one major morning news program in one day.

can't imagine one could be nonchalant about an off heading opening. the canopy does look slightly deformed on the right side of the shadow in that video leading me to believe it could've been a lineover that had just cleared leaving little time for corrective flying.

just my thoughts...

managed to screenshot maybe interesting part... Could this be the bridle which is wrapped around the brakelines´galery ?
(Black line in the right part of the picture)
had a way better pic a few days ago, try for yourself.

He may have meant in picking his opening point further away from the wall or over water. No wall, no strike .

It is always nice to get a first person perspective. Let's wait to hear from him.

Yes, very good point.

It's lucky that the Lifesaver and the warrior where there to save the day!

Since Hans Lange is in absentia due to dealing with the world press I'll give a short description of the events leading to his injury. From seeing his shots and hearing his story it's obvious that there were two factors contributing to this accident.

First of all he was nonchalant in picking his deployment point and direction. He never fully separated from the hillside and pulled parallel to it. This is in my opinion the gravest mistake and knowing Hans I can assure you that it will not happen again.

Second, after "inviting Murphy to the party" Murphy shows up and deals him a 90 degree right. This is something that always should be as expected as an onheading and should never be a major problem in itself. But responding by reaching for his wing cutaway (S-Fly) Hans pulls his chest strap. This is something I know many S-Fliers have done once... The delayed cutaway causes him to not be able to perform a proper cutaway from both wings before impact and in an effort to avoid the hillside he tries to make a right turn with his one free arm. This is unsuccessful, he hits with both feet, pushes off and flies still but induces several linetwists in the process. Before he untwists and is able to control the canopy he hits again. This time less prepared and with greater force, resulting in a (relatively clean and simple) fracture of his tibula(?).

The rest is pure survival mode.

Lessons we can learn: Never be nonchalant, especially with deployment point and direction.
Practice and be prepared for object avoidance. Expect to face the object after opening and react to it.

Hans (the other one...)

ps. Footage shown are from different jumpers and locations. POV camera is from Hans Lange's flight. The other clips are shot by Ludowic Woerth.

So if chuck wasn't there it would have been ok.....

Chuck, who's that? Ahh i remember now, YOUR BEST MATE!!!!

I've been waiting to use this one for a while. Your the only one that keeps bringing it up so maybe your jealous?

Enough of that, what we should be saying here is heal quick Hans!

Thanks Hans for the summary.

I will not do such an mind-error once more. Its quite simple; Make a thorough plan for your flight and landing. Normally during WS jumps.. I dump above or close to where I intend to land. Stick to your plan. Be 100% focussed throughout the flight.

And I am saying this? [crazy]

Even during the final flight second(s) of my accidential jump I was angry on myself, putting myself in a situation unacceptable close to the mountain side.

However, as the chute opened normal, I did not feel the situation critical. I was not that close... Ok, I had to do a fast cutaway of the wings, but that should be no problem. I like to have my cheststrap pretty loose, and on my S-fly Expert I have experienced grabbing the chest strap instead of the cutaway handle before. That happened again, maybe using 1-2 sec on that. 1-2 sec do do the cutaway, and there I was above the 60-70 degrees inclination mountain side. I felt trapped... back risers not an option, pulling myself faster straight down into the mountain side... back riser turn not an option, high risk of hitting the mountain side during the turn at higher speeds and probably with the chute on the outside...

Feeling trapped, the final 2-3 sec before the cliff strike I focussed on getting strength and to "land" and kick off a hard as possible. It was a strange feeling when I "landed", linestretch was gone and promt doing backwards kick-off into nothing...

I hit the wall right after kicking off, applying rotations and linetwist afterwards. The assymmetric shoulders during linestretch turned the chute 180, luckily.

Home free :-). I felt happy when I observed that I was gliding out from the wall, however fighting desperate to get out of the twist as the chute has a slight turn, grabbing my toogles, taking them steep, hitting hard a second time (legbone broke). Now I had come to a much steeper part of the mountain side. By keeping the chute at the stalling point, I managed to keep off. Landing in the bushes was the second big luck...

The jump was done from Bjorktind, not far away from Katthammeren in Eikesdalen (using similiar hiking track half the way). 6-7 sec rockdrop. The exit is at 1600m and landing at the lake (22m). Beautiful scenery with loads of possibilities regarding flight-routes. The exit was opened june 2008 by Espen.

My first contact with the mountain side was about 150m above the lake. My final landing in the bushes was 60-70m above the lake. No injuries at all except the broken leg bone. I have not found any damage on my equipment, except minor green color on the WS!

Cliff strike is bingo. Lucky me :-)

4 weeks have passed and I am recovering fast. My sticks are history within few days (i.e. with good help of the titanium rod inside my legbone).

Chuck'n should clearly been there with me, giving me expert advise during my battle for extended life.

I'll modify my S-fly by putting the cheststrap inside the suit, through slits on the outer side of the two zippers.

Hope to see many of you in one of the Three Vallyes next season. Attend World Base Race f ex?

Hans Lange

VKB#5