Re: [Mac] Accident Norway 8 April 2009!
I am reading through this forum and this particular thread and I am concerned about the thought process of some members of the jumping community - even though I am a supporter of people choosing their own path / destiny / etc.
Even though each individual is entitled to decide how (s)he will think and act, I don't beleive it is a reasoned thought process that excludes or critisises another persons methodology & thinking - especially when this decision is made on emotion or for personal reasons. Just because I think that someone is an asshole, it does not necessarily mean that I cannot learn something from them or that they should be allowed to learn from the experience of others. Just because a dear friend has been involved in an accident, it does not necessarily mean that I cannot learn from their experience.
Learnings and memories of good times are the two main positives that you can gain from the loss of a loved one or friend - IMHO.
Grieving is a natural process, but it is also a process that affects how we think & act:
http://www.recover-from-grief.com/7-stages-of-grief.html - this site explains very loosely what I mean.
The stages are:
1. SHOCK & DENIAL
2. PAIN & GUILT
3. ANGER & BARGAINING
4. DEPRESSION, REFLECTION, LONELINESS
5. THE UPWARD TURN
6. RECONSTRUCTION & WORKING THROUGH
7. ACCEPTANCE & HOPE
OR
1. Shock
2. Suffering
3. Recovery
Where we fit into this depends on how well we knew the person, our personalities, our previous life experience, etc.
The natural reaction of most people who were close to the victim is to dip heavily into the first stage and to defend and deny at all costs. This will always happen. In practical terms people will say things like "mind your own f%#$king business, don't analyse my friends death, (s)he did not make a mistake, etc" - these people are in shock/denial to some extent.
People who were not close and/or tend to be impersonal tend to start at the later stages - they are in solution mode already. These people really irk those that were close and are in the earlier stages of grief. Hence some of the "conversations" on these forums following fatalities.
Enough of the psychology crap.
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Now to the comments and this thread.
yuri_base's question was probably a bit too specific in some respects. But I think that it has the makings of a GREAT technical article. Given that more and more people are contour flying with wingsuits, and that MANY do not "really" know what they are doing, this information would be VERY helpful - AND WOULD SAVE LIVES IN THE FUTURE! Basically, the lower your margin for error, the more technical information you need to make the right decisions. If you do not have all the technical information to start with - then how do you work out your margin for error??
Specifically, I am not defending yuri_base here on a personal level and I have not followed his posts before (so I cannot comment on the personal angst people are feeling & showing towards him - I do not know underlying information). However, writing him off because he wants to know more is IMHO, not the right thing to do. Speaking of learning, yuri_base may have a learning on how to approach the group in the future wrt political correctness, style of posts, compassion, etc.
We DO NOT know everything that needs to be known about contour flying!!! This is a 3 dimensional activity and we have to learn how to predict winds & turbulence, judge our physics (forward speed, descent rate, glide ratio), and fit our skills level into this mix of information, etc. Asking questions is one way of learning and improving this body of knowledge. I was attemping contour flying (very basic compared to the amazing flights being flown now) in the late nineties with a home made wingsuit and virtually no previous experience and knowledge. By definition the sport has evolved and the few flights that I did then would be considered a non event now - as with everything, I wold have loved to know then what I & OTHERS know now.
I think Robbie P or Yuri K or one of the Norgies could write this one!!! "The impact of micrometeorology on contour wingsuit flights". Thanks to 434, Martin, Espen ,etc for their insights and opinions. I have refreshed my knowledge in this area.
Another thing I have found about reporting of BASE fatalities is that invariably, if no one asks lots of questions, not much information gets posted. So despite pissing off those closest to the deceased, someone needs to chase the info.
Other examples of learning methodology:
- A simple spit test on a lower jump will tell you a great deal about how your pilot chute will inflate, how the canopy will extract and deploy, it will give clues as to potential headings, etc. The spit test was NOT there on the first BASE jump. It was a tool that probably came about a little later! After someone learned from a previous incident. After the body of knowledge increased. After someone dared to ask a question beyond the shit happens mentality.
- I was Dir Safety of the ABA for several years. One of the first things we learned early on was that the standard BASE parachute used at the time did not have the aerodynamic flight performance that suited the landing conditions in which we jumped and the flying techniques of most jumpers. This resulted in lots of little niggling ankle/knee/wrist injuries. We then sourced more appropriately designed gear from elsewhere and the injury rate declined drammatically. We asked questions, we analysed, we progressed! The process was: "I hurt my ankle" -> "it seems like a few people are getting little injuries" -> "lets ask the other jumpers what they think" -> "lets get videos to see what is happening" -> "look at the canopy descent as they start to flare" -> "lets try different techniques and test them" -> "lets talk to some design gurus" -> - - - - "lets get a different design canopy".
- One of the early BASE fatalities (#39) taught me a great deal about mental approach on big wall jumps. We (myself, DW, etc) analysed the incident extensively. The end result was an article written by me about the differences between skydiving and BASE jumping which has been plagiarised in many places. This one was very basic but it highlighted to people that big wall BASE jumps were NOT skydives and that both your mental and physical approach need to be different! Same thing happened leading to a BASE ethics article. Their intention was basic knowledge and to make people think.
- I have gone through every BASE fatality in the past and have learned from every one of them! Even when the information was sketchy or assumptive. This is the mind map / brainstorm approach to learning. Get ALL the ideas onto the table and then sift through what is relevant and what is not.
DEATH - is not a favourable outcome for anyone - especially for those loved ones and friends left behind. I think I have some experience in this. I personally knew BASE fatality list members 28, 40, 44, 49, 54, 65, 84, 85, 91, 102, 109, 115,
I was also aquainted with or met 27, 43, 62, 71, 98, 105, 106, 131.
Why do I mention this?
I learned from every one of them! Some of it is only reinforcement. But this is important too.
28 - If you do not feel right - don't go. Learn how to become one with your canopy -> get onto controls asap.
40 - don't assume all talents are transferable. Listen to others. Fix issues you have.
44 - Learn to crawl before you walk. Sub terminal air speeds required a mix of gymnastic/aerobatic manouvres as well as flying skills to correct positioning. Don't look down. This was the initial incident that led DW to maximising aerobatic skills and writing his aerobatics "curriculum".
49 - BASE jump first, do other stuff second. Awareness.
54 - gear selection, configuration, etc
Many learnings were around psychology and people's willingness to learn from others, to listen to others, not to make assumptions, and to accept that they have limits of skills and abilities which should be slowly improved over time.
I actually learned a hell of a lot more than mentioned here, but I am a little time limited to go into details.
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Answers to some quotes from this thread:
In reply to:
then in ws, the flyer chooses his glide angle. people make choices, and then get surprised
You can't keep using this line of logic for everything that happens in life. Yes, shit does happen. But we do make conscious choices in EVERYTHING we do. Some people decide not to decide. Some decisions are made without all the available knowledge. And not making a decision is a decisions too!
You seem to agree with this anyway:
http://www.basejumper.com/...rum.cgi?post=2904932
In reply to:
I don’t need to know each and every detail of a jumpers passing, because I don’t actually think we learn anything of worth from it
The first part - you are entitled not to know. The second part I disagree with vehimently. I have learned and will continue to learn from people's incident and accidents - including my own! No matter how tragic the outcome.
In reply to:
We will all continue to make our own decisions, we will all continue to try and minimise and control the risks for us, just as everyone who has gone in has done..... we think about our own mortality and do everything to ensure we don’t go in. Not once have I had consideration of someone on the list when gear checking, or planning a jump, I think about me not them
All thoughts have some basis in the past. Whether it is from a dream, or a complex incident report, or someone's questions. If you have read the fatality list, you have that knowledge. Your mind (whether conscious or sub-conscious) WILL use that knowledge. Your decisions are based on data - life experiences, conversations, reports, whatever. It is all data - and you DO use it. In order for you to do "everything to ensure we don’t go in", you will build skills, learn, etc. This is not some magic process, but a result of your past, present, and future conditioning, learning, attitude, etc. Yes, you think about you on your jumps, but your thoughts are affected by what happened to them!
In reply to:
I am for the analyze and figure it out approach too, and I have been struggling and searching for clues to what exactly happened to Shane. If and when i get a morsel more of concrete useful knowledge, i will share it with the community.
Cool response! I am sorry for your loss.
In reply to:
I think we can all agree that people make mistakes, and gear is never to blame. Even if gear fails it was the persons mistake for not knowing or inspecting their gear better.
Yes, people are the root cause of most incidents. But equipment can be an issue too. Sometimes humans create new things that are intended to help. They do this with best intentions, and with all available information. And then there is an incident that teaches us something new, yet again. Is this a failing? Or evolution? Designs, procedures, and techniques change yet again to incorporate this new body of knowledge. We evolve.
In reply to:
Anyone that says we can not learn from the list or from other peoples mistakes is letting emotion cloud their judgment. If you don't think it is appropriate to discuss an incident like this because of the deceased's family, or because it is so soon after the incident, say that.[/quocmd=referral|utmcct=/cgi-bin/foring about routes would be futile.
I disagree. An example is Spacy Tracy's information about local wind conditions at Brento. I have used that knowledge and would not have known prior if he did not share it. I did not have to learn it myself. Thanks Tracy!
In reply to:
On a day like this, when they jumped, maybe taking a safer route flying straight or not jumping would have been the plan, but agan... we dont really know what caused the problem.
We are getting closer here I believe. If we find out that jumping wingsuits when the temperature is less than X and the wind is from the Y that our lift capabilities are reduced by Z % - do you think that people in the future could use that knowledge? The answer is a resounding YES. We all know of sites that should only be jumped in certain conditions. Antenna jumping has specific rules associated with winds and direction. Why not specific cliffs and meteorological conditions? Nice post Martin!
In reply to:
If there's any info, it'll be here sooner or later. If there's not, you will never learn it. Fuck you.
Have you ever read any information about BASE jumping and used it to your advantage????? Again, I am not defending yuri_base as I think his approach needs to be modified, but since when do two wrong approaches make one right?????
In reply to:
PS: This thread sucks big time. Almost as big as the thread about Shane. The combination of the deadly basejumping and internet is obviously making us to one big bunch of cynical human beings. It is terrible. Just damn hopeless. Fuck us all for that. Espen
Yeah - you hit the nail right on the head. We lose friends BASE jumping (physically) and then we lose more friends in forums (emotionally). It would be nice if people were nice instead of nasty!