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On a high load today, whilst wearing a ff2 helmet and very sticky outy glasses i had a very fucked up situation, which could have been dealt with had i been sensible with my set up.

I bought a cx105 camera, and rather then buying a top mount system, i have decided to keep with a sidemounted camera to cut down on set up cost( extended plate needed instead of new helmet)

i Also wear large sticky out eye wear, (uv protected, + feels much much more comphey) there snowboarding googles, but what the hell i thought.

After a quick turnaround and a shitty pack job, exit at 14000 ft i deployed at 3000ish (dirty high puller that i am)

I opened to find my risers snagged around my helmet and googles, causing me to have no way of looking upto see what was happening with my canopy, thankfully despite loading it at 1.7ish , it was flying straight, no dive nothing, but horrible momment of being so snagged up cause of helmet choice and google choice, that i had to cut away my helmet and then rip my googles through my lines to figure out that i only had 6 or 7 line twists.

The horrible relisation, had that been a dirty low jump, a 180 in that situation would have completly had me in peices. the googles and helmet choice are completly shit in that situation.

I will never use a ff2 for base, or stupid ski googles again for anything other than skiing.

You fuckers can just laugh at the situation, or you can have a look at the gear you work with, and have a real think about snag points, and how easy it is to rip your own equipment off your face or body when your trying to figure how to get out of the shit, before you hit something.

Not really a base incident i know, hence its here not else where, take it or leave it i still think i'm great!!

I know lots of people that use a FF2 for BASE without issue, in fact I think it a little tighter than my cookie MXV for which I have not had issues with.

More skydivers seem to have problems with side mounts than BASE jumpers? Thats what my experience seems to say to me?!..... Anyone like to add to that statement?

I have used my FF2 on several
hundred skydives and maybe a
dozen BASE jumps without any
kind of problem.

However, I still think my Protec
provides better impact protection.

The whole thing is not very clear to me.

I had a student once who insisted on jumping with his ski goggles; the things kept on lifting off his face and it was quite scary.

You may have had line twists down to the back of your head keeping you from looking up and when you turned your head, the camera housing may have gotten snagged in the risers. That's all I can think of.


That's something I would avoid at all costs in a BASE context. To quote Moe Viletto, "it has to be like the perfect murder..."

I have a Hawkeye. I used a top mount for a long time until I bough a pc1000. In the beginning i was very paranoid about using the side mount. I've done 70 or 80 BASE so far with side mount without any hassles.

I have been base jumping and skydiving with my FF2 for years. I don't really skydive that much anymore, but I do have approx. 500 jumps total with the FF2; 150 skydive and 350 BASE. I have never had an issue with the helmet. It is pretty snag-less in my opinion. You could always not jump with a camera, or get an FF3. The FF3 looks pretty awesome.

Ody

Don't get me wrong about the ff2, my pack job was the first issue here.

That is my first problem with line twist since jump 2.

And first snag ever.

I think had i been wearing a topmount system (which is pretty ideal for the hx105) this would have cut out the issue of my helmet being snagged up via the side mount system.

The googles, happened to just be in the way. and also got snagged at the same time.

I think any helmet may have its pitfalls, be it lack of protection, snags, etc etc.

But it did happen to me, and it may be worth having a think about, when chosing your head gear for your next jump.

I was jumping in Norway a number of years ago with a side mount camera setup and had a nasty 180 with line twists due to a riser strike. I consider myself very lucky to have not blacked out. The impact at terminal was surprising to say the least.
Since then I don't really jump that helmet any more. Maybe skydives but rarely ever BASE jumps.