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BASE Technical

x0mb0c0m
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Possibly stupid question.
Hello everyone. Before I say anything, I'm not trying to troll anyone.
I was wondering if it is practical to use a skydiving harness/container with a BASE canopy, for the purposes of having a cutaway/reserve in case the main BASE canopy fails.
All of the base containers I have found appear to be 1 canopy only.
I know the typical answer is that there's never enough time to deploy. I would still like to know if using a skydiving container for BASE creates major hazards. If so, are there any other ways to keep a deployable skydiving reserve on hand during a jump?
Cal.B229
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Re: [x0mb0c0m] Possibly stupid question.
There is the 'Sourcerer' container , a Base Container that also incorperates a reserve. In the late 80's and early 90's a number of jumpers used tershary reserves, small, fast opening front mounted round canopies which didn't need you to cutaway to deploy it. There were a few that conveted there 'Racer' containers, replacing the standard reserve pilot chute with a larger and/or ZP one, then pack the reserve with the slider down or with a mesh slider. From the early tests they were cuting away at around 400' and landing safely on the reserve.
The saftey of modern Base Equipment lies in its simplicity, configure it right, pack it right, look after it and it wont fail you. Its the human element that fucks up. Round canopies have an inherent malfuntion and regardless of how well you pack them, a small percentage will Mal. A Ram Air canopy doesn't. If a malfuntion arises then you only have yourself to blame.
Calvin19
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Re: [Cal.B229] Possibly stupid question.
remember, 400' is enough to cutaway and deploy over a huge green manicured skydiver field where the tests are done. in any typical BASE situation, there are rocks and a river below you, with a small LZ of baseball rocks.
Cal.B229
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Re: [Calvin19] Possibly stupid question.
Yep, I couldn't agree with you more Calvin. I forgot to add that 'reserves' for Base have been tried. Skydiving equipment has evolved by adding more to reduce incidents, making systems more complicated.....More to go Wrong?....More decisions to make? But generally the Skydiver has more time to deal with a situation.

A Base Jumper generally hasn't got the time to deal with "Shall I do This?" or "shall I do That?" If something goes FUBAR....

I personally believe that Base Gear, properly configured, is far safer as a single canopy system.

ps The tests were done from a Bridge and the DZ wasn't that friendly.
wwarped
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Re: [x0mb0c0m] Possibly stupid question.
skydiver's have the luxury of altitude.
thus they can be reactive.

BASE jumpers lack altitude.
thus they must be proactive.

once you wrap your head around that concept, figure out if you want to climb an object with the dead weight of a second parachute!
crwper
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Re: [x0mb0c0m] Possibly stupid question.
It sounds to me like you're going about this the wrong way. You're trying to find a shortcut into BASE jumping by dealing with what you perceive as the main issues, but they are not the main issues at all.

Take an honest look at http://www.splatula.com/bfl/ and count how many of those people died because of a canopy malfunction. The reality is, canopy malfunctions are not a big killer in BASE jumping. Human error is.

And yet, in trying to figure out how to get into BASE as quickly as possible, you seem single-mindedly focused on canopy issues. Slow down. The big hazards in BASE jumping are not what you think they are. Actual hazards include:

- Unstable exit and early/late deployment.
- Off-heading opening and object strike.
- Rigging error.

To an experienced BASE jumper, these are some of the big killers. If you learn to BASE jump the right way, instead of taking shortcuts, then you will be much better prepared to deal with these and other real problems.

Please reconsider your current path.

Michael
x0mb0c0m
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Re: [crwper] Possibly stupid question.
crwper wrote:
It sounds to me like you're going about this the wrong way. You're trying to find a shortcut into BASE jumping by dealing with what you perceive as the main issues, but they are not the main issues at all.

Take an honest look at http://www.splatula.com/bfl/ and count how many of those people died because of a canopy malfunction. The reality is, canopy malfunctions are not a big killer in BASE jumping. Human error is.

And yet, in trying to figure out how to get into BASE as quickly as possible, you seem single-mindedly focused on canopy issues. Slow down. The big hazards in BASE jumping are not what you think they are. Actual hazards include:

- Unstable exit and early/late deployment.
- Off-heading opening and object strike.
- Rigging error.

To an experienced BASE jumper, these are some of the big killers. If you learn to BASE jump the right way, instead of taking shortcuts, then you will be much better prepared to deal with these and other real problems.

Please reconsider your current path.

Michael

I've read through all of the incidents on splatula a while ago. I realize that a lot of fatalities appear to be object strikes and reverse inflations. By asking about reserve canopies I'm in no way implying that I'm going to go jump off the nearest radio antenna as soon as I get gear. Nor does that mean that I plan on being careless. I don't plan on cliff jumping for a long time. For now, I'm trying to figure out how to learn to jump off spans. Right now I'm still looking at what gear to get. I was just not sure if I'd be able to use a skydiving reserve, or have to keep a possibly useless PG reserve for backup as my only option for high altitude jumps.
gauleyguide
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Possibly stupid answer.
x0mb0c0m wrote:
For now, I'm trying to figure out how to learn to jump off spans..

Trying to figure out how to learn...hum...

Some people learn by reading. Some people learn by visual instruction. Some people learn by audio instruction. Some people learn by trial and error. Unfortunately in BASE that wont always work out for you. Trying to figure out how to learn something new BY YOUR SELF can very hard and dangerous to say the least. There is plenty of good reading on here that will answer your questions.

Start here...Getting into BASE


"A BASE-specific container is generally designed to hold only one parachute. The rationale behind this is that there is generally insufficient ...."

The rest of this article was found here...Containers