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http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/8742447/base-jumper-dies-north-of-perth/

My deepest condolences to family and friends. Blue skies and big cliffs bud...

http://au.news.yahoo.com/...dies-north-of-perth/

RIP L many people are very sad today

RIP. Lost another friend today.

I was not there but someone needs to put out there the details of what happened so it doesn't happen again, This jump should never have happened.

300ft antenna conditions where windy from a cyclone that was passing through a bit further down south. Jumper attempted a gainer resulting in Bridle entagling jumpers foot/leg. Not sure of jumpers #'s but was fairly new to the sport.

Limits do not need to be pushed and stay within your limits. I don't want to loose anymore friends.

 

Fuckers,

I'll post something later this week in the gentlemans section of the ABA forum. In the meantime can we please keep discussion out of here while the media are rabbiting around.

I'll update the incident forum here in a week or two once the journo interest dies down.

True.
A little respect here would be much appreciated. Speculation is completely unnecessary.

RIP dude. Good guy, great attitude.

Nothing but good memories buddy!!! BSBD!!! Raise some hell up there!!!

Acro in high winds, especially from low objects in not a good idea.

Not sure how to do go about this but details from this incident may help others in the future.

At the time of the incident Lucas had around 370 skydives and around 70-80 BASE jumps. The BASE jumps were all within the last 8 months.
His final jump took place around 4:30 Sunday afternoon.
Winds that afternoon were around 15-20kts slightly cross wind from right to left of the exit point.
This was not the first jump that day, Lucas was on the ground observing the first jumps deciding if he was comfortable jumping in the conditions.
He had done a few gainers from this object in the past, all very controlled and well executed.

The tower in question has 2 exit points where the guyed wires attach, one at 300ish ft and the lower one at 270ft approx.
The attachment points overhang the tower around 1.5-2m and provide a nice platform to exit.
The jump was a 2 way, Lucas was exiting from the lower platform performing a stowed gainer, the jumper on the higher platform was doing a go & throw.

On this jump he had a good exit and the rotation of his gainer was perfect.
On this attempt though he began his deployment sequence a little too early, a bit past a horizontal back to earth position.
At this point rather than deploy the PC he extracted it from the BOC but held onto it.
We are not sure of the reason for this, I have never seen him do this previously on any of his base jumps or all the skydives we have done together.

He only held onto the PC for a split second but within this time the bridle extracted from the BOC/PC to full stretch behind him, it was at this point with the rotation of the gainer that his foot rotated through the bridle. He released the PC but it was already entangled around his foot.

He went for the risers but quickly realized that the PC was snagged and tried to free it. Either the kicking or PC drag extracted the canopy but it became entangled around his leg.
He impacted with no canopy inflation and died instantly. Another jumper was with him seconds after impact to help, checking vitals but there was nothing that could be done.
I believe if he had of released the PC as soon as it was extracted from the BOC he would of been fine, a head down deployment at worst.

Lucas was a very smart and skilled jumper. He was also one of my best friends, his enthusiasm, passion for life and positive traits were endless.
He will be greatly missed amongst a huge circle of friends both jumpers and non.

Still miss you every day buddy, it was a honor to call you my friend.

thanks for posting, fly free

for me, this is a completely unacceptable condition to jump stowed. right to left crosswinds can only hurt your situation, unless you jump left handed, then it's the opposite.

RIP

Possibly more of a question, but what are others' thoughts on this level of experience for executing aerials at what is really quite a low altitude (270ft)? Personally I'm quite uncomfortable about the idea, although I'm uncomfortable about low aerials regardless of experience!

Still miss you every day buddy, it was a honor to call you my friend.

Sorry for your loss, deep condolences.

You are a good man for posting the facts!

Thanks for your recount of the events, and Im so sorry for your loss.




Its gotta be on a person by person basis. A professional gymnast but newish BASE jumper can probably start doing lower aerials a whole lot earlier than a fat couch potato who has never been upside down in his/her life.

In regards to the wind I wasn't there on the day, or at the exit point.
The wind speed and direction was an average taken from a number of data sources.

Who knows what a break or low spot in the wind could of been at the time of exit, any set number would be a estimation or guess.

I am older, have already suffered life threatening
injuries in a different sport, unfortunately was born
with mediocre abilities, and started serious training
later in life so my opinion is prejudiced accordingly.

Here is what I honestly think about this jump:
Too Windy, Too Complex, Too Technical, Too Low

As for the inexperience...this fatality and the one in
Malaysia, both involving winds right to left, are both
due to not recognizing the added hazard of this kind
of relative wind.

Wind at Exit, Deployment thru Inflation & Landing
are three crucial levels to think through based on
the wind speed, object type, hazards, obstacles.

From 270 feet they were likely all three the same
but the mental exercise of thinking through each
phase might help a jumper make a safer choice.

Additionally, I think jumpers are too fascinated with
doing aerials, usually start doing them too soon, and
sometimes want to do too many multiple flippy do's
before perfecting their form (as in doing triples before
you have your doubles dialed in).

If you are a natural and/or trained gymnist then sure
you have the skills and experience to do things I can't.
I know I am not a natural, I have had to work harder
to achieve less excellence in every sport I have ever
played (hence my first gainer was at Bridge Day on
my 102nd BASE jump). But as the World BASE Race
slogan goes: Know Your Limits

Sure, we all want to push them, or else we'd all be
chatting about TV instead of our jumps, but there is
also something to be said for knowing you probably
could have done something but felt comfortable not
needing to prove it.

Again, all of the above is just opinion shared in hopes
a future jumper might recognize the danger of wind
blowing your bridle into you during a low air speed
deployment and save a future fatality from occuring.

Thanks & Respect to Weightless for providing the story.

To Lucas, Fly Free Brother

**bridal wrap from a low object can quickly spell disaster**
Gainer's are easy for sure, and I think this blinds people to the possible deployment issues that can result. R -> L winds only increase the likelihood of complications.

My condolences to those affected by this tragedy.

"At this point rather than deploy the PC he extracted it from the BOC but held onto it."

This was of course the fatal mistake and it's what comes from not actually understanding the hand-deploy pilot chute process.

When hand-deployed pilot chutes were first introduced in the 1970s, skydivers at first thought it was a good idea to pull them out and wave them around before they released them to signal to jumpers above that they were about to deploy. This was initially thought to be a better, more visible "wave off" than actually... waving off.

This custom died a quick death after several jumpers died a quick death and many more had malfunctions or at the very least had to change their underwear after they landed -- all due to flapping-bridle-created horseshoe malfunctions.

The fact that Lucas had no clue that holding onto his pilot chute after he pulled it clear of the BOC pouch to minimally improve his deployment position actually increased his risk of death exponentially tells me that his basic, fundamental parachute training was flawed.

Every jumper should know - before they ever put a hand on a hand-deploy pilot chute in freefall -- that when you pull it you throw it in one smooth motion with no hesitation -- BECAUSE if you hesitate you exponentially increase your chances of a horseshoe malfunction.

Whoever teaches a first-BASE-jump course needs to reinforce this procedure and the reasons for it -- because, while a horseshoe malfunction on a skydive is pretty much the most dangerous malfunction you can have, they ARE surviveable, whereas, as far as I know, no BASE jumper has ever survived a horseshoe malfunction.

Certainly, the height, complexity, experience and wind speed/direction were additional factors, but as one poster said, if he'd done a proper throw, he most likely would have been fine.

Bottom line: BASE jumpers need to know at least as much about how their equipment WORKS as they do about how to assemble it and how to use it. We literally need to know MORE about gear than the average certified rigger because we deal with much tighter parameters -- and every jump is a reserve jump.

I knew a rigger who in 30 years of rigging had 45 "saves" -- jumps where customers successfully used reserve packed by him -- and that is a huge number for the average rigger.

Lucas, on the other hand, with his 370 skydives and 70-80 BASE jumps in a couple of years, already had almost twice as many saves as this rigger.

Yet he didn't know that holding on to his pilot chute -- during a rotation, no less -- was not just a bad idea but a more-than-likely fatal one.

This failure to learn such a vital procedure - and the reason for it -- lies mostly with Lucas because we're all ultimately responsible for ourselves, but it is also a failure of parachuting training generally, BASE training more specifically, and all of us in the BASe community most specifically.

The good news is that this is one of those things that can be easily fixed: whenever someone starts base jumping, it's incumbent upon all of us to make sure that this tiny little tidbit of information gets into everyone's head.

And no matter how smart and skilled someone is, or how many jumps s/he may have, reminders never hurt but lack of knowledge can.

44

I don't know, but something to consider...

this jumper might have understood the dangers of holding on to his pc. the knowledge might have been there.

instead of a knowledge deficit, things like this can happen when people momentarily freeze. stress does odd things. we all have seen it in sports. it happens to jumpers as well. when it happens to swoopers, it leads to "femuring."

as you said, skydivers have survived horseshoes. BASE jumpers do not. skydiving let's a person understand how they react when things go wrong. this jumper may not have had any of these experiences, until the fatal jump. that moment of hesitation proved deadly.

did he NOT know?
did he momentarily freeze?

for this fatality, it doesn't matter. the tears remain the same. neither lessens the pain.

for jumpers reading this, please ask yourself if you are out-jumping your knowledge, plus consider your personal track history when things go wrong.

I side with Pendragon on this one. that experience level doing aerials from a low, guyed, antenna? it sounds way outside my comfort zone. few would expect a 400 jump wonder to execute a flawless 180 degree hook and swoop. it takes calmness, precision, and touch. small mistakes have quickly turned bloody. a small mistake here turned deadly.

I disagree with this statement. When some body starts BASE jumping they are actively saying that they have learned every thing necessary to make the transition to BASE specific jumping techniques. It is not the time to return to teaching basic AFF skills like don't hold your pilot chute or try not to land down wind in the boulder field.
I'm sick to death of under prepared newbies fucking themselves by making rookie mistakes that would have been better learned at the DZ. I truly believe that the 250 jump course minimum has led to jumpers fast tracking their skydives instead of slowing down and learning all these rather simple fundamentals at the DZ.
My condolences go out to Lucas' family and friends but there is nothing new to be learned here. Just another in-experienced skydiver/BASE jumper doing something he should have known not to.

I liked your post 44, although we all (should) learn this critical step in the entire process, it never hurts to have reminders (written as you did is even better so one can go back and read). I've always said this: if just one thing written in this Incidents forum sticks with a person (newbie or not) it may be enough to save their arse in a bad situation.

Condolences to those who were close.

I know of one but he got lucky. His BOC tore open releasing his PC and ending the horse shoe. Until then had I thought everybody already knew not to go wingsuiting with velcro.

Wasn't that a pretty high crosswind to be jumping a guyed antenna? Not trying to bash, or reply to anyone in particular, but in my limited experience that canopy is probably not going to open on heading.

Click

My deepest sympathy to the Aussie crew

Since Lucas cant answer this personally, this is only my opinion....
After seeing the footage from this jump I believe Lucas has gone into his standard gainer, gone to pitch then, had second thoughts about the seperation between himself an jumper no. 2, so out of consideration/safety then has held onto his PC to achieve some verticle seperation from the 2nd jumper exiting above, before releasing his PC.

I have been involved in hundreds of jumps from this object, and winds (again in my opinion) were within safe limits allthough were toward the upper end of crosswind limits, dont know if height was an issue, with this horseshoe even from 500ft probably would have still been fucked just had longer to try and fight it, or contemplate what was coming-

And from DRIDE:

Dride's right... Fledgling, not so much.

Now, I know I'm speaking to an international crew here who may not know who John Elway is, but he is one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play American football, and I watched him play for all of his 16 years in the NFL.

And there he was one year on his way to winning his second consecutive Super Bowl, and there was his coach yelling at him from the sideline as one play started:

"Set your feet! Set your feet!"

This is THE most fundamental thing any quarterback has to dial in before s/hecan be effective: If you don't set your feet, you cannot throw accurately or with velocity, period.

And here was this guy's coach REMINDING him of something that he first learned in the backyard from his father, then in peewee football, and so on until he's playing in the biggest single-day sporting event in the world, during the last game of his soon-to-be Hall of Fame career, during the game for which he was afterward named Most Valuable Player... and neither he nor his coach thought it was inappropriate -- or unnecessary -- to remind him of something that he first learned when he was 3 or 4 years old.

We never have too many jumps or too much knowledge that we outgrow the need for reminders of the most fundamental kind -- I mean, that's sorta kinda maybe like why we call them FUNDAMENTALS, you know?

And that is why I say again that it's incumbent upon all of us to make sure that this tiny little tidbit of information gets into everyone's head... and that we remember to remind ourselves and each other of it.

You know, think about it this way: a 747 pilot with 10,000 hours of flight time STILL goes over his checklist item by item before each flight and before each takeoff and along the way and before he lands... I mean, fledgling, according to your logic, we should be nervous to fly with a guy like that because, Jeesh, after all that time he STILL needs a checklist to remember what's important.

44

No. According to my logic it would be comparable to the control tower having to remind the 747 pilot to lower his landing gear (in which case he would quickly be grounded). Check lists are a great way to keep track of shit, I use them. But one thing that ain't gonna be on that list is "remember not to hold your pilot chute". It's even called a throw away pilot chute for fuck sake.
I still believe that people should be spending a lot more time learning at the DZ to ensure such basic fundamentals become more ingrained and therefore eliminate the need to be reminded of such simple concepts. And yes they are very simple concepts in a sport that is supposed to be self policing. If somebody thinks they are ready for BASE then they SHOULD NOT need some one standing next to them saying"don't forget to pull, don't hold onto your PC, don't land down wind in 20 knots".
But like I said I'm just getting sick of seeing newbies break themselves in easily avoidable circumstances.

Man that's just Bullshit! Do you really think that he had no clue? Did you know Lucas at all? Because those are some strong words and stronger assumptions that your throwing out there. We all fuck up sometimes and occasionally our fuck-ups get us killed. Most of the time they just scare us. I'm sure that Lucas was fully aware that a PC was something that you need to get rid of immediately. That is, after all, the whole point of those things right? Who knows what was going through his head in those last final moments, maybe he got scared, maybe he brain-farted, the only person who knows the answer to that is Lucas and he is dead.

Lucas was a stand up guy and he fucked up. That's it, that's all. It's nobody's job to remind any of us at an exit point to throw the PC.

Your point is legit Robin, your delivery sucked.

Blue Skies Lucas!

-Chris

LOL... that's why he has two or three different sets of cockpit lights to, uh, you know... remind him that the gear is down or needs to go down.

but anyway, you agree with me except for the 747 part... i knew I shoulda just stopped with Elway.

Bottom line: Lurkfulness throughout the spectrum is good SOP. Practice it.

44

Couldn't agree more cloudtramp.



I'm sorry I wasn't aware that you know him, his skills, his training, his dedication or his intelligence. Lucas knew his gear and how it operates, how do I know this? because I actually knew him.
Funny how I don't assume to know what he thoughts were at those moments yet someone who knows nothing about him or has NO idea at all who or what he was can make such an accusing assumption.

We had had many discussions on the topic ranging from the best ways to contain the bridle in the pc while stowing it to the incident and causes of the bridle hitching around the wingsuiters pc in one of the other threads. He knew how his gear operated.
No one will ever know what his thought process was at that point and no one ever will.

I have seen many a jumper stall for a second in throwing their PC when throwing aerials off the Potato. It seems that a lot of people do this...pull it out with head down and throw after another 45+degrees of rotation.

I'm not suggesting this is smart...but it seems to be a common practice/mistake.

Huh? I didn't agree with you at all. I still stand by my statement that BASE jumpers should not need to be reminded to throw their PC.

Technical aspects aside - I think Lucas was way way beyond his experience level here. In fact I don't personally know any jumpers at all who would make that jump (well - maybe one!).

If you look at the factors involved:

270ft guyed A
low 2-way
stowed
gainer
right to left crosswind

I'm actually finding it hard to find any 2 of those I'd be really comfortable putting together!!

I met Lucas in KL last year - he was a nice guy and this is a real shame. Condolances to friends & family...

Thanks for the kind words -- and for calling me out on "no clue."

You're right, of course; my delivery sucked. I can't state unequivocally that he had no clue how dangerous it is to extract but not throw your PC...

I should have said:

"The fact that Lucas held onto his pilot chute after he pulled it clear of the BOC pouch suggests that he had no clue how much he increased his risk of death and tells me that his basic, fundamental parachute training was flawed."

I do stand by that, although you also make a good point that maybe he just screwed up, as we all do. Take it from me -- I know about that from first-hand experience and the only difference between a couple of my outcomes and Lucas' is that I was luckier than he was - not because I was more experienced, more knowledgeable, or more skilled, just luckier.

So I apologize to his friends who were offended by the way I wrote it because I wasn't trying to bag on Lucas, but to make a larger point about fundamental training and the need for lurkfulness.

44

Cool. Glad to know this because it reinforces cloudtramp's notion that he just screwed up -- rather than that he had no clue. Dead is still dead, but I'd rest more easily knowing my friend died because he screwed up than because he was clueless.

So, apologies to you too for making the assumption (assume makes an ASS of U and ME) instead of just introducing the training/lurkfulness ideas as a question.

Like cloudtramp said, my delivery sucked.

44

See, this is exactly what I'm talking about... fundamental cluelessness about the fundamentals of hand-deploy pilot chutes.

As Lucas' friends have emphatically pointed out, he probably knew that he shouldn't hang on to his PC after he extracted it and just screwed up, but to know that this is going on routinely reinforces my contention that both parachuting training and BASE-specific training are failing big-time to properly educate people in the fundamentals of parachute equipment theory, design and operation.

Which is why we DO need to practice lurkfulness - in the bar, in the packing area, at the edge - because we never know if the 5/50/500-jump wonder next to us knows all those fundamentals or not.

And to revisit the 747 pilot checklist, there is nothing wrong with routine reminders... and I know for a fact that I'd rather offend or irritate someone with an unneeded reminder than have to deal with them after they've assumed room temperature because I didn't.

Heck, someone did it to me last week in the airplane. I had just installed a removable slider, which is a great thing except for WTF do you do with the damn thing after you yank it free? I tried the stuff-it-in-jumpsuit thing and that was tedious, so I clipped a little 'biner into my chest strap buckle. Worked GREAT -- and then on the way up for my second jump with this setup, one guy says "that's kinda close to your reserve handle, don't you think?"

And I realized that, in the right circumstance, I could pull the reserve and it could brush against the 'biner and click into it -- locking my reserve handle to it. Then I would have had to pull on the cable itself to get the reserve out. Oh joy!

So I said thanks and clipped it to the middle of the chest strap itself -- and when I landed I made a point of thanking the guy again because THAT is what lurkfulness is all about.

You know, it's all fine and good to say that "BASE jumpers should not need to be reminded to throw their PC," but we all do make mistakes, we all forget stuff, and from your account of PC pull-and-hold practices at Potato, a BUNCH of us out there haven't even learned some of the fundamentals.

Every time someone dies BASE jumping, it affects us all, as friends/family at the personal level -- and in terms of continued access at the system level. So it behooves us all to be lurkful because even though we should NOT have to remind people to pitch their PCs (or observe/practice other fundamentals) the unalterable fact is that we SHOULD.

44

what is the meaning of the word "lurkful"?

Skratch Garrison coined the phrase years ago, but of course I can't find his eloquent definition so I'll give it a shot:

Lurkfulness means keeping an eye on things... like the guy I mentioned in an earlier post who saw the 'biner clipped to my chest strap buckle.

Like noticing if someone has some bridle hanging from their BOC.

But with a light touch... not being a safety nazi or know-it-all or "expert," just...keeping an eye on things... a conscious eye.

In the artificial intelligence community, they say that "consciousness is a passive observer. It waits until something it needs to act upon hops down the process trail and then it acts."

In the BASE case, or parachuting generally, or watching your kids at the playground for that matter, lurkful means casually but consciously monitoring what's going on around you, and with the people around you - and if you notice something that needs some action, acting.

My 'biner experience was a perfect lurk:

1. Guy saw it.
2. Guy made quiet suggestion.
3. Guy backed off after he said it, even though I did not initially concur.
4. After pondering, I concluded he was right and moved the 'biner.
5. I said thanks. he said no big deal.
6. done deal.

44

Honestly, people. Be careful making blanket accusations of a jumper's lack of knowledge. Lucas was a heads-up guy. The first time I met him he instantly struck me as intelligent and contemplative.... in life, and in BASE. Jumping with him left this impression even stronger. Lack of understanding parachute fundamentals was not the problem here. Chris is right. He simply made a mistake. End of story. It just sucks that this mistake ended his life before he could learn from it. So many of us have gotten lucky when we made errors in judgement. That doesn't make us more intelligent/skilled or better informed as jumpers. Another thing to think about: Have I done a ton of sub-300 gainers? Not too many. Would I do more with limited good objects to chose from? Probably. Doesn't make it safer, but I'm sure he knew the risks.

We'll miss you, Lucas.

44, the points you make: valid, more or less.
Tact: leaves something to be desired.
Am I biased?: of course.
-Just my 2.

That was a good point Jordan, this antenna is, in my opinion, the safest object to jump in these parts. Apart from having good crew here, Perth is a shit place to live for a BASE jumper. Don't get me wrong - I know this object and the word 'safe' should not be in the same sentence. It is a low and wirey antenna.

The winds were not coming from the ideal direction, though it wasnt a massive crosswind - about 30 degrees right to left if you jump straight out. The last thing I said to Lucas right before he jumped was that I was going to jump directly downwind so the PC goes straight up. Not sure if this would have saved him if he did jump directly downwind, considering the mistake he made. Unfortunately he didnt.

thanks for the definition...

every friend that dies, regardless of how, sucks.

sorry for your loss again.

every friend that dies, regardless of how, sucks.

be ready for anything.after 80 or so jumps off that bridge i was in freefall and my pilotchute was making its way under my wrist heading for under my elbow Ipulled my arm in close and fast it happens just that quick.it can happen anytime.to anyone .its a choice we all make.the good times still outweigh the bad.

Actually, pulling to early on a gainer is a common mistake. I myself have done it too. It is just deceptive because (generally) you look backwards (upwards that is) to start seeing the object. Your eyes tell you you are in head-down position (time to start pulling) but your body is still back-to-earth (way to soon to pull). So, wait... maybe till you see the horizon again in front of you (?).
Advantages: 1) less likelyhood of bridle getting mixed up in legs 2) more airspeed, so less influence of side winds 3) opening fase will be while you are in stand-up position, opening shock in line with your body = less strain on your body.

Of course, you need altitude for this, or just be very good at gainers (fast, no wobble, and yes, controlled). I am not that good, so I would not do a gainer from 300 feet. For me 400 is just fine.

This is just general info of course. Don't want to put blame somewhere. Why did Lucas pull too soon and then waited? Second jumper above him? realising he extraction of PC was too soon? He can not tell us anymore.

Ronald

Hi out there,

haven’t read all the replies and didn’t know him, still it feels like to write …

I’m sure the guy was kind a gold but imagine what he must have thought or felt the last two seconds before he was going in … I’m sure he was aware of it and maybe also why … makes me shaking when I think of giving my live just for such a little causality …

Don’t know if he was able to see all signs in front. He better should have …

Well, I have no problem with pushing limits and I accept consequences. As I do here.

And I agree that the guy didn’t intend to fuck up but he also risked it to!

So why discussing more than facts? Why not relate here to his freedom of choice …

Analyzing, I would just classic jumping from 270ft/81m handheld (preferable left hand in right crosswinds) enjoying the groundrush and be happy about an opening which is not heading towrds the object …
That would be enough challenge to me and there would be nothing wrong with surviving my ego here by purpose.

Still I wonder what’s wrong with this new generation trying to be faster, more advanced or impressive than their destiny can follow. It doesn’t actually help to develop into a brighter human this way …

Blame me, but BASE jumping is not only flicking off fixed objects. It’s also about meeting later in the landing unhurt because there was a good idea which followed more a kind of plausibility rather than luck …

Still, all of us who managed to stay alive in this sport are connected by some tiny gifted band called luck …
… which the guy hadn’t …

Just that simple!
We will meet us on the other side :-)
M.

...been thinking about this jump, and your description makes perfect sense to me. I know the feeling of seeing that second person above on the rotation, and they can look CLOSE. (Especially with a fast rotation.) So maybe he did have a split second, right as he pulled, where he felt like more vertical separation was needed. His reaction in that scenario would explain why he held on to his PC before pitching (which he was NOT in the habit of doing, and certainly knew was a bad idea) Unfortunately, our knee-jerk reactions in intense situations are very rarely cognitive decisions. It seems like a reasonable theory, anyways.

To his friends, I am so sorry. Losing a good friend never goes away, trust me.

As for Robin's horse shoe scenario, I see absolutely no reason to worry about it on a 300 foot object. I and I am sure he, have gone unstowed a zillion times for about a good three seconds, sometimes 4. I never heard of a horse shoe ever happening, and we used pins early on that would come out if a fly blew on it. I used to use an F-111 special Piglet round in AZ and regularly burn it down to 100 feet. The only thing I can say is that all of his bridle was out, whereas it would have been in your hand unstowed. However, not tossing in an aerial with all of the bridle out is a recipe for disaster, no matter which way the wind was blowing...but good point about the relative wind.

But no way would I have taken on all of that from such a small object. Dump from poor body orientation leads to bridle entanglement leads to impact.

I say to stay within your abilities. Make small steps on safer objects first.

Gonna miss you Lucas, have been thinking of you and the awesome time we got to jump together. Taking you off your first transmission tower meant a lot to me and I'm gonna miss you bud, hope your doing well where ever you may be, and hope your getting endless jumps where ever you be resting. Your that one standup guy that I had the pleasure of meeting.

I cannot think of one person I know who would have attempted or even considered this jump, perhaps from the KL tower but a sub 300 guyed A in sketchy conditions?
I hope that the lessons can be learned, death is always easiest for the deceased, it's our loved ones and friends that have to suffer the consequences of our actions.

Well said man - I haven't met another guy like him. Even though it's been a few years now.

He messaged us telling us how stoked he was that he just got his 'A'. He really appreciated that trip man.

Still miss you Lucas even years later.

Condolences for those that knew him, it hurts hearing of any fatality for anyone under any circumstance.

When I read this incident it struck me hard, I'm the same age and have just a handful more skydives (0 BASE).

For what it's worth, I've been ground crew, rub shoulders with BASE jumpers still, lost friends to BASE and Sky, and I've read the Great Book of BASE cover to cover. I've also got some metal in me from Sky.

I've never posted here because not being a BASE jumper it feels a bit off, but I do stop in from time to time to read the forum. This one just touched a spot and I feel compelled to share my own two cents.

I have had the privilege of being taken under the wing of some very experienced riggers, industry players, and competitive canopy pilots, not through any merit of my own, just the right place at the right time with the right attitude.

What I want to share, for anyone who is a Sky or BASE jumper is how much I don't know. When I was getting into the 100's of jumps, learning to freefly, learning to wingsuit, being hyper current, doing things I shouldn't and getting away with it, and having a pretty darn good time, I started to think "I have a pretty good idea what is going on." Then I got hurt, then I lost a friend to BASE, then I was taken under the wing of folks who have more experience than I ever will even if I'm jumping 30 years from now.

What I learned was that I didn't know a thing, I realized what separated me from a wuffo wasn't more than an inconsequential amount of experience. It was like graduating highschool and then being thrown in with people who had PhDs.

After a few years of seeing many of the current legends go in (especially in the last year), and of losing friends, again with orders of magnitude more experience than I have, I can only offer one piece of advice. Whatever you think you know, whatever experience you think you have, there is more that you don't know than you can even imagine. Every time you touch that void it could very well be the last, you might see all sorts of bad decisions and sketchy jumps go off without a hitch, but death can reach out and grab you on any jump and it is impossible to be prepared for every variable.

Please, slow down, take a good hard look at what you are doing, and remember that living to fight another day is far more important than the moment's glory of making a jump. I get the itch, the compulsion to push harder, make more technical jumps, and learn new tricks; I also have the disappointment of not getting to do the jump I want, or of sitting on the ground because the conditions aren't right. The rush of jumping and the disappointment of not jumping are only temporary, only the consequences of jumping can be permanent.

Well said, none of us really know what we are getting into when we start. Even with mentors readily available, and years in both sports, it's only when something happens to someone you care about that life is brought home. All of us love to hear stories (and watch vids) of epic jumps. Not one of us is ever really prepared for when things go horribly wrong... But that's a lesson we all eventually get.

Some of the things we get away with can provide laughs for a lifetime. But those laughs become a little hollow when the ones we made them with leave.

One of the older local base jumpers we met when we were starting had hundreds of BASE jumps (and almost 15 years in the sport) but had never made an exit that wasn't flat and stable. That wasn't so inspiring to a new jumper... But looking back, he still had the same stoke after 15 years as we did after only a few months. But he had years of that stoke. How can you make that sound inspiring? New jumpers always wanna be at the bleeding edge, thinking this is somehow more awesome... But it isn't so awesome being there with no mates to share it with.

I go back every now and then and watch old footage, laughing at how peaky we were on our first jumps, how short our '2-second' delays really were (they were all go-and-throws). But it'd be more fun if those mates were still around. And to be able to plan the next big adventures...

It is more common for people to experience this, to make and lose amazing friends, than to jump for years and never lose someone.

Some of us will say 'that's life, we all eventually die' but it doesn't make it any easier when someone is taken early.

Lurk
informal
read the postings on an Internet message board or in a chat room without making any contribution oneself.
You need to increase your "lurkfulness" again Robin, your football analogies and BASE theory drive me crazy, well crazier.