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For someone starting from nothing could someone give a general path to BASE jumping safely. I understand not welcoming everyone. However, if someone is willing to put in the time and effort to get ready for a BASE jump should not the community be open to helping that person?

How risky is BASE jumping? Do statistics exist? I watched a show on BASE jumping that stated that BASE jumpers know if they keep BASE jumping they WILL be seriously injured or killed. Would you say this is a true statement?

How much skydiving would be required? What type of training and rig? How do you know when you are ready to start seriously looking to make your first BASE jump?

How would you find a mentor? How soon should he be involved in your training? What type of training would be required for BASE jumping?

What are considered the safest BASE jumps? By safest I mean the jump is not as hazardous as another jump given the object being jumped from. What would be a good place to make your first jump?

Total newbie questions:

Why do people use AADs in skydiving? It is a safety requirement. How often do they fail and open the chute too early?

Should you spend time in a wind tunnel before beginning skydiving? Would it help you in learning the proper position for free fall?

Thank you to everyone for helping me fully understand the risk, training, and work to make a dream come true!

Nathan

Before people flame you, here's a serious answer to one of your questions.
When the time comes, you'll know (I guess)
All of your questions are already answered here on this forum. But, noob to noob here, you need to learn to skydive, and read alot You need to know alot about rigging too.
Go to dropzone.com and locate your nearest DZ, and start from there. It's a long, long road, and the more you learn about skydiving the more you will realise why.

have fun

Actually, fuck my last respone:

http://www.basejumper.com/...;;page=unread#unread

skydiving:
drop zones staffed virtually everywhere exist that will happily take your money, hold your hand, and get you through training.

BASE jumping:
virtually NO places exist that will hold your hand through the newbie stage. you must bring skills learned in skydiving (or elsewhere) with you. you must be a self-starter. inquisitive. this site has tons of info in the forums and the articles. have you read them? it generally is hard to find someone to volunteer to help you if you do NOT work hard to help yourself. start by reading!

Let me guess, you saw a show on tv or videos on youtube and are hoping to maybe take a wingsuit off of a cliff this summer? Next summer if you take it slowly?

If you are willing to work hard, research on your own, put in time (and I mean years) of training, skydiving, then go for it. Nobody will give you answers, you have to reach for them yourself.

Before you start asking more questions ask yourself: Do you think you have persistence, passion, patience and time to possibly wait years* to make your first base jump?


*of course not everyone took years to get there, but it seems to be the vast majority (and no, you are not special to be cutting corners)

if you quit your job, learn to skydive, live at a dropzone and make a few hudred skyjumps practicing canopy skills relative to the base environment, you could probably be hucking yourself off objects in a few months.

I thought a FAQs for newbies of what you are getting yourself in to would be helpful with some of these posts.

Yes I would be willing to wait years. I had no illusions of BASE jumping in a few months.

realize that virtually every question you asked is answered in the "getting in to base" article section, and also addressed ad nauseum in previous forum posts - all you have to do is search the site and hang around reading posts.

OK I will do my homework. Could you guys answer one question out of my post. Do BASE jumpers KNOW if they continue to BASE jump they will be seriously injured or killed?

Depends on you, not the comunity .
What is Your experience of skydiving, your mountain experience, your experience in other sports, your personality, your ability to be your own monitor...


Important. This is very dangerous


Yes, http://www.basefatalitylist.com/
or
http://www.splatula.com/bfl/
and
http://www.blincmagazine.com/.../Fatality_Statistics
The only thing you learn by looking at the statistics, is that this activity is dangerous, but it is a passion.


True. You know if you will be alive tomorrow ?! Stop watching TV (is shit)


Depends on you. Least a few hundred jumps
You'll see that five hundred jumps skydive you are a beginner


skydive skydive skydive skydive and all sports with third dimenssion. the rest you have time


when you're ready, it is not a question


on a bar


as necessary


skydive skydive skydive skydive and all sports with third dimenssion. the rest you have time


In a bed


bridge



Yes



You have no AAD systeme in basejump


if you can, it's a good idea but not mandatory
------

here I have answered all your questions but it changes nothing.

Seriously morgannr, it's not asking a thousand questions on the internet that you learn the Basejump.
Join a dropzone near you, make a few hundreds jumps, some drunk hundreds of beers at the bar dropzone and you will find the way of base

Thank you to you for this training in English

if you poke around this site, you'll have a hard time finding anything labeled "FAQ," but that does not mean the information does not exist. it just means you might need to investigate alternatives.

you will see a tab for "Articles." with just a couple clicks you will have many answers. alternatively, this sort of question pops up all the time. (it is one reason that we actually created the "BASE Beginners" forum.) I bet if you looked at the existing threads, you probably could answer your own questions.

we can't customize the content here for every single person. we DO try to make information available. sadly, some choose not to look for it...


oh, and if you do a couple hundred BASE jumps in the US, there is a strong probability you will experience one of the following.
- death
- injury
- arrest
- lost gf (may not be bad )
- death of a friend
- help extricate an injured jumper

choose your jumps carefully, and all the above can be avoided... that means learning and anticipating problems before they occur. your inquisitiveness can keep you safe. it is better than relying on other's opinions, imho.

jimstarr: I have further understanding of the scale of the undertaking. Your answers force me to ask myself if I am ready to make the commitment and further more am I willing to undertake that level of risk.

On the other hand it makes me realize that BASE is more than a sport its a philosophy on life. I would bet most BASE jumpers share roughly the same outlook on life. The philosophy is the value of self- belief and self-reliance but more so the celebration of life.

wwarped: I will do my homework. It was just an idea. I did not mean any offense.

I like how the individual is taken in to account when making decisions in base. I do not believe in a set number of dives to be ready. Each person has different skills and abilities.

Don't overrate yourself :)

Peace

You would be surprised. In my experience BASE jumpers beliefs are very unique from person to person. Getting jumpers to agree with each other on ANYTHING is damn near impossible. The only correlation I have seen with BASE jumpers when it comes to beliefs is no matter what someone believes they tend to do so VERY strongly.

+1

Yes

In general, my advice is here

I'd recommend you go buy a copy of this book and read it cover to cover. It will answer a lot of your questions. Keep in mind that it's just one guy's opinions, but they are very educated and well researched opinions, and that one guy is both an experienced jumper himself and talked to a lot of others as he wrote that book.


Sure. And it is. People who demonstrate that they are willing to put in the time and effort (most commonly by doing a bunch of skydiving) are generally given plenty of help.



The only statistically valid study ever done used numbers only from the most popular Norwegian big wall, which is one of the world's safer objects. It found that statistically a fatality resulted from something like 1 in 2317 jumps. The study was mostly done by doctors, but one of the authors (who is I think the norwegian equivalent of a PA or NP) was a very experienced BASE jumper.



Yes.



Use a big 7 cell f-111 canopy in an old student rig. Do a lot of accuracy and get some CRW training. Learn to track very well. Find yourself a BASE mentor who can evaluate your ability at these things. When you both agree you're ready, you probably are.




Find an experienced jumper who lives close to you and is interested in helping and gets along with you. Get them involved as soon as possible. You should be able to start looking for people when you find a dropzone and get some initial parachuting training there.



Required? Nothing, really. Recommended? A whole lot more than most people do, really.



A wide open bridge over deep water with a big field for a landing area.



In case they lose consciousness in freefall. This can happen for a variety of reasons--getting kicked or striking the aircraft on exit, hypoxia, or any of a number of other things.



Very infrequently. And it's much safer to open the chute too early than too late.



Very helpful for skydiving training. Not nearly as useful for BASE.