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http://www.youtube.com/...Mo&feature=share

Low pull..?

Any news about his condition?

There is another video on YouTube, search for "bridge day belly flop"

Man Flown To Hospital After Parachute Fails To Deploy At Bridge Day

Hundreds of thrill seekers were making death defying jumps at Bridge Day on Saturday and there were some mishaps, including one jumper who was seriously hurt.

27-year-old Christopher Brewer's parachute did not deploy. He had on a wind suit that slowed him down a bit but officials say he still crashed into the water going about 60mph. He had to be flown to CAMC. Jeff West with the National Park Service tells Eyewitness News that Brewer is suffering from a spinal injury, lung injury and broken pelvis.

Brewer is from Pensecola, Florida. West says and investigation is ongoing into the accident.

Other minor accidents were also reported from this year's bridge jump.


http://www.wchstv.com/...ss/111015_7050.shtml

Nice exit & form & looks like he has some WS experience ??? . any of 'his locals' know & chime-in on his BASER #'s .

Last time I checked. The PC is a Piss-Poor life saving device . That does not look good @ all .
.

Two things to be learned from this:

1) Don't cut it close just because you're over water. It messes with your depth perception and makes it hard to know if you are 50 or 500 feet up (the Navy SEALs learned this the hard way when they experimented with getting out of their gear at 20 feet; they ended up with some guys bailing at 200 feet instead).

2) If you do end up low, KEEP FLYING AFTER YOU PITCH instead of reaching for your risers.

As this gentleman showed us, reaching for your risers turns you into a rock instead of a bird, which accelerates your overall speed and eliminates the horizontal component of your trajectory, thereby reducing the time and distance your parachute has to open.

Years ago, Outrager survived a similar low pull (over ground, no less) by doing just that; he saw too late that he was too low so he pitched and then kept flying hard, which maintained the horizontal trajectory and lower total speed, which in turn gave him just enough extra time for the canopy to deploy -- and when it did open it swung his body out to the front, giving him another smidgen of time and distance. (Result? He landed flat on his back, no injuries.)

Hopefully, this fellow will recover without permanent damage, and in the meantime he's given us a priceless example from which we can all learn.

dont show Jeb! he may get jealous.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You seem to be confusing people, places and events, but that's ok at your advanced age

What RH said, while historically incorrect, is indeed a solid life-saving advice. Keep flying after you pull, in fact flare a suit - it gives you a couple of extra feet and a softer opening anyway.

I aint putting down the jumper as i do know him and have jumped on exit points with him, but how many extra seconds did he really get compared to a normal jumper at bridge day...

i have never jumped bridge day, but would say that a wingsuit at kl tower and bridge day seem a bit obvious to some and not so for the few..

Is it worth it ???

it seems to me that he gets very little extra time (and distance) compared to what was done a couple of years ago.

Wish him the best for recovery

added VIDEO OF THE PAST

I think its 8.6 seconds to impact. I count 8 secs to pitch and almost 10 secs to impact.
that dude in the orange and black tracked farther and longer a couple years ago.
Also anyone know if his go pros were recovered? I bet that is some sick vid.

 
How the fuck did this guy survive with only his PC out? I just don't understand it.

My buddy was standing on the bridge at the time it happened, he said that the woman next to him snapped a picture at the exact moment of impact. In the picture you could see the chute at full line stretch but still mostly compressed as he hit the water. Mind you this is second hand info (i did not see the photo) i was in the packing area. I ducked my head when it happened because it sounded exactly like a 5.56 round going off.

I've seen some of the photos from a paramedic who was taking pictures of another jumper landing. From what I saw, line stretch happened around 15-20' above the water.

Found on flickr...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rksjr/6251325701/

there are a few in the serious, but here you can see his canopy just before impact

hut-dang... that picture where you can see his reflection in the water makes my skin crawl...

From the exit ramp at Bridge Day I think it
is 8.8 seconds to impact for a bowling ball.
8.6s might be the time from the catwalk.

Chris took 9 fat seconds, I know because I
was standing next to the diving board when
I saw a wingsuit up at the exit (at the time
I had no clue who was in it) and watched
intently while couting X-1000 out loud.

I know Chris, only BASE jumped with once
when he first started, but that night he did
3 jumps from 3 different objects, including
his first Building, all well executed and fun.

Our mutual friend has informed the FL crew
that the first surgery went well, Chris is able
to talk and is in pretty good spirts given the
circumstances.

Tom do we know the extent of his injuries? Also I was curious how much money we raised for him if anyone knows, I was pretty touched by everyone's generosity Saturday night.

Near the end of Saturday evening I heard Annie saying she had gathered $3140 in cash passing the box around, and that others who had asked about donating with a CC were directed to where they could do that.

To all who weren't there, after Annie that suggested passing the hat for a fund for Chris and his family. the DFH winner donated his $100 "prize" as the first donation, which was pretty generous of him with two smashed arms himself.

Yeah, that was pretty freaking awesome, hate it for that guy too...two busted arms...rough year this year, heal fast people, Ty for the reply.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rksjr/6251325701/

He is in stable condition as of recent news reports. Friend showed me this picture. Thought id share. There are more then 1 picture, click through them.

If you look at the sequence of still photos from the flikr pages it appears as though he has a bad hesitation. The pilot chute is evidently stuck on his back for a few moments. in one photo, the bridle is extended almost to his left elbow and the P/C is touching his feet.

I saw the same thing from my point of view on the bridge

I was loading vans 2nd half of the day and got updates from jumpers in line. One guy said he got closeup freefall stills from the LZ (I didn't see them) and was certain he had shots of the bridle extended under the leg wing with PC dragging off the right foot.

I don't recall his name - hopefully he will share the pics at some point.

 
From the video it looks like a poor flight and a low pull. From the stills it looks like a weak throw. Not saying thats 100% what happened but thats a bad combination on any basejump. He hit really hard, can't really get much closer to going in. Hope he will heal up well!

Kerkko
BASE1184

agreed - I can't see where the PC is really hung up on anything

im not very experienced with wingsuit skydiving myself with only 5 WS plane jumps.

after the pitch it looks like he was crazy arched, with his legs curled in pretty close to his body. i know someone earlier in this post mentioned that after pitch in a situation like that you would want to de-arch and fly that wingsuit like your life depends on it...........does anyone believe that had he de-arched right after pitch and flew hard hey may have gotten canopy inflation?

fuckin creepy pictures. and for the record that guy with the broken arms was in super good spirits, i think i bought him a drink but i blacked out after about 6pm

No, from this height and the flight he had I don't think it would have changed the outcome, add another thousand feet and three times the horizontal movement and then maybe. From what I watched personally, and reviewed in pics from up top and the bottom, I don't think it was PC hesitation or anything else. It was a big day, with a lot of friends and family watching, he was pumped, got caught in the moment, and had a low pull. A really low pull. I am sure when it's possible he'll explain from his point of view so be patient and just say a prayer that he makes a full recovery. Thoughts are with ya bro.

WTF? winging it from sub 300m. Hello! Guess what, The other guy who did this is on the BFL. Why is this a question?
take care, space

I have watched the videos online and one taken live. If you watch the "pitch" to "splash" - and count "one - one thousand" - you barely get to two...

Even with zero hesitation, this was too low to get a canopy. PCs will hesitate, espeically with a wingsuit.

I have lost too many friends in skydiving and BASE. About the same quantity have been in the hospital for extended periods. When visiting friends in the hospital, or their grave site or impact site, I tend to think a lot and ask a lot of questions...

Two trends:

1) Greater the audience size and camera quantity, greater the chance of death or injury. Two friends, very experienced instructors and skydivers, in one year died on swoops when the cameras were rolling. One even had a remote control helicopter with camera above him, so I am told, to capture him going big. Neither ever showed signs of risk prior, but the day of their death had additional audience/cameras/pressure.

2) Two Wingsuit near-death-injuries I have discussed with the injured party start with the pilot giving themselves a goal of a certain distance they want to fly for their personal best at the exit point. At some point in the flight, their brain says, "I can do it, I will make it to that point", and they ignore the need/desire/gut feeling to pull feeling. Both pulled just a tad higher than this incident and hit under a good canopy because they had no time to fly.

I take these two trends to heart and hope to learn from them. It is to me like a gear check, but instead a mental check at the exit point.


I hope this wingsuiter recovers fully, it was very sad to witness. If he does, I wonder if his story will have links to 1 and 2 above?

There is a canopy flying at the time of this incident and is at an unusual place. Was this a planned flyby?

Thanks Jason. I should have noticed that before posting, doh!

It wasn't a fly-by. Our exit team gave Chris extra time in order to clear airspace. The yellow canopy landed in the water around the same time that Chris impacted. I have seen other footage that clearly shows the situation. Stay tuned.

When I watched the video I thought maybe he got distracted by the canopy and wanted to make sure he cleared it sufficently before deploying.

Thank you! I dont understand how anyone can find this acceptable... We are fighting to show that we can govern our selves and that this sport is capable of being safe enough to justify being legalized in our National Parks... This took us back to the beginning in my opinion. It is ultimately the jumpers responsibility in the end but I think the organizers of this event need to seriously reflect on what they are allowing at "Their" event. For one, this is not a bridge anyone should ever jump off of with a wingsuit, it doesnt even make sense! This is a wingsuit jump that requires a ton of skill and those with that skill would pass this bridge and never look back!

If we are going to be taken serious as an activity and not just Criminals with a death wish we need to start acting like it. BASE jumping is the easiest sport in the world if everything goes right, those with low experience take this the wrong way and become complacent. BASE jumping is only the most extreme sport in the world very rarely and when it is shit gets ugly quick! Lets all try and respect this sport a bit more by making smarter decisions and doing things for the right reasons, not for spectator satisfaction and image!

+1 !! Not to mention the shenanigans going on in the valley

I think you need to realize that BASE jumping isn't safe. Never has been. Wingsuits have been used at Bridge Day nearly every year for the last decade.

Personally, I think it's a waste of time to bring a wingsuit to Bridge Day, but should I be the BASE police and ban them? No. Should I enact a helmet and knee pad rule? No. Will jumpers bitch and moan if I implement any new "rules"? Absolutely.

There are plenty of accidents and fatalities around the world every year that give jumpers a bad name (ie. Lauterbrunnen, Perrine, etc.). Don't get your panties in a wad when we have a low puller at BD.

However, I will add one new rule in the future: Don't pull too low. This rule applies to everyone (wingsuiters or otherwise).

Bravo Jason. I agree with your stand.

Thinking about jumping a wingsuit at BD? Then maybe check out the previous BD WS incidents. Water and the urge to fly further than the trackers sucks you down. Might even be worth counting for the first one..

Grazie

I think you need to realize that BASE jumping isn't safe. Never has been. Wingsuits have been used at Bridge Day nearly every year for the last decade.

Personally, I think it's a waste of time to bring a wingsuit to Bridge Day, but should I be the BASE police and ban them? No. Should I enact a helmet and knee pad rule? No. Will jumpers bitch and moan if I implement any new "rules"? Absolutely.

There are plenty of accidents and fatalities around the world every year that give jumpers a bad name (ie. Lauterbrunnen, Perrine, etc.). Don't get your panties in a wad when we have a low puller at BD.

However, I will add one new rule in the future: Don't pull too low. This rule applies to everyone (wingsuiters or otherwise).

No, BASE jumping isnt safe, I never said it was I said that it can be done relatively safe but because it is inherently dangerous people need to give it the respect it deserves. Im also not saying any one person should try and police it, Im saying we all need too look out for the best interest of the sport and not be selfish. There are amazing events held in Europe where there are rules and restrictions that must be fallowed if you want to be part of it, dont like it? jump some where else. The sport its self by nature will always remain free to do as you please, but these events need to be used as roll model events not circuses because we are putting it in the public's face. If you think making rules at a privately run event is unreasonable then I think you miss the definition of private, its yours to guide and control.

I would never tell someone they have to do something unless it encroaches on others. call me old fashioned but when someone tells me I cant wingsuit off El Cap or Half Dome because its dangerous and they reference an isolated incident at bridge day, a legal event that BASE jumpers are running, I am going to be pissed because it reflects nothing about jumping off big walls.

Shame on you for defending reckless behavior with no ends in the public eye. I do reckless shit from time to time as well because its fun and makes me smile when I make it through the needle, but its nonsense to say this is okay to do in front of people who do not grasp the sport. Even the kid in the video noticed how pointless jumping off a bridge with a wingsuit is.

I really wish this guy the best in recovery and hope its 100% but I think this event has lost sight of what promoting BASE should be. I would love to be able to stand behind this event because it has done so much for BASE jumping but right now I think its going more for numbers playing off shock value than anything. We are doing something amazing and I dont think it needs to be played up for people to be impressed!

make sure the participants are qualified and have the skill sets required to perform what they are planning on doing. Plan the jump, jump the plan... The event organizers should be aware of who is going, when they are going and what they are doing, nothing should be out side of that. Again, my opinion but I feel that this is not restrictive to Jumpers as any jumper can go jump somewhere else on their own time and do what ever they want, this is only responsible! In the end I feel people just are doing it for the wrong reasons and that is bad for everyone, I can almost guarantee this guy did not go to Norway with the intention of learning to fly his WS so he could come home to the states and jump off a bridge under 1000 feet! But lots of people watching and that image on the line is enough to cloud someones logical thinking for sure. Thats why the event organizers need to restrict certain things, not everyone will be happy but chances of things like this happening are greatly reduced.

Im done posting, Im not a fan of these forums. This was just too ridiculous for me not to put in my two cents.

Umm,, this is what BD is about. Jumping without training. There is a need for this. Jason is doing his best. But if some have the experience and want to be an idiot....BFL. I have probably seen more wingers than any one sub BASErace.. That is not a nice alt for winging. Hey it was posted on this forum. Freakin idiot.
absolutely no respect repeating a mistake. If Ihad money to help out I would o iy after slapping him in the face for being a dork.
Freakin idiot.
Take care,
space

"Shame on you for defending reckless behavior " ummmm. sho the dork confirms thts his actions sux again. like we didnt get it the first time. I defend him for proving. Kiss my ass if you dissaggre. BD is about recklessbehavior.Jason is going to kick me for this statement, but whatever.
take care,
space

Curious...

Do you feel that, you, have the skill to jump a wingsuit off the New?

nope, not even close.

I respect your opinion, I just want to legally jump off El Cap and Half dome and this isnt helping get any closer. Trust me I come from a crew of reckless ass holes Im just sayin we should try and tame it down a bit for public viewing right now...

Quite the presumptuous assertion...

...is it not?

Just a question?

Does anyone know how many base jumps he had and also how many wingsuit base jumps...


I did meet the jumper in kjerag i think 2 years ago... and dont recall him having a wingsuit (but my memory is starting to fade!!!!

anyone chime in

The rule of thumb i was told

Keep Wingsuits to terminal objects.

Alot of people can track father then the last one in question, so what do they get out of it!

dude, go jump sub 1k objects in a wingsuit all day, no one is going to stop you, Im saying its foolish to allow it at a nationally covered event. This has nothing to do with presumptuous assertions, I primarily fly wingsuits in BASE now and I do have enough experience to know thats fucking stupid.

Oh put a sock in it. Safety has no relationship to national park access. This year alone there were three times as many drowning fatalities in Yosemite as there have been BASE fatalities in Yosemite since 1983.

And "this" took us back to what "beginning"? Your rhetoric is as situationally unaware as Chris' pull timing.

And I smell a big fat personal agenda lurking with the allusions you cast on the "organizers" and the things upon which they should "reflect." Trying to horn in on Jason's action too, are we? Wouldn't be the first time you tried to undercut someone else's hard work, Blake "CONFLO" Dimoff.

Not to mention being utterly clueless and out of line. Jason and I have had our differences over how best to deal with NPS over backcountry parachuting access generally and NRGB issues specifically, but since he took over Bridge Day in 2003, the job he's done has been absolutely out-effing-standing. He has done almost everything extremely well, and only a few things that could have been done better.

And he's done it all with a very light touch, which is a prodigous accomplishment in itself, given how hard it is to herd the hard-headed cats that make up the base jumping population.

Then here you come, spouting bilge and baloney like a 1980s whuffo (when you were no doubt still in diapers), and casting aspersions on Jason's stellar organizing over a routine time and distance miscalculation that can and does happen to the best of us, whether we're wearing wingsuits or swimming trunks.

Methinks you'd serve yourself and everyone else better if you worked more on getting http://www.conflosport.com up to speed and less time being such a weasel.

thank you robin.

seriously Robin? I have never undercut anyone, I even tried working with you early on but I got sued by Fallen footwear and had to change my name so production came to a halt. I am saying that the safety is an argument used against BASE jumping, stop taking it out of context. And my situational awareness is what I see personally. CONFLO is just coming back into doing things and the last thing I did was sponsor a BASE jumping event a few years back quite successfully. I love this sport more than anything and that is all the interest and undercutting I have vested into this conversation. I always respected you and your efforts to make it legal (youre one of the few) but your somewhat strong personality has held you back I feel, and I suffer from a bit of the same I think. Stay tuned and you will see that things have changed drastically with CONFLO and you can then have more important things to point out than how out of date my website is I am sure this can be seen as out of line but I just feel like it needs to be addressed. take it for what you want but thats how I feel about it all. Disregard it, think about it, piss on it, it doesnt matter to me... this is why I would rather Jump than post on forums, I am done now, enjoy bad mouthing me for trying to help. Hopefully we can meet at an exit some time and talk about it over a beer, until then Robin I have no interest in trying to go at you wit for wit, I have at least that much situational awareness!

Thank you for your kind words, and your contributions to the sport so far, and yes, I'd be happy to take you up on your beer-at-the-exit offer, but until then I'd like to offer one more suggestion: lock up the keyboard for a while. I think you've been at the beer exit too long today.

In one of the pics it looks like his bridal is under his left hand? Wish I could zoom in a little to see for sure. I also notice his head is turning to the left, maybe to lookat the possible trapped bridal.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rksjr/6251816658/in/photostream/?reg=1&src=comment

good eye.
although that may just be visual distortion due to the distance between the lens and the subject.

cropped pics attached

What I find interesting in the Flickr sequence is this:

1) From the time he lets go of his stiffeners to the time his hand is on his PC is ONE FRAME.

2) From the time he has his hand on his still-stowed pilot chute until he pitches it is FIVE FRAMES.

3) from the time he pitches until he starts to get bridle extension is FOUR FRAMES.

4) from the time he gets bridle extension until he gets partial inflation before impact is FIVE FRAMES.

So we have several things happening here:

First, he reaches very quickly for his PC but then either holds on to it or can't find it for a long time before pitching it out there.

Second, he pitches it very weakly. It could be camera parallax but it doesn't appear that he clears his body, much less his arm wing with the pitch.

Third, as soon as he pitches he goes into a boxman body position, thereby instantly accelerating straight down and killing the horizontal component of his trajectory.

Fourth, the radical trajectory change is verified by the canopy opening angle to both the water and his body... he is basically going straight down during deployment instead of having any horizontal component.

Finally, if you review the entire sequence, it appears that even during full flight prior to pulling he was arched rather than flat or de-arched.

So, as we see with almost every fatality or incident, it was not just one thing that got him (a low pull).

There were in fact several elements that all combined:

1) poor wingsuit body position

2) low pull

3) slow pull

4) weak pitch

5) PC hesitation

6) failure to resume flight during deployment

Bottom line: The altitude at which he reached for his PC was on the low end of reasonable, but if he'd done a normal-cadence pull, with a strong pitch, and resumed flying after pitching, he most likely would have had a complete opening before hitting the water.

Wouldnt resuming flight make the hesitation even worse? In my unexperienced eyes hes lucky he didnt resume flight.

Bridge Day has many rules as well (probably more than all other events). See for yourself.


Give me a break. Are you insane? You sound like some newbie, YouTuber, selfish hippie who is absolutely clueless to the history of BASE jumping. Ya know what really ruined all "your" Yosemite jumps? It was the 1999 protest jump where Jan Davis went in. It's also the attitudes of jumpers. We have injuries EVERY year at Bridge Day. This Bridge Day wasn't any different.


Bridge Day is about legal jumping from the 3rd tallest bridge in the USA. I don't go into each Bridge Day thinking "what can I do to open up Yosemite". Unfortunately, we did perform 11 tandem jumps this year, which should have been the headline. One low pull later and idiots like you are blasting ME instead of the low puller. Low pulls can occur with or without a wingsuit.


What numbers? What shock value? You're insane. We just value the opportunity to jump and that's the main reason we're there. Try attending BD sometime and you'll understand.


I doubt you're done posting.

To start, we can't even get 5,000 people to sign a petition to be heard, 1900 people, less than 1900 people, and you wanna blame it on B-Day for why we can't jump in Yosemite or any other national park!? Your inane babble is fucking boring. People do this same shit every month everywhere in the world, it's nothing new. If danger is their reason all they gotta do is click on youtube and search "base accident" and there is 6 hours of incidents off walls just like yosemite or whatever cliff you wanna call out. The kid fucked up, he knows it without anyones futile bashing, he's embarrassed without anyone belittling his skills, he's known world wide as the dude that smacked the water at 87mph in a wingsuit at B-Day in 2011, and he's just before dead because of it so why don't you give this poor fucking kid that is a pretty experienced pilot that screwed up, and Jason that does more for Base in his sleep than you've done in your piss poor base career, and Robin that was working for the best in our sport since you were shitting in diapers a fucking break! Seriously dude, everybody, this crap doesn't do anything but make it worse so chill the fuck out.

In all the bickering Iv'e lost who to reply to on this post. So, Iv'e replied to yours...

...anyway, I have a question that may seem a bit noobish. I don't WS. period. Don't want to. So I have to ask, Does anyone think that the WS saved his life? Im thinking because of his forward movement lessened the impact. It directed the reactive force away from him instead of right back at him. In '06 when BLS went in, he took about the same delay didn't he? line stretch, partial inflation, then splash, straight down and in. The reactive force was directed right back at him.

What I mean by 'reactive force' is there is an equal or opposite reaction for every action.

Yall know what Im saying?

Au contraire, mon ami. Watch video of Robert or Jeb or the other wingsuit aces when they pull and see where the PC goes.

Also notice what their body position and especially what they do with their legs compared to what Chris did when he pitched.

When you maintain the horizontal component of your trajectory -- when you keep flying, your pilot chute blows behind you into the slipstream, which also eliminates the dead air over your back.

When Chris went boxman after pitching, he created a big column of dead or burbly air that tossed his PC around enough to hook the bridle on his hand.

If he had resumed flight after pitching -- even as weakly as he did, he'd most likely be walking today instead of lying in a hospital bed... and his bridle definitely wouldn't have ended up around his non-pitching hand.

And finally, he went almost straight in -- the shortest distance between his pilot chute and the water.

Had he flown through deployment instead of going boxman, he woould have maintained a more horizontal trajectory and thus given his canopy more time and distance to open.

Just do the basic math: If your PC is 100 feet up and your lines and canopy are 20 feet, you have 80 feet left for it to inflate before you hit the water.

If you are getting 1.5:1 glide angle, then that 100-foot anchor point translates into 150 total feet minus 20 feet until impact, so even with a very modest glide angle, you can increase your available opening distance by 50 feet -- and more than 50 percent.

Now look again at the "shadow" pic and the "oh-****" pic and think about how much Chris could have used 50 more feet... or even 25.

Yes, and you are right in your thinking but probably not in terms of this particular incident. Chris appears to go pretty much straight in because he went boxman early in the deployment and his body is basically vertical in the pix.

Also note the position of the canopy in the final frame; it is apparently directly over him, and it is vertical too, not tipped at an angle as it would be if Chris had kept flying during deployment instead of going boxman.

This is really pretty cut and dried and as I said in my initial post about this, it's great that Chris lived through it because he inadvertently made a really great training video for anyone who does or plans to wingsuit jump: Like the old aviation saying goes, whatever happens, just keep flying the airplane.

I disagree with your statement. I have some video that shows it is possible, even when flying hard, for the PC to be caught in dirty air. In my case, the PC ended up hitting my ankles, shoes, and legs for a few seconds, before it got sucked under my arm wing, then out to freedom. It was a skydiving rig, and I lost a few hundred feet before the pin popped.

All objects moving thru the sky have a burble and dirty air somewhere. Flying hard just moves it from above your back, to somewhere behind you.

If the luck of the draw (with odds increased with a weak throw) causes your PC to get in this dirty air, you feel the hesitation. You can wait for it to bounce around and leave, or you can change your body position to move that dirty air spot...

Robin Heid

Your over speculation here is out of line. Not to mention its unfounded. Who are you to say what this gentleman could have or should have done? or what his outcome would be if he would have done this or that? Were you at bridge day this year? Are you a sub terminal wingsuit low pull expert? Do the examples of wingsuit low pulls that you speak of apply at all in this case? Are they first hand? 2nd hand? Internet hand?

People are over analyzing this. Chris made a mistake while base jumping on Saturday. Most experienced jumpers can relate to having made a very sobering mistake in the sport. Some get more lucky than others and often that is just a question of perspective and attitude.

i don't know you Chris, but I keep reviewing this thread out of concern. I'm sending good wishes and strength, and please know that if there is anything I can do when or if that time comes, reach out.

I'm just a beginner in the base jumping world. Never been to Bridge Day but I'd like to voice my opinion on this topic.

Living in Switzerland maybe we (or just I ) have a different view on the thing but I'm sorry to say that this kind of event (not Bridge Day but the incident) as definitely giving a bad name to the whole Base jump community.

Not because of the fact that someone jumped a sub 300m bridge with a wingsuit. It has been done and will be done again I m pretty sure. But it happenned in a internalonaly covered event and when I found this in a swiss news paper :http://www.20min.ch/...ivers/story/15593503

for me it's definitly not the best way to promote our sport. People who aren't in the sport will never understand and don't care that it happened in an event that made a lot for the sport.

As said there is already plenty on accident everywhere (not as much covered by the media) giving a bad name to Base jumping. Maybe the organizer should think more about the impact of the international media coverage in case of an incident.

My 2 cents ...

Bla, bla, bla, bla...

He just pulled too low. All the scenario's about burble, flying versus falling, bad pitch, etc. can happen on any WS jump. If you allow yourself to have no margin you must accept the possible consequences.

Why he did pull too low? I don't know. The only thing I have not read yet is that it is much harder to estimate the altitude above water than it is above land. Classic mistake that is indeed. Made by many, many people under canopy and releasing to high.

Accidents happen and the only way to make 100% sure that nobody gets hurt while base jumping is not to base jump. That's a fact. If you arrange base jumping event you have to understand that there is certain risk that someone will injure himself or die in your event. Of course, there are certain degree of safety precautions you can take to try to avoid the accident but nonetheless the risk is alyways there. It can be disputed if flying a WS off 876ft bridge is a wise move or not. Then again it also can be disputed if participating in a 5way or doing quadriple twisting backflip is the safest way to jump from this bridge. If Jason would start to ban things where does it start and where does it end? First you prohibit wingsuits, then definitely multiways (there has been quite amount of footage on opening collisions), aerials should be big no-no (lots of footage people pitching unstable / bridles and PC's near or around legs / arms) and so forth... You end up with an event where people stand in line to be PCA'd off a 10m overhanging ramp from the bridge with mandatory full body armor and floatation suit. And even still it is possible that someone actually dies or gets seriously injured. The risk is a bit smaller maybe but it is still there.

The guy also made finnish papers : http://www.iltalehti.fi/nettitv/?32157471

I wish him a speedy and full recovery!

+1

"In the spaces between awareness
We dream
In the spaces between the dreams
We dare
And in the spaces between the daring dreams lives
Sport Death"

OK, new rule: No cameras allowed at Bridge Day 2012

Ha ha no that's not my point.

Just that I see lots of people complaining that media are only (mostly) covering Base Jumping when accident happends and giving a bad name to the sport. That's a shame I'm 100% ok with this, but when I see some jumps during big events with big media coverage I just think we can't blame only the media. Some people offer them the big "buzz" on a silver plate ...

Herding Outlaws

I heard there were about 750 BASE jumps made
on Saturday in less than 6 hours, something like
80+ minutes lost for train and injury holds.

I can not think of a way to manage the dive plans
for each and every single one of these jumps in a
way that would not be a farce.

Logistical nightmare with almost zero actual benefit!

I mean think about it . . . IF registering a flight plan
for a SKY jump made it safer, USPA would already
have at least discussed it, if not passed that rule.

Plus Remember BASE jumpers willingly break rules.
Hell, the thought of just hopping off while waiting in
line from 8:30 to 8:59 crossed my mind repeatedly.

Running With Scissors

On the flip side, there is a big difference between
fucking up a jump and planning a fucked up jump.

I have personally been 3 seconds into a Slider-UP
jump head down looking at a guyed antenna... the
plan was solid, my body just failed to follow the plan.

Then there are the kids with minimal canopy time
jumping into an unforgiving LZ in gusty winds with
zero boots, pads, etc. throwing their first aerial on
an unplanned 2-way.

Like the friendly guy I met at the exit who could not
be talked out of doing a gainer for his 2nd BASE jump.

I also think wingsuits at Bridge Day are stupid but then
again the majority of people in America think just doing
a tandem skydive is stupid . . . and there is the rub.

-Bridge Day will always have injuries
-Cameras will always be there

As another jumper said, the only way to make sure no one gets hurt is to not jump. Feel free to offer a solution (if there is truly a problem) based on the above info.

I agree with that 100%.

I don't have a solution as you may have thought .

But I hope that one day I will be able to come to BD to see it from the inside.

It's not surprising to see how a lesson some can learn from turned into a typical dorkzone shit throwing fest -- it's surprising how no one sees THIS:

(sorry to the jumper if you're offended, you've got lots of shit already... but this is THE lesson... heal fast buddy) -

The jumper fell pretty much straight down... in a wingsuit. Why? Because he started with nearly 90 degree angle of attack and "flew" at high AoA all the way, reaching the "low" value of maybe 60 degree AoA by the end. His example shows what the lack of understanding of very basic aerodynamics can do to you. This lack can be seen not only on marginal WS objects like NRGB, but on big walls as well - it's everywhere these days, especially that jumpers tend to take wingsuit to BASE with almost no proper practice from airplane or balloon.

Parameters of the "flight" are approximately so:

Horizontal distance: ~350ft
Height: ~885ft
Time: ~10.2s
Launch speed: ~4mph
Exit altitude: ~1700ft

(pull was earlier than 10.2s and at less than 885ft of used altitude, but considering he got almost no deceleration, the whole thing can be considered as WS flight)

Punch these numbers in Wingsuit Studio in L/D Calculator and we get the average L/D ~ 0.8:



0.8 is the level of performance achievable by tracking in street clothes. To "fly" at L/D = 0.8 in wingsuit is typical in f1.0cking, but is shameful in BASE.

Horizontal movement comes from lift. At 90 degree AoA there's virtually zero lift and nearly 100% drag. At 60 degree AoA there's some lift, but still less than drag (say, ~45/55 split). At AoA=45 lift and drag are typically nearly equal (50/50 split, L/D ~ 1). Only at low AoA like 10-12 degrees L/D comes to up to 2.0-3.0, depending on the suit and the pilot.

When the goal is to start flying as quickly as possible and make as much distance as possible after the first few seconds, it is the absolute amount of lift that you can develop that matters, because while you're falling mostly straight down, lift is the only force vectored horizontally and actually propelling you forward. Maximum lift coefficient happens to be at approx. 45 degree AoA (only sophisticated multi-section high-lift wings of modern airplanes can achieve the lift of AoA=45 at lower AoA's). For that, you want AoA = 45 degrees, so your body after you stabilize after exit should be pitched at 45 degrees to horizon. (AoA is the difference between the line of flight and the body pitch angle.) If you're flat with horizon (pitch = 0), you'll get AoA=90 and zero lift, zero L/D, zero horizontal movement.

It's nothing more than elementary aerodynamics everyone flying WS should know like their date of birth.
Stuff like this was analyzed long time ago.



Don't be flat after exit in wingsuit! Aim for 45 degree headdown pitch if your goal is to make most horizontal distance in limited time/height, or aim for 70-75 degree headdown pitch if the wall is clean and you have 1000's of feet available and your goal is to maintain highest L/D possible and longest overall distance possible.

If you see somebody flat after exit on a terminal wall, tell them, so that they don't continue struggling and endangering their life while not knowing elementary things. Too many people who are struggling to fly on big walls concentrate on body position, tensioning of the wings, curling of the arms, while overlooking the very basic, and the most important thing: pitch/AoA management. First things first.

Yuri

There was nothing to resume. In fact, head-high body position he had during extraction might have shaved a few degrees off his body angle as he was hitting the water and lessened the impact.

Hi Ronald:

You're right about pull altitude, of course. If he hadn't cut it so close, all the other factors become moot.

However, you missed post #6, wherein I said:

"...Don't cut it close just because you're over water. It messes with your depth perception and makes it hard to know if you are 50 or 500 feet up (the Navy SEALs learned this the hard way when they experimented with getting out of their gear at 20 feet; they ended up with some guys bailing at 200 feet instead)..."

You are also right about the issues on this jump being something that can happen on any WS jump. That's one reason I say this one is such good training/learning material for anyone who does or wants to WS.

You are right on all counts, and I was imprecise in leaving out a mention that a weak throw into just the right spot while maintaining flight can burble you too. However, the chances are reduced because of the nature of the airflow and the shape of the dad spot, etc.

As Ronald and Jason have pointed out, though, the main remedy in cases like this is to pull a little sooner so you have more time and distance to deal with all the little things that can make your pitch-to-opening time and distance longer than you expected.

+1
Flat(more or less) and stable he was from the beginning till....

People nowadays only can push buttons, throw things (throw themselves), not knowing how elementary things work ...

This is not personal..

I bet 50% of people registered here don't really know how a wing works

Wishes for a quick recovery...

Rule 1: Deploy.
Rule 2: Deploy High Enough.
Rule 3: Deploy High Enough and Stable.

Wingsuiting around a parachute does not quite fit the bill!

JT Holmes

I love ya man, and you're a great athlete and exceptional representative of BASE jumping and extreme skiing, but lining up straw men to demolish is not your strong suit, especially when one of them is denouncing "speculation" in a forum specifically devoted thereto.

And while it's true that I've speculated to some extent, most of what I've written on this thread are observations based on the apparent facts represented by the photographic evidence.

I drew conclusions and made inferences based on those apparent facts, with appropriate caveats about what the images apparently show, because camera angles can in fact distort what we think we see, and more images may emerge that confirm or disprove some or even much of what has been observed and/or speculated upon by me, and by others too.

Who am I to say what Chris could or should have done? Just a guy who started jumping in 1973 and BASE jumping in 1979 with Carl Boenish as my mentor (you know, a couple of years before you were born, if I recall correctly), and has been at the cutting edge periodically throughout that time. And FYI, my first wingsuit BASE jump was a sub-terminal low pull from the 1,150-foot gondola of the Petronas Towers on December 30, 2000.*

So I've seen a few things, and learned a few things, all of which I try to share when the chance arises so that maybe somebody will live through something that killed or maimed someone else.**

One thing I learned is that it's always good to observe, analyze, ponder and speculate as much as possible about why bad (and good!) things happen on parachute jumps.

Another is that it is an almost inviolable rule that fatalities and serious accidents always involve not just one but five to six factors that add up to disaster, and that in most cases: a) eliminating one factor would have changed the bad outcome to good; and b) if you know this and remember it when the "factor chain" starts, you can change your outcome even when you're in the middle of it.

You're right, of course, to repeat what I said in an earlier post -- that we all make mistakes no matter how talented or experienced we are, and that some of us (me for one) are still above room temperature simply because we were luckier than some others.

However, neither I nor anyone else is over-analyzing this incident. Au contraire, mon ami, I think this is one of the more productive incident threads in recent memory. Lots of good analysis and great questions by multiple people, and I absolutely love Yuribase's charts.

The highest respect and concern we can show the dead and maimed is to learn as much as we can from their mistakes, and I think pretty much everyone on this thread is showing a lot of respect for Chris.

44



* Jeb went first, thinking he'd get 10 seconds or more, then pulled fast at 8. I wasn't sure what that was about, but I kept an eye out for what he saw -- and sure enough, I dumped at 8 seconds too. Turns out, the roof of the mall gave an odd sort of ground rush that fooled us both -- and led us both to whip it out because we were in doubt. This tendency for both of us to take the "high road" when in doubt is one reason we're both still above room temperature (that and pure unadulerated luck too!).

** There are more than 220 people on my personal death list, a substantial number of whom were parachuting fatalities.

OutSTANDING, Yuri. One of the best discussions on flight that I've ever seen, and your "first things first" is exactly what is meant by the old aviation saying, "just fly the airplane."

As you say, angle of attack is at the heart of lift, and if you don't understand lift, you don't understand flying.

If your calculations are correct -- that his whole "flight" was essentially vertical, then I concur. My conclusions were based on the assumption that he generated at least a modest horizontal component.

If he is 100feet above the water, and flying at a (constant) glide ratio of 1.5, then the basic math would give a distance of 180.feet. (opposite=100, adjacent=150, hypotenuse=180.)

I strongly agree with everything else you said though.
In my limited WS base experience, maintaining full flight with head down during deployment results in less PC hesitation and a much faster (harder) opening.
In my experience, body positions similar to Chris' during deployment result in more variable PC inflation and longer canopy inflation times.

Excellent post Yuri. I was explaining this to several friends & family who asked about the incident, I'm going to forward them a link to your post. I was explaining that wings aren't flat and don't "fly" efficiently at that angle, that he didn't really get much forward drive and lift from his suit. Thanks for the technical detail. I hope everyone who gets into ws base tries to understand this. I'm afraid some just think wearing the suit gives you the forward drive effect of the wings, and don't understand being very flat defeats the purpose.

There you go, tell someone with way more experience how to run an event.

Blake, I know you think you are a big deal but you talk a big game for someone with your experience level and track record.

You started BASE with well under 100 skydives, have jumped without a chest strap, jumped slider down with unstowed toggles, wingsuit BASE with almost no experience (which ended in a broken foot and surgery) and who knows what else and have the nerve to get on here and act like you are the BASE police.

You talk about how you hate this website but you are exactly the poster that everyone should be ignoring.

How many BASE jumps do you have, anyway?

I have no problem with you personally, but, Jesus Christ, you are full of shit.

As only a first time BASE jumper at bridge day, ill admit that wing suits make this a ton more dangerous than it needs to be. But looking into it, NRG bridge is higher than most things BASE jumpers jump off. It seems like it would be a good time to do some practice exits for other places that are higher and have more risk.

Any more news on his condition?

fingers crossed...

any news if his go pros survived?

fingers crossed

Does this mental masturbation Post of WS flight performance ? Have anything to do with him being a Dirty-Low Puller & sending himself to ICU ?
.

from the pictures he had at least 2 so we can only hope

Yes, everything in this universe is connected... Spink and horses, Egyptian pyramids and Norwegian jumpers, mental masturbation and low pulls... everything.

When you jump WS off of a subterminal object, you naturally want to see your movement against the ground and cover some good distance. So WS pushes you to overdelay. In just one second between 6 and 7s, you can cover more distance than in the whole previous 6 seconds - you're just starting the "slingshot", so you want to give it "just another second", and then another, and another... it feels good - you're starting to fly, the ground starts moving... "I can pull over the main LZ! Just a bit more..." And don't forget about the 2 GoPro's on his head.

Seeing that he didn't move much in 10 seconds, it seems that he wanted to see impressive horizontal movement without any clue how to make it, so he just waited and waited, finally saw a bit of movement, and waited more and more, until he saw a reflection of his pupils in the water.

Plus, as Robin explained, when pulling in full flight with good performance, even at the same pull altitude, the path through the air is substantially longer and deployment eats less altitude. Even things like reaching for PC, grabbing the handle, throwing - eat less altitude because your vertical speed is less than that without WS.

But besides all that, I wanted to point to poor WS performance by itself because I see people struggling with it everywhere (at least, on most popular big walls) and having absolutely no clue what causes them not to fly good. It's like besides judging Spink for his romantic involvement with horses, we also discuss his technique so that others don't do it the wrong way.

These events with such large audiences and media attention seem to be becoming more like international carnage contests.
It's a shame the WBR and Pro Base events do not seem to generate the same level of international media interest, too few incidents I suspect.

http://indianajones.smugmug.com/...Q#1537264501_MBDctns

if only photo 4 of 9 showed the river as well, that would give a more realistic (and scary) view of how low he really was. im not sure the canopy inflated too much more beyond what we see in that shot.

so amazing how much force is transfered to the water on impact. these photos may not have been so quick to release if that were hard ground

i also agree this thread is one of the better, more educational incident threads that's happened in a while. photos really help. im sure some can take away a few lessons from this.



hope he's doing well at this point, any udates?

... " also discuss his technique so that others don't do it the wrong way ".
.
I know your just joking around here, but 4 pages of Technique to discuss ???.
He was Not WS Proximity Flying complex Terrain . He was doing a simple standing Exit & working roughly within in a Ten-Second free fall environment while choosing to wear a WS . It was a simple BASE Jump on one of the easiest & non-technical objects you can do it from . No WS flight plan necessary here . It Don't get any less complex than that unless you go to Twin to BASE jump .

Only leason I see here is making the proper AGL assessments with your Eye's & Brain to the Hand for the PC Pitch @ a reasonable Altitude to Live, is the lesson . & Only thing to learn from this is . Don't be a Dirty Low Puller & you will live longer . ' Everyone ' who BASE jumps for any period of time will fuck around with the Low Pulling . But he Lives , So he still Wins in the long-run & if he ever BASE jumps again . I bet he doesn't do that mistake again .

I do find the 2 GoPro camera set-ups to be interesting . I bet that took a a bit of planing & thought .
.
.

This lack of responsibility jeopardizes bridge day. I hope he heals fast, but his actions hurt us and the sport of BASE. I think if we got rid of GoPros and cameras we might all live a little longer.

I think he pulled to low, luckily he survived the impact... That's it, nothing else to see here.

Any news, hows he doing?

Hold on a second while I vomit. Get rid of cameras to solve the problem? Jeopardizing Bridge Day? Perhaps we should just voluntarily stop BASE jumping......THAT WILL STOP THE ACCIDENTS.

Geez.

Our photos are online. Chris' jump is near the bottom of: http://www.verticalvisions.com/...000-1059/index20.php

anybody know how a Prodigy is "supposed" to be flown ? Seems to me there is a lot of "wingspan tension" on the wings. I know that kind of tension is not optimal for a Phantom2

Is there any update as to how he's doing? Any body friends with him or know his family?

I'm heading to Charleston to visit him tomorrow (Saturday). I'll ask the family if I can report back on his condition.

I just got word from Ben that
Chris is doing well and in good
spririts given the cirumstances.

Jason, thank you for visiting him!

 
Is he going to be able to walk again?

I concur with Jason. Do you realize this is BASE jumping? Ya know, it's dangerous, remember? If you want control and a fluffy public image, get another sport!

Accidents will occur. And that is part of the reason people and media show up, probably the biggest part. Have you noticed a bunch of tandems show up at dz's after an accident? Why? Because some people want to dangerous shit. I sure as hell do.

Take a look at this. People love it. It's just as scary and dangerous as BASE. And it's an international event. There are major injuries and fatalities every year.
https://www.facebook.com/...?v=10150276510223810

Hope the jumper is doing well, and will recover quickly!

And all this wingsuit and bridge day discussion should be split into a separate thread...

I do not believe that is known at this time.
Spinal cord injuries are tricky... but modern
medicine has improved how they treat them.

My wife Jennifer and I met with Chris yesterday for about 1.5 hours. Chris and his family have asked for privacy, but permitted me to report the basics:

-He broke his sternum, three ribs, pelvis, and back
-He hit the water belly first and realizes that it was simply a low pull
-He's in a lot of pain, but is talking, smiling, and moving around
-Not sure to the extent of his back injury
-I ended up with his parachute and helmet cam. His forward-facing GoPro and SD card survived, but both were wet. I consulted some other engineers at my office and we decided to place the SD card in an environmental chamber for a few hours after letting it sit for a few days. The footage is very compelling and Chris' heart rate monitors went crazy when he watched the video. By the way, don't ask for a copy of the video.
-He's in good spirits and will be in the hospital for awhile
-Chris said he'd do it all over again.....except he'd only take a 5.
-Jumpers at BD raised $3158 for him on Saturday night with the help of Anne Helliwell. The money should be in his hands in less than 24 hours.
-I didn't ask how jumpers can contact him. He has internet access and a computer, so I hope he can post something soon.

PS. Did you know he is an Iraq war veteran? An I.E.D. exploded and peppered his shoulder/back with shrapnel.

Thanks Jason

sci.... sucks to hear we may be getting a new team member! but stoked for a 3 way next year!

Did the backwards facing camera show if the bridle snagged on his left arm or is just an illusion/distortion on these pics?

http://www.basejumper.com/...nt;postatt_id=86759;
http://www.basejumper.com/...nt;postatt_id=86760;

erasing rant, has nothing to do with the situation now...

Thanks for your report!
Can i donate for him? Where?

The rear facing GoPro is at the bottom of the New River. Scuba anyone?

His PC deployment looked clean to me.

As for donations, I haven't a clue but will try to email him with this request.

Jason, thank you for the updates.

I don't know the injured jumper, so feel free to ignore this question if it is none of my business... But as someone (who like many) saw this in person, I am still emotionally attached to a "injured fellow jumper"... If you have permission to publicly share, would you mind letting us know the extent of his paralysis at this time and any prognosis?

The PC would have tugged on his arm.

Really? Not showing the footage? Come on, share the love!

Will video of this incident appear on the Official Bridge Day 2011 DVD?

Jason,

Any word on his experience level?

I was hoping to hold my comments until this was provided. I have wanted... and have been requested... to post.

Additionally... not only am I tired of reading many of these ridiculous comments... but frankly, am disgusted, at the utter disrespect that has been shown to you.

Coco

-The helmet cam footage is owned by Chris. He'll show it when he's ready.
-Not sure if Avenfoto's video will appear on the BD2011 DVD. This wasn't a fatality and people can learn from it, so I hope it gets included.
-As for Chris' experience, that's up to him to post. No red flags at all on my end. It's well known that he's wingsuited in the valley and other locations.

As for the disrespect toward me, it's comes with the territory. We already banned one jumper post-BD2011 after he called one of my staffers names and continually bitched that he should get to cut in line at the Friday 9pm late registration.

Thanks for noticing and covering my back though.

YEAH BRO!!! Lets start planning for it NOW!!

Lonnie
Russell
Packing Jarret
Chris Brewer

A Good Team Name: Hell On Wheels

Couldn't agree more, JT. Well stated.

there are more pictures on the bridge day photos site.

http://www.verticalvisions.com/gallery/BD2011/1000-1059/BD11-04487.php

http://www.verticalvisions.com/gallery/BD2011/1000-1059/BD11-04488.php

and Robin was correct, normally a wingsuiter should remain in as close to full flight as possible through PC deployment and line stretch, but this was a subterminal jump, and as Yuri put very well, he wasn't creating much lift, mostly drag due to the flat AoA.

I also don't think there was a bridle snag at all, at least it didn't look that way from my video or the pics i've seen.

Best wishes on the path to recovery, Chris, from all the Cincy guys.

Got to love the guy that posted this video of the accident....so full of empathy, yet desperately trying to advertise the video with 'best video' to rack in some more views on youtube/vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/31121271

You apparently approve or you wouldn't bring our attention to it AND include the link.

It is pretty good video though, and renders incorrect a couple of my suppositions based on what the still images apparently showed.

Those images showed that while it took just one frame for Chris to reach for his PC it took five frames from him to toss it, so I wondered why he held on to it for so long.

This video shows clearly that he didn't hesitate at all; he pitched it normally -- and also shows that the apparent hesitation was minimal (though at the distances involved, even an eyeblink faster opening would have decelerated him at least a few more miles per hour, which may have reduced the magnitude of his injuries).

This video also shows the change in trajectory as he drops his knees while pitching; even though he wasn't getting a lot of horizontal movement, he killed what little he had by going boxman at pull time and thus increasing his vertical velocity right before impact.

This video also reinforces the primary contention of everyone on this thread: Don't pull so low.

Or as I like to say:

"Don't push it when doing it at all is pushing it."

44

Thank's for the info Base428 on the jumper that hit the water. Hope he make's a full recovery.

Whoa. He is very lucky to be alive. I can't remember the guy's name who went in back in the eighties, but it looked about like that and he was toast.

You can nit pick all you want, but if you watch it in real time it is basically a low pull. No reason to do that.

The incident made it on Tosh.0 last night (at least I think it was last night, I watched it on the DVR).

Tosh made a bunch of typical jokes per his skit... Knowing someone was hurt badly, I did not find it funny, but I am sure the general public did.

Its been 1 month since the accident, any word on his current condition?

 

Thanks Lonnie, but that was WEEKS ago. I see the privacy highlight, but that doesnt mean someone hasn't heard anything from them.

Any recovery status yet? Good news I hope!