Basejumper.com - archive

Local Barcelona news reporting a fatality @ Devils Cliff ( rock of many devils?) this evening.

Name being withheld.



Edited to add:
News calling it a BASE incident but showing 'stock' ground launch footage from somewhere else.


I'll post more if it becomes available before leaving Spain.

Sad news...
Montserrat (Barcelona, Spain), exit of "Aeri" 250m, 2 way and low pull, impact ledge at the bottom canopy open.
Perhaps more infos here by his friend "El comandante" which was in the 2 way over him?
R.I.P. Sergio.
Condoleance to his family and all his friends.

Here is an eyewitness report, the jumper on the 2way with the jumper killed will post his own account as well.

We are sad to report a BASE fatality in Spain. The jump occurred at
the pared del aeri at Montserrat, the jump was a slider up tracking jump.
This wall has a ledge at about 8 secs which you cannot outrack, recommended
freefall time is around 5 secs. The jump was a 2way, Sergio went first. This was his 2nd jump from this cliff within a few days. Sergio
had a slightly instable exit which turned his body to the right. According
to pics taken in freefall by the jumper behind him he stayed in this
position for several seconds before slowly recovering to a straight position
and then started to track. He deployed his canopy at about 7 secs and
impacted the ledge during the opening of the canopy. the canopy did
fully inflate but never really started to fly, he impacted the ledge several
times before comming to a stop.
Emergency service was called immediatley by witnesses on the ground and a
helicopter arrived about 30 mins later but the doctor who was dropped could only determine the death
of the jumper. His injuries confirm a highspeed impact, he died immediatley.

Our thoughts and good vibrations are with his family, his wife and his son

thanks for posting the eyewitness account. fly free sergio

?

Holy crap....

sad news to start my tuesday ....

Fly free bro ..........

Fly free Sergio.

if the delay was going to be 5 seconds wouldnt it have been safer to take a deep slider down delay of about 4 seconds? Is another second of separation really going to help that much given that you will be going through a subterminal slider up opening (which may have heading issues*)?

I ask these questions as questions (because I dont have a lot of experience and want to learn).

edit - I understand slider off can have heading issues also of course! but you can set a deep break setting with slider down which can help avoid cliff strike.

edit2- I guess what I'm asking is "how is a 750ft (250m) cliff a slider up cliff???"

Slider down 4 seconds?! No thank you. 750' Slider up is no problem. Unless you botch the exit and pull too low of course. He took 7 sec. at an 8 second jump. Packing configuration really didn't play a part in this. Bad exit and focusing too hard on recovering and tracking which led to the low pull.

bsbd.

^ so 4 seconds delay on slider off jump is going to be too back breaking to be feasible really?

What altitude would you be flying under canopy at pulling at 5 second slider up delay put you at given that 8 seconds is impact? If 4 second slider off is too brutal then wouldnt 3 second slider off be safer? Or are we too worried now about hesitation correcting offheading and cliff strike?

What would be the most conservative way to jump this cliff in your (anybody's) opinion???

if you want a mental exercise...

what is your experience at BD?
ever watch the videos from BD?

I'd think a 876' span would be a great location to test out what YOU would prefer on a 750' E.

250 m is 820 ft FWIW. After five seconds, you've fallen about half (less than half) that distance. You do what you feel is best as long as you can justify it to yourself, but a 5 sec slider up deployment is not going to eat up a lot of altitude. It's not gonna put you in the dirt.

BSBD.

5 seconds of freefall is < 410ft?! well, maybe mathematically...


either way, you have to do what you are comfortable with... no point in asking hypothetical questions on the internet. learn from experience.

 
R.I P. Sergio!

Condolences to your family.


Reiner.