Basejumper.com - archive

Dear All,

On behalf of the SBA (Swiss BASE Association), please read the information below.

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In Switzerland a basejumper is subject to the same laws and regulations as a skydiver, as defined by the BAZL (Bundesamt für Zivilluftfahrt). As such a valid skydiving license is required for basejumping activity and a jumper must have a third party liability insurance.

Up to this day, however, it was not possible in Switzerland to obtain such an insurance that would also cover basejumping – the existing offers would only include hang-gliding and skydiving. However, together with and thanks to Generali (www.generali.ch) the SBA has now been able to work out a policy that also provides coverage for third party liability as a basejumper. This is not only relevant for Swiss basejumpers, but also for visiting basejumpers from foreign countries whose skydiving and/or hang-gliding liability insurance may not cover basejumping!

Generali offers the following variants:
- Third party liability insurance covering skydiving, hang-gliding and basejumping. Valid for one year, 110 CHF.
- Third party liability insurance covering basejumping only (ideal for visiting basejumpers). 12 months for 75 CHF or 3 months for 45 CHF.

The Lauterbrunnen Landingcard is required. For detailed information on coverage and limitations check the general insurance terms (Currently only in German, English translation coming soon) http://www.basejumper.ch/...i_AVB_Basejumper.pdf.

Starting at March 28th 2012 (with coverage as of April 1st 2012) this insurance can be obtained at the Tourism Office in Lauterbrunnen (Stutzli 460, CH-3822 Lauterbrunnen) during opening times (http://mylauterbrunnen.com/...gszeiten_lt_2012.pdf).

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So what this means in practise is that to do legal base jumping in Switzerland, as per definition of BAZL you must have valid skydiving license AND 3rd party liability insurance. We have been negotiating a deal from Generali (as described above), if your insurance does not cover base jumping, please stop by in the Lauterbrunnen Tourism office and get the insurance there. You can choose between the 3 month option (45 CHF) or the full year (75 CHF).

Thanks for your co-operation in keeping the valley legal, play safe and have fun!

(Admins, please make this sticky for a while!)

Thanks Markus for posting.

If there are any questions, just post them here or PM me - I should be able to answer them as I led the negotiations :-)

Blue skies
Ma2White

What skydiving licenses are approved? Does someone actually check it? Is the FAI certificate okay?

Thanks for the info.

I'm sure there is a bunch of people reading this thinking that they'll get away with not having this insurance.

A word of caution: in my experience as a visiting paraglider pilot to Switzerland, I found the locals to be competent and helpful, and not particularly "hot" on checking everything. One thing I can guarantee is that, should things go a little, wrong, every last piece of paperwork is likely to get scrutinised and woe betide you if it's not in order. The Swiss authorities take a dim view of "rule breaking" in this manner and it's probably worth the small additional premium to avoid the hassle. Besides, it makes us as a group look a bit more responsible, and will help our cause to keep what is a very unique site open.

Richard

There is no Skydiving Licence and/or Skydiving Governing Body on Planet Earth that would ever cover Base Jumping in their Parachuting agreements when covering 3rd party liability insurance. Period.

However, I will fully respect the SBA by purchasing the Generalli insurance with proof of my in-date USPA (FAI) licence for my vacations in Switzerland to keep good standings.

See you next week in LB :-)
Sparky

Sure, FAI/USPA license is fine. Basically, any license that would allow you to legally skydive at a Swiss dropzone will meet the regulations set forth by the BAZL/FOCA (Federal Office of Civil Aviation) for basejumping.

Dead-on!

Hi Markus,

Can you confirm if Rega still cover base jumpers for rescue costs or not? If not is there any other option?


Thanks.

It's too early for a 1st april joke, no ?

Hey Luke,

as far as I´m informed they do cover, given the fact that you have purchased the Rega "patronage" for this year of course. Another option would be the French paralpinism organisation membership which comes with quite extensive insurance cover (inc SAR) for mountain sports.

No it´s not, unless BAZL is joking around. Which I think they are not :). That is the law and the interpretation of it from the authorities here in Switzerland. We can debate as much as we want if this makes sense or not... But that is the word from the "man" and we (SBA) are just messengers here (plus of course Ma2 made pretty awesome work to negotiate pretty sweet deal from Generali to enable jumpers to actually fullfill this requirement from BAZL and be insured in case you damage 3rd party property).

So if you want to play by the book in CH, you need to have a valid Skydiving license and the 3rd party liability insurance (plus the landing card in LB). If or how or by whom this rule is ever going to be enforced and what are the consequences if you don´t have the above mentioned combo, I do not know and don´t even want to start speculating about.

 
Question. What kind of incidents have happened in the history of basejumping where a 3rd party has suffered some kind of damages?

- Damage to building windows after off-heading and crashing into building
- Damage to guy wire after wire strike (wire needed greasing)
- Damage to fence, after crashing into it on landing (100 cases in LB)
- Damage to vegetation (trees, bushes) on private property
- Any other kind?

The question is what would be a case where a jumper would benefit from a 3rd party liability insurance, and has such an event ever occurred? (In examples I listed I'm not sure an insurance would cover the damages or the damages are not very big)

I think the only reason skydivers for example need 3rd party insurance is because there is a risk of hitting a parked airplane and that can cost a lot of money. In basejumping, is there an actual need?

Kerkko
BASE1184

only legal jumps are covered:

not covered: - bei Flügen zum Zweck eines Verbrechens oder Vergehens;

if its a crime its not covered.

small damages: 6. Selbstbehalt
Bei Schäden an Kulturen, Land und Wald trägt der Versicherte persönlich einen Selbstbehalt von CHF 200.00 je Schadenereignis. In allen übrigen Fällen ist kein Selbstbehalt geschuldet.

damages on land, forest.... you have to pay 200chf yourself. other things are completly covered.


how about:

-you land on a car.
-you land on a road and a car makes an accident cause of you
-you damage powerlines.
-you hit a paraglider.
-a helicopter crashes cause of you.

shit happens, it's a good thing to have.
and it's the law.

I have a C Linscense through USPA but I have let my membership lapse, does that matter in regards to being valid? I have 450 skydives and 162 base jumps.

I had to check this myself.

From swisskydive:http://www.swissskydive.org/...weisungen/01-03d.pdf



In short that means for a licence to be valid you have to have 24 jumps in the last 12 moths. also applies to foreigen licences.

We have to look into this issue and check what we can do.
there are many experienced jumpers who don't have a valid skydiving licence anymore.
Issuing a BASE-licence from the SBA would be maybe a solution, but who wants that??
We have to work on that and this will take time.

No problem for me, I have a valid USPA D licence and a 3rd party Liability from the FFCAM (& French paralpinism association since it exist) and most of the time I avoid crowded places like Lauterbrunnen. (and I have a rega membership too, even if it's useless with the French insurance, i'll buy it every year to support them because they support us)
BUT
Asking for a valid skydiving licence for BASE jumping is like asking for a figure skating licence for icefall climbing
Here cliff jumping is a mountain sport, no skydiving involved ! and it's a really good thing :
Skydiving -> Licence, federation, bullshit, ...
Mountain sport -> Nothing except a third part liaibility and a brain (not mandatory) ...

I think the French paralpinism Association don't deliver insurance to strangers anymore, to avoid the "BASE tourism effect". And what happen in Switzerland may keep that in this way.
This is a very fragile agreement, so they have to protect it, at least at the beginning.

The french para alpinism has cancelled delivering its services to strangers,


There is only really 2 insurances companies left and i doubt people are gonna start sharing it..(And the two that do work only work for maybe a possible broken bone and ya still gonna be up for a lot of cash

As most are aware if you have american passport you are covered completely,
If you have a french para you are covered

If you are in the commonwealth nations
Canada,Australia, Singapore, england and also sth africa... start doing your homework before it gets too late...

Be very dubious if you think you have the right insurance for base jumping as of 2012 , Your problems wont exist when ya get hurt but if you live..

I absolute 100% fully agree with you on the above, me also personally don´t skydive that much anymore, one reason out of many being the "bullshit" you mentioned on the post. For me base is also a "mountain sport" which involves your brain and not association / license / manual as main "safety mechanism". The post in the beginning of the thread however is the information SBA has received from the authorities and I think this is good to be made public, regardless of what our personal view of the matter is.

Thanks Markus for answering the questions here. Meanwhile I have been getting a few inquiries regarding the subject and I would like to post one of them here and answer it publicly so others can learn at the same time.

Inquiry:
...........
it would be nice to have the contact of the Generali agent who follow this case so i can ask him all the details.
there is a lot of confusion now between all the base jumper here and i would like to make all clear and inform everybody.
90% of the base jumper dont have the skydive licence ready for activity anymore,
because,
like me,
they are all skydivers but they stop skydiving after base jumping,
when they have time free they only go base jumping so the skydive licence is expired.
my question and the question of all of them is:
DOES THE INSURANCE COVER IF THE SKYDIVE LICENCE IS EXPIRED?
and if not,
CAN WE BUY THE INSURANCE NOW AND RENEW THE SKYDIVE LICENCE AFTER?
many peolple ask me also if they dont do this insurance who is gonna stop them? there is not a boss like in the drop zone here so there is a bit of confusion....
please help me to make all clear to all,
i think is a good idea that everybody have an insurance and i want help this.
...........

First, there is no Generali agent whose contact details would be of use here. I led the negotiations directly with the top manager at Generali for these kind of insurances. So just ask me, meanwhile I know the policy by heart and should also be quite proficient regarding regulations and laws in Switzerland in this regard.

Second, I am sorry for the confusion we (or I) caused. Negotiating the insurance was a lot of work in the recent times, thus communication and timely information of the community suffered a bit.

Alright, down to the questions at hand:

DOES THE INSURANCE COVER IF THE SKYDIVE LICENCE IS EXPIRED?

Simple and concluding answer: NO.

Long answer: By law in Switzerland a basejumper is subject to the same regulations and laws as a skydiver (that's how it is, period, no point of discussing this here). As such a valid skydiving license and a third party liability insurance are required for fully legal basejumping. Now, what is a valid skydiving license: Simply put, one that they would accept at the time of jumping at any Swiss dropzone. So it also needs to be CURRENT. And by law, it is considered current in Switzerland if the skydiver has made 24 skydives within the last 12 months. So you also have to check if your license has not been "revoked" (due to maybe not jumping for 3 years) by the governing body in your country.

CAN WE BUY THE INSURANCE NOW AND RENEW THE SKYDIVE LICENCE AFTER?

Yes, sure. No one will prevent you from buying the insurance. If a golf-player wants to buy it for fun just for his collection ... sure, if it makes him happy. What counts is that AT THE TIME a skydiving/hang-gliding/basejumping damage occurs, your license is actually valid.

many peolple ask me also if they dont do this insurance who is gonna stop them?

No one will stop you, at least not until now. I simply quote Markus: "So if you want to play by the book in CH, you need to have a valid Skydiving license and the 3rd party liability insurance (plus the landing card in LB). If or how or by whom this rule is ever going to be enforced and what are the consequences if you don´t have the above mentioned combo, I do not know and don´t even want to start speculating about."

My two cents:
- Think about how it reflects on the community if people don't give a s**t about regulations. Please don't start with "the old glorious days of pirate basejumping" ... open your eyes, we're past that by ages, especially in the Valley.
- The issue of many basejumpers not having a valid skydiving license anymore: I'm sure I'll be getting a lot of bash for this, but that's fine: I personally cannot understand how people basejump and at the same time they do not make that minimal amount of skydives per year. IMHO it's the very fundament for safe basejumping and I am sure that MANY accidents could be prevented if people actually spent more time jumping from planes. And your performance in track pants or wingsuits will also benefit GREATLY:-) I don't get it but it's everybody's own business, and I won't judge anybody for that.

Anyway, I hope I was able to answer these questions.

Take care and enjoy Switzerland :-)
Mathias