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Stechelberg (Gemeinde Lauterbrunnen): Basejumper tödlich verunfallt

20. Mai 2012

pkb. Ein Basejumper ist am Samstagnachmittag in Stechelberg (Gemeide Lauterbrunnen) verunfallt. Der 37-jährige Mann konnte nur noch tot geborgen werden.

Die Meldung zum Unfall in Stechelberg in der Gemeinde Lauterbrunnen ging bei der Kantonspolizei Bern am Samstag, 19. Mai 2012, um 1600 Uhr ein. Gemäss aktuellen Erkenntnissen war der erfahrene Basejumper alleine von der Absprungstelle „Via Ferrata“ (Mürrenfluh) gestartet, als sich sein Schirm aus unbekannten Gründen nicht öffnete. In der Folge stürzte der Mann ungebremst zu Boden. Die Rettungskräfte der Air Glacier mit dem Notarzt konnten nur noch den Tod des Basejumpers feststellen. Beim Opfer handelt es ich um einen 37-jährigen Mann aus dem Kanton Zürich.

Regionale Staatsanwaltschaft Oberland
(cm)

The SBA is very sorry to announce that our media and press delegate died yesterday on a Wingsuit jump at Stechelberg, Lauterbrunnen. He has done a lot of work to make basejumping in Lauterbrunnen as safe as possible and to have a good relationship with the people of Lauterbrunnen, the media and the authorities. Fly free!

Fly free

sad news.

BSBD

R.I.P.

Say hi to Dave brother and go for the 2ways

BSBD. Sad news.

R.I.P. one of the best ,again
The cause of the tragic accident is known? His gear was inspected or maybe was a misspull?

Yes, I will provide information later.

...and one of the most meticulous, heads up and safety conscious too. He was always reminding me to take a slow and steady progression, pull high etc. This was a big bad surprise for me.

Fly Free Markus!!

Wow.. so sad. I just missed meeting him in person a number of times, but spoke with him quite a few times. To all the crew he jumped with on a regular basis and his family sorry for the loss.

condolences to his family and to the entire swiss crew

Really sorry to read this. I hope you all in swiss have a good ceremony to his honor.

We said farewall to our friend together with his family in the schlosskirche at Interlaken last friday. As it has been said already, Markus was a well known member of the community and spent hours and hours to keep up the good relationships with local farmers, media, authorities, etc. It is thanks to efforts of people like him that we can jump today legally in the BASE paradise of Lauterbrunnen in good co-operation with the local actors. Please think about this next time you are in LB, take a beer in his memory and keep his legacy alive by working together with us in keeping the valley safe and legal. Jump conservatively, be safe, pay you landing card and have fun!

Viel spass mein freund! Du bist mit uns immer in fliegen.

So, here is what happened:

Markus jumped the Via Ferrata alone in late afternoon and in calm conditions, no turbulences. He was flying his Apache that he had been using for quite a while already. He felt comfortable in the suit - that's what he told me on several occasions during the weeks/months before the accident.

A credible eye witness saw Markus flying left after the exit along the wall towards Lauterbrunnen. He was flying stable and with a very impressive glide. At about two thirds of the way to the waterfall and still very high up he initiated a right turn to separate from the wall. After about 70-80 degrees and while still turning he suddenly went steep, respectively nosedived, which resulted in an abrupt "frontflip". The exact kind of flip/rotation and in which position he came out of it cannot be said with enough certainty. After this flip he could have recovered easily as he was still very high. Instead he was tumbling towards the ground as if he was unconscious: no trying to recover, no struggling, no flatspinning, nothing, just falling like a stone with flapping fabric on it. This tumbling part of the flight was also seen be another witness. Moreover, the coroner mentioned that the body was "unusually relaxed" and not stiff like other bodies of basejumpers that he had treated, supporting the presumption that Markus was unconscious. Markus impacted the field west of the bridge near the waterfall with nothing out and died instantly. We inspected his gear and it is obvious that the pilot chute was still in the BOC when he impacted. Everything on the gear looked okay, including the wingsuit.

What caused the abrupt nosedive resulting in a flip we will never know exactly. Our assumptions are:
1) Markus suffered a sudden health problem, be it a heart attack, a stroke or just a momentary black out.
2) The wingsuit stalled during the turn, went into an aggressive nosedive and with a resulting negative AoA flipped Markus abruptly, rendering him unconscious. This theory could be backed by the fact that Markus' flightpath was considered "very high", meaning he must have been close to stall speed on the polar curve, invariably leading to the danger of a dynamic stall while turning. Additionally, by design a large wingsuit such as the Apache is more prone to radical stall behaviour.

That is all we could find out.

Ma2White

sad news BSBD

Thank you for sharing this information as analytically as you have. I know it isn't easy.

R.I.P.

Rest in peace Markus!- I am lucky to have met someone like you- You were a real 'Gentleman'.

Fly free amigo!

Reiner.

R.I.P Markus. Thanks for all your work in the valley for us.

Finally got around to cleaning up the List:
http://www.blincmagazine.com/...i/BASE_Fatality_List

and the page for Markus:
http://www.blincmagazine.com/forum/wiki/bfl-184

damn, what a bummer.

RIP

Is there a reason there are so many fatalaties from Lauterbrunnen?

Lots of potential. A lot of cliffs, a lot of people, mostly legal, easy access.