Basejumper.com - archive

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3de_1373377282

I guess that's one way to launch

And land... Jesus, what a freak show.

Ya that was wicked. Im still trying to figure out what was going on once he was finally off the wall. Looks like he kept stalling it out or something causing him to go backward!!!! Nasty stuff

 

No there Mr. Tree....ok let me rephrase it "WHY THE F*CK DID HE CONTINUE TO KEEP STALLING IT OUT"

Is this better? It looked like he could have just let it fly... but maybe something was jacked up with his wing? I dunno shit about paragliding.

Yes, but a canopy is a canopy, and after watching it a couple of times, this is my take on the possible answer to your question:


The control lines and/or suspension lines were fouled from the poor launch and put the canopy in a near-stall position and he couldn't clear them. The fact that the wingtips never seemed to fully pressurize give some weight to this notion, and the way his legs flipped up a couple of times indicates that he vigorously pumped his brakes to try and inflate the end cells, the same way you would do with a parachuting canopy.

Obviously, he didn't get it flying 100 percent, but he got it open and kept it open enough that he walked away from the landing.

And on that final point, toward the end he may have deliberately flown it backward so he could hit trees instead of rocks. I have backed up to landings a few times (from airplanes) when the wind came up while we were in the air, and if you're a decent pilot to begin with, you can land pretty accurately.

Whether he should have been launching at all in such apparently squirrely conditions is a different conversation, but after he got dragged over the edge, he kept his head in the game and figured out on the fly how to live through it without getting more than a few scrapes and bruises (and a lot of grunting and groaning). Kudos to him for that and another good lesson from the Never Ever Give Up! School of Reaper Cheating.


44

+1 that is a great picture for sure hahah!!! Never, ever give up. I have also landed many times (from airplanes) going backwards...fun stuff especially when your doing a tandem

I believe the collapse was due to turbulence which occurs over the back of the object. Paragliders are lightly loaded & more susceptible to collapse in turbulent conditions.

And maybe the fact that he was flying in brakes with a tail wind. You dont need the end cells of a paraglider to fly without stalling, but you do need to let it fly.

It's pretty easy to sum this one up: he has nearly no glider control at all. You can see it when he lays his wing out, you can see it when the glider starts to inflate and you can see it once he's in the air ...

Hey Nate (This is Andy) how about you explain this for non paraglider pilots. So failed launch, puts him on wrong side of hill/mountain and is now in a tail wind and stalling?

To me it looks like he has a completely functional wing after 'drag-off' and cliff strikes but gets hit with rotors, downdrafts and turbulence as he flies away from the mountain, thus causing the erratic flying after what seemed like a full recovery after the cliff strikes.

I think Nate is correct, in that the pilot is not experienced. An experienced pilot would not have been pulled around like that at the launch and would know how to completely collapse the wing should things begin to get out of control.

this is why (at least for speedflying) it is SO fuckin important to be able to kite your wing in all different conditions, and to be able to set it down and collapse it with your risers, brakes, etc, at a moments notice.......

its amazing how some people who really cant control their wing just go out and fly it day in and day out like it aint no thang