Basejumper.com - archive
Incidents
Re: [base698] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
Just heard about it waiting to hear back from a few friends. Sounds weird it's not exactly 1000 footer season around these parts.
Re: [gahnananana] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
doesn't sound like its anyone from the west side from the call i just got.
Re: [base698] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
base698 wrote:
http://wlns.com/...-from-tv-news-tower/
That's pretty close to this area. I'm really curious to hear the details. Please let me know if you hear anything. It's rare to hear about someone going in on a big A like that.
That sucks to hear
Re: [base698] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
I've jumped it twice. There is a platform that most people use at 400 feet. I go to 560 feet where there is a smaller platform.
Re: [base698] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
Talked to my mi buddy he hasn't heard anything yet. Talked to one jumper that lives close and it wasn't him haven't got in contact with the two other I know from there. Hate to say it but from 400 ft with cold hands a mispull wouldn't be shocking news.
Re: [gahnananana] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
Jumper identified keeping details under lock til family has been notified
Re: [gahnananana] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
gahnananana wrote:
Jumper identified keeping details under lock til family has been notified
Any info on technical details of the incident? was he jumping solo?
Re: [gahnananana] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
BSBD. He's been named in several news reports as well as on http://iloveskydiving.org
Re: [AJ.Stuyvenberg] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
This mentions a wingsuit was involved. I am pretty sure he had wingsuited from the same antenna before... http://www.mlive.com/...incart_story_package
Re: [MorfiusX] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
Sad. Article says a partially opened parachute and he was 400ft away from the tower.
Poor exit on a low wingsuit jump, fading afternoon light, snow covered ground, extra clothes to combat the cold all could have contributed to a low pull.
Re: [councilman24] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
I do not know too much about RF, I do know it is not good for you in large doses but i find this pretty hard to beleive - http://www.wirelessestimator.com/breaking_news.cfm#RF-Death
In reply to:
RF could have been the real killer of a BASE jumper who fell to his death
Although it will not be able to be identified until a coroner examines tissue samples, there’s a strong possibility that a Michigan BASE jumper might have died, not because his parachute’s canopy didn’t open, but because he might have been unconscious before he ever had the opportunity to pull his ripcord as he fell from the 1,000-foot WLAJ-TV tower he was attempting to jump from in Jackson County on Wednesday.
According to Kevin Reski, President of West Fargo, N.D.-based Great Plains Towers, 31-year-old Josh Sheppard, a seasoned BASE jumper and skydiver, might have been overcome from the effect of the site’s radiation and he might never of had the ability to pull his ripcord since his body may have been overcome by the heating effects of the multiple tower top broadcast antenna emissions.
Reski reflected upon his personal experiences throughout the years when he was accidentally exposed to over a quarter million or more watts of power.
“It can definitely put you in a personal panic with breathing distress, inability to rid the internal body from heating up and the mental distress of attempting to exit the antenna proximity that ensues.”
Whereas tower technicians are aware of the extreme dangers when a lock-out tag-out is accidentally violated, Reski said, at least they’re aware of needing to immediately move from the antennas as quickly as possible.
“A BASE jumper has no training or RF experience and will most likely freeze in front of an RF element, thinking that his sudden weakness might disappear if he remains calm and in place,” said Reski.
“He will quickly lose consciousness and fall”
Reski said that broadcast antennas, like the one above, look to be benign supporting structures to the general public, but have the potential to cause a climber’s death when they’re at full power.
He said he is hoping that his message hits home with the BASE jumping community so that they will seek out other structures to use in their sport, “ones that can’t easily kill you before you even get the chance to push that envelope on the way down, even with your chute deployed.”
“The ‘no trespassing’ antenna signal radiation warning signs and tower perimeter fences at broadcast tower sites are in place for good reasons,” said Reski.
Re: [Mej] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
Earlier reports had said that he was found 400 feet from the tower: http://www.mlive.com/...incart_story_package
It also notes that he had a partially deployed canopy.
I'm calling BS on this whole Wirelessestimator story. Seems like it's an industry publication so they have an axe to grind when it comes to discouraging jumpers.
Re: [Mej] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
Mej wrote:
I do not know too much about RF, I do know it is not good for you in large doses but i find this pretty hard to beleive -
http://www.wirelessestimator.com/breaking_news.cfm#RF-Death
In reply to:
RF could have been the real killer of a BASE jumper who fell to his death
Although it will not be able to be identified until a coroner examines tissue samples, there’s a strong possibility that a Michigan BASE jumper might have died, not because his parachute’s canopy didn’t open, but because he might have been unconscious before he ever had the opportunity to pull his ripcord as he fell from the 1,000-foot WLAJ-TV tower he was attempting to jump from in Jackson County on Wednesday.
According to Kevin Reski, President of West Fargo, N.D.-based Great Plains Towers, 31-year-old Josh Sheppard, a seasoned BASE jumper and skydiver, might have been overcome from the effect of the site’s radiation and he might never of had the ability to pull his ripcord since his body may have been overcome by the heating effects of the multiple tower top broadcast antenna emissions.
Reski reflected upon his personal experiences throughout the years when he was accidentally exposed to over a quarter million or more watts of power.
“It can definitely put you in a personal panic with breathing distress, inability to rid the internal body from heating up and the mental distress of attempting to exit the antenna proximity that ensues.”
Whereas tower technicians are aware of the extreme dangers when a lock-out tag-out is accidentally violated, Reski said, at least they’re aware of needing to immediately move from the antennas as quickly as possible.
“A BASE jumper has no training or RF experience and will most likely freeze in front of an RF element, thinking that his sudden weakness might disappear if he remains calm and in place,” said Reski.
“He will quickly lose consciousness and fall”
Reski said that broadcast antennas, like the one above, look to be benign supporting structures to the general public, but have the potential to cause a climber’s death when they’re at full power.
He said he is hoping that his message hits home with the BASE jumping community so that they will seek out other structures to use in their sport, “ones that can’t easily kill you before you even get the chance to push that envelope on the way down, even with your chute deployed.”
“The ‘no trespassing’ antenna signal radiation warning signs and tower perimeter fences at broadcast tower sites are in place for good reasons,” said Reski.
Bunch of crap!!! Bullshit!!!
He attempted a WS BASEjump in the winter, off an uber low (for wingsuiting )object? Bad decision! Bad timing! Bad object!
How many of you have climbed a 1,000' metal ladder in freezing temperatures? ( I Have ), it sucks!!! How many of you have tried to rig a WS in similar conditions? off a similar object? ( I have ) it sucks!!! at night? it sucks!!! Solo??? it sucks!!!
Everything was wrong about the decision making on this jump.
How many people have" gone in "from the effects of RF on an Antennae in the past,....... a Big, Fat, ZERO!!!!
Bad decision making all the way,... another, stupid, unnecessary, Wing Suit BASE Fatality. Apologies and condolences to the deceased and his loved ones. but a stupid and unnecessary fatality!!!
" Nuff Said!!! "
Regards, B.
Re: [Mej] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
This tells me that they view jumpers as a nuisance, but the security measures necessary to keep them out are not cost effective.
Re: [Mej] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
That is most definitely a scare tactic, and completely false information. Right on target with today's media efforts. Scare people into doing what you want by telling them fairytales. Next they'll tell me if I'm good I'll go to heaven.
Re: [blitzkrieg] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
blitzkrieg wrote:
That is most definitely a scare tactic, and completely false information. Right on target with today's media efforts. Scare people into doing what you want by telling them fairytales. Next they'll tell me if I'm good I'll go to heaven.
Yes, a scare tactic but that doesn't mean that there is no danger associated with A's. If you sit in front of a transmitter it's not a good thing. An antenna worker and BASE jumper told me that for the most part, when climbing, you are relatively safe. If you start to feel nauseous, have trouble seeing or feel a heating up of your nads or fillings then it's time to move and or get off. Common sense dictates get on, get up, get off as quickly as possible. Don't hang out near any equipment.
There is still a chance for you to make it to heaven if you change your heathen ways.... we will pray for you
Re: [base570] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
I used to live next to an antenna engineer. On top of giving me the codes to the towers, 😊 he also said that OSHA does not require shutting down the RF on towers when workers are present. That there isn't a real danger. This pertains to all towers but AM towers. Ody
Re: [base570] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
Hahahaha. 
You are correct, there is a concern near particular transmitters, and an acceptable level of exposure for each. I've worked on many of them, some powered down, some not.
Basically, like you said... Get on get up get off. It won't kill you. :)
Re: [Bryguy1224] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
Bryguy1224 wrote:
I used to live next to an antenna engineer. On top of giving me the codes to the towers, 😊 he also said that OSHA does not require shutting down the RF on towers when workers are present. That there isn't a real danger. This pertains to all towers but AM towers.
Ody
At least around these parts that's what they do, don't know about US.
Re: [REDAKTOR] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
in our defense as jumpers in our infinite wisdom of tower climbs...there used to be a 700' high power AM antenna in LA that got jumped OFTEN. AFAIK, the tower went in before any jumper. RIP LA antenna.
Re: [blitzkrieg] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
I've climbed antennas all over including AM towers. However I never had the experience I felt as I did right before exit on this one last summer! This A had a huge platform uptop, however the way it was built exiting was tricky! So as I was geared up trying to find a good exit I suddenly got his feeling that I was magnetized. You know the feeling you get when you try and push two polar opposite magnets together? Well my right armed started to have this feeling so I wasted no time getting off the sucker! The jump went without any problems and the feeling was gone by the time I landed, but I was being bombarded with something for sure.
Re: [JBag] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
JBag wrote:
in our defense as jumpers in our infinite wisdom of tower climbs...there used to be a 700' high power AM antenna in LA that got jumped OFTEN. AFAIK, the tower went in before any jumper. RIP LA antenna.
The directional network\cellular transmitters go in Gigaherts.
So high wattage, high frequency = drooling if you stay rights next to it long enough.
AM towers will just kill you if you ground yourself, or do some other stupid shit like climb in a forming thunderstorm.
There is also the whole cancer yada-yada, but who gives about that? Most jumpers will finish of from liver failure due to booze\substances abuse by the time they are 60? so eh...
Re: [REDAKTOR] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
RIP Josh. You always had a way of making people smile and have fun. Only the good die young.
Re: [REDAKTOR] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
Not at you REDAKTOR. But ask esteban jesterez fb about his riser release. the 3ring melted the webbing. i think it was an AM. I also saw sparks on the transmitter on an FM. at the very top. take care,
space
Re: [base283] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
>I also saw sparks on the transmitter on an FM That was most likely coronal discharge (99.99%) which you are likely to see on tall structures in certain conditions (including on top of free standing pine trees in the forest during winter).
Coronal discharge looks menacing and can emit very discomforting sound but is absolutely harmless.
I am myself guilty of climbing down a power tower after getting super-freaked out by massive coronal discharge on dirty isolators and inhaling some ozone gas that it was emitting.
Re: [base283] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
base283 wrote:
Not at you REDAKTOR. But ask esteban jesterez fb about his riser release. the 3ring melted the webbing. i think it was an AM. I also saw sparks on the transmitter on an FM. at the very top.
take care,
space
I've had a fair amount of strange experiences jumping antennas. One of the funniest was while climbing a certain South Florida stick with Bob Neely BFL#43.
He was wearing his skydiving helmet ( strange in itself, especially since it was a vintage,hard plastic, American football helmet ) with a Dytter audible alert in it.
He told me he was picking up a radio station on his audible. I didn't believe him so I tried on his helmet and heard a Jazz station coming in pretty clearly on the shitty little speaker.
Regards, B.
Re: [StealthyB] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
There is a local AM that transmits sports radio that we jump. There is a exposed wire that runs to the antenna and on a quiet night you can hear the radio through it as you climb the fence!
Re: [StealthyB] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
I had the same experience with my student at Nancy´s tower. I also knew Bromo quite well. We both started jumping in Louisiana but at different DZs. take care,
space.
Re: [base283] Fatality? Michigan 1/14/15
Have you seen this one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82s5Q3GIO9I
Anyone have a translation of what they are saying?
Good to here Bob's name. He was one of my coaches in grade school and high school. He was one of the finest athletes I've known.
PS: I'm just a lurker not a base jumper.