Basejumper.com - archive

I know several months have passed by, time was needed to heal, grow and be able to revisit this incident.

We have been working on a factual and objective report that we wanted to share with the entire community, our objective with this report is for everyone to learn and grow from it.

Thanks to everyone who help to put all this info together, no need to name anyone, they know who they are.

Stay safe everyone.

Thanks for the in depth report. I think there are many that will learn from this insight.

Authors?

thanks Jhonny for posting this

this needs to be seen and read

Anyone out there with any interest in terrain flying, flying video, or Heli-Lining...READ THIS REPORT

Power is more important than altitude or distance to terrain...you will live or die based on the amount of power in your suit. Helicopter runs give a false sense of security and can kill just as easy, if not easier.

I have recently been developing a write up on Heli-lining and theories. I still continue to see video of people Heli-lining terrain at slow speeds and poor planning. It tends to also attract laziness (people not willing to hike or BASE jump). Lazy people are often dumb...

What category are you in...are you dumb and lazy? or are you informed? Just cause you have a Heli-operation near by with steepish looking mountains doesn't mean your ready to do this stuff.

(please keep in mind none of this is targeted at anyone specifically...)

Hi Alygator,

I wrote this report, and Johnny added a couple of bits at the end. I shared it last year, after the accident, amongst friends and family. It looks like a few of the illustrations didn't come out very clear in this uploaded version. If anyone is interested in a better copy, feel free to get in touch.

Laurent Frat

Great advice - thanks

Any idea of the forward speeds you're flying when you're right off the deck ?

Forward speed is directly relative to energy management. Lighter flyers fly slower, Taller/higher mass flyers fly faster (for the most part). What matters with terrain flying is knowing if you're building energy in your suit...or are you losing energy to match flatter slopes. If you don't know how this concept works at all...DO NOT ATTEMPT to fly terrain. Seek out those who do...

After checking out some recent flysite data, flying down the ENSA from the Brevent we are averaging 180km/hr. This is about a 40 degree slope. My personal comfort level for flying "right off the deck" is having enough speed that allow a flare and separate from the terrain allowing enough altitude to deploy. This margin may soften a bit if I have outs to the sides, but not by much.

Thank you for the info

One other question I have is, approximately how much altitude loss is there during deployment and how much does that vary according to the forward speed flown during deployment (if for some reason you needed to pitch at the beginning of the flare) ?

quite often after a steep/high energy line, I can flare and open on level with where I was flying...without any altitude loss...but these are steep lines with little "peel off" or horizontal distance required to reach an LZ. Forward speed assists with opening, but too much and your opening characteristics will go to shit, too little and they will go to shit and you will sink out...its learning how to gauge your speed (or energy...for a better term) to your time of opening.

Good stuff BASEMenace2 ..thank you for your input

One more question- what is your preferred method of exiting a cliff for a proximity flight ? As far as exposing certain amounts of wing surfaces -staying flat or getting a little steep - big push/or average push on a decent overhang- thanx

please don't take this as an ass hole response...but if you are anywhere close to be flying terrain in a wing suit...you will know the answer to this question already.

yeah....but there are kind of two distinct types of exit "styles" and you were offering up such good advice that I was curious as to which style you use and the reasoning behind it ?

numero uno
http://www.vimeo.com/86747385

numero dos
http://www.vimeo.com/45036700

What an asshole

There are many ways to do it and getting a shitload of tracking exits definitely helps.

Thanks for fatality info OP.

BSBD Bro´s

I'm more of a numero uno kind of guy, but I extend my legs a lot faster, unless you are on a big A with a tail wind.

both those guys in those videos have better exits than me...