Basejumper.com - archive

 

Name is already in the newspaper

http://www.ledauphine.com/...-un-arbre-au-brevent

Explain what is a corkscrew

 

Same as a barrel roll you just changed the name

So two of the best proxy fliers died in a few days.
What chance do the rest of you have.

I don't know if you can say the best if they died


I believe a barrel roll you close your wings and corkscrew is you keep them open while rolling.

edited.

 

I'm just a "shitty, lurking a-license newbie", but alexander polli's "reality of human flight" got me into skysports, which then changed my whole perspective on life and helped me fight my depression and several other problems I had in life. I might have not the best perspective on this, as I have never "charged the castle" like you guys do, but doing a corkscrew maneuver while proximity terrain flying a two-way in brevent doesn't seem like the best idea, no matter how skilled you are.

I want to ask expert proximity wingsuiters: while you're flying a hardcore line, do you ever feel the urge to pull off some "stunt" spontaneously? Is everything I can see in those "super rad" videos calculated, or do you sometimes go "ah.. those two trees there look like I could fit through them" and then you go for it?

anyways, have a good one mr. polli. bummed out that I will never get to know you

Ok I understand what a corkscrew is now.
I just fly my t bird away from the cliff and it will never be within my skill set to fly back near it.

Its doing a 360 degree turn, which in flying feels like a flat 360 FS/RW turn, but it ends up creating a spin/roll down where the visual reference / aiming point stays the same. So the flyer makes a big carving turn down/around. The body almost whipping around the head.

Downside is that you loose a bit speed in the turn, turning forward in downward (sinking) velocity. Once leveling out again it takes (unpredictable) loss in altitude to fully get flying at full speed/glide again so its a hard move to do precise, especially low over terrain.

Was the maneuver, Corkscrew, part of the planned jump?

RIP Alex - Best of the best

As this is the incident forum let's discuss this guy showed a total disregard for his own safety his life and the sport , spiralled into trees having fun .the only hero here were the guys who cleaned him up.
This fatality should not be taken in isolation, the wing suit fraternity has a problem . The internet is flooded recently with " be safe out there" posts . Friends dying almost daily and is anyone in a wing suit paying attention ? Or is this just evolution picking off the ones who won't listen/look at what happens in August these past years.

I don't have any answers but I know the current situation isn't sustainable

A bit harsh.

It may have been a spur-of-the-moment decision or planned; either way most likely the deceased overestimated his altitude (lots of things impact visual referencing) or lost more altitude in the manoeuvre than he was used to, for whatever reason. The only thing with any certainty is that the manoeuvre was conducted with insufficient margin for error - but that's easy to say with hindsight.

Those that continually push the limit always risk coming out just the wrong side of the absolute minimum...

I don't know about Alex in particular but the corkscrew maneuver is being done routinely at Brevent by a few people so I would wait for specifics regarding this incident.

That's a very subjective position though Al. We're BASE jumpers.

There are those among us who might only jump bridges to mitigate the extra risk of off-headings and who would consider solid object jumpers to be displaying a similar disregard to the very real risk of a strike. There are solid object jumpers who would consider a 120ft building to be showing contempt. One step removed, there's many a skydiver who would consider ALL BASE jumpers to display causal indifference for not jumping with the option of a reserve parachute and further removed the vast majority of the general public would consider all parachutists to be casually indifferent to the sanctity of life.

We can't be saving people from themselves. We just can't; in both a literal, physical sense since we can't be present to stop those we might consider to be a danger to themselves and in a philosophical sense, since if we condemn or restrict others then we must expect condemnation and restriction ourselves.

Their lives are not ours to determine. It really is that simple.

As to sustainability? the procession of deaths is sustainable as long as there are participants who underestimate the variables in an activity which is very unforgiving of variables. So buckle up because this isn't going to stop, short of some unprecedented paradigm shift.

As to the legal sustainability at some sites? Who knows? It won't stop the determined anyway, it will just reduce the volume and ease with which jumps are made. I'm sure civic leaders in LB and other sites are constantly weighing up the pros (income to the communities brought by the jumpers) against cost of rescue/negative perception etc.

I'm currently travelling and have had a crap couple of days, you'll excuse the delay...
Was on the load, and dealt with authorities.
Briefly:
Load was six jumpers, Alex and other jumper were first two to exit.
Other jumpers had come to top as conditions from ground and reports looked perfect, however there were some strong gusts of wind. Some left, 6 of us stayed at restaurant and waited for things to calm down.
We went to exit to jump right at end of allowed window, towards 1045am (Brevent now on summer hours, first lift 850am).
Two-way itself was of no consequence, Alex exited quite a delay after first jumper, they were not close at any point in flight, no statement from him was required by authorities.
Conditions were perfect when they finally jumped, PGHM was called to inform of wingsuit flights.
Their jump was witnessed in part by us, in full by one of the lift operators, who knows what he's looking at...
After entering the ENSA couloir, steep and stable, he initiated and failed to complete a corkscrew at sufficient altitude, clipping trees and then impacting on the side of the couloir. He came to rest in the couloir, almost at its steepest point, with nothing out. His impact was witnessed and PGHM alerted immediately.
The Heli was with him in 9 minutes. He was conscious, in no pain, communicated with first responder. They felt it too dangerous to move him, and unfortunately he slipped away despite their best efforts to stabilise him.

Background: Alex had been practising this manoeuvre recently, but not yet executed it at this location, or anywhere in these conditions, i.e. Already deep on terrain.
As stated on previous posts, this is a complex aerobatic stunt, with a high degree of variance in the altitude consumed, even when executed by pilots who have practised it extensively in a skydiving environment, which he had not.
Those who DO execute it in BASE have done so generally on a "skydive" jump, respecting the danger of this manoeuvre, often as alternative to a simple barrel roll, for fun to bleed off "excess" altitude at the end of a jump.

None of these "sensible rules" were ones Alex tended to follow, resulting in some of the more spectacular and risky jumps he is well known for. Where many of these past "stunts" could have taken him, this was the one that didn't work out for him.
Whilst many of us have been so ground down over the last few weeks that we've dialled it back as much as possible, or even called it a day (some definitively), this was not his nature and, quite the opposite, the oppressing recent news only encouraged him further to attempt the spectacular, to shake us out of our stupor in some way.

On a personal note, after spending what ended up being a privileged last hour for our load laughing, joking, loving life together, I watched one of my heroes (more on a spiritual than jumping level) pass. Over the years that lovely bastard got me to quite a few firsts, but being the one to call relatives and loved ones for the first time and tear their world to pieces is not one I thank him for.
For those out there that do, unlike him, have a "dial" that goes below 110% (he set his there, tore it off and smoked it a long time ago), please use it now, if you haven't already..

Alex died after leaving the exit with a smile, on a beautiful day, surrounded by ppl he loved and loved him, charging like he always did.
Charge on brother.


Edited 25/8 for minor grammatical errors, and more info on load and time. RIP Mongo....

Add: "and as long as there is an influx of new participants".

Whilst there are more and more fatalities as a trend, there does not seem to back lack of new jumpers. Mmm, did chief Mr. Balkan mob did not say something like that?

More participants, less knowledge

https://vimeo.com/33078718

Thank you.

Well said and very sorry for your loss.

Thanks for this..

Grazie amigo :(

I met Alex when he started skydiving in Perris, and followed his adventure for some time. i am surprised he survived this far.

You are not the only one...

"You have to jump... Sounds crazy to me!"

https://youtu.be/MOvfbJPmBmA?t=637



Fly free, Alex.

Majority of the people that knew Polli would agree.

mucho mucho.

I believe that he just followed his destiny

or one could say his (final) destination

which is sad though

R.I.P. Alex