SUMMARY: It's obvious that the PC bridle was not appropriately attached to the canopy.
---
What do you think about this story? Post your comments below.
SUMMARY: It's obvious that the PC bridle was not appropriately attached to the canopy.
---
What do you think about this story? Post your comments below.
Hi. 2 people die in the sport this month is really unfortunate. I am just getting into BASE and this is very disconcerning to me. I would hope that when I do it I am very carefull and dont take unnessisary or foolish risks. My thoughts go to his family. Lets not let this happen again guys.
I've always had an "irrational fear" of something not hooked up right, and used to ask dear ole friend skypunk..."Is my bridle attached as I repeatedly pulled and pulled and inspected it." This incident has always been a nightmare, recurring... Even opening my container before leaving home, usually twice, and at the jump site should be routine. This incident is really no different than the daisy chain one in Moab 3 years ago. I still fly cessna's, and just as pilots go through a checklist, canopy flight pilots should too.
My best to the family , friends, and his dog.
386
like you, I've always had an irrational fear about these sorts of things. mainly concerning continuity of the system. From the pc/centerline/bridle to the canopy apex right down through the 3-rings and cutaway. I check these things constantly... sometimes to the chagrin of and with the ridicule of others whom I have check things for me for verification. my latest nightmare: the tapes holding the closing pins (2) on the bridle mysteriously wears/breaks/threads come loose and upon deployment leaves a pin (or both) still holding the container closed. irrational?? probably. ridiculous?? not in my estimation.... often it's the simple things like this that can ruin your day.
another wear point for moab dirt packers (and everyone else) that don't have reverse risers is the tape on the small ring of the three rings (not that reverse risers are immune either). check it out - I've seen some skeery ones.
be vigilent, check your gear!
Gardner
K. Gardner Sapp
Executive Director
The Alliance of Backcountry Parachutists, Inc.
P.O. Box 38202
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
gardner@backcountryparachutists.org
www.backcountryparachutists.org
Take nothing for granted and check everything twice, especially when changing over gear. Check your 3 rings when you pack, every time. Nothing is obvious in this sport.
>Take nothing for granted and check everything twice,
>especially when changing over gear. Check your 3 rings when
>you pack, every time. Nothing is obvious in this sport.
Changing over gear scares the crap out of me, always has and hopefully always will. It takes me far too long to change a canopy, I am always going back over it again and again. At exit I always have gear fear the first jump after any change.
Perhaps it's more of a climbing approach to gear - as in BASE, climbing gear (anchors, in particular) are pretty bombproof IF they are rigged right. One rigging mistake can turn a good anchor into a groundfall. I was there in the late '80s when Lynn Hill forgot to double back her figure 8 at the Gunks and fell 60 feet to the ground when she leaned back to weight the rope at the anchor and the knot unwound. Somehow, she grabbed a tree branch in freefall and sustained only a dislocated shoulder.
Ever since then, I've triple checked tie-in knots, anchor rigging, AND BASE gear changeovers. Sadly, even with vigilance mistakes are possible. It is ONLY possible to systematically avoid a given mistake with near perfect certainty by developing SYSTEMS to prevent human error. A system is a protocal established that, when followed, makes a given mistake either impossible or nearly statistically impossible.
For example, a system for tying in to a climbing rope is to tie in (be careful), then double-check the knot before stepping onto the rock, and THEN as a third fallback have your belayer check the knot again before you actually start climbing. Systems like this prevent disasters by making these checks "idiot proof" and, at core, we're all idiots one time or another in our lives. I know several very experienced climbers who have caught incorrectly-tied figure 8s with this system only on the final check, when their belayer reviewed the knot and saw it was not doubled back.
These little systems are easy to develop and think through, and if followed religiously can pretty much cut out certain classes of mistakes. As a minor example, I NEVER put an unpacked/un-attatched PC in the BOC of a rig. Never, never, never. Thus, if I have a PC stored in a rig that I packed, I know with 100% certainty (so long as someone has not sabotaged it) that the PC stuffed in there is packed and ready for deployment. Even when packing for a PCA I still do this, no exceptions. Then, of course, prior to jumping, I always double- and triple- check my PC to make sure it's easy to grab and comes smooth into the hand. This system I developed as a result of the Jan Davis incident.
Personally, I'll be developing a system for bridle integrity confirmation after this most recent incident. It is sad to say, but we do learn from the mistakes of our BASE brothers and by becoming wiser as a result I think we honor their memory in some small way.
Peace,
D-d0g
ddog@wrinko.com
http://www.wrinko.com
As a relative newcomer to unpacked jumping, it has just occured to me that it's very common to remove the pilot chute for this type of jump. Probably most of us have already thought of this, but when you're changing from packed to unpacked jumps, and vice versa, we need to be very careful about re-attaching the bridle.
Michael
Tragic.
I'm really sorry Jimmy, regrets to you, the crew, and Bill's family. I remember Bill, he came to Bridge Day '99, with 250 skydives, for his first BASE jumping experience. He was back in 2000, with just a handfull of BASE jumps, and another 20 skydives. I guess he took a liking to the sport, as his choice was to go to a BASE Mecca for experience.
Flawless rigging is essential for survivors in this sport.
I am fortunate that I have more than one rig, so I do not do any rigging "in the field". I rarely even pack in the field. I prefer a private indoor setting, without distractions. My automobile never goes into my garage, it's custom set for BASE packing. I literally lay down on the carpet with my jumped gear, and get my eyeballs right down in there. Each component attachment point is inspected, and each line tugged at. Three-rings checked, pilot chute is checked for tears, a canopy inspection as well.
Any new gear is checked, rechecked, and then checked again a couple times for fun.
Any time any gear is detached and then rigged, it's checked, checked, checked.
After packing, the rig is marked as good to go, by color for slider-up or slider-down. Any unpacked or field-packed gear is marked with a red flag. I believe that gear fear is rational, but can be eliminated by procedure. Gear fear on the edge is not a good thing. When I get to the edge, I know my gear is good to go, and that is great for the brain and pulse, I can concentrate fully on my exit performance.
Fly free brother Bill..........
Was Bill performing unpacked jumps prior to this accident.
>Was Bill performing unpacked jumps prior to this accident?
No he wasn't.
Nor was this jump an unpacked jump.
This may seem like a stupid question, but I'm an experienced base jumper and I have no idea what you are talking about. What is an unpacked versus a packed jump? Are you talking about a McConkey?
Yes, and Tards (and other, more esoteric, thingies). I've seen several folks who do a fair but of this unpacked stuff routinely remove not only their pilot chute, but rather the entire bridle and shrivel flap (if a velcro rig) completely from the canopy attatchment point.
When I first noticed that, I thought "boy gotta be careful when re-attatching that shrivel flap/bridle/PC as it would be terrible to do it wrong."
Peace,
D-d0g
ddog@wrinko.com
http://www.wrinko.com
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks