Brian Stout's Death on June 15th

[guest]

Mr Stout and family

You have earned the respect of the international BASE family with your letter, although that will be of little value to you at this time. Mausch has now, I believe, lost any small, remaining scratch of respect he may have had, not only within the BASE community, but hopefully, within himself as well, although that will be of little value to you at this time. What I hope may be of value, is that your feelings are being felt beyond the borders of the USA, they are being felt by jumpers in Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and wherever this board is being read. And most importantly, I believe that your feelings are being felt and appreciated with enormous pride by Brian. I too, cried when I read you letter, but it was a response which will reach your son.
From another country, I offer hopes for your comfort, and I offer respect, Sir.

[guest]

Four seconds of free fall would be around 256 feet down and about 70 MPH, according to the charts. The typical round canopy takes about 120 feet to fully open on a buddy assist (lowest air speed). At that air speed it may well open in just another 100 feet or so. Thus, a jumper would still be under the round canopy around 380 feet down, at very most, after four seconds and a toss. This leaves 100 feet to spare at the Perrine, for sure. Though three seconds is all I've ever been interested in there, or have seen anyone do, I have actually heard of one rather well known jumper who did a five second delay with a smaller round canopy. Four seconds on a round would certainly be scary (and not something to be in any way advocated, much less to make a habit of) but it ain't gonna put your feet in the water unless you're a slow counter.

[base311]

>I am Brian's father.

Dear Mr. Stout,

Foremost, my sincerest condolances to you and your family, as well as to Brian's friends. This is tragic and I am certain no amount of discussion surrounding this incident will lessen the pain you are all feeling. My heart goes out to you all.

I too am thoroughly disgusted with the hate-filled tripe that has been posted to the board in the past few days.

But I do have several points of contention with some of what you have posted, so I will take the opportunity to constructively add my opinion to this subject. I certainly do not mean to be inflammatory, and I hope that some of the arguments I am about to make do not further your anger.


<stuff snipped>
>I want the entire Base Jumping community to
>know
>what killed Brian. There were two official
>investigations into Brian's death and nothing
>was ever posted concerning the outcome. I will
>tell you that both of those investigations
>concluded that there was no conclusive evidence
>of what caused the equipment failure. In other
>words, Brian's pilot chute was in tow for the
>majority of his jump and .4 seconds before he
>hit the water, his pilot chute inflated -
>obviously too late.
>
>The investigations correctly identified Brian's
>equipment that he was using; but we are again
>awe struck as to a lack of reason for his pilot
>chute opening failure in their conclusions.
>
>Two of the major manufacturers of Base
>equipment
>have internet sites with training information
>posted for their clients. Both of these sites
>would suggest that Brian was dead before he
>walked out on that bridge to jump with the other
>7 jumpers.
>
>Brian was using a 38" Pilot Chute, a 6'9"
>Bridle, went stowed, and was assigned a 1-2
>second delay for deploying his Pilot Chute. Any
>one of these factors alone would not be a major
>cause for alarm - all of them in tandem were a
>death sentence for Brian. Brian had jumped that
>rig 3 or 4 times during that weekend and all
>went well because he did a 3-4 second delay. We
>have the tapes of his jumps and you can easily
>count 3 seconds on each jump.
>
>The assignment of the 1-2 second delay is, in my
>mind, the biggest factor in Brian's death. I
>doubt that I have to educate the Base Jumping
>community about Pilot Chute size, the smaller
>Bridle, and a 1-2 second delay. But, if you go
>to the training sites, you will find that one
>company would suggest a 3-4 second delay with
>poor performance and the other would require a
>4-7 second delay with his Pilot Chute and his
>Bridle.
>
>Brian was a "low-timer" as you would call him.
>He really should not have been on that load at
>all. He actually had less than 20 Base Jumps to
>his name when he jumped his fatal jump. His
>stupidity, Mr. Mauch, was to trust his friends
>and the more experienced Jumpers on that load.
>Brian's inexperience in Base Jumping did not
>ring an alarm in his mind when assigned the 1-2
>second delay. He knew nothing about the
>"Birble" created by the lower speed, he knew
>nothing about how the 6'9" Bridle would
>interface with a 1-2 delay. Lastly, he knew
>nothing about how a 38" Pilot Chute would be
>considered too small of a chute for 486 feet
>when all the other factors were in tandem.

I do seriously mean this with all due respect, but perhaps Brian should not have been jumping _AT ALL_ if what you say is true about his knowing, "...nothing about [a] 'birble' (sic)," or "...the 6'9" bridle," OR that, "...he knew nothing about how a 38" Pilot Chute would be considered too small of a chute for 486 feet when all the other factors were in tandem." And while I am not familiar with Brian's training background nor how much time he spent in personal preparation to begin BASE, I stare in blank disbelief that he could have been so unprepared as to overlook the extremely common recommendation to use a long bridle and a big pilot chute, and not made his own measurements to ensure that those items did in fact exist on his equipment (or to determine that it was a problem). Perhaps he knew, and did nothing about it. The fact is we don't know if he did or not. And as you point out, the freefall delay/pilot chute size recommendation charts are available as a _guide_ to proper selection of a pilot chute, but each jumper is responsible for configuring his gear correctly for a given jump, and those recommendations are just that: recommendations. They are a starting point, and the various configurations plotted on the charts are not separated by hard and fast lines - there is an overlapping grey area between all of those size/speed recommendations that may be adjusted based upon site factors. Evidence of this grey area comes to light when one manufacturer recommends one thing, and another manufacturer recommends something slightly different, as you point out. Irregardless of the nuances of pilot chute sizes, the pilot chute size recommendation charts were __just as available__ to Brian as they are to anyone else in this sport, as was the information regarding bridle lengths. So while you may choose to believe that the assignment of a 1-2 second delay was the biggest factor in Brian's death, I choose to believe that the biggest factor may well have been the _first time_ he stepped off of a 486' bridge with a 6'9" bridle and a 38" pilot chute. In a tragically insidious twist, it worked the first few times - which may have lulled him into a sense that it was okay to continue jumping. On the contrary, he would have been no better off had the problem come to light in a similar fashion during his first jump. Nevertheless, he was jumping non-standard gear. I don't think anyone can deny that. And, while the gear he was jumping may well have worked time after time after time, we are nevertheless here discussing this today, most unfortunately.

The use of a short bridle and small pilot chute is in stark contradiction to popular BASE jumping wisdom adopted after a fatality from the 876' NRGB in 1987 (in fact a longer bridle and bigger pilot chute were likely already in use by most BASE jumpers at that time - see #14 @ http://juliabell.att.net ). My point here is that these aren't the kinds of major technical advances in the sport to which Mr. McGlynn was referring; rather, these are basic guidelines from which to begin in this sport - guidelines that have been around since _at least_ 1987. Not to further inflame you, but if Brian had read those charts on those manufacturer's websites to which you referred, and the basic rigging guidelines listed here on this board and many other places where this information is readily available on the internet, then perhaps he might have questioned his gear prior to ever going to the perrine.

At a final point the ultimate responsibility comes to rest squarely on the shoulders of anyone who jumps off of anything with a parachute as to whether the parachute will perform its intended purpose. It is not the responsibility of each and every jumper to ensure that each and every other jumper's gear is configured correctly.

Sure, Brian was a 'newbie' and, in my OPINION, may not have been prepared to be on that load. But the fact that he died during his participation in an 8-way does not necessarily mean that the 8-way was a contributing factor. You appear to use the term 'assigned' in an effort displace responsibility from Brian and attach it to the other jumpers who were there on that load AND, in a way, to everyone else who was there who didn't notice that his bridle was too short or his pilot chute too small. This idea you have that they 'assigned' him a delay that resulted in his death is something that I cannot leave unattended. First and foremost, there is a fundamental philosophy in BASE: you are not obligated to jump - EVER. Nobody in this sport will tell you what to do and what not to do. People will hand out a bazillion suggestions and spout all kinds of opinions about what's right and what's wrong, but apart from a few general recommendations, people are free to do what they will. Even at nearly 25 years old, this is still a new sport with new discoveries being made everyday, and by participating in this sport you become a test jumper... and for the most part we don't all go around doubting or second-guessing other people's gear configurations. In other words, had I been there and if I had asked Brian how many jumps he had and he had told me fifteen, that does not automatically sound an alarm in my head to demand that he unpack all of his gear in front of me so we can go over it piece-by-piece to ensure that it is up to snuff. He could have been a 5000 jump skygod skydiver for all I might have known...

There is an expectation that people who come to this sport are already prepared - or at least already have the basics in mind. None of this is not to say that we aren't on the lookout for other people's safety, just that we don't really second-guess each other's packjobs and gear configurations. Finally, without a smoking gun or a busted fanbelt (as was used in past posts), we (READ: I) don't know if the 6'9" bridle and the 38" pilot chute was even the culprit, but, certainly, trying to cast any amount of blame onto the other jumpers is just as cavalier and short-sighted as jumping non-standard BASE equipment or jumping to conclusions that anyone else had any responsibility for Brian's death other than himself. Perhaps you didn't mean to use the term 'assign' in such a fashion as to imply blame, but I am being extra vigilent in ensuring that a dangerous precedent is not set herewith.

>So, Mr. Mauch, I was forced to react to your
>disgusting commentation concerning Brian's death
>as I do not want another Father or another
>loving family to lose a Base Jumper as we have.
>Brian's death was preventable. A couple of
>Saturday's ago, there was a Base Jumping article
>in the Time News there in Twin Falls. It also
>made the on line edition and made a posting on
>this site. But, on the same date, there was an
>article on Brian. It, however, did not make the
>on line edition. Too bad, as I proposed a
>procedure that could save lives and it was not
>posted on your board.
>
>It might well be worth your time and effort to
>review that article. Among other things, it
>will tell you that Brian had a family that loves
>and misses him. Additionally, it proposed to
>the residents of Twin Falls a procedure that
>could be called "Brian's Paper" or the "Stout
>Paper." What it does is outline the proper
>combination of gear and delay for the most
>optimum of jumps at the Perrine Bridge.
>Somthing this simple would have saved Brian's
>life as it would have told him that his
>equipment, at best was marginal for that jump,
>at worst, was not allowed unless a 3-4 second
>delay was used.

Mr Stout, I cannot begin to know what you are experiencing, but I do have an 8 year old daughter myself - and if I were to lose her I am sure I would find myself in a similar condition as you.

As I believe we all owe it to Brian to learn something from his death, I'll make a promise to you, and would ask the BASE community to adopt a similar stance: to each and every person I meet from now on, whom I discover has fewer than 20 BASE jumps, regardless of whether the person is my student or not, I will ask the following questions - even if it offends them and makes me look like a jerk for asking:

1. "Would you like to unpack your rig and let me go over your gear configuration with you to verify that you are jumping standard gear, that it's properly assembled and has no obvious signs of possible failure?"

2. Have you given consideration to the altitude you're jumping, the delay you intend to take, the size of the pilot chute you're using and whether or not you think it will work?

If someone answers no to the first question and yes to the second question, then I will conclude that the jumper knows what he is doing.

If they answer yes to the first question and no to the second question, I will take the time to do an inspection, help with a repack and discuss pilot chute sizes and maybe it will save a life one day.

As always, I am happy to lend my thoughts to any jumper's questions.

>Please, please, please, to all who read this
>post. You don't have to like what I have said;
>but please do not be ugly. If you have
>something to say, be it positive or negative,
>you have the right to post it. But, I truly
>would love to hear from you if you have
>something positive to say.

I really do hope that I have not come across as mean, condescending nor ugly. I certainly do not mean any disrespect - I'm just defending freedom (which by default implies full acceptance of responsibility for one's actions).

I wish you and your family and Brian's friends peace. Feel free to respond to me here or off-list at base311@basejumper.net

>For all the decent Base Jumpers who go out and
>perform this sport - please be safe!

Thank you, and we will.

Sincerely,
K. Gardner Sapp
BASE 311
Atlanta, Georgia

[d-dog]

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and knowledge, Gardner.

Mr. Stout, as a father myself I can only empathize partially with your loss of Brian. I knew him for only a few days, and even at that it hurt so much to say goodbye and not a day goes by that I do not think of how he shared his positive energy with me and how much I appreciated knowing him.

I have been torn on whether to write what I am now going to write. However, your words of courage and caring for the BASE community - even after a careless renegade said such horrible things about your son - have convinced me that I must say what I have to say. These are simply my words and opinions, nothing more.

Brian did not die because his pilot chute was too small, his bridle was too short, or his delay was not long enough. He did not die because of a combination of all three of these things.

I believe, based on everything I have seen and everything I understand about this incident, that a packing error caused his death. I was the only person to watch him in freefall from less than 100 feet away, and I was the only person who watched his pilot chute inflate when it finally did from a distance close enough to see the details of the inflation.

While his bridle was slightly shorter than what most of us jump, and his pilot chute was a bit smaller than the 42 inch pilot chutes many of us jump from that object with regularity, his gear configuration did not cause the PC in tow.

I'm not going to go into a drawn-out argument of why I believe this to be so. I am no technical expert, but I have spent many hours reviewing all the data I have had available, and I have my own personal observations as well.

To emphasize what I am saying, I would gladly jump the same configuration (same size PC, same bridle length, same delay, stowed) 20 times from the Perrine. I know many other very experienced jumpers would do the same. What I believe is that we might experience a slightly slower canopy extraction, but (particularly with a round parachute) nothing dangerous.

I am only one man, and this is my opinion. Whether I am right or wrong will not bring Brian back. My internal guilt that I did not catch Brian's packing error is far greater than it would be if I believed he simply jumped a bad gear configuration. While I am not responsible for any other jumper's packing techniques, that doesn't make me feel any better - I wish with all my heart I would have seen his error, and corrected it.

I am sharing my opinion here only because I feel very, very strongly that other jumpers who use this packing technique are at terrible risk of death themselves. It is such a a small error, but one that has a high probability of causing a fatality. There are many jumpers in our country who use this packing technique, and they need to know that their chose technique will kill them if they make this one small error.

Please, fellow jumpers, whether you believe my analysis or another analysis, DO NOT USE A RUBBER BAND TO PACK YOUR PILOT CHUTE. It is a crazy technique, and adds unnecessary risk of error for no concomitant increase in packing safety. It is a single point of failure that has no other precedent in any other BASE packing technique. It should never be used, and NEVER be taught to another jumper as an accepted technique.

As others have said, those of us who were on Brian's final load are changed forever. There isn't one of us who would not give almost anything to go back and prevent what caused Brian's death - whatever that cause was. There is not one of us who has not dealt with the after-effects of watching a fellow jumper die in front of us. We have each dealt with it in our own way, but none has found an easy path.

All of our pain is nothing compared to that felt by his family and close friends, but that knowledge has not lessened our pain.

Mr. Stout, I applaud your courage and strength. I mean no disrespect to you, and none at all to Brian. As jumpers, we have ALL made mistakes and we are ALL alive today only because, usually, these mistakes have not been fatal. Any of us could have been Brian that day, and my belief that a packing error caused his fatality in no way takes away from my respect for your son. He was a man of courage, as are all jumpers, and a man who was living a life true to his heart and his soul - a testament to his parents and the values they clearly instilled in him.

Nothing prepares us for the loss of a loved one, and nothing replaces the hole in our soul that their passing leaves behind. I now know this from firsthand experience. I am almost ashamed to tarnish this loss with a debate about gear and technical matters. Even so, I believe this debate is positive for our sport and everyone who participates in it.

I hope that we can all take some small piece of learning away from this tragedy, as we all must do from any BASE incident. Ours is a sport that is painfully unforgiving of error, perhaps more so than any other sport. Let us all remember this when we jump, and let us all heed Gardner's fine words to watch out for our fellow jumpers, no matter what their experience or skill level.

BASE is, on one hand, a purely individual sport. At exit point, we are each irrevocably alone. However, we are also each so deeply dependant on one another, as well: for knowledge, for support, for comraderie, and for caring.

Peace,

Douglas B. Spink
doug@wrinko.com

[guest]

Unfortunately Tomas Mauch convinced me that even in the sport like BASE jumping we have narrow minded individuals. I feel bad knowing that our small community is not ''TALIBAN FREE''
I hope I am not the only one who feel bad about it....
Regards
Robi

[guest]

Well Mr. Spink,
You certainly seem quiet the eye witness. I am somewhat puzzled as to why you never gave any consideration to the question that I asked you via private email. I am still waiting for an answer. If you have forgotten the question I can post it for you here in forum.

Thank you for your time,
Cheryl Stout, mother of Brian Stout

[d-dog]

While I recall several conversations we had in person and via email, I don't recall a question that you asked that I did not answer.

Mrs. Stout, please email me directly (doug@wrinko.com) and I will answer any and all of your questions to the best of my knowledge.

Peace,

Douglas B. Spink
doug@wrinko.com
www.wrinko.com

[guest]

I thought this thread should be brought back up to the top. Mr. Stout's words need to be read (twice by some). Thomas, you seem to comment on _every_ post, but I don't see any of your "discourse" on this thread...
You constantly complain about others choosing anonymity in this forum--I'd like to point out that signing your name to a post doesn't make what is said any more or less valuable. I think you hide behind the computer as much as anyone (like me) who doesn't sign their real name to a post. Many of your attacks (such as the one referenced by Mr. Stout) are unwarranted and chicken #####. If you want to stir a pot, why don't you get in the faces of those you want to attack? I would love to have been there if you had had the gumption to do this to Earl before he died. Then we'll see if you have the courage to stand behind the words you spew forth.
This thread should be a reminder to us that this forum is not just viewed by the BASE community. There are most likely WAY MORE non-BASEjumpers that read this forum than those that are. With the high number of fatalities we have had this year, I for one fear that even more marginalization of our sport is coming down the pipes in the form of laws and other restrictions that we just don't need. Before this happens, even more visitors will come to this site. Do we want to present ourselves and our sport to the world as a bunch of bickering dipshits? If we want to stand a chance in the upcoming war on BASE, we need to show some unification publicly. If you have a problem with another BASEjumper, take it to privte e, or have a good ol' T&F party, or whatever--just keep it out of the public eye.
.02
-----*-----

[guest]

Enough as been said. The pot does not need to be stirred and brought to the forefront again. Many very good points and some healing words as well, have been stated here. Let this rest please. Mr Stout asked us to be as safe as we can so lets do just that. Read the good points left on here and let it be. Keep it with you.

Fly Free Brian S... Fly Free

[guest]

This is Brian's Father again. I want to thank each and every one of you for your kind and courteous responses. Everyone has been so gracious with their respect and comments. Even those who seemingly disagreed did so with a great deal of respect.

Doing this post has been somewhat therapeutic for me and your responses added to its therapeutic value.

I think I see a need to debate this and every other accident in this sport and some of the posts did come across in debate form. I personally do not want to debate the issues of this or any other tragedy over a media such as this forum because I think debates lose their effectiveness if one can not immediately and effectively refute or cross examine what is being said.

Sometimes "Specialists" come across as "Experts" when they have the capacity to speak without interference. They certainly have something worthwhile to say; it's just that people reading it might read it as "actual," "factual," or "truth" instead of what it is - their opinion.

I must, however, respond to two of the posts. These gentlemen are certainly good teachers for the sport and probably well respected in the sport for they appeared to have a great deal of knowledge. They provided a response which was indeed very respectful, thought provoking, yet short of my belief of what happened. They certainly are entitled to their belief; but, I do not want the reader of this entire post to walk away thinking that their view is correct in an absolute fashion.

To Mr. Gardner Sapp. Thank you for your insightful post. Your post would seemingly give great weight that we are all absolutely responsible for our own well being in the sport of BASE. Your commentary centered around that theme. And for that, I would agree. Brian walked out on that bridge and jumped. His amount of training and experience was too little in my opinion; but, he jumped. I will not argue that point with you.

However, you seemed to have a great deal of grief over the word "assigned." To quote, you stated: "You appear to use the term 'assigned' in an effort to displace responsibility from Brian and attach it to the other jumpers who were there on that load...." I truly wasn't attempting to do that; but your point is valid in that I guess I was doing just that.

I could have used another word - perhaps the word could have been, asked, requested, told, directed, suggested, et al. My point, Mr. Sapp, is that the use of a 1-2 second delay was not Brian's idea. I wasn't displacing responsibility from Brian, I simply was suggesting that "in tandem" this was but one more thing that added to Brian's demise.

You suggested you were being extra vigilent in ensuring that a dangerous precedent is not set herewith. I really do not think a precedent can be set in this forum. We are not in a court of law - I would think that is where we should worry about that.

Please let me have my understanding and beliefs without prejudice at this point. I will point out that there were two investigations - each speak to the 1-2 second delay given to Brian. Therefore, the words are theirs, not mine.

To "D-dog." I would also like to thank you for your well thought out post. It was kind, respectful, and showed a lot of class. You are however, completely and irrevocably incorrect in your analysis that a packing error caused his death. I must say that your "throw away" of my analysis of the events was a little caustic. It tends to give the reader of this post a thought process that is completely wrong. You must understand that I have 2 investigations, hours and hours of research, and discussion with many people in the sport.

Let me attend to your rubber band theory. This is the second time that someone has thrown this out in the mix. Perhaps it was you that did so the first time, I can not remember.

Brian's mother was sitting with him at the picnic table when he packed the Pilot Chute that he jumped at his death. Brian was proudly showing his mother his training and packing skills. Brian specifically told his mother that one must never leave the rubber band in the pack job. He then took it off and handed it to her and said something to the effect jokingly that she was his witness. They laughed; but, the point is, there is no rubber band left to cause his Pilot Chute to be in stow.

I truly hope that I have dismissed this from your thought process because that is not what killed Brian and I don't want you or anyone else to minimize the real reasons which I stated in my post. Now, would I argue that using a rubber band is a good technique in packing a Pilot Chute? Absolutely not! But, that is not the issue here. Again, I have my beliefs and understanding based upon a lot of "stuff." You were there and witnessed his death; but, I have the investigations and I would hope that someone inquired of you at that point. If not, I would be extremely disappointed in the investigators.

Again, to all, thanks for reading my post and please be careful out there.


Wayne Stout

[Alabanana]

Mr. Stout:
Thanks for your time and input. It is therapeutic for us, as well as for you. It might be a bad analogy, but it reminds me of Fred Goldman during the O.J. Simpson trial. He vented his spleen, and it worked for him and for those of us who were watching nightly.
I did not know your son, but I bet he was a heck of a good guy, with parents as loving as you. May you heal well from your loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Joe Lee
Birmingham,AL

[d-dog]

Mr Stout, your words on this subject and obvious caring for our sport and its participants are both moving and deeply appreciated.

I also appreciate the additional data you have added to the discussion. While it is no compensation for the loss of your son, this discussion has most certainly caused many jumpers around the world to carefully re-evaluate both their packing technique and their choice of equipment. For this, we all owe you a debt of gratitude.

At this point, I think it best to let the technical debate rest; there is perhaps no final, uncontested resolution to this question, though I understand your position and supporting data.

My respect for your son runs deep. As I have said before, each and every active BASE jumper in the world has made many mistakes in their jumping; through good fortune alone, most of us have survived our mistakes, learned from them, and become safer jumpers. There is NO jumper who has never made a packing error, a gear configuration error, or an error during a jump that could have (had things taken another course) killed him or her. It is a fact of our sport.

Whatever mistake caused Brian's incident, it takes nothing away from his courage or the respect we grant him as a BASE participant. Each and every time we jump, we take our life in our hands in a very tangible way; Brian had the courage to follow his heart into our sport, and from what I saw of him during the weekend in which we jumped together, he was a careful and competent jumper. He was not reckless or careless in what I saw, not at all.

I am honored to have shared time with your son, and wish you and his entire family the best in learning to cherish his memory while moving on with your own lives in positive directions. Brian's memory also lives on in the hearts of those with whom he jumped, even if only for a few days.

Peace,

Douglas B. Spink (aka "D-d0g")
ddog@wrinko.com
www.wrinko.com

[never 2 old]

Let me first introduce myself. I am Brian's mother. I was with my son the last 3 days of his life and I witnessed his last jump.

I would first and foremost like to thank all of you who have expressed kind words and condolences. I don't believe in my son's wildest imagination , when he comtemplated the possibilty of his death, that he would have thought that his death would have reached around the world.

I, like Brian's father, have been monitoring this forum for some time now. I have read things which have touched my heart, made me angry and just down right hurt me. For those of you who fall into the latter two categories, you have my pity.

I would like to reiterate Brian's fathers statement about the rubberband. There was none. The very object which was so quickly blamed is at this very moment in my possesion and will remain so until I draw my last breath.

The next thing I would like to address is the question of blame. Do I blame anyone? The answer is no. If I tried to place blame my son would have to be the first in line. However, there is the question of responsiblity. Had my son lived he would have been the first to have taken the responsiblity for his poor judgement and lack of training. The sad part of all of this is that others who also have responsibility in this drama have chosen not to own up to it. They also have my pity, for they are the ones who have to live with themselves.

My son would have made a fine addition to your community and there are those of you out there that I would have been proud to have him jump with.

My thoughts and prayers are with you. Be safe.

Cheryl Stout

[K]

Dear Wayne, Cheryl, and all of Brian's family and friends:

I just took a call from a BASE jumper who, from the very beginning, was an indifferent packer. This gentleman hates packing, has always paid a packer at the dz, and was a less than enthusiastic student to BASE packing. I figured he'd either get to like packing or suffer the consequences of off-heading openings.

Since I formed my opinion of this man's packing, Brian died. I guess this really impressed my friend, because he just told me that he now packs his BASE rig "stitch perfect", and gives the credit to his changed attitude to Brian. He thanked Brian for the influence that helped him come to the realization that he could encounter serious difficulty or worse from a packing problem. Twice during our phone call he mentioned his flawless packing and both times said "thank you Brian". I'm sure he contributes his newfound respect for packing to Brian when ever he talks to people.

I thought you might want to know that people are taking Brian's incident to heart. This man did a complete 180 regarding his feelings about packing; I was amazed to hear the change in him. So, some good is already coming of Brian's sacrifice to the sport. I know that I, too, have much more respect and regard for my assessment process, whether a certain jump is ok for me at this time, or not.

I wish this was more well-written, but I'm short on time and just wanted to get this post to you where maybe it will instill some nice feelings.

Thanks for your time.

c'ya,
K

[guest]

I would like to thank you for taking the time to share this story. When I first started reading the BaseBoard this is the kind of thing I had hoped for, not the finger pointing, just honest open discussion.

Myself, and the rest of Brian's family, have our theories and beliefs as to the cause of his death. Unfortunately, thats all they will ever be.

The only good that can possibly come from my son's death would be that someone, or maybe a lot of someone's, will live a longer and fuller life because they remember what happened to Brian and take extra time and give extra thought to what they are about to do.

This is my son's legacy to the basejumping community.

Thank you again for your post, and take nothing for granted.

Cheryl Stout