Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Another BASE jumper bites it

We have legal BASE jumping off the local 480' bridge. Every year, 1 or 2 of them don't make it down in 1 piece. Another one died this afternoon when his chute didn't fully open. He and his wife jumped at the same time so she could watch him feed the fish. Her chute opened correctly. 38 years old, from CA.

It's a very dangerous sport because there is no time to compensate for error. You have 1 shot and it something goes wrong, it's by-by. To the right, just out of sight in this photo, is a flat, open area where they land. The wind usually takes them right in. Usually. I know we're supposed to feel sorry for them when something goes wrong, but they know the risks and life seems to mean little to them. They don't care, let their families deal with it.

Adrenalin has it's price.

Guess he and his wife aren't chums anymore.

Well, he still is.

Darwinism.

Dooooooooooood.....

Even crazier is the wing suit crowd. A little downdraft and you're a grease spot on the rocks.

Geuss grim had a hand on his shoulder.

I know they're dumbasses and all, but I just have a hard time watching those failed base jumping and wing suit videos. It is a human life after all.

Mike

There are people I know that a have diseases like cancer just trying to stay alive and these folks go jumping off bridges and killing themselves. I will never understand these brainiacs.

That's funny, I don't feel that way at all. I kinda wish they all would have to use a camera suspended above them (and especially hardened), so that it captures their moment of impact...

What's the wife look like?


She's gonna need consoling...........Just sayin'.

Son of a former shipmate is a base-jumper and wing-suit flyer. I'm waiting for the inevitable obit. The kid is a former Marine 2-tour combat cameraman and I guess misses the adrenaline.

I get all the adrenaline rush I need by just driving down the local highway.

Yet standing nose to nose with a grizzly or water buffalo while on a hunt is totally acceptable by most here. We all get our kicks somehow and I'm glad we aren't all the same. I personally love flying and being in control.

Its important for some sports (if that's the proper term to use) to produce casualties on a regular basis. Otherwise, it wouldn't provide the rush that participants are after.

All true. There are lots of folks who crave that rush. I just hope they understand the impact on those around them when/if it goes poorly.

I love flying as well but I got all my aviation excitement in when I was young and immortal with carrier landings and avoiding SAMS and AAA. I get more satisfaction these days from a well flown RNAV or ILS approach more than aerobatics or other such work.

I have watched them jump from that bridge many times and am surprised it doesn’t happen more often.

Well hopefully it didn’t hurt.

A few years ago my wife and I watched one that came close. His chute folded under when it opened. He got it open but not soon enough to keep him on target. He ended up in some trees and was banged up some.

The all time dumbest Darwin off this bridge was a couple years ago. A 70+ year old guy came up with a spectacular jump plan. His assistant sprayed his chute with some kind of highly flammable spray. The plan was to light the chute on fire just before he jumped. Then he'd jump, release the chute, and then pop his real chute. Things went wrong. The wind pushed enough of the spray to his clothes so that when the assistant lit it, the fire jumped from the chute to his clothes and HE went up in a ball of flame. He went off the bridge but wasn't able to drop the burning chute. He hit the water in flames. Very dead. It was a 'spectacular' jump for sure.

You'd enjoy warching that, over and over?