Attention Skydivers: Jumping a BASE rig from aircraft in the US is not just illegal, but stupid

1 hour ago, wolfriverjoe said:

IIRC, there were legal sanctions in the wake of Dwayne Weston's death at Royal Gorge. 
I'm not going to go look, but there's a hell of a long thread in Incidents.

Yes Dear Wolfriverjoe.

The pilot was a cadet at the US Air Force Academy and he was discharged from the Air Force. He may have been flying a civilian airplane (Cessna 208 Caravan) that day (on his civilian pilot license) but the last thing the Air Force wants is young pilots doing stupid things with multi-million dollar military airplanes.

Dear Bludhow,

I stand by my original statement.

I have only done two BASE jumps. They were both from the same 600 foot bridge and they were done during the mid-1980s, before specialized BASE gear was readily available. Since then I have done repairs (FAA Master rigger) for dozens of young BASE jumpers.

I am so old that I started skydiving when military-surplus parachutes were still fashionable. I jumped (6,000 plus jumps) for total of 40 years, the last 30 years most (4,000 plus) of my jumps were tandems. I earned a couple of USPA instructor ratings and all the CSPA instructor ratings, jump-pilot, two sets of military jump wings and a long list of rigger ratings.

I still maintain that the vast majority of young BASE jumpers do not understand the physics or risks involved.

Got it, thanks! Is that the only sanction that happened as a result of a BASE rig out of an airplane?

On 8/1/2006 at 4:42 AM, PhreeZone said:

There is not a single TSO'd BASE harness with front chest rigs that I am aware of on the market.

 

Happy to be corrected but I believe Jump Shack have the BaseR which is just that

14 hours ago, BMAC615 said:

Got it, thanks! Is that the only sanction that happened as a result of a BASE rig out of an airplane?

No idea. I don't make a habit of searching the FAA database for citations issued.

I would bet fairly heavily that there have been others, but I don't know.
I knew about the Weston one, because of the widespread publicity of it.

Hi folks,

Re:  There is not a single TSO'd BASE harness with front chest rigs that I am aware of on the market.

IMO ANY harness that has received TSO-authorization for a chest pack attachment meets the above criteria.  The type of main container is up to the user.

Back in the day harness with front chest rigs was all we had.

Jerry Baumchen

Jerry,

I vaguely remember a German BASE rig being certified with an optional chest-mounted reserve.

On 10/18/2021 at 12:06 PM, JerryBaumchen said:

There is not a single TSO'd BASE harness with front chest rigs that I am aware of on the market.

Apex used to have a two canopy system - Sorcerer, but I don't think it was ever TSO'd 

1 hour ago, BIGUN said:

Apex used to have a two canopy system - Sorcerer, but I don't think it was ever TSO'd 

ala Mark Hewitt.

also the "inventor" of the line-mod used by smart people for slider off / down jumps

2 hours ago, BIGUN said:

Apex used to have a two canopy system - Sorcerer, but I don't think it was ever TSO'd 

Hi Keith,

Re:  There is not a single TSO'd BASE harness with front chest rigs that I am aware of on the market.

This is not my statement; it is from another poster.  I was merely referring to it.

Jerry Baumchen

13 hours ago, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi Keith,

Re:  There is not a single TSO'd BASE harness with front chest rigs that I am aware of on the market.

This is not my statement; it is from another poster.  I was merely referring to it.

Jerry Baumchen

Morning, Jerry. I was just tossing it out there. Keith

https://www.theranchproshop.com/uc3-base

On 10/17/2021 at 4:11 PM, riggerrob said:

Dear Bludhow,

I stand by my original statement.

I have only done two BASE jumps. They were both from the same 600 foot bridge and they were done during the mid-1980s, before specialized BASE gear was readily available. Since then I have done repairs (FAA Master rigger) for dozens of young BASE jumpers.

I am so old that I started skydiving when military-surplus parachutes were still fashionable. I jumped (6,000 plus jumps) for total of 40 years, the last 30 years most (4,000 plus) of my jumps were tandems. I earned a couple of USPA instructor ratings and all the CSPA instructor ratings, jump-pilot, two sets of military jump wings and a long list of rigger ratings.

I still maintain that the vast majority of young BASE jumpers do not understand the physics or risks involved.

You can stand by it, but it's still wrong. 

I don't disagree that most HUMANS (myself included) do not understand the intricacies of the physics involved...but the risks are well documented. My other comments regarding BASE stand. 

As you were.

On 1/29/2021 at 6:57 AM, riggerrob said:

People who jump BASE rigs out of aircraft, then open low rarely have the first clue about the physics involved.

BASE jumpers pull low for two reasons.

First, their fixed object may not be very high.

Secondly, to experience ground-rush, they need to pull below 2,000 to see the horizon in their peripheral vision.

BASE jumpers survive pulling low because they are usually falling at much less than terminal velocity. Pulling low, at terminal velocity removes the margin of error for slow openings.

I realise this is a little bit old but I’ve done tonnes of BASE jumps to terminal and not in a wingsuit. In fact, I’d say there is a subset of jumpers who’ve only done terminal BASE jumps. Also, the primary reason for burning it down is not for either of your stated reasons but to get just a little further from the object to avoid a cliff / building / dam strike which has killed and injured many more jumpers than pulling too low has (or at least when I was active. I haven’t seen the BFL in a while so maybe there’s a recent epidemic of low pull fatalities to prove me wrong)