TomAiello

I recommend you use the search function. There was a longish thread about the jump a while back (when it took place). Thread discussing this jump is here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I had a chance to look at the Impact last week. Anyone have any inflight feedback (I didn't get to jump it)? It looks to me to be pretty well suited to BASE, with the built in pads and tough materials. I'm not sure about flight performance, though, for the same reasons. I think it would be super cool if there was a spine protector built in, perhaps available as an option. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What suits did you use for the Double Whammy? Were both jumpers in the same type of suit? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Can you elaborate on this? When practicing the launch for this jump (I've got some rather silly video of DexterBASE, KMonster and myself holding hands for 20 minutes), we were able to sort out a launch with almost identical forward momentum. Since a rollover ought to be launched hard forward to maintain line tension, all that is really required is that the outside (packed) jumpers launch in line with the rollover jumper (perhaps slighly flatter than they normally would). For extra safety margin, they can launch a split second early. In the case that they launch too early, they are extracted via PCA, and the possible downside is only that they may pull the rollover jumper into a McJJ (step through, no rollover) in which he is forced to land a step through (fairly easy to do). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Unless you're an idiot like me and miss one which ends up putting you into the rocks. Or like Slim, who when he missed his toggle was probably the world's most current and experienced BASE jumper? Anyone can miss a toggle. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Don't sweat it too much. ABC news misquoted me pretty badly, too. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This is not entirely accurate. One of the main reasons to use longer bridles was to increase snatch force for opening velcro rigs. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

As a generalization; Toggles use more forward airspace, but less altitude. Risers use more altitude, but less forward airspace. If you are really about to impact, grab the risers and get turned so that you aren't striking, then switch to toggles to conserve altitude. If you aren't in imminent danger of impact, toggles will work just fine to turn away, and conserve your altitude. Have a look at the post here on this topic by Dwain Weston. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

No. In one of those cases, the gear was inspected and re-assembled by the manufacturer immediately after the failure, and it still failed again on the very next jump. In another of those cases, the yellow cutaway cable became snagged on a camera mount and yanked out of the 3 ring system during deployment. Neither of those cases would have been prevented by inspection or gear maintenance, since the gear was properly maintained and inspected. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This is a personal attack. Please review the Forum Rules, specifically: I've banned you from this forum for 14 days. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I can think of 4 occasions on which risers released prematurely. Only one of the 4 was due to actual breakage. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

My BASE friend there operates a paragliding center, and hadn't heard about a paragliding fatality either. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I asked one of my friends, who is a BASE jumper living in Greece, and he said he had heard nothing about this. I'll post when/if I get more information. The club and regular landing area aspects make me think this might not have been a BASE incident after all. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Apex no longer makes the (Basic Research) Reactor. When the BR-Vertigo merger (into Apex) happened, they discontinued the Reactor and merged the two container lines into one container called the NP (No Pin). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The Sheriff's department has just officially announced her name, which means family has been notified. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I own one and have jumped it a bit. I don't recommend it. The openings aren't all that great, and the landings are flat out bad. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'd really like to keep this a discussion of the mechanics of the accident. No one is pointing fingers at you, aside from yourself. I don't see anyone trying to crucify anyone else. Would it be ok if we talk about the accident, what happened, and how others can avoid such problems in the future, but without trying to assign blame or take things personally? Can you explain what you see as the difference between a pin and velcro rig in this situation? Greater pull force required to open the velcro rig contributed to the barrel roll? I know that you said you weren't willing to explain this, but I'd really appreciate if you would. Releasing the PC's when low gives the best chance to maintain the deployment sequence of the parachute. Holding onto the PC pulls the canopy down under the jumper. In the best case, if the PC is released the moment the PC holder realizes he will go low, he ought to be able to let go of it before he is too far below the packed jumper, with the PC passing between them and deploying the canopy. While there is some entanglement potential there, it ought to be relatively minimal, and in any case better than the problems created by upside-down inflation. Thanks in advance for your willingness to educate me. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

All, I've removed some smartass comments and one liners from this thread. Please keep this for serious discussion of the incident and surrounding issues. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Original here -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

-- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

By my count, we had 5 trips to the hospital on Thursday and Friday. 2 jumpers were actually admitted. One had surgery here at Magic Valley, the other was flown to Saint Alphonsus, in Boise. Be careful out there, people, just because it's a bridge doesn't mean reality is suspended. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I saw some video, and also was able to see the high resolution still photos taken from the exit point. The gear is currently drying on my back porch. I did not see the jump in person (I was packing at the top). The jump was a 5 way. For incident analysis, the only important part is the center 3 jumper piece. The outer 2 jumpers were both doing TARD-overs and were open high and out of the picture. The central piece was a 3 jumper Rollover to Double PCA Waterfall. The middle jumper rolled over his canopy while holding the PC's of the other 2 jumpers, with the intention to PCA them when he opened (an example of this type of jump can be viewed here). The 3 jumpers had made this jump successfully (although not ideally) on 2 previous occasions during the last 2 days. Conditions were not ideal. There was a significant tailwind at the exit. There are several photos showing the rollover canopy at angles as high as 70 degrees in front of the jumpers, prior to the jump. The center jumper had great difficulty rolling over his canopy, and apparently the canopy was blown forward strongly enough that he actually hit and passed through it while rolling over it, resulting in a small entanglement (which cleared immediately in freefall) and some minor scrapes from the risers. The center jumper exited significantly before the outer 2 jumpers. As a result, he extracted them both in a downward direction (canopies deploying below the falling jumpers). He kept the PC's in hand until sometime late in the extraction sequence (one still photo shows a fully extended bridle in a downward direction and a canopy at perhaps half of line stretch below the jumper). The right side jumper fell past his canopy on the outside (right of the 3 way piece), and the canopy cleared and opened (slider up) without further incident. The left side jumper was pulled by bridle tension into a barrel roll, and entangled with his canopy. The PC appears to have been released at some point after line stretch, and the inflating PC appears to have travelled upward through the canopy and lines, resulting in an entanglement between the bridle and the canopy, which almost totally pinched off the canopy. At the same time, the canopy was snagged somewhere at or immediately above the line attachments, attached to the jumpers left elbow (he had rolled almost completely over onto his back at this point). The net result was a canopy streamering perhaps 4 feet above the jumpers left elbow, with almost zero inflation. The jumper impacted fast approximately 15 feet offshore, most likely on his side, in a side first position. The jumper sustained numerous minor contusions, fractured ribs, compression fractures of 2 vertebrae and collapsed and bruised lungs. At last report, he was on a ventilator at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, in stable condition, in the Intensive Care Unit. He is expected to recover. Spectators were certain that he must have died on impact, so this is very good news. Life Flight put a helicopter down in the landing area to extract the jumper (the second time in 2 days the Life Flight helicopter had landed there). Some subjective thoughts of mine: 1) Body Armor. The jumper was wearing a Dianese Safety Jacket, which I think greatly reduced his injuries from the impact, in particular protecting his spine from major trauma. The armor was also the likely snag point on his elbow (it was his outermost layer), so it may have been a mixed blessing (the bridle entanglement would probably have created a very serious incident even without the elbow snag, though). 2) Exit Timing. On waterfall jumps, exit timing is absolutely critical. Extracting a canopy below a falling jumper is a very bad situation. If you are the high jumper on one of these jumps and find yourself in a low position, I recommend immediately releasing the pilot chute(s) of jumpers above you, to prevent this downward extraction. Any resulting mis-staging of the openings is going to be much better than a major malfunction like this one. 3) Life Flight. This was the second time in 2 days that the Saint Alphonsus Life Flight helicopter stationed at Magic Valley Regional Medical Center (in Twin Falls) was called to the landing area. I encourage jumpers to make a donation to the Life Flight service that saves our lives (the MVRMC emergency response teams will be the beneficiaries of the charity event at Woodies tonight, as well, so be sure to give a donation there, or to Jamie Boutwell, who is collecting for that donation). The injured jumper was Jason Cooper, of Calgary, Canada. He is an experienced (and usually quite conservative) jumper. His (twin) brother was the other packed jumper in the 3 way piece, and landed near him approximately 10 seconds after impact. His family has been notified, and his wife travelled to Boise last night and this morning. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

-- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If your profile is up to date, seriously consider spending the money on some more skydives, instead. To answer the question: Most of my advice is linked in that article at the top of the forum. Here's a few more thoughts: 1) How low is "low jumps" that you are talking about? 2) What kind of objects are you interested in? Are they solid? Or are you mostly looking at towers and bridges, where a tailwind can help you (or there is nothing to hit anyway)? There isn't really any "fancy" BASE gear. The primary thing you are going to want to decide is if you would like to secondary inlets on the bottom skin of your canopy. If your "low" stuff is below about 300 feet, or if you're going to be jumping solid things, I'd recommend it. Once you've made that decision, you're pretty much in the "fancy" part of the BASE canopy market, which means you're not going to go too far wrong, because most all the vented canopies on the market have fairly acceptable openings. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com