Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
nationalgeographic.com
Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
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Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#2Wingsuit pilot & programmer here. The reason Wingsuit BASE Jumpers keep dying is that you shouldn't jump your wingsuit off a @#$%ing mountain. Please stick to the planes and the helicopters that you're used to.
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#3Wingsuit pilot & programmer here. The reason Wingsuit BASE Jumpers keep dying is that you shouldn't jump your wingsuit off a @#$%ing mountain. Please stick to the planes and the helicopters that you're used to.
Yeah. I remember reading about Dean Potter dying at Yosemite. For someone who had taken calculated risks his whole climbing career, it just seemed like such a reckless and dangerous way to go. Sad.
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#4Probably because it's the most dangerous thing you can do short of actually attempting suicide
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#5Wingsuit pilot & programmer here. The reason Wingsuit BASE Jumpers keep dying is that you shouldn't jump your wingsuit off a @#$%ing mountain. Please stick to the planes and the helicopters that you're used to.
I also imagine - not that I know much about the sport - that the uptake in popularity has both increased the number of people attempting the sport (likely without adequate skill), as well as people performing more risky manoeuvres in order to garner attention to themselves?
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#6Wingsuit pilot & programmer here. The reason Wingsuit BASE Jumpers keep dying is that you shouldn't jump your wingsuit off a @#$%ing mountain. Please stick to the planes and the helicopters that you're used to.
Isn't that not BASE jumping then?
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#7Wingsuit pilot & programmer here. The reason Wingsuit BASE Jumpers keep dying is that you shouldn't jump your wingsuit off a @#$%ing mountain. Please stick to the planes and the helicopters that you're used to.
Isn't that not BASE jumping then?
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You can pilot a wingsuit from a plane or much higher, but most of the people that die wingsuit flying are proximity flying - which has way smaller margin for error and higher mortality rate.
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#8Wingsuit pilot & programmer here. The reason Wingsuit BASE Jumpers keep dying is that you shouldn't jump your wingsuit off a @#$%ing mountain. Please stick to the planes and the helicopters that you're used to.
Its safer than regular base jumping provided you don't try to strafe tree and hilltops and cliffsides. These jumpers are trying to do ever riskier stunts all for the clicks.
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#9Wingsuit pilot & programmer here. The reason Wingsuit BASE Jumpers keep dying is that you shouldn't jump your wingsuit off a @#$%ing mountain. Please stick to the planes and the helicopters that you're used to.
I know nothing about wingsuits -- how are they used from planes and helicopters?
Do you just jump and then use a parachute when you get low enough?
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#10 I've seen this mentioned before, it seems to be the main point.
> Most beginners who die appear to be making variations of the exact same error, according to Webb. “They jump off a cliff, get flying, and for some reason there's just this human reaction to try to hug the air like a big, gigantic beach ball,” he explains. “By hugging air you feel as if you're creating or catching more lift than you actually are. What ends up happening is your suit can only grab so much air, and it starts to stall. When it starts to stall, it loses lift, starts to drag, and then, splat.