I plotted the total BASE + wingsuit deaths since inception:
http://i.imgur.com/BdlUrFK.png
* Note that the BFL has some errors in it's dates, which account for the downward trend in 1993 and 2000
Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
181–190 of 275 posts
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#182Wingsuit 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.
So I think the article is about Wingsuit Proximity Flying, and what you're describing is Wingsuit BASE Jumping. Are these two considered 2 separate, albeit similar, sports? Can any pilot practicing BASE Jumping leap off a cliff or do you somehow train for this?
Can any pilot practicing BASE Jumping leap off a cliff or do you somehow train for this?
The general training arc would be to learn wingsuiting from an aircraft (like a regular skydive), and build up hours/experience flying a wingsuit in clear air (and deploying a parachute several thousand feet above the ground), before going into wingsuit base jumping (and build up experience there before going into prox).
There's some more detail in this Quora answer: https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-take-to-become-a-wingsuit...
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#183I had a close call this summer whitewater rafting on the Upper Animas River in Colorado and it has caused me to re-think every serious risk I take and has changed me in a big way. I was participating in a multi-day trip run by one of the local guiding outfits through the Upper section of the river, a much more difficult and serious undertaking than the Lower Animas, which is frequently run by average day-tripping tou…
Eight or nine years ago, I lept off a tower from about 800 ft. After opening the parachute and scanning for my landing area I turned towards it to the left, which was slow and felt off. "Maybe I'll turn to the right and come around from the back", at which point the parachute collapses and spins violently from behind. I reach up and grab the left riser, the strap that connects you to the harness, and stopped the spin…
I've been a paraglider for a long time and have observed this pattern so many times. When we have a brush with death or lose a friend, we go flying ASAP and confront the fear immediately. You invest far too much effort and risk into fear management, to lose ground over a setback. If we really prioritized survival for its own sake, we just wouldn't fly.
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's language evolving. When the misspellings/misinterpretations of "a napron" and "an eekname" became common enough we got "an apron" and "a nickname". If anyone — especially native speakers and others with a high degree of mastery of English — claims to have difficulty understanding "I'd of stayed home" then they're most likely being deliberately obtuse or needlessly contrarian.
I'd hate to loose a common language standard, though.
> loose
Intentionally funny, or irony?
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
BASE wingsuit fliers tend to skim just above the surface of a slope rather than flying at higher altitude. You'll see it a lot if you watch GoPro videos. This is phenomenally dangerous in a powered aircraft, but it's near-suicidal if you're flying a wingsuit.
But it makes for awesome GoPro footage[1] so people keep doing it. When you see people flying so low that they have to weave between trees you know that they're going to make a mistake or hit an unexpected gust of wind and kill themselves sooner rather than later. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTzwvyzzfjk
That guy will be dead soon, it's only luck that he isn't yet.
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's nothing valid about it, it's a misspelling and a grammatical mistake.
It's language evolving. When the misspellings/misinterpretations of "a napron" and "an eekname" became common enough we got "an apron" and "a nickname". If anyone — especially native speakers and others with a high degree of mastery of English — claims to have difficulty understanding "I'd of stayed home" then they're most likely being deliberately obtuse or needlessly contrarian.
I think the word you're looking for is "at"
As in "I would at stayed home." or "I at good grammar."
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#187Active BASE jumper and wingsuit pilot here. Instructor of both. 2016 was by far and away our worst year on record. We lost newbies, heros, and damn near all levels in between. Since then, a few sites have taken a more locked-down approach where we used to be welcome, and as a community we've made progress to band together to push education and conservative decision making over 'dude that was so sketchy.' A lot of peo…
Are you willing to die for it?
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#188Probably because it's the most dangerous thing you can do short of actually attempting suicide
How are there so many people willing to do something so insanely stupid? I looked at the BASE fatality list. Vast majority of the names and nationalities are of European descent and/or nationality. Are adventure sports (risk taking for thrill) a white European thing? Do you have to have a sort of arrogance and privilege to disrespect risks like this? I personally have no desire for any of this stuff, as I'm quite awa…
> How are there so many people willing to do something so insanely stupid?
You're going to die anyways, probably from something a lot more terrifying and/or painful like cancer or Alzheimer's. I'm not convinced that hitting the ground really hard is a worse death than average.
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's nothing valid about it, it's a misspelling and a grammatical mistake.
It's language evolving. When the misspellings/misinterpretations of "a napron" and "an eekname" became common enough we got "an apron" and "a nickname". If anyone — especially native speakers and others with a high degree of mastery of English — claims to have difficulty understanding "I'd of stayed home" then they're most likely being deliberately obtuse or needlessly contrarian.
The reason English speakers understand it is because "I would have" when contracted to the maximum "I'd've" sounds like "I'd of". The fact that the two are effective homonyms doesn't make both spellings right. Rather, the "of" variant just looks a little bit ignorant. Not much, just a little.
Re: Increasing numbers of wingsuit jumpers are dying (2016)
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
It costs a lot of money to get into.
It does, and most BASE jumpers that I know / have met / have taught are in their earlY 30's.
> I've managed to have a somewhat clean track record in my two years in the sport, with only two broken bones
...
> It does, and most BASE jumpers that I know / have met / have taught
2 years in the sport, already broke yourself twice, and already "teaching" other jumpers?
Don't forget to burn some sites on youtube and facebook, to complete the package. Remember - if you didn't get any likes for it, the jump never happened.
Watching people discuss BASE on a tech forum feels like watching technology being discussed on a knitting forum.