Miles Daisher, a member of the Red Bull Airforce since 2003, explains the dangers of BASE jumping. Daisher, 42, has more jumps to his credit than anyone else—he recently passed the 3,000 mark. He teaches newcomers to jump from 486-foot Perrine Bridge, near his home in Twin Falls, Idaho.
No-Pull: 38 percent
In a surprising number of fatal BASE accidents, the jumper fails to deploy his or her chute. Sometimes it’s a new jumper who freezes up. Sometimes the container shifts in the wind and the jumper is unable to reach the pilot chute.
Strike (Body): 30 percent
With the rise of wingsuits, more people have taken up proximity flying, in which the jumper pilots a suit along the contours of a less-than-vertical mountain. A wall or ledge strike (like the one that killed Daisher’s colleague Antoine Montant—BFL #179) is exactly what it sounds like.
Strike (Canopy): 9.5 percent
It’s difficult to recover once the canopy has collided with a cliff, guy wire, or building. In the worst cases, the jumper’s body pendulums into the object before falling from the sky. The collision itself can cause plenty of bodily harm.
Off-Heading Opening: 8 percent
The parachute deploys sideways or backward. In a full 180 opening, the chute unfurls in the opposite direction, and the jumper has to spin in his harness to match the canopy’s position. Off-heading openings represent the most dangerous scenario in BASE jumping, because they’re completely random.
Line Twist: 8 percent
Drowning: 3 percent
Exit Slip: 3 percent
Electrocution: 0.5 percent
Comments
I read this whole article and I still have absolutely no idea how dangerous base jumping is because you go to elaborate lengths to quantify every aspect of how death can occur except the critical variable of how many attempts were made each year. This is a perfect example of how to spend a lot of time crafting a beautiful and elaborate infographic that delivers only a misleading and incomplete picture of what it claims to provide.
Flag ThisAs a former BASE jumper, this is actually one of the better articles I've seen on BASE. At least it appears to be factual. Most press BASE gets is a collection of misunderstandings and sensationalism. Going into the details of why people get injured or die BASE jumping requires a lot of technical talk related to the more boring aspects of parachute rigging, so I can understand why they didn't go into too much detail.
Flag ThisThis infographic promises to detail the causes of 180 deaths. It does that quite nicely.
Flag ThisSince most base jumps are illegal it is almost impossible to tell the number of jumps to the number of deaths. I will say that of 10 of my friends and there aprox combined1500 jumps in the last year, no deaths 1 sprained ankle, and 1 pulled hamstring.
Flag ThisIf it were legal, there would be even fewer deaths as there are many legal events around the globe but very few in the US. I'd prefer not to be chased by authorities, jump smaller cliffs, when the highest and safer ones are in our national parks. I'm also not a fan of being arrested, being fined and my equipment taken away for good. All makes for a more dangerous environment in this country.
Flag ThisWe are from that area and have watched many jumpers and many that come to the area are well prepared with all the advance work and come back many times. Startling to watch.It is a beaautiful area with great hiking and outdoor activities.
Flag ThisI totally agree with BASECHICK! Other countries allow it and welcome us. BUT, the National Park Service is battling an old Hatfield and McCoy battle for no reason. If they were to allow us to jump in the National Parks, we could spend all our U.S. dollars in the U.S.
Flag This@TFG Agree that the article doesn't give the whole picture; without being able to compare, in-ratio, the total number of jumps vs. the number of fatalities (or injuries). Unfortunately, with the activity itself being illegal, and thereby underreported; how can anyone compile data on that "critical variable"? So it seems to me that the question of how dangerous can't really be answered. At least not accurately.
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