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