A post-mortem from a base jumper? Those can't be common... As someone who partic...

cromulent · on March 10, 2017

At the end of that article, the jumper who survived impact says: For those who want to be the next Graham Dickinson, cut no corners.

Graham Dickinson died in January.

There's a blog entry that addresses that aspect:

http://topgunbase.ws/experience_doesnt_mean_shit/

>> Inexperience kills our new pilots.

>> Complacency kills our high-time pilots.

jacquesm · on March 10, 2017

You could shorten that to: jumping off rocks without a parachute kills. Father of two engaging in this? Moron.

If you're young, you have no dependents and you feel like life probably isn't worth living then go for it, otherwise better not to pretend that you are a bird, you aren't. Birds have lots of options, wingsuit flyers (all terminology and pretense to the contrary) are not flying as much as they are falling and gravity has no mercy.

cromulent · on March 11, 2017

I don't understand your comment. They are all wearing parachutes.

jacquesm · on March 11, 2017

Well, ok strike that. Make it 'pretending to fly close approaches to solid objects without much in terms of alternates when things go pear shaped'.

There is a fairly good reason why proximity wingsuit flyers tend to have a limited life span.

Whether or not you wear a parachute is not very important once you impact a tree or a mountain at high speed.

cromulent · on March 11, 2017

It's definitely a super-dangerous sport, but I know a few guys who have been doing this for a long, long time and understand the risks and keep their egos in check. They have a plan and they have outs. When done right, you are diving hard at the terrain to stay attached to the line, so if anything goes wrong you relax and separate. Some of these people have kids. None of them are morons :)