Emergency Base Jump

[eporter 0]

I am hoping that we would never have to use this evacuation method but I think it's worth consideration.
I work in a very large building in downtown, Los Angeles, we have many scares here... whether it be terrorism, fires or earthquakes – whatever it is, it raises a question on how to get out of here! If unable to get down the stairs, a colleague and I have started to question and consider a parachute... why not? If there is an emergency, where evacuation is near impossible and death would probably occur anyway... why not jump out with a parachute...???
Is this crazy to even consider..? I don't think so but some others in the office do. I have seen pictures of base jumpers on buildings near mine, so I know it's possible. Please, if anyone has tips, ideas on where to get a chute or comments... please let me know. Thanks!

[lifewithoutanet 0]

Not without prior skydiving training... Or at least some canopy time under a paraglider. If not that, you better be an acrobatic pilot, a 16 year old girl, or a bag of dog food.
Without any of those qualities, you're just asking for trouble.
-C.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Remember what may look high enough to jump from a whuffos point of view is not high enough in reality. If you really are serious about this, seek some training (including learning how to fly a canopy), get the proper gear and have a static line setup ready. Then again, the chances of you actually needing to bail from an office tower are highly unlikely. So ignore everything I just said.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[lifewithoutanet 0]

Quote

Then again, the chances of you actually needing to bail from an office tower are highly unlikely.

Doesn't mean I'm not willing to scope the site and test jump it for him, though. All he needs to do is hand over his office badge.

-C.

[avenfoto 0]

if im not mistaken, there was a company (basic research?) who manufactured for a bit a high office parachute escaape system... or HOPE... it consisted of a statci lined round and claimed it could be used from the tenth floor up... (100 ft plus..)

the idea behind the round being you might break your legs on landing, but at least you didnt fly back into the building and collapse your wing, then break your everything....
so i guess check google... or maybe br...good luck.. hope you never need to use it.

[cornishe 0]

Hello. I am in the LA area quite a bit. Please PM me and I can meet you to take a look at your building. Do you have roof access?

I've heard in the past someone building a Building Escape System with a round chute but I don't know anything current about it.


.

Abbie Mashaal
Skydive Idaho
Snake River Skydiving
TandemBASE

[lifewithoutanet 0]

And one last thing. Don't respond to Cornishe.
-C.

[TomAiello 26]

Post 9/11, several companies sprang up to market such building escape paracutes.

The best implementation I am aware of was the HOPE system. I believe it was manufactured by Basic Research under contract, and I also seem to remember that the company selling them was called Aerial Egress, and was a separate entity owned by some of the same people who owned Basic Research. I was never clear on what the actual ownership pattern was.

At any rate, I saw the HOPE system, I know that it was test jumped and appeared effective when used within certain parameters. You can find more information about it here, but I am not clear on whether or not such an item is still commercially available. If you are desparate to have one, I'd bet that Apex BASE could make you one, as they undoubtedly still have the resources and expertise to do so.

Personally, I think your coworkers are right, and it's pretty much a crazy idea. In 99.9% of cases, I'd say you are going to be safer just running down the emergency exit stairs, with a sharp pair of scissors in each hand. The only way you'd catch me using one of those things to exit a burning building would be if someone had a gun to my head. You'd be far better off, in my opinion, with a good length of static line and a rappel device. I've also seen various "idiot proof" cable-based descent devices that I'd say give a higher chance of survival than a parachute.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[avenfoto 0]

i think nickdg said something once about a cable running from rooftop to firetruck and paradactyls on said cable....

[MB38 0]

Has anybody ever seen the emergency escape system on the Space Shuttle? It has a huge pole that extends about 20 feet clear of the body. Should the astronauts need to get out of the shuttle before landing, they clip themselves onto this pole and jump out. The relative wind and gravity work to pull them out the pole and release them clear of the wings and stabilizers.

I think that using a BASE rig as an emergency escape device from a building is ridiculous [at least to any and all un-trained jumpers], but the pole idea is still interesting to me.

Stuff's going down in the building. You pull your rig on and hit a button. The window shatters and a 20 foot curved pole sticks out the window. Hook yourself onto it and jump out. It carries you clear of the building and deploys your parachute as soon as you reach the end of the pole.

Eh.

I really don't know what I'm talking about.

[dmcoco84 5]

I saw a post about this a while ago and actually saw something on TV about it. Below is the link for the exact once I saw (Its on the same site at HOPE that Tom posted). Worked by static line and was very easy to put on and operate from the instruction giving on the tv program. (no idea where and when I saw it)

The Executive Chute

http://www.saferamerica.com/productDetail.asp?categoryID=15&productID=64

[MB38 0]

Quote

F111 "zero porosity"

Ah yes, my favorite.

I really don't know what I'm talking about.

[dmcoco84 5]

HAHA! I didn't notice that. Good catch.

[padraigbrowne 0]

These guys produce some good looking escape systems ,http://www.conceptsafety.com/

they use a static lined paradactyl ( e-vest )for 40m+ and a rappel type device ( e-rope ) for lower exit

[outrager 6]

Yo !

Hijackig this thread, but i heard a rumour of an emergency self-rescue McConkie done after a cliff strike in Oz this summer... any confirmation or details?

bsbd!

Yuri.

[cesslon 0]

If I was in the twin towers in new york on 11th of sept 2001 and someone handed me a BASE rig, I think I'd have a better chance of surviving with that BASE rig then just jumping out of a window and tracking into cement

few broken legs is better then 99.99999999999999% death

[hWalker 0]

Let's consider a hypothetical situation: someone works in a high building in US and that someone is a BASE jumper (not necessarily made known to the whole world). Say, the BASE jumper brings his rig to work bearing in mind possible terrorist attacks, earthquakes, other emergency cases. The rig is kept safe somewhere in the office and the jumper is happy and cool knowing that he/she can, in case of an emergency, grab the rig and jump off of the roof to save his/her life. But one day, the BASE jumper is struck with a thought: 'merely having a rig in the office is not enough! I need to practise at least a few times to be completely happy and confident that, in case of an emergency, everything will work out just the way it should'.

Now, the question is: do you think the BASE jumper has any chance of getting a legal permission to make that few jumps for the sake of practising? Through legal action?

P.S.
Then, at some point, the BASE jumper might conclude that he/she needs to stay current with this kind of rescue jumps. How about getting a permission to practise on a regular basis?

[kleggo 145]

Quote

Quote

F111 "zero porosity"

Ah yes, my favorite.

guess what?
even though F-111, ( a nylon brand / marketing designation), is no longer made, it's porosity specification was 0 - 3 cfm.
0 as in zero porosity.
Now manufacturers create a fabric simply known as
0-3 cfm ripstop nylon.

then they treat it so that it becomes what most people call zp fabric.

newer / better / lighter / less bulky fabric now being manufactured and is on the way if you are willing to spend the $$$$$$$

isn't learning wonderful?

be safe

kleggo

[MB38 0]

Quote

Quote

Quote

F111 "zero porosity"

Ah yes, my favorite.

guess what?
even though F-111, ( a nylon brand / marketing designation), is no longer made, it's porosity specification was 0 - 3 cfm.
0 as in zero porosity.
Now manufacturers create a fabric simply known as
0-3 cfm ripstop nylon.

then they treat it so that it becomes what most people call zp fabric.

newer / better / lighter / less bulky fabric now being manufactured and is on the way if you are willing to spend the $$$$$$$

isn't learning wonderful?

be safe

kleggo

I was actually wondering if there was some ZP F-111 when I made that post... glad to get an answer.

I really don't know what I'm talking about.

[NickDG 23]

In the early days of emergency parachuting no one practiced it. You did as needed. Even the Astronauts are banned from parachuting even when the "pole" was in use.

My friend Bruce Gilkey is a Navy test jumper and he jumped the "pole" sticking out of a Convair wearing a space suit. A year or so later when the Stiletto first came out Bruce bought one and spun in with line twists up at the Hemet DZ . . .

NickD
BASE 194

[op5e 0]

Another article about escape chutes. Alot of good points.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16842761-2,00.html

[airtwardo 7]

F-111, ( a nylon brand / marketing designation), is no longer made

***

It's not?

A guy on our Demo Team just ordered and recived a canopy made of it???

Sure didn't LOOK like an 'old' batch!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[lifewithoutanet 0]

Quote

Another article about escape chutes. Alot of good points.

Like this one?

Quote

"You don't have to have any expertise. All you do is just throw yourself out," he said.

Damn. To think...all the money I wasted on skydiving to start, the trips to the bridge, the studying, learning about gear, bugging more experienced jumpers... What a waste.

-C.

[op5e 0]

Read into it what you will. But I was more referring to the comments by the authorities. At least it was not a total plug for these chutes and the article recognised that some skill is required.

He said a parachutist could fly "right into the tram wires and the overhead power lines and any firefighting activities that might be going on down in the street".

[riggerrob 643]

Quote

These guys produce some good looking escape systems ,http://www.conceptsafety.com/

they use a static lined paradactyl ( e-vest )for 40m+ and a rappel type device ( e-rope ) for lower exit

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

E-vest looks like a para-gliding harness mated to a Paradactyl main canopy (formerly built in Elsinore, California, but long out of production) or a new-production Russian PZ-81 Rogallo reserve.

Frankly, the e-rope version makes more sense for lower buildings.