Insane BASE Video (McConkey)

[TomAiello 26]

Troll 290.
Please DON'T try this, or any other BASE, without proper instruction and guidance.
It'd be a bit like saying--I bet you could jump out of a plane without any instruction--it's just like falling, right?
BASE sees so many skydivers get hurt/maimed/killed because they don't have proper instruction and guidance, and figure that their skydiving experience will translate. It doesn't. That's one of the reasons that "skydiver" is a largely pejorative term in the BASE community.
Please don't become a statistic.
--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@mac.com

[billvon 2,991]

>He (that's actually me) did the maneuver almost exactly as planned (one loop--I think it's be impossible to do two).
OK, I must have not been paying close enough attention to that tiny square on my screen.
-bill von

[TomAiello 26]

> There has to be some "safe" way to do that jump..
Sure. The same as the "safe" way to skydive, BASE jump, or drive a car. Get proper instruction from experienced people.
>Well I was really more refering to a normal rig setup, normal slider, no tailgate, etc.
I'd recommend always using a tailgate on a McConkey. It helps to keep the canopy oriented properly in the pre-inflation stage. And that is a "normal" rig. CRW jumpers use "normal" CRW rigs, Freeflyers use "normal" Freefly rigs, and BASE jumpers use "normal" BASE rigs.
What do you do about stowing your brakes in a jump like that?
You can do it in pretty much any brake setting. We've done it with brakes deep, shallow and unstowed, now. Note that if you're leaving a solid object, you should use deep brakes because normal object strike considerations still apply.
> And do you think you take a normal pro pack and just flake it out a little ?
Techniques vary depending on the exit point and the object strike considerations. If you want more detailed instructions, email me. There's been quite a bit of thought about how to deal with the canopy.
> Wonder if you could do that jump from a helicopter or if the downdraft would just yank your butt off the side...
I wouldn't try a helicopter. That jump was made in very light (2 mph tops) wind. When I tried it in 5-7, I had to back down because the canopy got away from me (eventually we figured a way to solve that, but it degrades heading performance). A balloon might work though. If you have no experience with dead air exits, you still might end up wrapped in your canopy--a situation in which your reserve will be of little use.
--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@mac.com

[TomAiello 26]

OK, I promise this is my last post (for now) on this thread, then I'll shut up.
Tee,
We did lots and lots of research and thought about the manuever. Contrary to popular opinion, BASE jumpers are not a bunch of yahoo psychos who will just pitch themselves off of anything in sight, with anything on their back. The average BASE jumper spends about 100 times more thought on each jump than the average skydiver. All the different considerations (rigging, object, weather, bust, etc) make the sport more of an intellectual exercise than an athletic event. Jumping off of something and free falling for a couple seconds is way easier than, say, turning 10 points on a four way. It just takes a lot more thought to do it safely every time.
BTW, Building McConkey #1 (first guy to launch that off a building) is also from Calgary. Western Canada is fast catching Australia as the home of the world's most extreme BASE jumpers.
--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@mac.com

[rhino 0]

wow.. that was insane!!
Blue Skies .....

[effinjump 0]

that's something that i have been wondering about. it looked easy and clean. was it?