My Name is John Agnos
First, I would like to apologize to whom it may concern for bringing any
attention to the day I jumped the guy wire tower. It was meant to be a very
private day for me. Unfortunately due to poor judgment that day I had an
accident. I have 90 base jumps which I've done in two years, 2 of which I
displayed poor judgment and almost died. Base jumping has been the greatest
experiences of my life, ever making me humble beyond what I ever thought I
could be. As far as the interview, I am sorry I ever said anything, it
was all
said off the cuff the next morning. I've never had that happen before. As far
as my tattoos are concerned, they have deep meaning for me, that's all.
Secondly, I would like to address my 911 call. It was definitely a horrifying
experience. After I hit the guy wire, my canopy slid a long distance down it
snapping more than half my lines as I went. I did what I had to do to prepare
to die. I was hanging from less then half of my lines. I thought that was the
end for me and it was a sad moment in my life. I've learned from my mistakes.
And I hope that any and all of you will never have anybody smearing you or
laughing at you if you have a near death experience. I would never be at that
level; I would comfort any fellow human being in their moment of despair.
Some of you have wondered about my background. I am not new to parachutes.
I've been skydiving 13yrs, I've made 1,500 skydives with no injuries. I
competed at the 2000 nationals on the Perris 16 way team which we placed 3rd.
I've been on multiple Nevada records and California records. On Sept 10, 2001,
I put on fund raiser skydiving for the kids and raised 27,000 for children's
hosp in Oakland, we made 60 jumps a piece in 9 hours.
NickDG, I realize that you did not start this thread and you have the
decency to
at least say that you are not going to judge me without even knowing me. It
was an accident and I was not being malicious. I screwed up on the jump. I
did that interview just after getting out of bed the morning after the
accident
and I meant no more harm. If I had more time to think of what to say, maybe I
would have said things better or not done the interview at all. I have
learned
from that and I am sorry for making comments that were bad for public
perception.
RhondaLea, you seem very judgmental and what I heard here in nor-cal is
that you
have only made a few jumps years ago so why are you making such rude
statements
about something that you are not experienced at. I have not had 3
accidents in
a row. I made 58 jumps before the Nevada accident and then 32 after that
before I hit the guy wire on my 90th jump.
Tom Aiello, you started this discussion and you should not be talking
either. I
remember how you got banned for life from Lodi and also your Base jumping
accidents and early reputation for displaying reckless and poor judgment. I
have had 2 Base jumping accidents unfortunately, but you had 3 accidents in 3
years when you started Base jumping as a result of bad judgment. The
first one
was when you almost went in jumping the Perrine because you did not throw your
pilot chute in time, and you spent a long time in the hospital and had to walk
around with a colostomy bag for a long time. Then you jumped a cliff in
Arizona doing what the locals there told you not to do trying to out track a
talus and they told you not to try it. You sniveled into the talus and busted
yourself up real bad causing a dangerous rescue and another hospital stay.
Then you got busted up again jumping the big cliff in Italy in bad conditions.
I don't think you should be trying to smear me when you have a worse accident
record than I do.
To everybody, I apologize for screwing up on the jump, causing negative news,
and for making comments to the news that were not thought out well. I have
learned a lot from this. I know I have a lot to learn still.
BASE #1039
