IMC basejumping

gprellwitz said:
According to the comments on the video, that wasn't Stevo jumping in IMC.
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A little hunting yielded this rather straighforward account of the crash:

http://www.splatula.com/bfl/

Post#115

This report came from Simon Plume, a friend of Stevo's who was also on the load:

It was our 2nd jump for the day in the Litldahlen area. The first was from the 3rd valley, this jump was from the 2nd valley. The visibility was excellent, there was a small breeze at the exit point but nil wind down below. The jump is about 4550 feet from exit to landing. It was a 5 way, wingsuit jump. But due to the nature of the exit point, only about 2 jumpers can exit simultaneously.

Stevo exitted first, followed by another jumper and then myself with 2 others following. He was in a V1. We flew the left wall out into the valley and then turned a sharp left to follow the wall along to where the 3rd valley comes out (We have flown out of this 3rd valley on 2 other occasions - one being earlier that day). At this point, I was about 80m behind and slightly above. Stevo had planned to fly up into the 3rd valley briefly before coming back out. We were flying close to 90% max flight.

Stevo turned left into the 3rd valley briefly, before straightening again and then he started to turn right back out of the 3rd valley. I did not go into the 3rd valley but continued to fly straight. Due to his turn I was now only 40-50m behind and still above. As he continued his right turn it became a hard bank (most likely because he realised he was too far in) to the point that his right arm wing folded under, similiar to when you initiate a barrel roll. With the speed he carried into the turn he most likely would have been getting alot of side-slip as well. Stevo corrected but lost stability whilst trying to maintain his sharp turn. He remained unstable and impacted the far side of the gorge after another 2 sec. At this point I was about 30-40m above and 10m behind.

I flew away from the valley, opened, landed and we called a helicopter. Stevo's body was retrieved within 2.5hrs.



Note that the rest of the posts in that list are pretty much the same kind of stuff. Kinda like reading NTSB reports...informative but not a lot of fun.
 
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Jay-zus.

What I always have wondered about this- how the blazes do you learn to do it? It is not like you can get dual time.

And, as for flying through clouds in a valley... no.
 
SCCutler said:
And, as for flying through clouds in a valley... no.
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I guess treat it like a home grown instrument approach that's been put together and tested in VMC.
Start the timer. Step off the edge. Establish flying speed. Set a heading into the valley toward the landing area. Descend into the cloud deck. Wait for the timer to run out or the altimeter to indicate minimums or break out into the clear. Deploy. Hope you don't end up in the river or trees.
 
I was figuring they maintained vfr til over what they knew to be a suitable location then pulled. (performing the remainder of the approach as a cat IIIc)
Or, they just never thought ahead to "what will we do once in the goo?"
 
OK, mock me if you will...

...I had this idea in my mind that they somehow "landed" from their flight regime, disregarding entirely the whole "pop the chute" thing.

Still, since pretty much all chutes these days are the steerable ones (right?), if you have one deployed and enter IMC, is there any reasonably reliable way to maintain a heading- does one wear a wrist compass?
 
You just get the external case from Garmin to mount the 430 WAAS in, zip tie it to one arm, then wire it to a 12v battery in your fanny pack. You hook a GI-106 to your other arm and wire it to the 430.

You should probably dial in your frequencies before jumping, the Garmin 430 is hard to use while falling. Intercept the glideslope while under the canopy, etc etc etc.
 
Chairboy said:
You just get the external case from Garmin to mount the 430 WAAS in, zip tie it to one arm, then wire it to a 12v battery in your fanny pack. You hook a GI-106 to your other arm and wire it to the 430.

You should probably dial in your frequencies before jumping, the Garmin 430 is hard to use while falling. Intercept the glideslope while under the canopy, etc etc etc.
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:rofl::rofl::rofl:

So if you're going to fly it like that, what is required to descend below DA/MDA? :D
 
SCCutler said:
OK, mock me if you will...

Still, since pretty much all chutes these days are the steerable ones (right?), if you have one deployed and enter IMC, is there any reasonably reliable way to maintain a heading- does one wear a wrist compass?
Click to expand...

I wasn't mocking you. I was just trying to figure out how to think your way safely through a cloud deck in that situation.

I figure the best solution is to descend into a known cloud deck with a known cloud basen (someone down below with a radio who knows the terrain elevations based on identifiable objects) then drop out of the bottom and deploy and land VMC.

Then there's the whole pop the chute in the cloud and it opens backward and spins them around thing for disorientation. Now they get to figure out if they're heading into the valley, toward the landing zone, toward the river...or into the cliff.

Base jumping is way way outside my skill set. I'm not totally against the idea within reason however base jumping into IMC just is NOT going to be happening without a lot of motivation...like thousands of poison blow darts and spears flying past me as I get to the edge.
 
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