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• This List is not 100% accurate.
• These reports change as new information becomes available.
• Fatalities are not necessarily in order of their occurrence.
• Please send updates, additions, corrections, or comments to: bfl@splatula.com
• The List was originally written and maintained by Nick DiGiovanni (BASE 194) until he gave it up in May of 2007 at which point I took it over.
• For discussions on fatalities please visit the BASE Board at http://www.blincmagazine.com

BASE Fatality List

#1 William Harmon - 1981 Apr 11 Object: Antenna Location: UNITED STATES, VIRGINIA, Suffolk COD: Strike(Canopy) Description: William is doing a 5-second delay from a 1000-foot antenna tower. He is wearing a harness with only a round reserve canopy and an empty main container. After a good opening strong winds blew him into one of the tower's guy wires whereupon the canopy collapsed at 300-feet. The canopy did not re-inflate prior to impact. This is the first fatality in the modern age of BASE jumping.

#2 Larry Jackson - 1981 Oct 10 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, COLORADO, Black Canyon COD: Strike(Canopy) Description: Larry hit the wall after opening and it's reported by others on the load that he came to rest in an inaccessible position.

#3 Frank Donnellan - 1982 Jun 02 Object: Building Location: UNITED KINGDOM, , London COD: Impact Description: This is the first death of a BASE number holder. Frank had a total malfunction while static lining from 330-feet. A pull-up cord is later found left in the closing loop of his container. Frank, who for the times is an experienced BASE jumper, made everyone realize even the experts required a pin check prior to launch.

#4 Jimmy Tyler - 1982 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, CALIFORNIA, Yosemite COD: Strike Description: This is the first Yosemite BASE fatality and the second death of a BASE number holder. The jump is a short delay in gusty mid-day conditions and an off heading opening put Jimmy into the wall. He is an Internal Revenue Service Agent under investigation, right before he died, for various malfeasance's, including drug dealing, misappropriation of funds, and tax fraud. He is the first person to BASE jump from a moving vehicle when he launched from a pick-up truck crossing the Pine Valley Bridge using a round parachute (Piglet) in San Diego, California. This jump can be seen in some of Carl Boenish's early films.

#5 Michael Williams - 1983 Oct 01 Object: Span Location: UNITED STATES, WEST VIRGINIA, NRG COD: Drowning Description: This is the first Bridge Day fatality. Michael had a slow main opening and deployed his reserve too quickly. With two canopies out he landed in the river and signaled he is all right. He made no attempt to get out of his gear and his reserve canopy caught the swift current and pulled him under the surface. There is only one rescue boat that year, and it's busy pulling another jumper from the water. Since this fatality Bridge Day Jumpmasters don't release jumpers until the boats are free and standing by.

#6 Pauli Belik - 1983 Mar 07 Object: Antenna Location: SWEDEN, , Stockholm COD: Impact Description: Pauli, along with several other jumpers, had been jumping the day prior and landing into very deep snow. The jumpers shook the dry snow out of the canopies prior to packing, but evidently Pauli didn't remove it all. What's left melts inside the packed rig while it sat in a warm room. The jumpers deposit the rigs into the trunk of an old Saab and drive to Stockholm. The temperatures are well below freezing. On deployment Pauli's canopy went to line stretch but is basically a solid block of ice that never inflates.

#7 Carl Boenish - 1984 Jun 07 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Stabben COD: Strike(Freefall) Description: In 1978 Carl Boenish organized the first expeditions to Yosemite National Park's El Capitan were using ram-air canopies and the ability to track ushered in the modern era of the sport he later named BASE jumping. Through his wonderful films and boundless enthusiasm he showed the world that fixed object jumping is a repeatable act available for any reasonably experienced parachutist. He published the world's first BASE information with BASE Magazine and also began issuing (in 1981) the sequential BASE Number Award (BASE #### ) we still use today. Carl Boenish, and his wife Jean, are in Norway jumping for the cameras of an American TV show called, That's Incredible. After the shoot is finished Carl decides to make one more jump. He jumps from a new launch point, not the one they had been using all week, and the result is his not clearing an outcropping in freefall. Carl Boenish is the first Trollveggen area fatality. The following is newer (2002) information reported by a local Norwegian BASE jumper. I knew a man who went up to Stabben with Mr. Boenish the day of his fatality. He is a very skilled climber, and knew every rock up there. He helped Mr. Boenish to the top of Stabben (it's a little difficult to get up there) and found himself a good spot to photograph the jump. After Carl's fatality, he threw the camera down the cliff and later said, I didn't want anyone to see pictures of that jump. He then went down and contacted police. This same climber is later killed in an avalanche not far from the Troll Wall in the early 1990s. When Carl Boenish becomes involved in fixed object jumping he's already considered the premier skydiving photographer of his day. He photographed the early days of RW in Southern California, filmed the aerial portions of the MGM movie, The Gypsy Moths, and left us what still are some of the most breathtaking skydiving movies (he called them Film Poems) ever made. With a friendly and inquisitive personality, including an infectious goof ball laugh that heard once is never forgotten, Carl is loved and respected throughout the skydiving world. Now, however, as fixed object jumping begins to make headlines, usually for spectacular mishaps, Carl begins hearing, You are hurting skydiving, from his longtime friends. Carl lost many friends, Jean Boenish later said, because of fixed object jumping, and he never got over that. In 1987 (three years after his death) the skydiving community posthumously forgave Carl Boenish and bestowed their highest honor on him, the USPA Achievement award.

#8 Jorgen Hakonson - 1985 Aug 18 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Trollveggen COD: Strike(Freefall) Description: JJrgen (Swedish) jumped head first from Bruraskaret, went into a spin, lost control and hit the cliff face. This is the second Trollveggen area fatality.

#9 Jari Mynttinen - 1985 Aug 24 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Trollveggen COD: Strike(Freefall) Description: The third fatal Trollveggen accident. Jari (Finnish) jumped, lost control, and hit the cliff face.

#10 Jeb Williams - 1986 Jan 01 Object: Antenna Location: UNITED STATES, TEXAS, Dallas COD: Impact Description: Jeb jumped from a free standing 500-foot antenna tower with skydiving gear and five or six previous BASE jumps. He impacted with nothing out. This jump cemented the cause for dedicated BASE jumping equipment in the BASE community.

#11 Marilyn Ettema - 1986 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: AUSTRALIA, New South Wales, Wollomombi Falls COD: Strike(Canopy) Description: Marilyn's last jump is from a technically difficult waterfall. Apparently she went off unstable, caught her feet in her lines during deployment, had an off heading opening, and then experienced a wall strike. She was very much loved and respected by the community of jumpers in Brisbane and elsewhere.

#12 John Foster - 1986 Jun 20 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Trollveggen COD: Strike(Freefall) Description: Ray (Australian) is an experienced skydiver (2,700 jumps) making his first BASE jump. He launched head down, lost control, deployed unstable and hit the wall. This is Trollveggen's fourth BASE fatality.

#13 Rick Stanley - 1986 Oct 13 Object: Span Location: UNITED STATES, VIRGINIA, NRG COD: Drowning Description: This is the second New River Gorge Bridge fatality, however, this did not occur during a Bridge Day. Rick is jumping skydiving gear, sail slider up, with a BASE pilot chute. He is low man on a two way and had a slow opening and a 180. After a very short canopy ride he landed in the rapids (the Zipper) directly below the bridge and is drowned.

#14 Michael Gibbard - 1987 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: UNITED KINGDOM, , Chedder Gorge COD: Impact Description: Mike packed his parachute at the bottom of Clifton Gorge in Bristol. It was Mike's first solo pack job, and he was checked by an experienced BASE jumper, as he packed. Mike had 200 jumps with three previous BASE jumps. The static line parted prior to extracting the canopy. Another report from this same site included the following warning: Cheddar Gorge is an experienced BASE jumper's site as you need quick reactions for the canopy control side. You need to open, look down, and know instantly how you are going to approach the landing area. There have been at least five lucky escapes from this site.

#15 Antonio Vanone - 1987 Aug 23 Object: Earth Location: ITALY, , North Wall COD: Strike(Canopy) Description: (Note: This fatality has just come to light in March of 2006) This jumper had one previous BASE jump, an unstable head down launch from the same site, with the same gear, a week prior to his fatality. His second, and last BASE jump, is in clear WX conditions and light winds. Antonio is wearing a skydiving rig with a Pegasus canopy and a large hand held pilot chute. However, he elected to tie his slider down for a planned six-second delay. The canopy opened with a half line twist and hit the wall whereupon it began a series of wall strikes and collapses. (This report was supplied by friends of Antonio who wanted to make sure he was remembered. Antonio left a wife behind.)

#16 Steve Gyrsting - 1987 Oct 01 Object: Span Location: UNITED STATES, WEST VIRGINIA, NRG COD: Impact Description: This is the third New River Gorge Bridge fatality and the second to occur during a Bridge Day. Steve is making his 3rd jump of the day using a skydiving pilot chute and skydiving bridle. When told by the Bridge Day Jumpmasters this isn't the hot set up Steve replied, It's always worked before. He then launched cleanly for the planned 3-second delay. He released the hand held pilot and the bridle fully extended. However the pilot chute did not inflate (in the video it appears inverted mesh side out.) To his credit Steve pulled his reserve ripcord handle in the bottom of his fifth second of freefall. but only received line stretch prior to impact. This jump began the process whereby larger BASE pilot chutes and longer BASE bridles became mandatory at Bridge Day.

#17 Marlen Buford - 1988 Jan 01 Object: Building Location: UNITED STATES, SOUTH CAROLINA, Myrtle Beach COD: Hard Landing Description: Marlen hit a seawall on final approach under canopy. High winds are reported in the area at the time. Marlen is not wearing a helmet.

#18 Mitch Reno - 1988 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, CALIFORNIA, Half Dome - Yosemite COD: Impact Description: Mitch over-delayed and impacted the talus just as he is getting line stretch. This is the second Yosemite Valley fatality with both being off Half Dome.

#19 David Dunblazier - 1989 Jan 01 Object: Span Location: UNITED STATES, COLORADO, Royal Gorge COD: Strike(Canopy) Description: There are two credible versions of this story. The former I heard right after the fatality and the latter is 2003 information. In the first one it is said David hit the steep cliffs of the narrow Royal Gorge with multiple line twists after he is instructed to hold his large hand held pilot chute by its base instead of folding it for the planned 3 second delay. The upper half of the pilot chute inflated during the freefall and pulled David over on his back. This caused the line twists on deployment he couldn't clear before hitting the cliff walls. The second version is simpler in that it states David is very inexperienced and panic hooked himself into the wall after seeing the wires in the tight landing area. The Royal Gorge Bridge is first jumped by Don Boyles, using gut gear, in 1975.

#20 Dick Pedley - 1989 Jan 01 Object: Building Location: UNITED STATES, CALIFORNIA, Century City COD: Strike(Canopy) Description: Dick is an experienced skydiver (6000+ jumps) and a respected early freefall photographer in Southern California. He took up BASE jumping late in life after making one legal El Capitan jump back in the early days. He is the oldest person to receive a BASE number (at the time) and had 26 BASE jumps when he is killed. Dick's last jump is via buddy assist (someone holding his pilot chute) that resulted in line twists. Dick first struck a steel cable hanging by the side of the building before suffering a very hard building strike. In looking at the gear later it appeared one toggle, which Dick had wrapped in tape to form big open loops, had released in the initial strike with the cable adding to the speed of the second impact. Dick isn't wearing a helmet. This fatality brought to light the need for BASE body armor, i.e. helmets, and pads and the necessity for a secure toggle system. Dick's fatality is also the first one on BASE specific gear. Dick is wearing a Velcro closed BASE rig and all previous BASE fatalities have been on skydiving rigs, either pure or modified for BASE.

#21 Jean-Marc Boivin - 1989 Feb 17 Object: Earth Location: VENEZUELA, , Angel Falls COD: Strike(Canopy) Description: This report is from a witness. I was there at Salto Angel, and I can say nobody saw the entire jump. Considering the trauma Jean-Marc experienced (he died from wounds in his legs and the loss of a lot of blood) I can tell you he hit the wall, for sure. Jean-Marc is jumping a very small canopy, a skydiving reserve canopy with a attachment point, called the Vega 180. The canopy is packed in a deployment bag. Speculation is he had severe line twists after opening, hit the wall, and then experienced a hard out of control landing in the trees. Previous to Jean-Marc's leap another jumper, named Catherine, had jumped and also hit the wall. The helicopter (there to ferry jumpers up to the top) mistook Jean-Marc's waves for help as a sign he was all right and went off to rescue Catherine. When it returned Jean-Marc is dead. Jean-Marc was a modern day adventurer who excelled at many disciplines. In 1988, he is the first to Parapente (Paraglide) from the summit of Mt. Everest.

#22 Mike Herron - 1990 Jan 01 Object: Span Location: GERMANY, , COD: Impact Description: Mr. Heron's associates believe part of his bridle became lodged under the lower right hand corner of his BASE rig and the result is a pilot chute in tow. This fatality caused BASE gear manufactures to better address the problem of bridle routing during hand held pilot chute jumps.

#23 Robert Morris - 1990 Jun 10 Object: Building Location: UNITED STATES, PENNSYLVANIA, Philadelphia COD: Impact Description: Robert is jumping a skydiving rig (Wonderhog) with a belly band and an empty reserve container. His curved pin is primed half way and he's using a 52-inch BASE pilot chute. After landing, a previous jumper said he watched Robert go somewhat head down and throw his pilot chute early. Robert then towed his inflated pilot chute to impact. The speculation is he tightened his belly band down (after a final gear check by the jumper who went first) and this put too much tension on the main closing pin. Combined with an early pilot chute throw and the associated lack of snatch force this may have caused the pilot chute in tow. The irony here, according to the first jumper, is they had both recently discussed purchasing Velcro closed BASE containers but the cost was an issue.

#24 Darren Newton - 1992 May 20 Object: Building Location: UNITED KINGDOM, , London COD: Strike(Canopy) Description: Darren is doing a direct bag jump and the bag holder dropped the bag. The resulting 180 deployment put Darren into the building. He is jumping a sponsored canopy and carrying a box of Milk Tray chocolates in an attempt to emulate an advert running at the time where a mysterious bloke did extreme things to deliver the chocolates. ********* UPDATE FROM BASE#229 BELOW ********* The jump was from a hotel in London (300'). Darren He went without his mentor and took along with him some DZ friends to watch. Method of deployment was Pilot Chute Assist. Using a modified Pursuit 230 in a sky diving rig which had been loaned to him. He exited very head down with the canopy deploying between his legs and opening 180 and surging into the building front. The canopy surged and stalled repeatedly, from studying the video post jump Darren was probably unconscious or killed on the first impact and was declared dead on the scene. He had been advised a number of times to sort his exits out as his previous 3 jumps were all head down . Jumping this Hotel was for the more experienced.

#25 Jonathan Bowlin - 1993 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, , COD: Canopy Entanglement Description: Jonathan entangled with another jumper's canopy after a premature opening during a 2-way. It's reported his new ZP pilot chute slid from its pouch. This is the first time Jonathan used the setup and the report indicated the pouch may have been too big for the pilot chute.

#26 Marita Schneider - 1993 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: VENEZUELA, , Angel Falls COD: Strike(Canopy) Description: This entry is from information reported by the jumper exiting before her. He makes note that upon opening he felt exteremly turbelent air conditions generated by the waterfall. In his words you feel some thing is going to kill you and you must fight; the turbulent air was sucking him and he fought until he moved sufficiently away from the cliff where air became stable again. Marita was an experienced skydiver with much more than 3000 skydive and had jumped El Capitan before. She had a good exit and as the helicopter pilot and guy on top of the cliff said onheading. So they wondered why she was flying into the tube. She flew through the hole part of the tube, and when arriving at the other side of the cliff, they thought OK, now she gets out of it, but no. The parachute made a left turn at the corner of the cliff and flew up against the wall, this happened alltogether threetimes. At the end the chute collapsed and she slid down until final impact. The jumpers evaluation was: Marita had a line-twist and when the wind from the left is strong enough it turns your onheading- chute left into the cliff round (tube). When you come out on the other side you get the same effect there, the wind goes against the wall,ie makes a round left. When you are still working with the twist you have no chance, it turns you against the wall.

#27 Jason Rooney - 1993 Nov 15 Object: Building Location: AUSTRALIA, , Sydney COD: Impact Description: I'm getting conflicting reports regarding this fatality. However, the bottom line is Jason had BASE jumped this building several times before and is found dead in the street below it. No witness or state of the gear reports exist. To be fair to history Jason was a bit of a showboat who liked publicity, and this caused him friction with other BASE jumpers. ***************** 2009-01-30 An updated has been received from a friend of Jason's: It is true that he was found dead at the bottom of Blues Point Tower in Sydney and that he appeared to be with no one else. There were witnesses who lived in the building who heard him as he fell past. I was one of the people who inspected his rig at the police station after his death. The police told us that the rig was exactly as they had found it, and it was still tied closed with a chord. At the time, Jason use to pack his gear, and then tie it closed to stop any premature opening while carrying it to the launch site. We were also told that one of his shoes had come off and was still on top of the building when he died. On further investigation, it became obvious that he fell from the building prior to setting up for his jump. Like any of the people who have been killed in the sport, it is a shame and I believe avoidable. ***************** Since this jump there have been more deaths attributed to people forgetting to take off something they've used to tie around they're pilot chute. I personally don't understand the need for this and even less understand why this mistake continues to happen. An email received in 2009 suggest that witnesses interviewed in a 1995 documentary mention that the rig was found at the top of the building and the slip must have occured while just checking out the exit point. It's inconclusive today whether Jason fell with his rig on and tied shut or without it on.

#28 Joe Shaw - 1993 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: AUSTRALIA, , Bungonia Gorge COD: Strike(Canopy) Description: The third Australian BASE fatality. Joe is so nervous about the jump that friends later remarked about it. Apparently he had an off heading opening and failed to adequately respond. He hit the wall several times and lay injured at the bottom. It is reported with some speculation that if someone on the load had some basic first aid skills, Joe might have survived. ----- Updated report by First Responder on Scene After Joe hit the ground, Peter B, a jumper with First Aid Certificate and experience attending to parachuting accidents was with Joe within 10 seconds. About 20 minutes after the accident Joe stopped breathing. At that point Peter moved Joe's body into a recovery position and Joe began breathing again. It became obvious to him that broken ribs had punctured Joe's lungs. He also had at least one broken leg and numerous facial and head lacerations (his helmet was torn off during the accident). 10 minutes later Joe stopped breathing again and CPR was ineffective. Joe never regained consciousness throughout these efforts. Rescue Services arrived an hour later and the helicopter an hour after that when it was too dark to winch out of the 900ft gorge. Reportedly, an off the record comment was made by medical staff that he would have died even if the helicopter had been there within 5 minutes.

#29 Susan Oatly - 1993 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, CALIFORNIA, El Capitan - Yosemite COD: Description: Susan is the first El Capitan fatality and Yosemite's third BASE fatality overall. She held a head high attitude for too long, lost altitude awareness, and backed into the wall in her 15th second of freefall. This jump began the process of insisting people who begin BASE jumping have at least 150 previous parachutes jumps. There is also a side issue involving people without much experience being handed BASE jumps beyond their abilities. Load organizer Keith Jones is arrested by the Park Service (after staying behind to lead recovery efforts) and charged with manslaughter. The charges are later reduced to aerial delivery.

#30 Paul Thompson - 1994 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, ARIZONA, Lake Powell COD: Strike(Freefall) Description: This is an experienced skydiver who went along on a week long BASE trip as ground crew. Later in the week he expressed an interest in making a BASE jump himself. His jump resulted in a wall strike. He is pulled from the water and later he died. This jump resulted in manslaughter charges and law suits between jumpers and Park Service officials. The jumper's contention is Lake Powell is legal for sea-plane landings so should be legal for parachute landings as well.

#31 Xaver Bongard - 1994 Apr 15 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Staubbach - LB COD: Strike(Canopy) Description: Xaver cutaway a spinning main canopy malfunction using a two canopy BASE container (Sorcerer). The reserve opened with line twists that did not clear prior to impact. Xaver is well known, even legendary, in the climbing community for his big wall solo accents.

#32 Andre Jewett - 1994 Apr 03 Object: Antenna Location: UNITED STATES, MISSISSIPPI, Jackson COD: Impact Description: Andre is an expired USPA A license holder and an Army officer. There are three observers on the load, one is a buddy of his and the other two are girlfriends. Andre's skydiving gear sniveled to impact. There is nothing to suggest any pervious BASE experience or training.

#33 Theresa Tran - 1995 Dec 20 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, CALIFORNIA, Riverside COD: Impact Description: Theresa is doing a static line jump from a low cliff. At the last moment, instead of leaving the tied off pilot chute on the ground next to her launch point, she decided to place the pilot chute into the BOC pouch of her BASE container. When the static line became taught, it applied forces to the pilot chute at a right angle and the break cord prematurely parted before extracting the pilot chute and bridle from the pouch. Theresa is a live wire to all who knew her. She is a local radio personality under the name of Gina Davis and is responsible for the first ever corporately sponsored BASE jumps she organized for one of Magic Mountain's opening days in California. Theresa and I are room-mates and she is missed by all who knew her.

#34 Don Sampson - 1996 Jan 01 Object: Span Location: UNITED STATES, COLORADO, Royal Gorge COD: Strike(Canopy) Description: Don had 30 skydives and an unknown amount of BASE jumps when he had another person pack his parachute for this jump. The report included the line, Don is an idiot when it came to assessing risks. On a pervious occasion he decided to teach a climbing buddy of his to BASE jump. He correctly figured some skydiving experience would be helpful so he forged a logbook to make his buddy look USPA B license qualified. The report stated, Don took this two-way out of a plane that almost killed them both. He later took this same friend off a tower. Don flew himself into a corner, after this bridge jump, and panic hooked himself into the canyon wall. He died from severe head trauma. This and the only previous fatality from this bridge both involve canopy control problems in the tight landing area.

#35 Sebastian Dectot - 1996 Aug 16 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Lysbotn COD: Impact Description: Sebastian was on a 2-way where he was supposed to track on his back fro the first 10-12 seconds filming the second jumper who would be tracking right above him. The plan was for Sebastian to flip to his belly at that point and track to the left while the jumper above him would head to the right. After the exit, there was more gap between the jumpers than they would have liked for the video so they concentrated on closing it up instead of maxing their forward movement. When it was was time for Sebastian to flip over, and the 2 way to separate, it became apparent that they had not tracked far enough from the wall and were approaching the talus. Reportedly they were 2 seconds to impact. Sebastian immediately pitched and hit the wall during deployment. The second jumper tracked for his life and was able to out track the slope of the talus regaining some altitude and pitched. He opened off heading in line twists from the track and was able to clear them and avoid a wall strike. This jumper had been experimenting with early designs of track pants and wingsuits and before jumping decided to use a new set of pants that was given to him to try out. The use of these track pants most likely contributed to him being able to save his life.

#36 Jeff Maggilla Christman - 1996 Oct 21 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, CALIFORNIA, Yosemite (El Capitan) COD: Object Strike Description: This is the second El Capitan fatality and Yosemite's fourth BASE fatality overall. He is nicknamed after the cartoon character Maggilla Gorilla and is one of those warm and fuzzy people who are a joy to be around. I knew him from working at his DZ for a time in Buckeye, Arizona. One night he asked if I'd like to see a video of his one and only BASE jump. The jump is from El Capitan, and from looking at the video, and from what he told me later, the jump spooked him so bad he swore, he'd stick to the DZ and never go BASE jumping again! So it is with some surprise, I learned a few months later, he did indeed return to El Capitan for another jump. Witness accounts differ with some saying he did a short, out of control delay, deployed unstable, and hit the wall. Others thought his parachute is hooked up to his harness backwards. A timely rigger's investigation into the state of the gear is prevented by Park Service officials.

#37 Alexander Haseke, BASE 429 - 1996 Oct 28 Object: Earth Location: FRANCE, , Magland COD: Object Strike/Impact *** Description: Alex had 30 BASE jumps and is a very experienced skydiver. This jump took place from a launch point well known to him, at night, with no wind and under a full moon. Witness reports state he did a short delay considering the altitude available and then lost sight of him. Alex is found dead hours later by a rescue team. The rig is reported to be packed slider up (single canopy container, but an old skydiving canopy more or less adapted for BASE). The report went on to say the canopy seems to have been perfectly deployed.

#38 Gary Dawson - 1996 Dec 25 Object: Earth Location: NEW ZEALAND, , COD: Object Strike Description: Gary is a popular Southern California camera jumper who went to work in New Zealand for a season to film skydiving tandems. During a BASE jump Gary hit a wall under canopy and fell the rest of the way. I worked at a DZ with Gary in California and he was a great fellow and a heads up jumper. Gary's family is actively trying to track down more information on Gary's fatality. They are especially looking to contact his girlfriend who witnessed the jump. Anyone with information can e-mail here. UPDATE DELIVERED ON 13-DEC-2009 Gary Ervin Dawson, 29, of Los Angeles was killed while jumping from a Cone Rock at Fox Glacier on the West Coast. Mr Dawson and a companion were base jumping from the 300 metre rock. His companion John Berry jumped first and got into difficulty when his parachute opened unevenly, and turned him toward the rock face. He was stranded on a ledge about halfway down. Mr Dawson jumped next, and his parachute also deployed unevenly, and he snagged on the same ledge that Mr Berry caught, then plunged to his death at the base of the rock. Mr Dawson had been in New Zealand for two years, and both he and Mr Berry are regarded as experts by the base jumping community

#39 Ulla-Stina ?stberg - 1997 Jul 29 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Lyseboten COD: Impact (Object) Description: This jump began with an unstable launch and it took the jumper 12 seconds to recover stability and deploy her main pilot chute. However, impact occurred at 12.7 seconds. It is reported this jumper is offered instruction prior to the jump and that she refused it.

#40 Torben Petersen - 1997 Aug 04 Object: Earth Location: AUSTRALIA, New South Wales, Bungonia Gorge COD: Exposure / Object Strike Description: ***ORIGINAL ENTRY FROM BASE194*** Petersen died from exposure after spending several hours/the night on the wall where he struck the cliff and became trapped. He had been repeatedly told, by other jumpers, to be more responsive during the canopy opening sequence. He had also been repeatedly advised to apply deeper brake settings to his non-BASE specific canopy in order to avoid its excessive surge and drive. Eyewitnesses claim he had ample room and time to employ commonly practiced evasive maneuvers but he allowed his canopy to fly into the cliff. There is also an inference that the Police/National Parks authorities would not initiate their own rescue effort or let several reasonably equipped jumpers abseil to Peter and extricate him from the cliff. Authorities say it's because the rescue is too dangerous, jumpers say they are motivated by other reasons. ***END ORIGINAL*** ***UPDATE*** This update comes from a jumper on the load: Torben was under canopy for only a very short time when he hit the wall and he did not have a chance to turn away from the cliff face. This is due to the fact that after about 4 seconds the wall becomes underhung and you open directly beside the wall - hence I doubt if the gear was a huge factor in his death. I along with another person on the jump beleive he may have had line twists too. ***END UPDATE*** The update still reinforces quick decision making and immediate canopy input is a required skill. Dare I say it may even be more important than 'hucking a gainer'.

#41 Christopher Kennedy - 1997 Dec 02 Object: Antenna Location: UNITED STATES, ARIZONA, Tucson COD: Impact (Ground) Description: Christopher is dead when his feet leave the tower is what other jumpers said after this fatality. Using a skydiving rig not modified for BASE, and without any prior BASE training or experience, he climbed 364-feet up a 450-foot tower and jumped only to find his bungee controlled collapsible pilot chute didn't work well at slow airspeeds. A passer-by found Kennedy's body near the tower the next morning. He had pulled his reserve handle at some point prior to impact. Alcohol may have been a contributing factor in this fatality.

#42 Bob Bromo Neely - 1998 May 14 Object: Antenna Location: UNITED STATES, , COD: Impact (Ground) Description: Bob is alone when he jumped from this 1249- foot broadcast tower. He is found dead underneath his parachute the next afternoon by two of his friends. The suspect cause here is an over- delay.

#43 Thor Alex Kappfjell - 1999 Jul 07 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , COD: Object Strike Description: Thor is reported to have jumped into a fog bank and may have lost his bearings once under canopy and hit the wall. Thor is a popular BASE jumper and is one of six known people to jump from the World Trade Center Towers in New York City. (The other five are Owen Quinn, Van Refuse, Nick Feteris and John Vincent. The sixth is a jumper who chooses to remain anonymous).

#44 Daniel Twomey - 1999 Aug 04 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Trollveggen, Trollspiret COD: Object Strike/Impact *** Description: Daniel (Australian) had an unstable head down launch. He then tried out tracking the ledge and hit the wall at eight seconds. His canopy deployed, it hit the wall, and deflated. Daniel tumbled down and came to rest under the ice at the top of the talus. It took 45-days to recover Daniel's body. This is Trollveggen's fifth BASE fatality.

#45 Joshua Michael McVay - 1999 Aug 08 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, OREGON, Crown Point, Columbia River Gorge COD: Object Strike Description: Joshua is BASE jumping alone when friends reported him overdue to return. They found his car at Crown Point and called in search & rescue teams. Searchers found his body about 450 feet from the top. He appears to have died after hitting the wall under canopy. In 2006 I received this report from Josh's wife: How dare Slim Simpson (NOW DEAD), Nik Harshorne (NOW DEAD), [and] Jason Zaslaw say that they reported Josh being overdue... I, Marie McVay was the one reported him over due! I had a 7 month old daughter at the time of his death... I was on the phone with him when he died. His phone was on in his fanny pack that was on his waist. I heard him scream, HELP ME! and heard him go through the tree branches, which strucked from his right side of his body throughtout his left side of his neck. Please change your comment how he died!!! It was not true!!! This upset me greatly. I hate your additive sport, which caused Josh to die! If it wasn't for this sport he would still be alive!!!

#46 Kirill Goretov - 1999 Aug 15 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Lyseboten COD: Object Strike Description: It's reported this jumper made no control inputs after canopy deployment and hit the wall coming to rest on a ledge. He appears to have died from severe head injuries in the initial impact with the wall. He is not wearing a helmet.

#47 Jan Davis - 1999 Oct 22 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, CALIFORNIA, Yosemite (El Capitan) COD: Impact (Total) Description: This is El Capitan's 3rd BASE fatality and Yosemite's 5th BASE fatality overall. This occurred during a planned protest jump in front of Park Rangers and the media. By prior arrangement Park Service officials agreed not to prevent the jumps but insisted jumpers would be arrested upon landing and their gear would be confiscated. This caused some jumpers to switch to their B gear. Jan jumped a system with an older style leg mounted pilot chute pouch when she is used to jumping a pilot chute stowed in a BOC pouch. After a normal delay she instinctively reached for the bottom of the container and after failing to find the pilot chute handle ran out of time before figuring things out. I helped spread Jan's ashes over Lake Elsinore and over 400 jumpers and friends attended her memorial. She's missed by all who knew her.

#48 Roger Butler - 2000 Feb 09 Object: Span Location: UNITED STATES, IDAHO, Twin Falls (Hansen) COD: Drowning Description: Friends said it is too dark, the wind isn't right, and the water is too high. However, Roger elected to jump. He launched from the west side of the bridge and opened normally. It isn't immediately clear what happened, but shortly after landing in the water Roger and his gear disappeared below the surface. His body is found a month later by passing boaters. Roger is the first Twin Falls area BASE fatality.

#49 Andrea Quarisa - 2000 May 07 Object: Earth Location: ITALY, , Monte Brento COD: Impact (Talus) Description: Andrea over delayed in a back to earth position while filming other jumpers and impacted the talus as his canopy is opening. He's the second BASE fatality involving flying back to earth with camera.

#50 Terry Forrestal - 2000 Jun 10 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , COD: Object Strike/Impact *** Description: This is Terry's 8th BASE jump. A videotape shows him having trouble with directional control and tracking. He deploys with a 180 whereupon he hits the wall very hard. Terry comes to rest on a narrow ledge and later probably sees a rescue helicopter approach and then turn back because of fog developing in the immediate area. The full extent of Terry's injuries are unknown at this time but speculation suggests both his legs are broken. At this point, but unknown to Terry, a foot launched rescue effort is advancing on his position. When they arrived, 10 hours later, Terry is gone from the ledge. No one knows if Terry tried to self rescue himself by jumping from the ledge using his reserve canopy (this is done with success by another jumper several years earlier) or if sometime during the night he simply fell. Friends say he probably thought rescue was not in the immediate future. And the 52 year old former SAS is the type to take matters into his own hands. Terry is also a movie actor and stuntman. Some of the movies Terry worked on are Moonraker, Octopussy, A View To A Kill, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Titanic where he played the doomed ship's chief engineer. The following is 2005 information: There is a short film, now making the rounds called Last Stunt concerning Terry's accident that was made in 2002. The film is touring with the Banf Film festival and was recently screened in California. Here's the text of the promo from the film. British stuntman Terry Forrestal arrives in Kjerag in Lysefjorden, one of Norway's greatest fjords. He is going to relax - away from his hectic film work - by BASE jumping from the top of the 1000-metre-high mountain. But one of the jumps goes wrong and a difficult rescue begins. In the film, Terry's sister accuses Norway of bad rescue planning and of running death tourism. This is the story of Terry's last stunt, the promo concludes.

#51 Valentino Ventori - 2000 Aug 05 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Lysebotn COD: Impact Description: This jumper launched unstable and remained so all the way to impact. It is reported this jumper is offered instruction prior to the jump and that he refused it. This fatality and Ostberg's fatality (July 29, 1997) are eerily similar down to the same impact point.

#52 Jorge Juan Domenech - 2000 Nov 02 Object: Earth Location: ITALY, , Monte Brento COD: Object Strike Description: Jorge is an experienced skydiver and had made a couple of previous cliff BASE jumps from Kjerag. Here's the story from someone on the load. We are a pretty big group at the launch point, and I'd just met Jorge and his friends that day and this is the first jump we planned on doing together. The conditions are pretty bad. It is raining and the wind is strong and gusty. We stayed in the cave near the launch for a pretty long time and waited. When we had about 30 minutes to an hour of daylight left we went down to the launch point to make a decision. The conditions are better, but not good. I think if anybody had said, let's go down, everybody would have gone. But we decided to jump. The wind is coming from the right, so we agreed on going low enough to be in the wind shadow of the wall, below the turbulence, but high enough to deal with any heading problems. Jorge jumped last and deployed his canopy higher than all the others. After opening he flew parallel to the wall until he impacted in the big corner. His canopy collapsed and he slid down several hundred meters on the almost vertical wall dragging the canopy behind him.

#53 Fred (unknown) - 2000 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: FRANCE, , Verdon COD: Impact (Object) Description: Reports describe Fred, from Nice, France, as having no previous BASE jumps, no training, no experienced jumper with him, etc. He purchased BASE gear, picked an under-hung location to launch from (not one of Verdon's regular launch points), pivoted off the launch, went on his back, and struck the cliff in freefall. This fatality caused BASE gear manufacturers to start better screening their customers prior to the sale of BASE equipment.

#54 Trevor Yates - 2000 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: AUSTRALIA, , Wollemi National Park (Big Glassy) COD: Impact Description: Trevor is a much loved and respected skydiver and the first Australian BASE jumper to die jumping in his home country. He is the first to jump the cable car in the Blue Mountains. Trevor is found dead at the LZ with his canopy at line stretch and its slider at the top of the lines. Jumpers report that while Trevor had been around the sport for a long time he is caught in a time warp as far as BASE equipment is concerned. Trevor was jumping a Fury 220, with a sail slider packed into a deployment bag. His older style Racer container had a pull out 30-inch F-111 pilot chute and a short 4-foot bridle.

#55 Michael Schlefy Schafer - 2001 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, ARIZONA, Courthouse COD: Object Strike/Impact *** Description: Michael had packed for a slider down jump. At the last minute he decided to go slider up. He opened his already packed rig, stretched out the lines and pulled the slider up. However, he neglected to put the steering lines back through the slider grommets. The canopy opened in a turn and hit the wall hard before being fully inflated. He died a short time later from internal injuries.

#56 Thierry Van Roy - 2001 Apr 02 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen (La Mousse) COD: Impact Description: Thierry had 100 plus skydives and about 240 BASE jumps (fifty are from cliffs). He is doing a 3-way, launching first, on his back (video person above him filmed the whole jump). Thierry took too much time to come back to a good position facing away from the wall. He attempted to make a quick quarter turn and deploy, but impacted before complete deployment of his canopy. Two days prior to his death, he did ten jumps in the valley, and witnesses attested to the fact that he is really very tired. He is passionate for the sport and loved the people who -like him- jumped for their own, and not for the show. His many friends miss him deeply. The report also included the following: Just a few words about this site La Mousse. It is high and you can fly 9 to 10 seconds if you track like hell. But the pure vertical is not more than 6 seconds.

#57 Erin Aimee Engle - 2001 Jul 22 Object: Earth Location: ITALY, , Monte Brento COD: Object Strike Description: Erin is making only her second or third BASE jump. She is in Italy jumping with her boyfriend. Reports indicate an unstable short delay and a wall strike under canopy. She was an experienced skydiver, with several hundred jumps and was on a very competent 4-way team.

#58 Massimo Mazzeo - 2001 Sep 27 Object: Earth Location: ITALY, , Monte Brento COD: Impact (Total) *** Description: The following is from a report translated from Italian. A 25 year old boy from Firenze, (Florence) has deceased after a parachute launch off the peak of Monte Brento. The young man had reached Thursday evening the top of the mountain and launched himself into the empty space. But the parachute did not open and the boy has smashed himself onto the ground after a flight of 800 meters. The body has been found this morning by alpine rescue team and firemen, alerted during the previous night by young man's relatives, worried by the fact that his mobile phone was not answering.

#59 Name Withheld (Male) - 2001 Jan 01 Object: Earth Location: PUERTO RICO, , COD: Impact Description: This is a first cliff jump after 15 tower jumps. On the load are his mentor and another jumper. His previous tower jumps are from different altitudes, with varying deployment methods, and all of them went well. The cliff is 700-feet with an outcropping full of trees jutting out about halfway down. The jumpers built a wooden launch ramp on the top and on the morning of the jump it had been raining. The three discussed the wet conditions and remarked on the need for caution on the wet ramp. The deceased asked to go first, and while his mentor said it would be better to watch one first, he did indeed go first. On launch he slipped on the wet ramp and lost control of the freefall. He deployed on his back and hit the tree filled outcropping feet first with a partially inflated canopy. The other two jumped and as they flew past his position he yelled out that he was seriously hurt. There was no way to reach his position so a rescue was called in. However, it took many hours and by that time he had passed away from blood loss.

#60 (unknown male) (unknown) - 2002 Apr 01 Object: Other Location: RUSSIAN FEDERATION, , St. Petersburg COD: Impact ??? Description: This is a solo first BASE jump using modified skydiving gear. This is also the first BASE fatality reported from the former Soviet Union. There are no witnesses. The body is found three days later on a rooftop. The main canopy is an early Russian PO- 9, the first Russian accuracy square, and known in the Russian BASE community as a canopy with a reputation for not being suitable for BASE jumping.

#61 Andrei Grunberg - 2002 May 01 Object: Earth Location: UKRAINE, , Crimea COD: Impact (Object) Description: Andrei went head down on the launch, tumbled, and hit the wall. His canopy deployed (somewhat) from the impact with the wall. Andrei had extensive climbing experience, about 200 skydives, and 2 prior BASE jumps. This is the first BASE fatality in the Ukraine.

#62 Lee Skypunk Werling - 2002 May 29 Object: Antenna Location: UNITED STATES, FLORIDA, COD: Impact Description: Reported by a jumper on the load as a three way with two people facing away from the antenna, and Lee doing a floater launch facing inwards. Jumper #1 is to do a 6 second delay, jumper #2 an 8 second delay, and Lee, with camera, is going ten seconds. Everything went as planned until jumper #2 deployed at 8 seconds. Lee continued filming on his back for an additional 3 full seconds before going face to earth. One second later he disappeared into the fog. Three seconds later jumper #2 heard the beginnings of Lee's deployment and then a thump. Lee died under a partially inflated canopy. The weather conditions initially are a layer of fog about 300 feet off the ground. However, when jumper #2 lands the fog has extended almost all the way to the ground. He believes Lee is expecting to come out of the fog before deploying. Lee is very current on this particular tower.

#63 Brian Stout - 2002 Jun 15 Object: Span Location: UNITED STATES, IDAHO, Twin Falls (Perrine) COD: Impact Description: This is the first Perrine Bridge BASE fatality and the second to occur in the Twin Falls area. The following is from a letter I received from Brian's father. In respect for a father who has lost a son, I'm printing it here just as he wrote it. There is speculation on your list about a rubber band packing error. I must tell you that there were two official investigations concerning Brian's death. Neither one mentioned a rubber band error theory or even came close to speculating about it. In fact, Brian gave his mother the rubber band that he was using for the packing of the pilot chute just moments before he jumped. He jokingly made a comment to her that leaving the rubber band in the pack job could very well ruin a good day. What we have are the facts: Brian was using a 38 pilot chute, a 6 ft 9 in bridle; went stowed for the very first time on his fatal jump; was assigned a 1 and 1/2 second delay, was on his 12th BASE jump, and was on a big 8-way coordinated jump at the Perrine when he was killed. His pilot chute was in tow and opened just point four (.4) seconds before he hit the water. His canopy was not extracted from his container. He was killed on impact. The people who have made the speculation comments are people who are feeling guilty about Brian's death and are trying real hard to find a reason for his death that makes them feel less guilty. Bottom line: Brian should not have been on that load with his obvious inexperience going stowed with a 1 and 1/2 second delay with the gear configuration that he was using. The people on that load and Brian's friends who brought him into BASE jumping are the ones who let him down and allowed him to use equipment that was not right for that jump (considering all the complexities of the jump that I have mentioned). I don't guess you would allow my speculation just presented above to be on your list. Therefore, I am asking that you remove the speculation comments about the rubber band packing error from the list as well. The family is very sensitive about this issue. And it is just totally wrong.

#64 Lori Barr - 2002 Jul 23 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Lyseboten COD: Impact (Object) Description: Lori launched and lost stability on her first cliff jump. With five previous Perrine bridge jumps and the required amount of skydives Lori is on an organized BASE expedition to Norway. The trip included a site specific BASE jumping course taught by very competent instructors. However, Lori hit the cliff wall in freefall at about 11 seconds. What makes this fatality a little more chilling is the fact Lori did everything right as far as following the current advise on how to get into BASE jumping.

#65 Dr. Nikolas (Nik) Hartshorne - 2002 Aug 06 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Object Strike Description: Nik had 501 BASE jumps when he launched for this planned 9-10 second delay. Most of his previous BASE jumps had been low ones and he's actively working on his tracking skills. According to the one witness who saw the entire jump Nik launched head down, but looked as if he would recover. However, he deployed before complete stability is achieved. The canopy opened facing the cliff and Nik is turning it away (using rear risers as the brakes are still set when the canopy is inspected) when he landed on a ledge. At that point he had already turned the canopy 90 degrees away from the wall. The canopy collapsed and Nik fell backwards from the ledge. He impacted a second ledge with his head (this is the fatal injury) and the canopy re-inflated and flew into the wall a third time and hung there a moment. The canopy then dropped beneath him and he fell into it. He fell down the remaining part of the wall (several hundred feet) wrapped in the canopy and hitting the wall 6-8 more times. CPR is performed to no avail. Nik is a very popular BASE jumper and will be missed. He is also a Medical Examiner who, not only lent his expertise to previous BASE fatality investigations, he also performed the autopsy on singer Curt Cobain. Nik's death has caused his name to be included into the conspiracy, fans say, surrounds Cobain's suicide.

#66 Wolfgang Wolle B?umer - 2002 Aug 13 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: (unknown) Description: Local rescue workers say the jump is a two-way and Wolfgang is doing camera. They didn't say specifically what is the cause of the accident. As this is the second BASE fatality here in two weeks the Swiss BASE Association is asking all BASE jumpers to refrain from visiting the area as they iron out problems with authorities and the media.

#67 Christophe (unknown) - 2002 Aug 15 Object: Earth Location: FRANCE, , COD: Impact (Object) Description: Christophe is doing a two-way and filming at a launch point just recently opened. The wall is slightly under hung, but both jumpers successfully out track the wall/talus. After opening the second jumper said he heard a terrible sound and looked back to see Christophe with his canopy out but not pressurized. Christophe became stuck 80 meters up and isn't answering his friend calls. He is found dead when a helicopter reaches him. Jumpers who knew Christophe said his enthusiasm for the sport is infectious. He is always smiling, laughing, and offering help and advice.

#68 Tore Lillebostad - 2002 Aug 25 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Sunndalssra (HHrstadnebba) COD: Impact Description: This is a four way jump composed of all Norwegians. Tore had 2000 skydives and 16 BASE jumps. It is said he never gained control all the way to impact. While this wall is seven seconds to impact it does have a sketchy launch point. A wing suited jumper earlier the same week achieved a flight of 89 seconds here.

#69 Kirill Kiselev - 2002 Sep 01 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Vikesaxa (Eiksdalen Valley) COD: Impact Description: I received this report from a close friend of Kirill who witnessed or heard most of the jump. Kirill has 500 skydives with 20 being with a wing suit, and 30 BASE jumps, with 2 being with a wing suit. This fatality began with an inadvertent low pull from a man who didn't do low pulls. His friend believes Kirill encountered a stability problem late in the flight. The friend, along with authorities, inspected Kirill's body and gear at the hospital. Kirill had opened his canopy, the slider is at the links. Both toggles are still stowed. The wing zippers are closed and the swoop cords are still over his fingers. The wing fabric between his legs is torn. His broken neck and one broken leg suggest opening and impact occurred at about the same time. The report intimates failure of the wingsuit material between Kirill's legs caused a stability problem at pull time. By the time Kirill stopped trying to overcome the situation and deploy, it is too late. Kirill is the first BASE jumper to die flying a wingsuit on a BASE jump.

#70 Rob Tompkins - 2002 Sep 12 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Kjerag COD: Impact Description: This is the second wing suit BASE fatality. Rob has 247 BASE jumps with 92 being with a wing suit on the day he died. A report states: For the last month, Rob had his eye on a particular jump between launch points 4 and 5. We looked at it, doing rock jumps and basically studying the jump. There are two launch points next to this particular jump, one with a 7-second drop and the other with an 8-second drop. Rob jumped the 7-second launch point 10 times always doing a reverse gainer. The place he's looking at now, he dubbed the, RT Hjjrner, and has a rock drop time of 5- seconds. We analyzed this site on video and with other wing suit pilots. In my opinion, the jump is not achievable - and I repeated this to Rob. Other wing suit pilots said the same thing. Rob is convinced he can do it including a reverse gainer. After 7 seconds of freefall Rob impacted the talus ledge. He never tried to deploy his pilot chute, knowing that this would not save him. Rob believed he could out fly the ledge right up until he died. Rob is remembered as a good man, full of respect, and kind to everyone.

#71 Lukas Knuttson - 2002 Oct 11 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Engelberg COD: impact Description: Lukas has a good launch and good flight with his wingsuit and pulled high over the landing area. This is the third BASE wing suit fatality. Despite a powerful pull the pilot chute ended up in the turbulence behind him. In the burble the pilot chute spun around very fast. Lukas notices the deployment is hesitating and collapsed his wings and rolled to one side to clear the pilot chute. At this point the pilot chute achieved bridle stretch but the bridle had entangled with the pilot chute so badly the pilot chute is almost totally collapsed. Lukas did rollover to the other side and struggled hard to get the canopy out of the container. However, the container remained closed to impact. Lukas is a very experienced long time BASE jumper (this site is now called Cold Steel in his honor) and he will be missed by the entire BASE community.

#72 Robert Hinden - 2003 Jan 11 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Engelberg COD: strike Description: This is the first BASE fatality of 2003 and occurred 3 months after the last one and from the same launch point. Robert did a 4-5 second delay and his body position seemed good. He opened with a 90 degree left off heading opening. A few seconds later the canopy turned further left and impacted the wall. Robert slid down the wall until stopped by the highest point of the talus. This area is not reachable by foot and a helicopter is called. The helicopter arrived with two doctors on board who pronounced Robert dead from severe head trauma. Friends say Robert usually wore a Bonehead helmet, with knee and elbow pads, but did not wear them on this jump. The gear is destroyed by the rescue, but is inspected by a jumper on-site. He said both toggles are released. Everything else on the rig appeared to be in working order.

#73 Bill Frogge - 2003 Jan 27 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, UTAH, Moab COD: impact Description: Bill is doing a two way and hand holding his BASE pilot chute. After a normal freefall Bill threw out the pilot chute. The pilot chute inflated, went to the end of its bridle and peeled the shrivel flap from the rig. However, the shrivel flap is not connected to the canopy. Speculation is Bill is distracted while putting his rig together and may have passed the Type-12 bridle through the attachment ring on the top of canopy but didn't complete the lark's head knot that would have secured it in place. The bridle had a bar tack on it that could catch in the ring and give the appearance the bridle is correctly attached to the canopy. Parachute Riggers have known for a long time that when you start any job you finish it. If you are distracted, and need to leave the work, you start the procedure over on your return. Not having a pilot chute connected to the canopy on a single canopy system has always been a nightmare scenario for BASE jumpers, however, this is the first time it has actually happened.

#74 Alexi Kosarev - 2003 Apr 05 Object: Earth Location: ITALY, , Brento COD: strike Description: Alexi experienced an off heading opening and a wall strike after a 5 to 6 second delay. He is hung up for a short period of time before falling the remaining distance to the talus. An Alpine rescue is immediately launched only to find Alexi dead. There are questions surfacing now concerning the experience and preparation level of this jumper. Locals are saying high winds and the short delay (they recommend at least 8-9 seconds) put Alexi too close to the wall on opening. This is the fifth Brento BASE fatality and concerned local jumpers have placed a plaque at the launch point, not so much to memorialize the dead, but to forewarn the living that Brento is an advanced skills level BASE jump

#75 Linus Rains - 2003 Jul 23 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Labben, Trollveggen COD: Strike + impact Description: This is a report from Linus' fiancee, Linus launched from Labben during the evening of July 23th. The weather is clear and there's no wind. As usual he started to track from the wall face and out over the talus. Linus is a highly skilled tracker and his previous jump from Labben in June, this year, he made a 38 seconds delay sans wing suit. No one knows exactly what went wrong, but this is what I saw from the landing area. The canopy started to deploy at the lower point of the talus, but he impacted on the talus before the main canopy is fully inflated. He hit the wall twice in his fall and eventually came to rest at a ledge, approximately 150 meters up the talus. Within an hour, the rescue team had located him, dis-entangled his parachute, and declared him dead. Technical examination of the canopy revealed one toggle is released. Linus' injuries and the fact only one toggle is released indicates a possible 180 degree off heading opening and a cliff strike. Linus is a very experienced and skilled big wall jumper. He found his passion for BASE jumping in Romsdal, Norway, where he made his first BASE jump with an American friend in the summer of 1997. His love for BASE jumping drove him to the big walls of Europe where Linus and had some of the best moments of his BASE jumping career. He found comfort in the mountains and Linus is fascinated by the dramatic landscapes of Norway, and especially Trollveggen. He spent a lot of time in Romsdal where he and his Norwegian friends opened up many new launch points. Linus has many good friends in the BASE community. His first years of BASE jumping he shared with his good friend Thor-Alex Kappfjell, whose memory he always kept close to his heart. In June this year Linus had spread the last of the ashes of his friend John Hoover at that very same site on the Trollveggen. Linus was a very loving and caring person and he leaves a great emptiness behind

#76 Fabrice Parent - 2003 Aug 11 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: strike Description: Fabrice had 500 skydives and 53 BASE jumps when he launched for this planned 9-second delay. On deployment he experienced a 180 with a full line twist and impacted the wall

#77 Gabi Dematte - 2003 Aug 13 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Gasterntal COD: Strike + impact Description: The following report is from one of Gabi's many friends. Gabi went to jump alone, like she did very often. Getting away from the crowds in Lauterbrunnen she went to another valley known by only a very few jumpers. She couldn't outfly a ledge with her wings. Which is awkward, because she kicked ass with those wings. She did not attempt to pull. Gabi was a very good jumper, and a super nice person. I was lucky to get to know her and I will treasure her contribution to my existence. For me, it was nice to jump with another woman. It was special and it did not last long enough. Lauterbrunnen valley is empty and quiet now. Gabi is the fourth BASE wing suit fatality

#78 Jason Corcoran - 2003 Oct 09 Object: Span Location: UNITED STATES, IDAHO, Twin Falls COD: Impact Description: Jason is the second Perrine Bridge fatality and Twin Fall's third BASE fatality overall. With around 2000 skydives and 100 BASE jumps Jason is performing aerials and either over-delayed, or had some type of pilot chute or bridle hang up. While his pilot chute did deploy his canopy did not inflate prior to impact

#79 'Bruno' Unknown - 2003 Nov 23 Object: Span Location: FRANCE, , Tulle COD: Impact Description: The only report I have here is the bridle may have become lodged under this jumper's arm preventing any further deployment. *** UPDATE 12-JAN-2010 ***The jumper was a French ex special forces officer and experienced military jump including HALO. He and a friend went to jump a 150m bridge this night. The bridge does not have a pedestrian walkway and as such it is illegal to cross by foot. Highway patrol spotted the two and attempted to arrest them. The jumpers ran towards the exit point to jump as their getaway but while this jumper dropped the PC. It became entangled with him while picking it up and he jumped anyway. It is unknown if he knew or not about the entanglement prior to jumping but he was unable to clear it in freefall. It may sound obvious but don't sacrifice safety over getting busted. Busted is always better than busted up (or dead).

#80 Unknown Unknown - 2004 May 03 Object: Antenna Location: RUSSIAN FEDERATION, , Saratov COD: Impact Description: So far this appears to be a deployment problem either by starting the sequence too late, or experiencing some sort of pilot chute hesitation. This is the third reported BASE fatality from Russia

#81 Andi K - 2004 Jun 18 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , COD: Impact Description: From a report. Andi had 300 skydives and 30 BASE jumps. It was his 2nd jump that day and his 2nd jump from the Nose. He jumped straight, tracked, opened at around 200 meters off the ground (half-way down the face), had a 180 and hit the cliff 3-seconds later. There was zero wind. From what I've been told it was his first off-heading opening. He died immediately on impact.

#82 Jeff Barker - 2004 Jul 05 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, WASHINGTON, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest COD: Impact Description: Jeff is jumping with a wingsuit and he failed to clear a outcropping in freefall. This is the fifth BASE wingsuit fatality.

#83 Duane Thomas - 2004 Aug 21 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Impact Description: Duane, a Kiwi with a quick smile, is a well known and experienced BASE jumper. The following is from an eye witness. The jump is witnessed by two British jumpers and two Swiss jumpers. One Brit watching, and videoing, from the exit point, the other three watching from the LZ. This is Duane's first wingsuit BASE jump, and his first jump ever with a leg mounted pilot chute pouch. Prior to this jump Duane prepared by making 50 aircraft and 2 hot air balloon wingsuit skydives. Duane had a good exit and a good flight. Everybody saw him reach for and locate the pilot chute at what the witnesses said is a reasonable altitude. He then kept his hand there and continued in freefall. The speculation is the lack of normal groundrush (like the type he is used to when not wearing a wingsuit) might have fooled him. The Swiss are yelling at him to pull and he finally did so, at what they said is about 30-feet above the ground. The canopy lifted out of the pack tray but is no where near line stretch when he impacted in a full flight position. According to the Swiss there is no fumbling around, or looking for the pilot chute handle - all the witnesses agree on this. He reached and located the pilot chute, but just took to long to deploy it. A hard pull cannot be fully discounted at this time, but all the witnesses believe he just waited too long. This is the sixth BASE wingsuit fatality since the first one occurred in September of 2002

#84 Roland Simpson - 2004 Oct 22 Object: Building Location: CHINA, , Shanghai COD: Strike Description: Slim is an experienced and well known BASE jumper with over 1200 jumps when he launched for this wingsuit flight at a major BASE event in China. After a good flight he deployed into line twists and is unable to avoid a hard rooftop strike on an adjacent structure. Slim is a major influence on an entire generation of BASE jumpers and this is a major blow, not only in his home country of Australia, but to the entire BASE world. There is much to be said of this man including this sentiment from one of his good friends. I am awed by his courage, determination, and perseverance in coming back to a sport that had battered and broke him once before. He faced down the demon of fear after his recovery and re-entered the sport with humor and panache. And cripples can fly he said of his first jump back. What an inspiration he was.

#85 Jason Fitz-Herbert - 2004 Oct 29 Object: Earth Location: AUSTRALIA, New South Wales, Bungonia Gorge COD: Strike Description: Jason is a very experienced BASE jumper (800 jumps) and instrumental in training many of Australia's first time BASE jumpers. The following is from an eyewitness report. Jason was traveling to the funeral of Roland (Slim) Simpson, who died BASE jumping nine days earlier. While Slim is a dear friend of Jason's this is not a memorial jump. Jason is attempting a very difficult jump he had been working towards for some time. This site requires a good track to achieve adequate separation from the wall and to clear an under hung section. Jason is wearing tracking pants. He performed a single front somersault that over rotated and delayed the start of his track. He pitched his pilot chute but impacted the under hung section prior to full deployment. Jason touched many lives and will be sorely missed. His motivation in recent times is improving the safety of the sport and he's recently appointed the Director of Safety and Training for the Australian BASE Association. It is sure his many friends, and students he's mentored, will forever keep his memory alive. Jason leaves behind his partner Livia, and his former partner Melissa, and their six year old son Blake

#86 Erich Wagar - 2004 Nov 17 Object: Antenna Location: UNITED STATES, WISCONSIN, Somerset COD: Impact Description: One of the good guys is how this jumper is being remembered. This is a daytime 2-way tower jump (940-feet) in foggy conditions. According to his friends, Erich is well known for his aerials and is fast earning recognition for his ability and friendly bearing. Here's a report from the other jumper on the load. We did a 2-way and we left stable and immediately began to track away from the tower. We planned for him to be the low man and he was to signal me to pull by reaching for his pilot chute and delaying one second. I deployed my canopy as soon as his hand moved toward his pilot chute. My canopy deployed normally and on heading. After I established that I had a good canopy I witnessed Erich with a partially open canopy impact the ground. The spot where he impacted was on a hill about thirty to fifty feet above the base of the tower and 250-ft horizontally away. I landed safely and immediately cutaway my canopy and ran toward him. I found him unconscious and unresponsive. I tried CPR but he did not respond. I then called 911 and emergency services were sent to the scene. The EMTs hooked him up to a monitor and there were no vital signs. I believe he was killed immediately on impact. Eric was one of my best friends and was a friend to many people around the world. Please think of his wife Gretchen and his son Max because they need our love. I will miss him and all that know him will as well. The world is a lesser place due to his passing. This is the third BASE fatality that is fog related.

#87 Johannes Teigland - 2005 Mar 24 Object: Earth Location: ITALY, , COD: Impact Description: J.T. is doing aerials. After completing those aerials he encountered stability problems that led to a late deployment and a wall strike. Here is a rough translation from the Italian press. Desire to fly in the vacuum at one hundred km/h for 500 meters and to open the parachute in extremis has costed the life to J. T., 31 years, of Oslo that yesterday morning launched from Italian terminal wall exit. To betray the Scandinavian jumper it has been probably the insufficient acquaintance of the particular local climatic conditions. In fact, it has been a squall of local wind to make to lose the control of the parachute to the young person that has ended to crash against cliffs dying on the blow. It is the sixth victim on the walls of of Italy in five years.

#88 Olov Axel Kappfjell - 2005 May 16 Object: Antenna Location: FRANCE, , Paris COD: Impact/Strike Description: Olov is a cousin of Thor Axel Kappfjell who himself died BASE jumping in 1999. Olov, with another jumper and a small crew, is endeavoring to jump in honor of Norway's Independence Day. Earlier that day they had been discovered while preparing to launch from the 56-story Montparnasse tower, the only real skyscraper in Paris. It is then decided to attempt a jump from the Eiffel Tower. Initially the plan called for jumping from the top of tower which is 930-feet. However, tight security made them abort that idea. A decision is then made to attempt the jump from a lower level. The second level (or platform) of the tower is 370-feet and at this point the second jumper elected not to jump. Olov launched and impacted the first level of the tower. This level is 200-feet AGL and 170-feet below where he launched. In modern BASE terms the Eiffel Tower is first jumped by two BASE jumpers in 1984. The following year stuntman/skydiver B.J. Worth made a legal jump for the James Bond film , A View to a Kill. Sadly, Olov and his cousin Thor are the first two relatives to appear on this List.

#89 Siller Wolfgang - 2005 May 21 Object: Earth Location: AUSTRIA, , Drachenwand COD: Impact Description: This jumper had about 100 BASE jumps and is flying a BM S3 wingsuit for the first time. It's reported he had 10 previous wingsuit BASE jumps all with a BM GTI. It is being said that winds may have been a factor in his having stability problems. A rescue team found him with his pilot chute still stowed in his leg strap pouch. Locals are asking BASE jumpers to refrain from jumping this site for at least a month

#90 Jurij Graciov - 2005 Jul 03 Object: Earth Location: FRANCE, , Chartreuse COD: Impact/Strike Description: Below is an internet translation from a French BASE jumping web site. Right now it sounds like a turn on opening and a wall strike. Our friend died yesterday morning in the Chartreuse Nature Park. He exited last of a group of five people. He may have hit a plateau during deployment, ending up dead under canopy. Jurij had completed several hundred BASE jumps. We lost a dear friend, and the Foreign Legion lost a brother-in-arm..

#91 Darcy Zoitsas - 2005 Jul 19 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Kjerag COD: Impact Description: Darcy was using a PF tracking suit. He had been using it for some time and as most of the jumpers, he had experienced that he had to make some adjustments to his position and technique to get the suit really working. He was experienced big wall jumper and very current on this specific site. The jump in question was his first jump where he really nailed his track from the very first stages of the track. He really had his suit flying and he was motoring towards the LZ. (It must be noted at that point tracking to the landing area was not so common feat on this site). At the same time as he was tracking along the talus he was getting sucked lower and lower and he probably didn't experience normal ground rush as his track was really going at that point. So at the time he started to deploy he maybe didn't notice just exactly how low he was, he was not by any means too low but just low enough that his margin for error was getting thinner. At deployment time he experienced some unstableness in his position, tried to correct that and tumbled, from there he probably tried to gain stability before deploying. He eventually pitched but impacted the talus near line stretch. What must be noted from this fatality is that while the modern flying equipment is making BASE safer it is also is presenting us with new hazards. When going into tracking suits or starting flying wingsuits it must be remembered that you might not experience normal groundrush and you can easily get unintentionally sucked low. Also stability issues during pull time can be very different situations with big inflating clothing.

#92 Vadim Vertz Vertzgaizer - 2005 Nov 11 Object: Antenna Location: RUSSIAN FEDERATION, , Angarsk COD: Strike then Impact Description: According to a Russian crew this tower has more guy wires attached to the top than the bottom and Vadim had approximately 30 previous BASE jumps. He had a slight stability problem during the launch and this caused him to deploy sooner than planned. The opening resulted in an off heading deployment. At this point the canopy collided with one of the tower's guy wires and hung there for a moment before it began sliding down the wire. In just a few seconds the heat generated by this movement sawed through a riser and at least one front riser line group. Vadim fell the rest of the way, about 300- feet, and is killed on impact. Vadim is in an area without too many other BASE jumpers to get advice from and most jumpable sites here haven't been opened yet

#93 Julian Tom Manship - 2005 Dec 31 Object: Antenna Location: UNITED STATES, NORTH CAROLINA, COD: Impact Description: Weather conditions at the time were reported to be clear skies with light winds on a new moon, launch altitude was approximately 1500-feet. Witnesses, approximately 3500?? away on the ground, report hearing the beginning stages of deployment for about 1 second followed by impact with the ground. Ground crew arrived at Tom immediately and checked for vital signs. 911 was called at approximately 12:33 AM, and authorities arrived on the scene within minutes. Ground crew noticed that both brakes were still stowed and the slider was only 1/4 to 1/3 of the way down the lines. The autopsy report confirmed Tom died on impact from multiple fatal injuries. Death was attributed to a low pull but no clear conclusions can be made as to why. A gear check was performed after removal and nothing was found to be wrong with his equipment. His gear was configured appropriately for this jump and he was wearing a Tracking Suit. Tom was an extremely well liked and experienced BASE jumper with 1869 BASE jumps from more than 40 objects. Tom, who spent his summers in Twin Falls, Idaho making 4 jumps a day, was known and loved by many jumpers around the world

#94 Paul Smith-Crallan - 2006 Mar 15 Object: Antenna Location: UNITED KINGDOM, , Kent, Swanscombe COD: Impact Description: Paul, who was under the supervision of a mentor, is jumping this pylon for the first time. His mentor is known to teach his charges to use a packing aid when folding pilot chutes for stowed jumps. Apparently Paul did not remove the packing aid, which was a pull up cord, prior to jumping and on deployment the pilot chute failed to extract the canopy in time for full inflation. Nicknamed, BaseMonkey Paul was well liked and very enthusiastic about the sport. The lesson here is obvious for both mentors and students

#95 Stephan Grossman - 2006 Apr 15 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Wall Strike Description: Stephan had approximately 40 previous BASE jumps, with one being from this same cliff. The jump is stowed and slider up and he did a conservative delay and tracked before opening high over the talus. He then expereinced an off heading opening and suffered a wall strike.Witness reports from the top say he should have had enough time to turn but maybe had line twists, or some other problem, not apparent from the top. Stephan was a locally well respected rigger and in the process of setting up a BASE school when this accident occurred. He leaves behind a wife and two children

#96 Stephane LLonide - 2006 Apr 16 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Wall Strike Description: This jumper had one previous BASE jump when he over rotated head down before pitching his pilot chute. He then experienced an off heading opening facing the cliff and is on his risers trying to turn, but he did not clear the wall in time. He continued to impact the wall until coming to rest in the talus.

#97 Alexey Sayutin - 2006 May 06 Object: Earth Location: UKRAINE, , Crimea, Engelsk COD: Wall Strike Description: This is a hand held slider up short delay from a cliff. After 2 to 3 seconds of freefall this jumper experienced an off heading opening. He hit the wall and slid down the rest of the way to the talus. He was still alive at that point and resuscitation efforts were quickly begun but Alexey died an hour and half later. The above three BASE fatalities are similar and all occurred in a span of three weeks. As our sport becomes ever more popular, and we approach our hundredth BASE fatality, it may be time to reflect on the obvious dangers and to instill in people that BASE is not the sport for everyone. BASE jumping is like a Rose, it is beautiful, and it can hurt you, and it all depends on how you grab for it.

#98 Tony Coombesy Coombes - 2006 May 27 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Trollveggen COD: Wall Strike Description: Witness reports say Coombesy was hung up on the wall with his canopy out at about 300 meters from the bottom. The jump was reported as a five way and Coombesy is known for flying close to the wall. Coombesy was a well known Australian BASE jumper and a Bloke's Bloke who had friends throughout the world. This is the seventh Trollveggen area fatality.

#99 Shannon Carmel Dean - 2006 May 29 Object: Span Location: UNITED STATES, IDAHO, Twin Falls COD: Impact Description: This was Shannon's 4th jump at an annual Memorial weekend event in Twin Falls. She did a good launch and a stable face to earth delay before encountering a problem in deploying her stowed pilot chute. Witness reports state she reached for the pilot chute and either missed it or lost her grip - while extracting it from the BOC. One witness stated her last attempt to deploy the pilot chute resulted in it (the pilot chute) getting on her back and hesitating. The final result was an impact with essentially nothing out. Shannon, as evidenced by the outpouring from within the BASE community, was a special person whos zest for life influenced all who came in contact with her. It must also be mentioned that this year's event in Twin Falls saw marginal weather conditions and less jumps made than in previous years, yet there was a serious up-tick in the amount of injuries sustained by jumpers in general. There are some saying this bridge is a cakewalk as far as BASE jumps go - but all well thinking BASE jumpers know better than to apply the word cakewalk to any BASE jump.

#100 Mario Massato - 2006 Jun 18 Object: Antenna Location: BRAZIL, , Marilia COD: Impact Description: Before his own jump Mario had assisted two other jumpers using the pilot chute assist (PCA) method from this 225-foot cellular phone tower. Alone on the tower now Mario climbed outside into a launch position. He then pivoted 180-degrees in order to face the tower and hook up his pilot chute. Then he turned again to face away. However, he turned the wrong way and effectively wrapped the bridle around his lower body and he didn't notice the problem prior to launching. The dynamic shock load of his full body weight hitting the bridle as he fell caused the cordage holding the bridle and pilot chute to the tower to separate prior to opening the container or giving him line stretch. He reacted quickly and fought to clear the bridle, but while the pilot chute did inflate, and did open the container, the parachute itself is fouled around his body and he died immediately on impact. The very first static line fatality occurred in 1987 and the second followed in 1995 and Mario is now the third - and all three are caused when the break cord failed prematurely. Note: Mario has become the 100th BASE jumping fatality since the first one occurred twenty five years ago in 1981.

#101 Bernd St - 2006 Sep 09 Object: Earth Location: AUSTRIA, , Dachstein Southwall COD: Wall Strike Description: The following is from an internet translation: Bernd is with a colleague from Salzburg when they rode the cablecar to the top of Dachstein, with the intent to hurl themselves into the deep over the southwall. The jumper from Salzburg jumped first, then the jumper from the Steirmark region. At about 2000 Meters high (assuming ASL) the 27-year old experienced some problems, the cause of which is unknown, and went too close to the wall. He bounced against the cliff, his parachute opened and got caught and Bernd St. stayed there hanging from the lines without his life.

#102 Adam Gibson - 2006 Sep 15 Object: Earth Location: MEXICO, , COD: Impact with wall Description: From a report: Adam over rotated his front loop and went fully head down for almost the entire freefall trying to correct it. At the last second he obviously realized he couldnn??t make it and threw his pilot chute, but did not have time to extract anything else as he hit the ledge. He died instantly as was confirmed by the autopsy report. A word about aerials: There was another jumper with Adam who has since penned a heartfelt awakening concerning aerials after they both agreed to do aerials on this jump. The gainer. The truth of it is, at some point this summer, the gainer became my 'crutch' move. I can finally be honest about that. I had always heard about people that struggled to do a flat and stable exit because all they ever did were aerials, I hadn't realized that I had moved in that direction. I was scared and gainers made me feel confident, so that's probably why I saw what I wanted to see when I looked over that ledge. Beyond that, I really thought that I could pull it off. Of course, the true test of a successful jump is not whether you can 'pull it off,' but rather if you can repeat it.

#103 Brian Lee Schubert - 2006 Oct 21 Object: Span Location: UNITED STATES, WEST VIRGINIA, New River Gorge Bridge COD: Impact Description: Brian, who along with Mike Pelkey, were the first two persons to parachute from Yosemite's El Capitan in 1966. Those jumps became the catalyst for the sport later to become BASE jumping. Last year they both came to Bridge Day (2005) and spoke to the assembled jumpers. The recounting of their El Cap experience had us laughing, clapping, and yes, crying a bit too. It was the closing of circle in the history of BASE and I consider myself very lucky to have had the chance to become friends with both men. Up until that Bridge Day neither man had kept up their BASE jumping or skydiving, but that year (2005) Mike Pelkey made a successful jump from the bridge. Brian deferred saying he wasn't ready, and he spent the following year getting ready and dreaming of next year's Bridge Day. Prior to his jump Brian received refresher training from several qualified people. Video shows Brian struggling to move the trapped pilot chute from his chest for 2 full seconds. While Brian did unintentionally perform one backflip shortly after a non-vertical standard (20 degrees forward) launch, he became stable and deployed his pilot chute in adequate time. He did, however, fail to deploy his pilot chute into clean air. Brian deployed his pilot chute into his chest at the 5 second mark where it became trapped against his body until being released at the 7 second point. Brian's parachute began to deploy, but the slider had just started down the lines when impact occurred at 8.5 seconds. I would be remiss in not mentioning what kind of man Brian was ?? he was generous to a fault and as big hearted as they come. Mike Pelkey lost his best friend at Bridge Day 2006 and we lost a gentle man who unconditionally and genuinely loved us all . . .

#104 Joe Lathrop - 2006 Nov 03 Object: Span Location: UNITED STATES, IDAHO, Twin Falls COD: Impact Description: Reports state Joe used a packing aid, a pull up cord, while folding and stowing his pilot chute on the bridge. It is not known for sure if he removed the pull up cord prior to jumping. He then did a floater launch that went slightly head low and he pitched at 2.5 seconds. Witnesses on the bridge report his pilot chute looked too small the inference being the pull up cord is still on the pilot chute. Another witness, in the LZ, said the pilot chute was inflated just prior to impact. The bridle was found to be tightly wound around one of Joe's ankles. The container remained closed (although one witness said it opened at the last moment) and when examined the pilot chute was free of any packing aids. Another witness on the bridge, who was not part of Joe's group, said he watched Joe use the pull up cord to stow his pilot chute, but couldn't say if it was left in place as he never saw the pull up cord again. This witness also mentioned he pointed out that Joe had twisted a leg strap while donning his rig and that Joe fixed the twist prior to launching. Joe is the fourth Perrine Bridge fatality and the eleventh BASE fatality of 2006.

#105 Csaba Zsiros - 2006 Nov 18 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen (La Mousse) COD: impact Description: Csaba had close to 500 BASE jumps and jumping along with two other experienced BASE jumpers. One of the other two is doing a short delay, with camera, to film the others. Csaba launched back to earth and did not start tracking until he was very close to the outcropping of the wall. When he did start his track he realized he wasn't going to make it past the outcropping and deployed his canopy, but he impacted the cliff as his canopy was opening. The canopy did fly out over the LZ, giving the other jumpers some hope, but Csaba is already dead when help reached him. Most likely he was killed instantly in the cliff strike.

#106 Edgar Kraus - 2006 Dec 27 Object: Earth Location: ITALY, , Brento (ITW) COD: impact Description: A jumper on the load has reported this as a two-way with Edgar launching on his back and filming the upper jumper. The second jumper tracked out and over Edgar after about three seconds, and watched as he attempted to turn face to earth which he says was done while very unstable. The witness also mentioned Edgar wasn't wearing a jumpsuit or tracking clothes. The second jumper opened and when he looked back he saw that Edgar's canopy had hit the wall and it and Edgar were now falling the rest of the way. This is the fifth fatality to involving flying back to earth with camera. Edgar was a well liked and experienced BASE jumper who's death, I hope, will unfortunately yet mercifully, end the single most disastrous year in BASE jumping's 27-year history. We lost thirteen brothers and sisters to 2006 and that should give us all pause to ponder what we are doing. The true consequences, of course, are visited onto the families of those jumpers, but it should reinforce in all of us to be as careful as possible. I don't know what the true answer is, or how we go about making the sport safer, but I do know we could all slow down a little bit, and we can, and should, temper our bravado around each other and especially around newer and would-be BASE jumpers.

#107 Ren? Duriaux - 2007 Jan 04 Object: Earth Location: FRANCE, , Benevise COD: unk Description: Details here are few, but it's being reported Renn was found in his car deceased at a remote cliff site by French Police. One of his legs were severely injured and his cause of death, it was determined, was heart failure. At the time he was found no gear was in evidence and it wasn't known if Renn was injured on his approach to the launch point or during a jump. Since the time of the discovery of his body his gear has been found at the bottom of the cliff. It appears now Renn was somehow injured during the jump but had managed to get back to his car where he died.

#108 Alexander Chavdar - 2007 Jan 28 Object: Antenna Location: RUSSIAN FEDERATION, , COD: impact Description: Alexander is with friends and jumping from a 1000-ft antenna tower in the daylight. The WX conditions are good. It's reported Alexander made 70 previous BASE jumps over the course of seven months and also had prior experience on this object. His associates are saying this was a low pull.

#109 Sean Richards - 2007 Feb 10 Object: Other Location: SPAIN, , COD: object strike Description: Sean was a long time and well known British BASE jumper and not much is know at this point except early reports are saying Sean hit the dam at some point during the jump. While dams have been popular BASE objects for a long time Sean has become the first BASE jumping fatality to occur from one. The weather conditions were good and the winds were 0-2mph across the dam. Hubert jumped first and had a perfect on heading opening. I went second and also had a good opening. Sean had a 90+ degree off heading to the left, but the canopy then apeared to surge left again as it started to fly - into the Dam wall. It was a full body impact, the canopy remained partially inflated, but he fell 80ft+ awkwardly onto some railings. He did not have enough time to react, but he never gave up.

#110 Mikhail Panchenko - 2007 Mar 21 Object: Antenna Location: RUSSIAN FEDERATION, , Vladivostok COD: drowning Description: Reports indicate Mikhail, who began skydiving at age 14, was also a paraglider pilot and had about 20 prior BASE jumps. He'd contacted another jumper before this jump and they discussed various issues including any possible static electricity problems. He'd just taken delivery of a brand new BASE container that had separate cutaway handles for each riser although the reporting jumper says it's not known if this had any bearing on the fatality. The jump was planned for a dry landing but once open Mikhail apparently realized he couldn't make the LZ and he went into the water about a 100-feet (30 meters) from shore. He was then seen struggling for about twenty minutes before being overcome by hypothermia. The water temperature was reported to be 39.2 F (+4 C). Ground crew tried to get to him but could not do so in time. His body was recovered and taken to the hospital where emergency care was provided. Mikhail had a website and it is here: http://www.windsport.ru/events/2007_03_22.html

#111 Yegor Drozdov - 2007 Apr 10 Object: Span Location: UNITED STATES, IDAHO, Twin Falls COD: impact Description: This report is from a local and very experienced BASE jumper. Unfortunately, we had a fatality here yesterday. Reports are thin, because the jumper was alone. We do have some tourist reports from the overlook. Conditions were very bad, so bad that none of the locals believed this was really a BASE fatality at first, as we all thought it impossible that anyone would have decided to jump in the very strong and extremely turbulent winds. From my initial conversation with the coroner, it appears (I have not examined the gear, so this is going off what the non-jumping medical examiner was able to relay over the phone from my questions) that impact occurred at high speed with a closed container, but with the PC fully deployed. My best guess is that the jump took place in a very high tailwind (weather history shows 32-39 mph winds at the time of the accident) and that the jumper experienced a wind induced bridle entanglement (possible from pitching early with a high tailwind, and getting the PC blown back under the arm/body). Sheriff dispatch reported a call from a jumper just before the jump [as per local protocols] followed within 10 minutes by a call from a spectator who had observed the impact. No jumpers observed the accident, so all my information is 4th hand at this point. I'm hoping to have a look at the gear sometime in the next few days. A report issued by local authorites on 4/12/07 is now saying Yegor was found with the bridle still wrapped around his hand. This is the fifth Perrine Bridge fatality and Twin Falls' sixth BASE fatality overall (the former being from another area bridge). The five Perrine fatalities all appear to be from pilot chute problems that led to late, or no canopy deployments at all.

#112 Jimmy Hall - 2007 May 09 Object: Earth Location: CANADA, Nunavut, Baffin Islands, Sam Ford Fjord COD: impact Description: Adventurer Jimmy Hall was killed in a tragic accident north of the Arctic Circle. Jimmy was in a very remote area near Sam Fjord on Baffin Island in Canada filming a documentary on the region that included base jumping from the incredibly harsh mountains. Jimmy died during one of those base jumps while performing a wingsuit jump. Details are yet to be released. A tribute to Jimmy can be found here http://www.mediastars.tv/jimmyhall/.

#113 Jean-Marc Moulign? - 2007 Jun 30 Object: Earth Location: FRANCE, , Verdon COD: Drowning Description: Base jumping specialist Jean-Marc Mouligne died by drowning Saturday in the Verdon gorges after a jump in La-Palud-sur-Verdon (in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), according to police reports. Base jump is a dangerous sport which involves throwing oneself off a cliff with a parachute. Jean-March Mouligne, 57 years old, was known as the human catapult since he learned how to catapult himself more than 100 metres from the ground before opening his parachute. According to the police, he had made a jump, and it was on landing that his parachute, falling into the water, pulled him to the bottom. His body was found at the end of the morning by practioners of white-water sports. He was removed by helicopter at the end of the afternoon. Jean-Marc Mouligne was originally from Romainville in Seine-Saint-Denis. A website dedicated to him can be found here: http://www.hommevolant.fr/hommevolant/Accueil.html

#114 Nikolai Ens - 2007 Jul 07 Object: Earth Location: RUSSIAN FEDERATION, , Nalchik COD: Cliff Strike Description: This report was received through a jumper who was able to translate Russian.... cliff jump. the deceased had 65 jumps, 3 from the same cliff. the rest were from 60 and 80 meter antennas. to get to LZ you have to fly over a river, so most people do slider downs at this cliff. The site was opened last year. They were held up by weather for over 3 hours due to a very strong headwind, and afterwards the weather was marginally ok - 2-3 meters a sec winds (4-5mph). The jumper took 1-2 seconds, people saw the pitch, did not hear the openings, but heard the rocks rollings.He was found 230 meters below the exit hung up with toggles in his hands. The jumper was using a Troll 305 MDV A picture of the site can be seen here: http://photofile.ru/users/anis-i/1392388/30043672/

#115 Stevo Stephen Richard Anderton - 2007 Aug 14 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Langrappiken COD: Description: 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. Stevo was a great friend to those around him and will be sorely missed by the Oz BASE crew and those around the world that met him. He was inspirational, a joker and a great mate.

#116 Bert Brooks - 2007 Sep 07 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Wall Strike Description: Bert was with his girlfriend Michelle on a BASE vacation in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. Conditions were good, and this particular jump occurred a bit after 2pm local time. Michelle jumped first, landed, and turned to watch Bert's jump. He was using a 34 pilot chute expecting to get full terminal airspeed but had to pitch between 5 and 7 seconds. It is unclear why, but he was too close to the wall to continue freefall. Bert pitched and opened with a 180 facing the wall. Bert struck the wall multiple times and was reported to be unresponsive after the first strike. Bert made it a point to never wear a helmet. Had he chose otherwise it could have given him a chance to fight and turn after that first strike. We will never know but hopefully will think twice ourselves about protective gear.

#117 Marcelo Dutra - 2007 Sep 13 Object: Antenna Location: BRAZIL, , Encantado City COD: Impact - No canopy out Description: Marcelo was an outdoor enthusiast known as a climber, a rafting guide, a skydiver, and an well experienced paraglider pilot. He was new to BASE with around 30 jumps. Marcelo climbed a 180 foot antenna this evening. It was to be a static line jump and Marcelo chose to remove his pilot chute. He tied rope to the tower, and then his bridle to the rope using break-cord. The rope's knot to the tower came undone when he jumped and trailed behind him him even popping the pins of his container. Marcelo died from impact. Hindsight is 20/20: Always check your knots and think twice before removing a pilot chute even for a PCA or static-line.

#118 Oleg Kudria - 2007 Sep 30 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Impact - No canopy out Description: This report comes from a jumping mate of Oleg's: Oleg was an experienced skydiver and had 64 BASE jumps. He came to Lautebrunnen as a part of the Ukrainian team. Oleg jumped 2-way (Oleg was lower) from Yellow Ocean. On the video we can see that he was in good tracking position and prepare to throw pilot chute on the 7-8 seconds (his hand moves to the pc). After pitching he goes into boxman and was waiting for the opening. In this position he fell down into the trees. The container remains closed until impact. He dies immediately. On the next day we checked his base gear and found that the pilot chute was collapsed. The bridle had made a knot around the pilot chute. Our guess is that Oleg took out his pilot chute and before throwing he held on to it for a bit. During this time the bridle was in air and it was ?dancing? and either created a loop around the PC then or while he let go. Suggestion: Don?t hold PC if you pull it ? throw immediately.

#119 Alexander Bogoroditskiy - 2007 Oct 09 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Impact - No canopy out Description: This report comes from a post made by 'Victor Chik'. It is the only report I have seen or received. : The jump was to be a 9-way: 4 jumpers in Vampires, 4 in tracking gear, 1 in Prodigy. Exit order: first the trackers, followed by the wingsuits Alexander was jumping in a tracksuit. He was the jumper on the far left. On the video we have a good close-up shot of his rig just before the jump. There is nothing visibly wrong with the gear at this point. The launch went well, each jumper in his assigned sector. Many video POVs reveal no collisions or bumps of any kind. There were 5 cameras + 1 from the ground. We can see Alexander's jump from two video POVs. He appears to have an efficient and stable track all the way down until deployment. He pitches at around 200m, the first of his group. Immediately after pitching he goes into boxman. The pilot chute tows after him inflated at about 1m (3-4ft), i.e. the pilot chute does not reach full bridle stretch. Quickly realizing something is wrong, Alexander moves both arms back. The first video POV ends here. The other video POV shows him falling with his legs tucked in and his arms behind his back. He is not stable at this point as he is fighting to clear the malfunction. The pilot chute is still towing after him inflated at about 1m from his back. He impacts still fighting and towing the pilot chute at forest line (the closest to the field). The container remains closed until impact, there is no part of the canopy out. He dies immediately at impact.

#120 Jeferson Bitencourt - 2007 Oct 13 Object: Building Location: BRAZIL, , Curitiba City COD: Impact after cutaway Description: This report comes from a friend in Brazil who first learned to pack from Jeferson. Unfortunately this is the second fatality in Brazil within a month. Jeferson Bitencourt (Base # 848) jumped a 105 meters B in Curitiba city, Brazil. it was his 7th jump in this object. He jumped alone, a non jumper witness said he had a 180, cleared the building and crashed in a tall tree. Maybe he was just afraid of getting caught or maybe he was hurt on the tree; We don't know the reasons, but he cutaway his canopy, and fell 40 feet. He had multiple injures on his back and head. Jeferson stayed in coma at the hospital for a week and passed away on October 20th. He started jumping in 2001, lived in Moab for 6 months, had 240 jumps and was considered to be well experienced by the Brazilian crew.

#121 Emanuele Amadori - 2008 May 25 Object: Earth Location: ITALY, , Trento COD: Impact - No canopy Description: Under inspection

#122 Angus Gus Hutchison-Brown - 2008 May 25 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , COD: Description: This report came from the a witness and fellow jumper: I was the only jumper who witnessed Gus' last jump from exit to impact so i thought I'd tell all to clear up and questions you have about the incident, We all met in the morning at 6am like we all had been that week, Gus had only arrived a couple of days earlier, we were all off to an exit point approx an hour out of the Valley that most of us hadn't jumped before, during the drive Gus revealed to me that this would be his third attempt at the this jump, winds thwarting his previous attempts. At the exit point we all looked over, deciding on our landing areas etc, winds were gonna be no problem thankfully this morning so we all went ahead and kitted up. I do recall thinking at the time that the powerlines were at a slightly awkward distance for a wingsuit, but had no desire to point out this fact as Gus being an experienced wingsuit pilot and what with me having none and i just had confidence that Gus would make it over them no problem as this was his plan, so who was it for me to offer advice or even make my opinion heard. We decided on an exit plan, all solos and i went last as i wanted to film everyone's exit, the first 4 jumps went fine, all 4-5 secs delays and made it back to the planned landing areas, then Gus launched himself off, from my perspective it looked like a great flight, although i was watching it on my LCD screen, not with my eye, i can't say how long he was in flight for, but as he starting getting nearer to the powerlines i did think to myself damn he's low, then i saw him deploy just he had made it over the lines, from my viewpoint his canopy came out behind the powerlines, but no sooner had his canopy deployed it collapsed on the ground, my cam was fully zoomed in at this point as it was hard to tell if there was movement from his white wingsuit, i turned the cam off and was squinting to see if there was any movement, there wasn't, and i knew he was at least hurt bad. As you can imagine, i didn't wanna jump, but not having the car keys i was stuck at the top, the others all landed far away from Gus, and i decided that i could be first on scene if i just jumped now, i don't even remember the jump, it was just a means to get down quick, i landed next to Gus, but Rich had made it before me as its a long canopy flight. Looking back on the jump, it would seem to me that Gus obviously realised in the last few seconds of his flight that he wasn't gonna make it over the powerlines, but rather than pulling and deploying into the lines, he tried to make it over them eye witness on the ground said his flight was very flat compared to usual body position, which sez to me he was trying his best to clear the lines, PC was thrown out the same height as the lines, approx 120-150ft, but as we all know, that simply isn't enough... The paramedics were on scene within 15 mins, but there was nothing they could do. I hope you all take comfort in the fact that it was instant, Gus did not suffer and he did die doing something he loved, in a place he loved.

#123 Yoann Lizeroux - 2008 Jul 01 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Interlaken COD: Impact Description: After leaving exit point Jungfrau, a turn in flight apparently made for the purpose of descending and passing close to the first major ledge resulted in Yoan impacting said ledge.

#124 Ben Cannon - 2008 Aug 22 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Impact Description: No one saw the final seconds of the jump, but judging from Ben's video he went in the trees at linestretch, no real inflation occurs. A jumper from the last load (3-way, all wingsuit, Ben shot video) speculates that 3 things contributed to the tragedy: 1. Loss of attention to altitude because he was watching the others. 2. Possible missed pull 3. Low pull Ben was conscious when the others reached him. They thought it was bad but really thought he would pull through. He was airlifted to Interlaken after he was stabilised, and then airlifted to Bern because of the severity of his injuries. He did not make it to Bern.

#125 Tommy Tiger'n Hjert? - 2008 Sep 09 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Romsdalen COD: Description: Wingsuit proximity flight from Stabben

#126 Simon Skovgaard Jensen - 2008 Sep 11 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Ultimate, Lauterbrunnen COD: Impact Description: This report comes from a well respected jumper at the site: The jump site where he went in on is called the ultimate. It is a great jump and not actually very dangerous itself, but getting to the exit point and the exit itself is a big mind fuck. Even after my first jump there I landed and I was shaking and I have 1700+ jumps. From what I was told afterwards it was Simon's first repel which would've added to the nerves. The exit is also technical as you can't see over the egde past a few meters and it is quite underhung for the first 50 feet. Nothing too dangerous but again, a big mind fuck as you need to push off quite hard to get clear. For me personally it is a tracking jump and not a wingsuit jump but it is not for me to tell others they can or can't jump. Again simon seemed like a safe and sensible jumper so I did not worry about him at all. We were not looking up when Simon jumped but immediatley after impact his friend came running over explaining what he had just seen He said he saw someone tumbleing and then a partial parachute coming out and more tumbling down the wall until the talus. He also said there was no way that who ever it was could have survived, so it must have been fast. From the exit point my friend told me that when Simon was about to exit he was very nervous and couldn?t get his footing in the right position to exit. (its a bit of a shitty exit point for your feet and there is some grass on a slope). When he exited he went off in a head down position with, I think, his right shoulder down,with his opposite leg kicking to get stable, before he disapeared out of view. When I got to him on the talus he was wrapped in his tangled canopy and dead, with massive multiple injures. In my view I feel that he exited a little unstable and possibly paniced because of the mind fuck related to the jump. Because of the wingsuit trapping his arms in and also his experience level, I feel he tried to fight the tumbleing all the way down either 1) until impact where the parachute bounced out and he continued to tumble and get wrapped in his canopy until he stopped. or 2) he tumbled from exit and opened his parachute to late and tumbled down to where he came to rest. I have a feeling from memory that his pilot chute was still in its pouch which would mean it was senario number 1. There is not much to do to prevent this type of death except for each and every person to know their own experience levels and not push forward to soon. This is an age old problem that will never go away. Either you make it through that stage of jumping, either uninjured, injured like a lot of people do, or dead which is still pretty rare over all with all the jumps that get made. I do think that his death has made people realize that this jump is an experienced peoples jump only and hopefully that will keep people away. A similar lesson is learnt from every fatality.

#127 Igor Anis Anisenko - 2008 Oct 16 Object: Earth Location: UKRAINE, , Crimea COD: Impact Description: Anis was jumping Forostky Kant, wingsuit exit point 'W1'. This is an 18m (60 foot) extended deck off the cliff edge. Rock drop impact is 100m (330ft) below the exit point. Strong wind was reported. Anis left unstable and ended up impacting the cliff.

#128 Daniel Papy Jacquemin - 2008 Dec 29 Object: Span Location: BELGIUM, , Remouchamps COD: Impact Description: The weather was freezing but there was nearly no wind. Papy reportedly knew this 65m (210ft) bridge well and had nearly 200 jumps from it in 2 years with many of them stowed. As Papy jumped alone, no one knows the exact circumstances but Papy died from impact while the canopy was in its deployment sequence. It is possible that he delayed too long, missed his stowed PC and had to reach again, or had a PC hesitation.

#129 Chad Dennis Suppa - 2009 Feb 15 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, ARIZONA, Saguaro COD: Cliff Strike - Multiple Impact Description: From jumpers with Suppa one who was below and another at the exit point during incident- The group had been in Arizona, jumping some legal cliffs for a few days. On day 5, Suppa went first. The winds were reported to be close to calm, or they were in the wind shadow of a 4-5mph crosswind. Suppa took 1 second delay, stowed, in a flat and stable body position. The opening was a 180 with a half-linetwist, canopy flying towards the cliff. The first cliff strike was hard and the smack was heard clearly by the jumpers up top and below. Suppa was still facing forward and this strike was on his back and possibly back of his head; Suppa was wearing a skydiving helment for this jump. The second stike came after he had come out of the half twist and was head on. The strikes caused large boulders to be dislodged from the cliff and the combination of talus angle and destruction to the canopy caused it to collapse leave Suppa on the talus. The two jumpers above jumped down and landed by him for assistance. One jumper had recently gone through EMT training (a good idea for all of us) and began to assess his friend's situation. Rescue and paramedics were called in but Suppa died during extraction from major trauma. Chad was a well respected federal Wildland Firefighter.

#130 Roar R?sten - 2009 Feb 28 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Description: Coming Soon... A facebook memorial can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52948624650

#131 Aleksei Irzhembickij - 2009 Feb 28 Object: Antenna Location: BELARUS, , Minsk COD: Impact Description: Report from the Russians- gusting winds changing from crosswind to tailwind measuring 18-22mph (8-10m/s) the throw was clearly visible as a forward throw immediately after exit. The PC was inflated prior to the exit, and the jumper was not really able to throw. It seemed like right after the throw, the PC was blown behind the jumper. The PC was already inflated at the time of exit as he was holding it by the mesh. It was most likely unintentional as the jumper was experienced and new to throw instead of letting go. The container opened really low, he impacted right before complete linestretch, with lines partially out. Witness Speculation : exit - inflated PC - sudden gust of crosswind blows the PC behind the jumper - jumper tries to change body position as he realizes something is amiss - the PC clears the burble, but it's too low.

#132 James Shane McConkey - 2009 Mar 26 Object: Earth Location: ITALY, , Sass Pordoi, Dolomites COD: Impact Description: The jump was to be a wingsuit ski base. Ski off of a mountain, do some flips, then pull on release cords that are attached to upward releasing ski bindings in order to jettison the skis and fly away from the wall in the wingsuit and deploy. Shane did a double back flip in perfect McConkey style. As planned, afterwards, he went to release his skis. This is where the jump went wrong. He was able to release the right ski, but not the left, to make matters worse, the right ski became in-tow on the left.. He remained focused on releasing them by reaching down to that left binding. This put him into a spin/ unstable falling style, that was out of his control and not his concern; Shane was only concerned with reaching that heel piece on his left ski so that he could release it and achieve a snag free deployment. His movements were intentional and deliberate. He succeeded in releasing that left ski off of his boot and then both skis were gone. He immediately transitioned into a perfect flying position; but he was too low. Less than a moment later, he impacted the snow, and died.

#133 Gorm Irgens ?stlie - 2009 Apr 08 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Romsdalen COD: Description: comming soon

#134 Thibaux?? ?? - 2009 Jun 04 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Unknown Description: This bit comes from a Swiss-German newspaper- Three base jumper at the M?rrenfluh went, to take a further leap this day from the Nose. The first base jumper jumped off. His two colleagues noticed that he was unstable in freefall. Only when they were in the air - they took out a leap together - they saw their colleague was crashed and impacted near the cliff on the ground. The helicopter rescue crew found him dead. The cause of the incident is not yet known. Appropriate investigations are under way. If someone can give me better information please email bfl@splatula.com

#135 Mike Warren - 2009 Aug 10 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Romsdal, Bispen COD: Impact Description: This happened at the Bispen jump in Romsdal, which has become a popular place for spectators to watch wingsuit pilots buzz by. Bispen is Not a beginner or intermediate jump. Only very experienced wingsuit pilots should attempt this jump. Mike had approximately 8 wingsuit BASE jumps. He was jumping with a wingsuit with two others also wearing wingsuits and all three went off one after the other with Mike going first. It was foggy at the exit point and the fog cleared before the road. One of the other jumpers was flying over the road very high and looked down and saw Mike flying past the road switchback and Mike was far below him and it looked like Mike was close to the rock feature that the switchback is built upon. Mike also looked to be flying slow. Then Mike went out of view. There were no spectators on the road and no one saw Mike?s impact. From the way Mike?s body and gear was damaged it appeared as though he had done an emergency pull while still over the rock, impacting on his backside at linestretch. (on a wingsuit BASE jump, initial linestretch will usually put you on your back).

#136 Stefan Drenchev - Tsafa - 2009 Sep 07 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Cliff Strike Description: On the 9th, a group of seven went to jump from the High Nose. Stephan was the 5th to jump. His exit was perfect, but the track he performed did not separate him much from the wall. He pulled very stable but rather low and had a 180 on opening. He eventually cleared the turn but was too low and impacted on the talus. He then kept on falling and impacting, but nobody could see it clearly because he disappeared behind the trees. The canopy was fully inflated when he first impacted and the strike did not seem so hard because he was already very close to the talus, so no one thought that he would die because of the injuries. Air Glacier Helicopter Rescue was called whom arrived promptly and airlifted him to Bern. The high nose is known to be a more technical jump requiring BASE-specific tracking skill to separate yourself from the object.

#137 Leroy Buckley - 2009 Sep 09 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, UTAH, Delta COD: Impact Description: Leroy was on a trip to make his first wingsuit-BASE jump at notch peak with one friend. Upon checking with the locals to join the load they were told it's too hot (temperature not bust factor) to go at that point in the year and they recommend not going at all. The two decided to go anyway. Instead of taking a marked trail, Leroy decided (against his friend's better judgement) that they should blaze their own trail as it looked to be shorter to just follow his GPS straight up. After feeling lost for quite some time Leroy's friend decided to stop and turn back. Leroy did not agree and marched away. Leroy did eventually make it to the top. There are three exit points on Notch and the South wall is the only exit point with enough altitude to the talus not to be considered a technical wingsuit jump. The North wall is positive, and the West wall is only 600ft to the talus. Unfortunately, the South exit is not obvious to find and Leroy ended up deciding to jump the West wall. His body was found after many days of searching with clear indications of high speed impact on the talus. This exit point is a technical wingsuit jump and not suited in the least for a first wingsuit-BASE jump. Leroy visited with me just two days before making this final jump and I can say I always found him pleasant to be around. Nonetheless, he made a series of poor decisions that led up to this unfortunate event.

#138 Jimmy Freeman - 2009 Oct 31 Object: Earth Location: AUSTRALIA, New South Wales, COD: Impact (Partial Inflation) Description: This was Jimmy's 3rd attempt at a very technical wingsuit jump in Australia. Most jumpers would not even call it a wingsuit jump. He had just returned from a trip overseas and felt current enough to attempt the jump again. It is roughly a 220m (730ft) wall until the talus begins and total height to his planned landing roughly 450m (1500ft). He needed a good exit and extra good flight to make it to over the landing area. He was the first jumper off on the load and had a good exit. According to the others on the load, he did not appear to have much forward speed for the wingsuit he was using and towards the end of the flight he looked like he was flying close to the stall point. He deployed low, maybe 100m short of the planned opening area, and impacted with trees shortly after with his canopy only partially inflated. From the exit point there appeared to be no movement and the decision was made to jump down and see if he needed help. One jumper landed very close and got to him within 10 minutes. He was unable to reach Jimmy as he was high in the tree. There was no movement and no response from him. It is believed Jimmy died on impact from severe spinal damage.

#139 Ueli Gegenschatz - 2009 Nov 13 Object: Building Location: SWITZERLAND, , COD: Building Strike Description: On November 11th, Ueli was jumping an L shaped building, the 88m tall Sunrise Tower, during a promotional event. He jumped the side of the building facing the bottom of the L handheld. The glidepath he was on would put him very close to the edge of the building. He tucks his legs up and tries to clear it but it proves too be not enough and he clips the building edge with his legs. The impact flips him up and unloads the canopy. When his weight reloads on the canopy it appears to be asymetrical and Ueli turned into the ground. He was taken to the hospital and treated in the Intesive Care Unit for two days at which point he died. Ueli was a very skilled jumper and respected by the community.

#140 Scott 'Moose' Doyle - 2009 Nov 19 Object: Earth Location: UNITED STATES, IDAHO, Jerome COD: Cliff Strike Description: coming soon

#141 Bernd Strehle - 2009 Nov 28 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Impact Description: This comes from jumper M, who was at the scene- Bernd was a very experienced skydiver (over 2000 jumps) and also an experienced BASE jumper (over 250 jumps in during the last 5 years). The exit was Mighty Penis or also called via ferrata (exit at Stechelberg next to the cable car). Bernd was wearing tracking pants but was not able to outtrack the last ledge and impacted with nothing out at terminal speed. The canopy came out of the container on impact, the top loop was broken and the container was ripped open totally on one side. Pls be reminded that all the new jumps at Stechelberg are jumps for advanced and experienced jumpers. If tracked, ultimate and flowerbox are for very good and experienced trackers. The mighty penis (or Via Ferrata) is even more difficult and is not a tracking jump. It is a Wingsuit only jump. And it is for experienced Wingsuiter only.

#142 Darrell Dunafon - 2009 Dec 04 Object: Antenna Location: UNITED STATES, ARIZONA, Casa Grande COD: Electrocution Description: Darrell was jumping a 276ft longline antenna near Casa Grande, AZ. He had jumped from this antenna before and knew that the only major hazard was a powerline running to the building at the base of the antenna. This powerline ran N to S from the SE corner of the compound. Darrell exited from the SW corner of the antenna in a light crosswind. He went handheld, taking a one second delay, and opened with a 90 left facing the lines. From our viewpoint, it was impossible to know if he had line twists or if he thought he could fly over the powerlines but approximately 4 seconds after opening, he impacted the lines and grounded out. We ran to him but he was unresponsive and suspended in the lines 10ft above. Emergency crews were immediately called but they were unable to do anything for him. Darrell's accident is a surprise to many who knew him. He was a skilled canopy pilot and active BASE jumper. His excitement for life and his outgoing personality will be missed by his many friends.

#143 Darren Bull - 2009 Dec 21 Object: Earth Location: SWITZERLAND, , Lauterbrunnen COD: Cliff Strike (after slipping on exit) Description: Darren was ready for a wingsuitjump from the Pro BASE Race ramp at M?rrenfluh (Via Ferrata/ Mighty Penis). It was wintertime and therefore very icy on the exitpoint. He had a solid stance as he was wearing crampons which is typical there in the winter. As he intended to leap off he bent forward shifting his weight forward but the crampons were only afixed to the center of the shoe sole. As he pushed off, all his weight was on the leather bootie portion of the wingsuit and his left leg slipped backwards. The slip resulted in a left banked headdown exit which led into overrotation into an uncontrolled drop. After about 4 seconds Darren did an emergency pull inside the overhung section of the cliff but the opening ended unlucky in an off-heading facing the wall. Nobody can say for sure if he had an additional problem like a line twist at that point. Almost right after the canopy opened Darren had a cliff strike from which he never recovered. He slipped along the icy cliff face another 400m until he reached the talus with no life signs anymore. The canopy was ripped into pieces no longer able to suspend a person. Darren had unfortunately left his helmet in his hotel so his head had been unprotected during the cliff strike. This may have caused an instant unconciousness which kept him from fighting to clear the off heading. Second he was wearing a tight wingsuit and the cliff strike appeared 1-2 seconds after canopy inflation. Obviously this was not enough time to clear the arms completely to react adequate on the canopy's bad heading. It's not know if he released his armwings by the emergency handles during the rotating drop. This shows in some way tragic how small the margin of an uncontrolled wingsuitexit is, even more when it is totally by surprise. Footwear is important for both landing as well as approach. Different crampons may have kept this unfortunate accident from occuring.

#144 Mark Mosley - 2010 Jan 16 Object: Other Location: UNITED STATES, KANSAS, West Mineral COD: Description: coming soon