BASE Fatality List (Complete)

Media Advisory - This information is proprietary and only for the internal use of the BASE jumping community. You do not have permission to quote anything presented herein without consent. In the interest of fairness and accuracy this List will present an inaccurate view when not taken in context. These listed events represent fatalities that have occurred over a period of time spanning 1981 to the present.

• 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). It will remain here until someone else steps up to carry it on.

 

BASE Fatality List

#1 William Harmon - Apr 11, 1981 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 - Oct 10, 1981 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 - Jun 02, 1982 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 - Jan 01, 1982 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 - Oct 01, 1983 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 - Mar 07, 1983 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 - Jun 07, 1984 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 - Aug 18, 1985 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 - Aug 24, 1985 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 - Jan 01, 1986 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 - Jan 01, 1986 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 - Jun 20, 1986 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 - Jan 01, 1986 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 - Jan 01, 1987 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 - Aug 23, 1987 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 - Oct 01, 1987 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 - Jan 01, 1988 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 - Jan 01, 1988 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 - Jan 01, 1989 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 - Jan 01, 1989 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 - Feb 17, 1989 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 - Jan 01, 1990 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 - Jun 10, 1990 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 - 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 - Jan 01, 1993 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 - Jan 01, 1993 Object: Earth Location: VENEZUELA, , Angel Falls COD: Strike(Freefall) Description: Until I received this report in October of 2004 this female jumper was always listed here as unknown. The report stated: "I used to know her a little from the time she started skydiving in the late sixties. For some reason it was kept secret that she was killed during a BASE jump at Angel Falls and things were altered in order to fake the cause of her death."

#27 Jason Rooney - Jan 01, 1993 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.

#28 Joe Shaw - Jan 01, 1993 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.

#29 Susan Oatly - Jan 01, 1993 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 - Jan 01, 1994 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 - Apr 15, 1994 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 - Apr 03, 1994 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 - Dec 20, 1995 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 - Jan 01, 1996 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 - Aug 16, 1996 Object: Earth Location: NORWAY, , Lysbotn COD: Impact Description: Sebastian over delayed in a back to earth position while filming other jumpers.

#36 Jeff "Maggilla" Christman - Oct 21, 1996 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 - Oct 28, 1996 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 - Dec 25, 1996 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.

#39 Stina- Ulla Ostberg - Jul 29, 1997 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 - Aug 04, 1997 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 - Dec 02, 1997 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 - May 14, 1998 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 - Jul 07, 1999 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 - Aug 04, 1999 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 - Aug 08, 1999 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 - Aug 15, 1999 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 - Oct 22, 1999 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 - Feb 09, 2000 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 - May 07, 2000 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 - Jun 10, 2000 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 - Aug 05, 2000 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 Jerge Juan Domench - Nov 02, 2000 Object: Earth Location: ITALY, , Monte Brento COD: Object Strike Description: Jerge 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 Jerge 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. Jerge 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) - Jan 01, 2000 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 - Jan 01, 2000 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 - Jan 01, 2001 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 - Apr 02, 2001 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 - Jul 22, 2001 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 - Sep 27, 2001 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) - Jan 01, 2001 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) - Apr 01, 2002 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 - May 01, 2002 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 - May 29, 2002 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 - Jun 15, 2002 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 - Jul 23, 2002 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 - Aug 06, 2002 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" Bäumer - Aug 13, 2002 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) - Aug 15, 2002 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 - Aug 25, 2002 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 - Sep 01, 2002 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 - Sep 12, 2002 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 - Oct 11, 2002 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 - Jan 11, 2003 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 - Jan 27, 2003 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 - Apr 05, 2003 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 - Jul 23, 2003 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 - Aug 10, 2003 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 - Aug 13, 2003 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 - Oct 09, 2003 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 Unknown Unknown - Nov 23, 2003 Object: Span Location: FRANCE, , 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

#80 Unknown Unknown - May 03, 2004 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 - Jun 18, 2004 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 - Jul 05, 2004 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 - Aug 21, 2004 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 - Oct 22, 2004 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 - Oct 29, 2004 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 - Nov 17, 2004 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 J T - Mar 24, 2005 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 - May 16, 2005 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 - May 21, 2005 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 - Jul 03, 2005 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 - Jul 19, 2005 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 - Nov 11, 2005 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 - Dec 31, 2005 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 - Mar 15, 2006 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 - Apr 15, 2006 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 - Apr 16, 2006 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 - May 06, 2006 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 - May 27, 2006 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 - May 29, 2006 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 - Jun 18, 2006 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 - Sep 09, 2006 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 - Sep 15, 2006 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 - Oct 21, 2006 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. Here is an eyewitness report: "The jumper had his pilot chute in his right hand at launch. Jumper had an unstable launch, rotating him backward. Jumper brought both of his hands together and transferred the pilot chute into his left hand. He tumbled in this position for approximately 8-seconds, after which the pilot chute deployed and inflated. It is unclear if he threw the pilot chute, or if it was extracted from his hands by the relative wind. The container opened, and the canopy reached line stretch but did not achieve inflation. High speed 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 - Nov 03, 2006 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 - Nov 18, 2006