Base Jumper Survives Crash After 267m/876 foot Fall

[Troy]

FAYETTEVILLE — As spectators oohed and awed at jumpers’ descents Saturday morning during the 32nd annual Bridge Day celebration, one man’s chute didn’t fully open and he hit the water at an approximate speed of 60 to 80 miles per hour, emergency responders estimated, quickly changing the mood of the crowd.

At around 10:30 a.m., the jumper, wearing a squirrel suit, otherwise known as a wing suit, hurled himself off the platform, but his chute barely opened before he hit the water after an 876-foot freefall.

The impact, which sounded similar to a car crash, prompted a unified gasp of horror from those along the landing zone.

Emergency responders quickly jumped into action, pulling the man from the water, stabilizing him on a gurney, and airlifting him to Charleston, all within 15 minutes of the mishap.

Below is the video but note that it is intense footage so some may not want to watch it.

[YOUTUBE]38Ycw6qYoMo[/YOUTUBE]


I am amazed that he was concious when they pulled him out of the water. It is an incredible video to watch to just see him fall and fall and that crash into the water would have been incredibly painful. He is lucky that it was over water rather than solid ground. That is the risk with base jumping but I am sure that once he is healed he will probably jump again.

 

[Aniking]

Wow, that's some crazy footage. Can you imagine what was going through that guy's head as he was getting closer and closer to the water, pulling and pulling at the cord to open the parachute. That's a huge jump, so I'm glad to hear he survived.

I could never do something like that, or even bungee jumping. I've seen far too many stories about how those things go terribly wrong and I just don't have the courage to even attempt anything like that. Combine that with the fact I'm afraid of heights and I'm not going near anything like that haha.

 

[Troy]

It would have been frightening to keep pulling that cord to no avail. I wonder what he was thinking right before he hit the water. It is good to see the safety measures in place though as the boat in the water raced straight for him and got him out of the water and on the way to safety in no time.

I have always wanted to go skydiving just to feel what it is like to fall through the sky but I don't know if I ever will have the guts to do it. Base jumping is insane though because there is no back-up and it has to work right away or you are screwed, at least with skydiving you have time to try to figure something out or pull a backup chute.