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BASE seasons
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BASE jumps
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WS BASE jumps
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Skydives
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WS skydives
Incident
- Incident category:
- BASE Fatality
- ID:
- BFL206
- Object:
- Earth
- Cause of death:
- PC in tow or PC-Bridle entanglement
- Date:
- 21. 06. 2013
- Time:
- —
- Exit point:
- United States of America › Moab › Dirty Devil
- Exit type:
- Vertical
Personal
- Name:
- Luke Chappell
- Gender:
- Male
- Nationality:
- Australian
- Age:
- —
- Experience:
- —
Equipment & Setup
- Canopy:
- —
- Canopy size:
- —
- Container:
- —
- Suit:
- Everyday Clothing worn › Slick
- Packing:
- Slider Down-Off
- Deployment:
- BOC
Circumstances
- Weather:
- Sunny Winds light and variable
- Factors:
- Pilot Chute Entanglement - PC in tow
Description
Luke was hitchhiking from the bridge in Idaho down to Moab, and met up with a fellow jumper to head to the Dirty Devil exit (600 ft) before driving the rest of the way to Moab. They arrived really late and Luke didn't have a lot to eat the day before. Before the jump he announced that he was going for a double gainer. He had a good launch, but under-rotated the double. He was swimming a little, and then pitched on his back after 1.5 rotations, while twisting his torso to face the ground again. His pilot chute and bridle passed by the belly camera and appeared to clear, and his canopy extracted while he was still mostly on his back. The canopy snagged on the camera on either the bridle attachment point, or elsewhere. It failed to inflate and Luke was dead upon arrival of the second jumper 2 minutes later.
Luke had over 300 jumps and was jumping very consistently over the last two years. He had been performing aerials for a few months.
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