BFL
British

BFL24 · 20.5.1992

Darren Newton

25-Year-Old British

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BASE seasons

BASE jumps

WS BASE jumps

Skydives

WS skydives

Incident

Incident category:
BASE Fatality
ID:
BFL24
Object:
Building
Cause of death:
Object strike under canopy
Date:
20. 05. 1992
Time:
Exit point:
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland › London › Hilton Building, Park Lane
Exit type:
Vertical

Personal

Name:
Darren Newton
Gender:
Male
Nationality:
British
Age:
25
Experience:

Equipment & Setup

Canopy:
Canopy size:
Container:
Suit:
Everyday Clothing worn › Slick
Packing:
Slider Down-Off
Deployment:
PCA

Circumstances

Weather:
Sunny Winds light and variable
Factors:
Gear failure Not enough forward seperation on exit 180 Offheading

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.
He was 25 years old

 

Video of the jump:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veeGqZ8jYF0

Gallery

Lost, but not forgotten...