Jason Rooney

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 occurred 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.