BFL421 | 22.2.2022

Alberto Winckelmann

from Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)55 years

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25

BASE SEASONS

Unknown

SKYDIVES

Unknown

WS SKYDIVES

Unknown

BASE JUMPS

Unknown

WS BASE JUMPS
  • Date & Time: 22.2.2022, 10:15
  • Location: The Classic exit, Jebal Jais, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates
  • Category: BASE Fatality
  • Object Type: Earth
  • Cause Of Death: Object strike under canopy
  • Clothing - Suit: SlickSlick by Everyday Clothing worn
  • Canopy: Unknown
  • Container: Unknown
  • Packing & Setup: Slider Up BOC Underhung
  • Weather: Winds light and variable
  • Possible Factors: 180 Offheading

What do we believe happened?

Alberto was put in contact with me through some mutual friends, we only met in person on the morning of the jump. I don’t know his exact jump number stats but it was obvious he had been in the sport 25+ years and had a lot of BASE and skydiving experience.
It’s an exit I know well, it was Alberto’s first time. Most people wingsuit this exit, it’s also been done slider down many times. Alberto said he wasn’t very wingsuit current so he would go slider down.
Conditions at exit were perfect, zero wind. He did a gainer, I missed the exit on my video but from my memory he looked solid and symmetrical. I got him on video from his opening, he had a 180 degree off heading opening to the left, he hit the wall less than a second after opening, from this moment onwards I saw no evidence of any control input, so I’m guessing he was unconscious from the first hit, he had 30 seconds of canopy time, he hit the wall multiple times, I counted 9 impacts, the entire canopy ride he was facing the wall, he came to a stop on the wall just above the talus, about 300 meters below the exit. A helicopter rescue was called but aborted due to the difficult position he was in. It took a rescue team more than 4 hours to get to him on foot. He was dead when they reached him.
This exit has an impressive purpose built BASE ramp, I believe this puts people into a false sense of security, it’s a slightly positive wall, and the remoteness and steepness of the terrain made this rescue attempt very slow.

Other Factors - Skydiving Helmet used

 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Wy8GG9QoM
https://newsbeezer.com/.../venezuelan-paratrooper.../

Contact

Missing something?

Can you help us with incident interpretation? We are interested in any details regarding personal experience, gear, weather conditions and any other circumstances related to the incident.

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