Blog

Base Escape

• October 2011
• Fly Gear Training

Greetings, this is in no way meant for any bad intent! Anybody trapped in a high rise would love another option. If this is a re-hashed subject please disregard. Someone in your field I’m sure has already thought of this, to sell base jumping (alternate escape) chutes or some kind of modified gear to anyone working or living in a high rise building, if not it would save lives and open up a whole new industry. thanks for your time……..Wesley

Hi Wesley,

My friends Jimmy Pouchert and Marta Empinotti teach base jump courses at the Perrine Bridge in Idaho. For many years, they also manufactured and sold base jumping gear through Apex Base, but now they focus exclusively on first jump course training.

In the weeks just after 9-11, Apex was barraged with phone calls from people working in New York City, wanting to buy base rigs. They explained over and over that you can’t just buy a parachute and expect to survive a jump from a high rise. (In fact, no base manufacturers will sell equipment to just anyone who is not trained to use it. All the gear is custom built, and when you order it, you need to supply your credentials–number of skydives, number of base jumps, and a reference within base. Manufacturers will not sell equipment to people who can’t supply appropriate and verified information.)

So with the phones ringing off the hook and New York executives demanding to purchase parachute equipment, at one point one of them became convinced that he had ordered 3 base rigs. It was a high ranking executive at Bank of America, and he was also convinced that his building was the next target for a potential terrorist attack. He wanted a parachute system for himself and two employees he’d chosen, a young man and woman (Jimmy was never sure why and how they were the lucky ones–which led to lots of speculation about office dynamics and “golden parachutes”). Jimmy and Marta made a decision: they would agree to build and sell the gear to him, but only if all three execs would travel to Idaho and learn to use it by going through a customized jump course and making one jump off the bridge.

The executives came to Idaho, booked suites in the most expensive hotel in Twin Falls, and started the course with Jimmy and Marta. They spent the first day jumping into a swimming pool.

That night, the head exec wanted a steak dinner, so Jimmy and Marta took them to the regular Twin Falls steak house. He looked around the restaurant and said, “Isn’t there someplace better? I want a good steak.”

They ended up at the most expensive restaurant in the town, with the most expensive bottle of wine on the list (which I guess is one way to make sure you have the best everything), and the next day they were to make the bridge jump.

Jimmy and Marta took the three out to the bridge. The Perrine Bridge spans the Snake River valley, and the idea of doing this bridge jump was to allow for a water landing for the three execs, so there was no chance of getting hurt on the practice jump. The parachute system that Apex had built for them was intended to be tied off to something, allowing the parachute to come out essentially by itself, and Jimmy had also specified that he would need to travel to the high rise building in New York, set an eye bolt in the office, and make sure the window was breakable. (As Jimmy told me, obviously this entire premise was completely ridiculous in every way. But it was the best they could do.)

Jimmy and Marta first would make a regular base jump to demonstrate, and then the three executives would do their jump, basically just falling off the bridge and landing safely in the water, so they would know how to use their system in case they ever had to escape the burning Bank of America building in downtown NY.

So Jimmy and Marta jumped, landed, walked up the hill and back to the top of the bridge–where they found the executives completely packed up with the rental SUV ready to go. Their hotel rooms were still paid for the night, and they handed the door cards to Jimmy and Marta and told them to use the rooms if they wanted. The execs were out of there, and heading back to NYC immediately. They’d only had to see one base jump to decide there was no way they were ever going to do that themselves, and they were ready to bolt. Jimmy and Marta tried to convince them to wait and at least review the rigging systems, but there was no getting through… Jimmy assumes the rigs ended up in a closet. Not that the story needs a moral, but it did make me think that there are some things that you just can’t spend your way out of, or into as the case may be.

There were plenty of other requests too. Someone sent a diagram of a hot air balloon system that would self-inflate out a building window, and asked Apex if they wanted to collaborate in development. They didn’t.

Things are never really as straightforward as they might seem, at least that’s what I’ve always noticed. Aside from the absolute unlikelihood of being caught in a burning high rise and actually having a rig right there, finding a way to get out a window, avoiding the sucking phenomenon that occurs when flames meet air, and landing safely in a city environment that has devolved into chaos all seem pretty dubious. “As a base jumper,” Jimmy said, “If I got trapped in a burning building, I would take the stairs.”

So I sent this question over to Jimmy, and asked him for a complete professional evaluation…

Steph, getting back to your original request:
I don’t even want to go there. You know as well as I do that the chances of being in the same situation as those poor people who were trapped above the flames in the Twin Towers are like a billion to one. So let’s say that you actually found yourself in that situation. Would a parachute increase your chances of survival? Absolutely. Would I recommend that someone do the requisite number of skydives to meet the requirements of a BASE course (at least 100 skydives required, 1,000 skydives recommended) and then get proficient enough at BASE to handle the normal winds, or more realistically the insane thermal and invective winds of a building engulfed in flames? No. You are more likely to get killed skydiving and BASE jumping in preparation for this situation than you are to actually find yourself in this situation. With the American tort law system, as a manufacturer of said parachute system, you are more likely to get sued for the system not working than actually saving someone’s life. If you are a BASE jumper because you love to hurl yourself off of objects and you happen to work in the upper floor of a high rise building which might be targeted by “terrorists”, then by all means, bring your parachute to work with you. If you work in the upper floor of a high rise building and you are interested in a parachute system because you feel that the building might be targeted by terrorists in the same manner as the Twin Towers, I would recommend buying $3000 worth of lottery tickets or betting it all in Vegas, as your odds are better and if you do win, you can quit your high rise cubicle job and start living!!!
Big hug,
Jimmy