The vast majority of wingsuiters will land off at one point in their wingsuiting career. It is important we discuss safety when landing off. Part I will discuss how to find people when someone lands off.

Let’s tell the story first….

The day started off as any other New Year’s Eve jump, flocking crazy. We had formations with cameras, orbiters, backflyers, stackers, stingers, dockers, and the occasional wild card. We planned a regular dive flow, 90 to the left and a 90 back home. We checked the winds before we left the ground because they were blowing pretty hard that day at 30kts from 290.

As we took that first 90 left, we kept turning to round out the corner and made a big turn to the left to head back to the DZ, but it was already too late. When we discovered where we actually were, landing off was inevitable. We all turned back home, and some had started early. We were in big suits too, mostly Freaks, couple ATCs, and a Corvid. Flying straight back to the DZ, we got 0mph forward speed. Looking at the ground and there is no forward movement. **WSL moment: look at the ground while flying to get a relative idea of your ground speed.**

The 11 people on that jump were absolutely landing off, all of them. We were scattered about and most landed in small groups. **WSL moment: land with a friend when landing off, landing-off buddies; it is better to have two people than to be stuck somewhere alone; if you can, never let someone land alone.**

Three landed with some goats, two landed by a school, some landed in other fields, one in a driveway, and another in the mountains. Literally, in the mountains. The one in the mountains was deep in the mountains and not visible from anywhere but a helicopter.

Our fearless leader on that jump was on top of things. He created a facebook group of all the people on the jump as soon as he landed. **WSL moment: always carry your phone while wingsuiting; get the contact information for every person on the jump.**

We all began messaging in the group to let the others know we were safe, i.e. not injured. We called the DZ to let them know we landed off. **WSL moment: put the phone number of the DZ in your phone, don’t rely on finding it later.**

Our friend in the mountains let the group know she was okay, but she said she couldn’t move. It wasn’t until a half hour later that we heard she couldn’t walk. Because she shared her location, our search and rescue efforts were already underway, but now it was serious. **WSL moment: use an app on your phone that allows location sharing (we used Facebook Messenger).**

Three of us took the path through the mountainous brush, three more took the path straight up the side of the mountain. It took us over an hour and a half to get to her. Without the location sharing, we would have never found her.

When we finally found her, she couldn’t walk because of a twisted ankle and a nasty contusion on her thigh. She might not have broken her leg, but we couldn’t be certain on the mountain. Three people took turns carrying her down the mountain. The other three of us scouted a path down and cleared brush along the path. **WSL moment: take more than 1 person on rescue missions.**

We got her out of the mountains within a couple hours of her landing there. Even with location sharing, it took us hours to get in the mountains to find her, and get out of the mountains with her.

Let’s Recap the WSL Moments:

• Watch the ground while flying.
• Land with a buddy.
• Take your phone on every jump.
• Get the contact information for everyone on the jump.
• Save the DZs phone number in your phone, before the jump.
• Become friends on Facebook, WhatsApp, or another app that allows location sharing.
• Take a group to rescue anyone who has landed off in an inaccessible location.

That covers it for Part I of this series. In Part II, we will discuss the landing part of landing off.

Blue Skies,

WSL