BASE jumper’s death in Turkey is sport’s third superstar fatality in 2 months – USA TODAY
John Bacon, USA TODAY 
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American BASE jumper Ian Flanders died in a parachute accident while performing a jump at a nature festival in eastern Turkey. (July 23)
AP
An American BASE jumper died while jumping in Turkey this week, the extreme sport’s third superstar fatality this year.
Ian Flanders died Tuesday after leaping from a cable car 900 feet above a gorge, said Matthew Blank, a friend of Flanders who was with him in Turkey. The lines of his parachute became entangled in his legs, and a search and rescue team later pulled his body from the Karasu River.
Blank told USA TODAY reports from Turkey’s Dogan News Agency that Flanders died performing a “wingsuit” jump were incorrect. He said Flanders had successfully completed a jump in a wingsuit at the site, but that the fatal jump involved what is generally considered a more safe, standard parachute BASE jump. In May, iconic extreme athlete and BASE jumper Dean Potter, a self-described “artist, climber, line walker and human-body flyer,” and jumping partner Graham Hunt died while attempting a wingsuit flight above Yosemite National Park in California.
Flanders, 28, was attending the International Nature Sports Festival with other extreme athletes, including Americans Blank and Scotty Morgan. Turkish TV released footage of the jump, although parts of it are obscured by shadows.
“It’s a sport where everyone knows everyone, and this is the call you dread,” Donald Schultz, a long time friend of Flanders, told USA TODAY. “There is dismay and sadness, and then concern for his family.”
He said Flanders was not a daredevil but a “consummate professional” whose top priority was safety.
After his wingsuit jump, Flanders spoke excitedly about the jump and the location.
“The wingsuit flight was great, it was a gorgeous flight,” he said in a YouTube video. “You get to kind of fly over the town. We landed in the river, which was also actually kind of fun. It’s a pretty technical jump, but overall it was a lot of fun. It was great, and this place is fantastic.”
The festival was halted after Flanders’ death.
BASE is an acronym for building, antenna, (bridge) span and earth. Base jumping is illegal in Yosemite, where Potter, 43, and Hunt, 29, leaped to their death from Taft Point, a 7,500-foot rock cliff that provides expansive views of the park and such attractions as El Capitan and Yosemite Falls.
Some BASE jumping includes wingsuits, which include parachute-like material connecting the legs and running between the arms and legs that can allow the body to fall as if it were a parachute. A small but complete parachute is usually released before landing. Another form of jumping, suspension BASE jumping, involves a parachute attached to piercings on the jumper’s back.
Extreme athlete Chris McNamara, 36, lists “ex-wingsuit BASE jumper” on his Twitter profile. He told USA TODAY that most jumpers use wingsuits today, but that he dropped out of BASE jumping entirely in 2009.
“It was becoming less fun, and more friends were dying,” McNamara said. “For awhile you could make the argument that people were pushing it too hard. But the fact is that you don’t have to make a big mistake. People just die because they are doing it.”
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