An experienced BASE jumper fell thousands of feet to his death after his parachute reportedly got tangled in his legs. Ian Flanders, a 37-year-old BASE jumper and wingsuit flyer from Southern California, died on Tuesday, July 21, 2015, while taking part in an extreme sports festival in Kemaliye, Turkey.
Fatal second jump
Flanders had successfully jumped earlier that day, and a camera crew interviewed him about his experience shortly before he embarked on his second, ultimately fatal, jump. When he made his second jump from around 8,200 feet, his parachute lines reportedly became tangled around his legs and he fell to his death.
He was very experienced in the sport and had successfully completed thousands of BASE jumps and skydives, and had even jumped off cliffs while on a bicycle, deploying his parachute while still on the vehicle.
What is BASE jumping?
BASE jumping is an extreme sport in which participants jump and parachute down from a stationary object as opposed to a plane or other aircraft, like in skydiving. The word 'BASE' is an acronym of the four categories commonly used in the sport as a jumper's fixed launch points: 'buildings'; 'antennae', such as radio towers or masts; 'spans', referring to bridges; and 'earth' in reference to natural formations like mountains, cliffs and more.
People typically partake in jumps between 300 and 2,000 feet above the ground, which adds to the thrill for some people, though it does heighten the risks as it leaves very little reaction time. Some people do jump from higher points, too. Only a single parachute is used during BASE jumping due to the limited time of the falls, meaning there isn't enough time to deploy a back-up. This differs from skydiving, in which participants benefit from both a main and reserve parachute.
Risks and tributes
BASE jumping is a very risky extreme sport - it takes place close to the ground and comes with a much higher risk of injury or death than usual skydiving. According to Skydiving Guides, "BASE jumping is one of the most statistically dangerous recreational activities ever documented". It states: "BASE jumping at a monitored site is approximately 123 times more likely to kill you per jump than a standard skydive."
At the time of his death, Grayson Schaffer, writer, director and then-senior editor of Outside Magazine, told ABC News: "Ian Flanders was known as a technician, as somebody who was extremely safe and careful." He continued: "Part of the attraction of BASE jumping is that it has an outlaw image. BASE jumping is by far the most dangerous thing you can do with your body as a sporting activity, and that's just not going to change."
According to CBS, at the time of his death, Flanders was the 264th BASE jumper to die since record-keeping began. More deaths have since followed in the sport - most recently, prominent BASE jumper and slackliner Andrew Lewis, who was widely known as 'Sketchy Andy'. Andy died in a tandem BASE jumping accident on June 14, 2026, in Moab, Utah, USA.
