Re: [B52] 10 years plus, 1000+ wingsuit BASE jumps..
Don't think i fully qualify at 17 years & only about 700..800 WS base flights. However, this lack of numbers is precisely a major factor in staying alive For the last 10 years i've slowed down dramatically. The last five are a happy retirement save for an occasional shameful relapse in Italy that starts with tiramisu and ends you know where...
The technical side of flying a wingsuit safely has been beaten to death - Robi, Matt etc have all written excellent articles about it. They may have an influence on a minority of people, who will eventually make it into 4 digits. However, people in general like to keep the level of acceptable risk constant: once the gear gets better, they will cut the margins. When a new suit comes out, an acceptable rock drop shaves a second off. If a new suit is easier to fly, they will skip 200 training skydives, an so on.
Leaving the skills & experience aside, it is down to statistics once the numbers build up. All it takes on a new generation of exit points is a simple slip or mis-step: two recent fatalities flash in my mind right away, but there are many others, and countless close calls. A tension knot over the rocks will ruin the day of the most safety-conscious jumper, and you are very likely to get one in a space of a few thousand jumps. Etc, etc.
So, the bottom line is: if you keep rolling into the thousands, you are very likely to eventually bite the bullet. A safety-conscious & conservative attitude simply allows you to roll into the thousands - otherwise you will bite it in double- or triple-digits
Meanwhile, try to pull over the water when you can help it, at the altitude most people exit from in the silly valley, save them do-or-die exits for a special occasion - and you just might get bored enough to quit, take up golf & die from a lightning strike
