The direction of wingsuiting

[normiss 622]

When said individual loses all access to local DZ's, the problem sorts itself out.
"We fixed the glitch."

[WickedWingsuits 0]

DSE

******Landing at the dz is not only a good idea, if you can't do so on a regular basis, I would appreciate management asking you to leave.

Agreed. Problem solved at the local level. Sorted.


Except that earlier, you're exhorting that "pressure to land on the DZ is hurting lots of people." So, which position are you taking this time? Is this another "we've been saying the same thing the whole time, but I've been saying it different than you" conversation?

No I was saying it wasn't enough of an issue to warrant national attention. I was saying its not a big issue and get over it.

My mistake here was thinking I could have any kind on conversation on the topic with such a bully.

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[mccordia 73]

With a lot of new people in wingsuit flying seemingly being more worried about the biggest possible size of the suit they fly, vs the skills and navigation needed to even fly a smaller one, I dont think thats a thing we'll see changing any time soon..

edited to add:

Quote

When said individual loses all access

Seems to have worked well for Lodi...but seems to be the whole community that lost acces. Not the individual.

FF and FS jumpers are individuals, but to a DZ, 'we' are the wingsuiters.

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[decompresion 2]

mccordia

I think wingsuiting has one big problem compared to other disciplines.

We are focussed too much on gear, and too little on skills.
In FF or RW there is a very set structure regarding the steps people need to take to get up to the skill levels needed to safely jump in bigger groups.

In wingsuit, it seems like having a suit is often deemed enough. Also regarding the incident/accident you mention, how often do you see a person with 5 FreeFly jumps and no formation experience taken onto a 20 way? And thats outside of the actual details on that particular incident (failed FFC etc). Bad judgement calls on the people organizing.

Where in any other discipline, going low or not getting to a group end with that person getting coaching/training to get better. In wingsuiting often the advise to 'get this or that suit' is given instead.

If you suck in freefly/rw, get coaching, if you suck in a wingsuit, buy a bigger one.

If people would focus more on individual flying skills in 2 ways, vs the whole numbers game of who flies the biggest group of people through the sky we'd see a much more controlled and safe type of flying resorting more to building of skills. And to a much lesser degree turn the discipline into a carnaval act that revolves around low skilled skydivers doing dangerous stuff in suits and formations way beyond their experience level.

The direction of wingsuiting? I hope one that focussed more on skills, and less on how big the wings you fly are (and if you should get even bigger ones). Any modern (smaller) wingsuit can be made to do amazing things in both distance/time performance as wel as (most important) agility. Learn to fly your body!

Against my better judgement, I am going to comment.
200 jumps and buying a WS do not give people good judgement.
The one thing that I think might add to Elsinore's WS manual is a section titled "When to not fly your wingsuit"
> Too many fliers in the formation for your skill level
> No good outs for your skill level
> Too many tandems on the load for your skill level
> A hot guy/chick wants you on their hybrid/big way...
> S&TA is already pissed at visiting WS fliers for constantly landing off all week
> You travel to a DZ that only has a King Air
> The boogie is not set up for WS fliers
> You "forgot" to tell manifest that you plan to fly a WS
> The DZO bans WS
> You are the only WS flier and don't want to do a solo
> Hung over
> 10 minute call and the WS is not on the rig
> Had a bean burrito the night before
> The gear you have is not suitable for WS

As you can see, there so many reasons that I would make this shorter:
Only fly a WS if you have sufficient skill to perform the planned jump from dirt dive to the packing mat. This includes recognizing that you need to dump high if you think you might land off, avoiding tandems, being mentally prepared and so on.

I am calling this the "packing mat to packing mat" principle.

There are no dangerous dives
Only dangerous divers