notsane

I replaced my hacky handle years ago after Moonglo's PC malfunction. It's a short piece of PVC with webbing end-to-end to prevent knotting and a foam insert. Hairspray makes a great glue to hold it in place. The old thread is here. Scott

It's quite a ways off, but Viv is talking about 3 or 4 a/c.

It's the dog days of August right now, and it's tough to think about how cold the weather will be in February (this will be you! ). But when that time rolls around, you're going to want to be someplace warm and fun with lots of great wingsuit flights, beautiful beaches, cool rum drinks and ice cold beer! The 8th Puerto Rico Freefall Festival will be Feb 10-14, 2010 in beautiful Arecibo, Puerto Rico. If you've been there before, you know what a great time it is. If you haven't been there before, you've definitely been missing out! Scott Bland (me) and Justin Shorb will be organizing again, so make sure you've been working on your skillset. Get out there and dive last, front float, exit backwards, back fly, do some high speed forward flights and work on your stack flying. We'll be looking to get some great dives and some great pics and video over paradise. So pencil the dates on your calendar and go to www.xtremedivers.com to register. Viviana has also created a group on Facebook. See you there! Scott

Are we talking about wingsuiting, or something a bit more "personal"?

I don't feel faint ... nope ... not a bit.

When I saw the disarray you guys were in, there was no alternative but to call off the stunt and order you to open ... that's just the way I roll ...

I can't wait to see how bad they make me look! Who knows how they cut/pasted the interview ...

Oooooo ... what if we could get one of those Aussie Parachute Association thingies that gives you a free pass to jump through clouds, huh? I could get behind that for sure ...

Everyone can pretty much agree that Jeff N is one of the best flyers around, but you should see the photos of him hanging in our Birdhouse. Both his eyes were filled with blood from a nearly unrecoverable flat spin. And I've personally watched Jari in a flat spin for thousands of feet until he finally recovered. If it can happen to them, it sure can happen to you ... and, oh so much faster and more violently in a large tail-wing suit. Whoops, no skills to get out of it either. Folks here don't like to read obituaries ... it's depressing. And then there's all the crying and stuff with the family and friends. But, do it your way.

Oh dude, that music SUX.

All this discussion is great, as long as we keep it civil, and respect that the other guy, who disagrees with you, has good reasons for having their own point of view. But none of this counts as a vote in the final tally. If you want a vote, for or against, email your USPA regional director with your *reasoned* opinion. Include your USPA number and main dropzone. http://www.uspa.org/AboutUSPA/USPABoardofDirectors/tabid/140/Default.aspx Scott

Great summary and insight, Frank.

Of course, this poll is completely meaningless. If you want a vote, for or against, email your USPA regional director with your *reasoned* opinion. http://www.uspa.org/AboutUSPA/USPABoardofDirectors/tabid/140/Default.aspx Scott

That a really nice gesture, Spot. Thanks for that. I'd like to ask folks here a slightly different question ... what if this proposed USPA approved WSI ratings system was instead a coordinated set of general guidelines, a single BSR for wingsuiting and wingsuiting instruction? From the Long Island Skydiving website: "Basic Safety Requirements. BSRs are USPA guidelines. They do not have force of law but are generally regarded as excellent minimum safety standards" Could we all get behind something like that? Depending on the details, I think I could. It would have much of the clout with very little of the cost.

Comparing teaching CRW to a FFC is actually a perfect analogy. Nice insight.

Matt, I think I can address that: The overall goal is to increase safety for the FFC student. A rating system may do that. The knowns: A rating system will cost dollars, time and effort for USPA and participants alike. Those costs will be passed along to the FFC student. Instructors unable or unwilling to incur or pass along those costs or obtain the rating will remove themselves from the system. The unknowns: What previous incidents would have been prevented by such a rating system? Will safety for FFC students be increased, and by how much? There's all this talk about current ratings being given "over a beer" and reigning in instructors who aren't following the guidelines. Do we simply not have the balls to out those folks now (whoever "they" are)? Is calling the USPA to out them going to be easier? If you think folks used to bitch about instructors making money off FFC's, just wait. If someone is forking out the time and money for a rating, they will want to get paid ... and rightfully so. Tandems and AFF's aren't done for free. Where's VooDoo when you need him?

Phenomonal job, Matt! You continue to make us all look good. I miss you, Rob.

Spot, As much as I like Jarno and the FlyLikeBrick folks, a proposal for USPA to regulate wingsuit instruction doesn't affect anyone but us USA folks. So, while their input is appreciated, it's us here who will reap whatever rewards or suffer whatever consequenses. The USPA and FAA have long held a fairly "hands-off" approach for all of us, as opposed to other countries. So, late in the discussion here, we learn that USPA has "regulating wingsuit instruction" as a discussion topic, and there are multiple groups proposing how such regulations should look before USPA unilaterally regulates us. I hope that the need and costs of that regulation are also on the table. I can only assume that I've been asleep for months and that FFC folks are lawn-darting into the ground by the dozens. After all, swooping kills 10 or more jumpers a year, and they don't have a formal ratings system. Rated AFF instructors hold on to the student 2 at the time during freefall and require significant air-skills. For us, once a FFC student is out the door, there's little the instructor can do, other than point back to the dz and take pictures. Tandems, AFF and S/L all involve people with no experience and no ability to choose a responsable instructor. FFC students are supposed to have 200 jumps ... that used to mean that person was experienced and able to make intelligent choices for themselves here in the states. An aside to the folks crafting these proposals ... invite paticipation and you might get some buy-in.

I am curious who "we" are, because I know for sure that no one has asked for my opinion ... not that they should have. But have "we" considered the price of this new rating system? I'm just a fun jumper. I don't make any money from jumping (other than for writing articles .. enough to buy a nice dinner altogether) ... this is not my job. No one has ever given me a suit or gear for free. After taking the BMI course years ago from Chuck Blue and Scott Campos, I've taught people for the love of the sport. If the process of being a wingsuit instructor becomes too much of a hassle, I'll simply stop doing it. I have other priorities, the ones I like to call "a life". And I'm sure there will be plenty of others in the same position. The growth of the sport, which was the honor of many will become the job of a few ... and that growth will likely be slower. So, good luck, "we". I hope someone was breathing down our necks to regulate ourselves, before they did it to us.

I have to agree with Mike here ... and also take issue with the idea that USPA should implement a BPA-style handholding system. I'd certainly like to think that we're somewhat more self-reliant here in the US. Regulations should address systemic problems. If wingsuit instructors were regulated by USPA and 200 jumps was a mandated minimum number of jumps for a FFC, I don't think the accident the editorial mentions would have been prevented. The way I understand that incident, the jumper misrepresented their jump numbers to the instructor, and a rigging mistake by the jumper went undetected. I don't see how a regulation would have prevented that one accident. As an instructor myself, I am quite comfortable with the current system, with one exception: if the manufacturer guidelines recommend 200 jumps minimum for a FFC, why would someone, like Fasted3's instructor, instruct him with fewer than that number of jumps? Did they have a bent for self-destruction? Putting aside the fact that the guideline is just plain a good idea, what will you, as an instructor do if things go bad? You want to be able to stand in front of the judge and say that you followed all the rules, and that what happened was outside your responsability. If a wingsuit instructor is doing FFC's with folks who have less than 200 jumps, their instructor status from the manufacturer should be forfeited, IMO. Scott

Even for an oral interview, that seems pretty steep.

Ya know, it's got to feel kind of good to be on Andrea's "to-do" list, huh Scotty?

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3580380;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

Our good friend Rob Jones of Morpheus Technologies died Saturday while freediving a spring in North Florida. Details are here No plans for services have been made at this time. Dammit. You will be missed. Scott

I don't see why not. I've been slowly working on a device that would provide a visual indication of speeds from 60 to 40mph using an tri-color LED. I've never seen a vario that could be re-centerd, though ...