rainman

I would really like to share my enthusiasm of the 2nd BASE DVD by writing a review, but it is not listed, and I cannot find out how to request to have it added.

I hope it is OK to have BASE related reviews!

All I can say is: Yikes!

No more calls....we have a winner!

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(Norway, home of NOKIA)

I think that would be Finland actually, or does this reply make me humor impaired?

Ramon

Edit: dang, how fast does a guy have to type around here to get the first answer in? And don't even get me started on the last answer

firstime, just replying to your post because it was last...

I have been told by other jumpers that the wind noise coming from/through the (improvised) doors in jump aircraft is actually quite damaging especially in the higher frequencies.

I think that this is also the main reason motorcyclists wear ear protection.
Since I now both skydive and drive a motorcycle (not at the same time) I think I will be spending some money on hearing protection soon.

If I'm blatantly wrong, someone please correct me! (Be gentle )

Ramon

That is a GREAT story, with your style of writing you could make the telephone book a great read!

Thanks for sharing, and I'm glad you got through that OK!
Ramon

Steve,

Great video! The music is also very nice, different from 'the usual'!

Very nice footage and very nice editing as well!

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How many of you honestly read it BEFORE you started jumping? How many of you understood it?

Call me morbid, but I've read that list more than once, and I am convinced that it helped keep me out of BASE.

That, and the fact that my wife would kill me if I did a BASE jump, causing me to end up on either the top or the bottom part of the list...

What's strange though is that I read through all the skydiving fatalities before getting back into skydiving after a 10 year break, and this didn't stop me from skydiving. Maybe this is because the BASE fatality list is more 'personal', but I don't have a really good explanation for that.

Education in The Netherlands must be lacking....

They never told me the USA contained a separate country (or is it a separate state?) commonly known as NPS, which is more like a police state, with its own laws and policies.

(Bad) jokes aside, I am really amazed by the stuff I read about the NPS and how they choose to maintain law & order in the National Parks....it gives me an unpleasant feeling not unlike entering Malaysia on a direct flight from Amsterdam and being subtly reminded that the penalty for drug trafficking is death.

Disclaimer: I'm not a BASE jumper, have never visited the USA and never used nor trafficked drugs. My opinion is offered for free, and is worth every cent you paid for it.

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I'll try and upload our Matrix skydiving short to Skydivingmovies.com tonight :)

Thanks!
Ramon

Thanks all for the helpful responses (the others as well).

I guess there's only one conclusion possible.....

I need to get my behind to a windtunnel and see if I get blown away.

Ramon

Jarno,

Great video! Is the remake (read: improvement) of 'the Matrix' you made available somewhere online?

You played it at Teuge some time ago, I loved that one as well!

Great work!

Ramon

OK, so maybe this is a silly question, but I'm serious!

Does anyone have a fear of heights in a wind tunnel?

I would like to try a wind tunnel sometime, but do have a strong fear of heights...

Yes, I do have 200 jumps, yes, from a real airplane and no, my fear of heights doesn't bother me then

Thanks,

The results of the Dutch jury (I hope I didn't forget any DZ's)

Format
ICAO, airport location, DZ/club name

Dropzone at the airport:
EHAL - Ameland, Skydive Anywhere
EHHO - Hoogeveen, Paracentrum Eelde-Hoogeveen
EHTE - Teuge, Nationaal Paracentrum Teuge
EHTX - Texel, Paracentrum Texel
EHOW* - Oostwold (Oldambt), Skydive Over Europe/ Skydive Anywhere

Dropzone not at the airport:
EHMZ - Arnemuiden, Skydive Zeeland
EHHV - Hilversum, Parachutisten Centrum Midden Nederland
EHSE - Seppe, Eerste Nederlandse Parachutisten Club
EHRD - Rotterdam, Skydive Rotterdam 'The Flying Dutchman'

I-know-there's-a-paraclub-but-don't-know-the-location-of-the-DZ:
EHLE - Lelystad, Paraclub Flevo

Dutch dropzones in Germany:
EDXS - Seedorf, Paracentrum TU-7 (about to be closed?)
EDLS - Stadtlohn-Wenningfeld, Skydive Stadtlohn

* Oostwold airport (EHOW) is not in the ICAO list mentioned previously, the coordinates according to the website are
53º 12.6N 007º 02.1 E

Hope this helps,

Ramon

Last weekend for the 60th anniversary (if you can call it that) of operation Market Garden our club got to do a jump from 61 year old 'Fifi Kate' (picture attached)

Sitting in that plane, thinking about those soldiers who risked their lives, jumping into decidedly unfriendly circumstances without a reserve chute from a mere 1000 ft. with a lot of military gear, being shot at all the time...and getting down alive was only the beginning!!

We actually had one of the veterans on board for the flight. An English gentleman of about 80 yrs. old. I doubt he was cheered and applauded when he boarded the very same plane 60 yrs. ago.

I have *SO* much respect for the paratroopers of WWII....

Ramon

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It'd be nice to try the Pressurized suit, but for that price, I may as well buy a Classic and get better performance. Or hell, just use my S3 and save a few bucks and get way better performance.

Disclaimer: I am not a BASE jumper and have never jumped a wingsuit.

I think the jackets and pants from Pressurized or Phoenix-fly are a great concept, giving you performance like a wingsuit while leaving arms and legs free to handle any problems like on a 'normal' skydive.

I'd love to skydive with one of those pants & jacket combo's.

My colleague said he couldn't breathe during his tandemjump, and two weeks ago I saw a tandem video where this guy was frantically 'running' and flapping his arms. His explanation was that he couldn't breathe...

I have so far been not very successful in convincing my colleague that everyone I know can breathe normally during freefall .

Oh well, make sure you don't suffocate in freefall!

With my very limited experience I think you're right, no waiting around after a cutaway.

If the components of your rig match each other (for instance PdF integrity risers on a PdF Atom container) this should not be a problem. The possible problem of reverse/integrity risers not releasing in a belly to earth position has been dealt with by moving the biggest of the three rings slightly higher on the shoulder.

I have the above described setup on my rig (no cutaways yet), and know many people in the Netherlands that have this setup. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a problem in The Netherlands related to integrity risers not releasing on a cutaway.



Hope this helps,

Rainman

These are nice! Even *I* could see them...problem is I have to look cross-eyed to see them, which inverts the depth of the image...the parts that should stick out towards you are 'lowered' into the image.

I have a book of these things, my wife reads them like a comic, but it takes me much longer...

Very recently I tracked (90 degrees off jumprun, which was good) straight for a cloud because I love the visuals and the sensation of speed when falling through 'industrial haze' .

While I was in said cloud, I remembered the gliders circling the DZ.....

This made for a couple of exciting seconds, but fortunately there were no gliders when I regained eye-contact with mother Earth.

I won't be doing that again anytime soon...

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I've seen all three of the mentioned bands on a few occasions, and here's my opinion.....

Back in the day of the black album they were awesome, but with their new bassist and this crap they've been writing, I seriously think it's all about money and escaping boredom for these guys.

I'm not the average metal-fan if such a thing even exists, and I have to admit I don't know all the lyrics by heart. I really do appreciate some kind of melody in music. And I like it when they all finish at approximately the same time. (Deicide, are you listening? )

I guess Metallica is more accessible to me, but I could get used to Korn's sound. You've convinced me to give them a fair chance at least.

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Slipknot I agree with you. Aside from having two drummers (which is kinda cool), they're not worth the show.

It's like very loud street-theatre....You're being very generous calling a guy that's whacking the shit out of an empty beer barrel with a baseball bat a drummer

I have to admit that their 'main' drummer is rather good though, but that's only like 11% of the band

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As for KoRn, I used to practically follow those guys around when they started out. They're first two cd's were strong and full of emotion and personal experience. ...... But now, all I have to say is .

Their version of 'One' was really cool, and I'll definitely listen to one of their CDs soon.....

I just had to share this: I saw Metallica yesterday in Amsterdam, and the concert was AWESOME!!!!! James, Lars, Kirk and Rob are great!!!!

OTOH, if I never see nor hear anything about Slipknot (or snotlip as a friend called them) ever again it would be too soon....

Korn was OK by me, won't be buying any of their CDs soon though.

My brother and me were in the 'snake pit' (dunno if that's a normal term for it) right in front of the stage, my ears are still ringing and my throat feels like I swallowed some glass, but it was *SO* worth it!!!!

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It's still a good idea to combine time and the 45 degree rule

It's never a good idea to use the 45 degree rule if you want to be safe.

Please refer to John Kallend's website for more information.

Blue skies,

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If you can't look after yourself properly, don't expect others to do so.....even instructors are human and can make mistakes.....

Once out the door you're on your own.....

I couldn't agree more! I would really kick myself if anyone found (or missed!) something wrong with my equipment after I checked it myself.

I hope my post didn't come across as though I am in any way blaming that particular instructor. After all, my friend's the big doofus in this story!

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I have a bit of a problem coming back from "skydive" mode to "work" mode and my concentration ain't the best for one or two days. I also fail to prioritize work high enough and it takes me a while to realize that "this stuff is really important".

Man, are you my alter-ego or what?

I *so* resemble that remark, it's unnerving....

Just wanted to chime in and bump this thread:

Yesterday I noticed a friend of mine with an incorrectly threaded cheststrap, after he had a gearcheck/flightlinecheck from an instructor...

He probably would have been OK on the hop-n-pop he was doing, but it really scared me (and my friend) anyway.

I discreetly informed the instructor who did the gearcheck of what he missed and am positive he will pay more attention to checking cheststraps in the future!