JohnnyUtah

[Quote] Who is the "best" BASE jumper? Why even ask the question, who cares? Yes! There are! Myself and a host of others. Not necessarily. A past quote of mine. BTW Avery, your avatar really shows where your heart is. Its really bizarre how you are so obsessed with me. Kind of reminds me of that movie fatal attraction. Any chance you could get a grip and quit being a major weirdo? Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Congrats Jamie!!! Just started last May and now look at you. Nice work! You are quite stealthy arent you. The kids grow up so fast. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Mr Han-Solo makes an excellent point. I think the main lesson learned from this jump should be: Do not rubber band your bridle anywhere. While the multi is sheathed, it is basically an extension of your bridle. I have never owned a multi set up, so my experience with the multi is limited, but I have seen multi-users s-fold the multi freely instead of using the rubber bands. I dont like black rubber bands either. I think this kind of PC in tow can happen with any color rubber band. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

First you will have to master the Batman Swoop. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Here is a shot Erich took on the way home from the Royal Gorge last month. For those who didnt have a chance to meet Erich, he is on the right with the green sweatshirt. That A 2-way we did on the way home was so fun. I will never forget that...and all the other good times we had. You will be sorely missed my friend. Rest in Peace. ~Johnny

I would have to agree with that. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Good points. Faber maybe a general rule of thumb for you to consider--is it a major or minor repair. Major repairs are those whereby if it fails then it is life threatening. Minor repairs are most likely not life threatening if they fail. Replacing the Velcro on your bridle is a minor repair. Go for it. Making repairs to the harness or risers would be a major repair. Have a good rigger do it. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Tom, you missed putting a V by the Perigee II, Vision, and Soft Cock. edit to add: you also might want to add the Hummit. I dont know if they are still being made but they are still out there. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

I dont have a PhD, and I cant rattle off a bunch of scientific terminology or theories, but I try to maintain a simple understanding of this stuff. This conversation has really developed, so here are some more comments of the way I understand it all. I could be wrong or I could be right, or maybe a little of both. Bottom line, get a parachute open before hard deck. Some basics: Square canopy A square canopy is an airfoil, a wing, a glider. The pressurized wing generates lift because it is an airfoil shape. In this thread, round canopies seem to be the topic, so… Round canopy A round canopy is a drag device. The canopy captures air as it is pulled in a direction. This capturing of air pressurizes the canopy with static pressure holding the round canopy in its inflated shape. The shape of the round canopy creates drag, which is the opposing force to whatever is pulling the payload in the said direction (i.e. gravity). It is this drag that allows a person to land with a safe rate of decent under a round parachute. Inflation of a round For a round parachute to be considered inflated, it needs to be pressurized with air. For air to get into the round parachute, it goes in through the opening at the skirt, not the apex. Air exits through any hole at the apex. During a round deployment with some airspeed, the canopy starts out in a stretched out streamer type of shape. The skirt of the canopy is gathered together in the center and therefore the opening at the bottom is very small if any. Because there is some airspeed, the airflow across the canopys outer surface creates a low pressure. Since there is a lower pressure on the outer surface of the canopy than on the inside of the canopy, the streamer shape begins to expand. The opening at the skirt begins to expand as well. As this happens, air does go in there. The air keeps collecting inside there, and it is at the apex of the canopy where it collects for the most part. Once the opening at the skirt becomes large enough to let in enough air to completely expand open and pressurize the canopy, then that is what happens. The low air pressure on the outside of the canopy during initial inflation, helps the canopy change from a streamer shape to an expanded, more open shape. IMHO- If a round parachute were deployed with its skirt completely opened up (full diameter), then it would inflate (pressurize) immediately and the need for an external low-pressure to help expand the streamer and open the skirt up (as during initiating inflation), would not be needed. I agree that the static pressure created by the canopy capturing air is greater than the external pressure and therefore the canopy stays open. Pilot Chutes I have no doubt in my mind that when doing a high airspeed deployment, there is a low pressure created on the outside of the PC which helps it to initially expand. It seems to work very well and that is why I use a regular mushroom for those types of jumps. In this thread we were talking about a very low airspeed PC hesitation. My point of view is that if you can get the mesh/rip-stop seam of the PC opened quicker (and reliably) on its own, then air will go right in there and pressurize the PC that much quicker. That is why I was mentioning the Super Mushroom. Thats its purpose. If you pack the PC so that it is dependent on airspeed to begin to open, then you need sufficient airspeed at deployment time or enough altitude to get away with a hesitation (like we see in the video). With the regular mushroom, sometimes you can do a throw and go and the PC opens immediately with nil to very little airspeed. I believe this works because enough air successfully flows through the opening of the seam and successfully inflates it. However, sometimes the airflow is not so successful to get in and inflate the PC at low airspeeds with the regular mushroom. The result is an occasional hesitation. In the video, it probably hesitated until an external low pressure did happen and helped get the PC to open. Not ideal in my opinion. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Hi Tree, Two opinions are better than one. I posted simply to offer mine to maybe benefit someone else. Is the reserve PC you are thinking of from a RW Vector? The vector PC does have a big hole in the bottom (same diameter as the spring coil). I do understand how a round parachute begins to open with a low pressure created on the outer surface of the canopy. For that low pressure to happen airspeed is required. On a BASE jump, I personally like my PC to open immediately even if there is zero to very little airspeed. Once the round starts to open then air does rush into it inflating it quickly at that point. The round parachute is a drag device at that point and it works by capturing air. I just dont agree with these two statements of yours. I hope there are no hard feelings if my opinion differs from yours.

Quite a few jumpers like to tuck a bit of bridle in the edge of a closing flap at the top of the rig when going hand-held. The primary reason for doing this is to keep the bridle from snagging around the bottom corner of the container. Perhaps a better way is to tuck a bit of bridle in the closing flap at the bottom of the container. What I see on the video is that the PC inflates and then pulls the tucked bridle out. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

That pilot chute sure did have some wicked rotations in both directions. I agree with whats already been said that either the PC is attached uneven and/or the PC has a defect. The hesitation doesnt look like it was caused by a bungee kill-line. You can see that the apex of the PC is not pulled down like it would be with a bungee. Hard to tell if the mesh is small hole or large hole. If you notice how the mesh is all squeezed together and just stays that way for nearly 2 seconds. This type of PC hesitation was one of the primary reasons I developed the Super Mushroom PC packing technique. I have seen several PC hesitations like this with good quality BASE pilot chutes while using the regular mushroom both going hand held and stowed. When packing using the regular mushroom technique, you stretch out the mesh, which also collapses it together, and then you s-fold it. The opening to the rip-stop is closed for the most part at the top end of the mesh column, and seems to stay closed until the s-folds unfold and the mesh starts to expand. From my observations through the years, I think on occasion it just takes a while for the air molecules to work their way into the collapsed mesh and subsequently into the canopy part of the PC. The Super Mushroom has the mesh already expanded for the most part. Also with the Super Mushroom, the mesh/rip-stop seam starts to expand on its own once it leaves your hand. It also looks like the initial pilot chute rotation put 1 or 2 line twist into the lines below the slider before the slider started coming down which was probably a contributing factor to the long snivel. Since he had a d-bag, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a sail slider as well. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

IMHO- There is no such thing as the best BASE Jumper. There are many very good BASE jumpers (past and present). Everyone has their good days, and everyone has their bad days. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Talk about a site being burned to the ground. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

freaking hilarious Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Batman training. Have you ever watched a bird take off from its perch, fly over and land right where it wanted? Some times it feels like that. Pure freedom of flight. Other times its like a rumble in the jungle. However the jump goes, I get a huge adrenaline rush during the jump and a sweet feeling of euphoria after an injury free landing. Other cool aspects of BASE jumping are awesome adventures in some beautiful places with some of the most interesting, fun people on earth. I also dig the visuals of a BASE jump. Life candy. edit: to add picture of Batman Sweet as...this was my 100th post...a real benchmark in my BASE career. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Thats very hypocritically humorous Avery. Considering the fact that your 9-way used the same chant, F*** the Rodriguez Brothers as your count to jump at BD 2003. You know the 9-way I am talking about; the one Jason Bell coined as the Worlds Worse 9-Way. I guess that had something to do with the fact that 3 people were injured, there was a canopy entanglement, and one jumper went to the hospital. It was a major dent in the safety record for that year. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Do you mean this video? Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Hey Russel nice jumps bro. Great to see you figured out a way to do the solo freefall. You are an inspiration! Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Just going off memory, I think the ski BASE jump scene was in the beginning of the Spy Who Loved Me. (Im kindof a Bond fan) Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Two Aussies and I were in Hong Kong while they were filming for Tom raider 2. They made several helicopter jumps next to the building and city of HK to practice and get the shots combine with jumps from 2IFC. Incidentally, an American and an Aussie jumped 2IFC before Team Bautasten jumped it. Geoff (Treeboy) unfortunately landed in a tree the night before jumping another B in that town, and due to a hook knife incident, his parachute was rendered un-airworthy. So he didnt make the load. And yes, the whole experience was sick. There is a French man who jump it before us. Probably the first. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Yes, it will happen again next Spring the week before Memorial Day, 2005. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

BASE CAMP - FJC is a BASE first jump course where skydivers can learn to BASE jump with Johnny Utah. This event is held in Twin Falls, Idaho at the Perrine Bridge twice a year and will happen again this Aug 30 - Sept 5, 2004. For more information. Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

In memory of Reagan. Doing some flickin. BASE Jumping is Not a Crime! Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]

Because he BASE jumped. BASE Jumping is not a crime! --The Ex Presidents Have Fun, Don't Die! Johnny Utah My Website email:[email protected]