Ronald

Photoshop indeed. I can see no harnass at all. Ronald

I will be for work in Florence, Italy, january 24-30. Anything there close there? Any local contacts? A PM would be appreciated. Ronald

From what I've heard, you don't even have to jump to be charged with arial delivery. An open canopy on the ground is enough of reason. Tony That is nice. So if you pack fast after you land they can not charge you any more with aerial delivey? Unlikely it seems to me. Ronald

A friend of mine sent me this http://www.totallycrap.com/videos/videos_base_jumping/ Of course, it is totally crap. That is, to call this a base jump. On the other hand, me chicken, I would not do this. Ronald

AFAIK, that is a famous mountain range somewhere NW in china. I have seen some aerial pics and although it looks tempting, I think the place would have very few exit points, if any. Mostly rounded boulders. Ronald

Interesting contribution indeed about the TSO. In Holland, long time ago, there was no need for a TSO on skydiving rigs. (now, we do) We had a jumper who built his own skydiving rig – he works with a respected manufacturer now – and jumped it regularly. So, does skydiving need a TSO? Well, yes and no. Yes, because without TSO we might repeat past problems. Don’t forget that the TSO was established and updated taking into account (fatal) mistakes in skydiving rigs. Certain parameters must be set in order to build something that allows you to descend safely to mother earth. Claiming now we don’t need a TSO is forgetting that we needed it in order to set e.g. strenght a harnesses. Without a TSO, you could build a harness out of ducktape. Well, good luck 2U. On the other side, with all the knowledge we have now, we could forgo the TSO, assuming everybody, including manufacturers, would build their harness/containers in a safe way. In that we, all base jumpers are guinee pigs.... Maybe changing the TSO process would be a better idea? Not jump testing 50 times, but just 5 times? And more ground strength testing? I am talking about harness/containers only BTW. I would still like to have my reserve skydiving parachute tested well. Mind you, there is no TSO on main parachutes. The longer repack cycle asked for by skydivers as mentioned by NickDG is already there in many countries. It is just the old fashioned US that is sticking to the 4 months... Also interesting is the remark about the Wonderhog of Bill Booth. AFAIK the TSO given to the Wonderhog is still the same that applies to the Vector II and Vector III. BB was really smart, stating to FAA that all changes applied to these rigs were minor changes, which are allowed for and keeping the original TSO. So, all the base manufacturers have to do is line up, design a dual base rig, get a TSO on that, share it among them, and reasuring FAA that all developments after that are just minor changes. Ronald PS: nice rig. However, personally not to fond about velcro. Most skydiving rigs don't have it anymore, for good reasons. Sure, magnetic pads are to heavy, but tuck flaps with some stiffener works just fine, e.g. on my Gargoyle

About exiting on the back, on the bad idea list. Yes, there have been a lot of fatilities this way. Very sad indeed. However, I think it is not just the back exiting by itself that is bad. As usual, it is a string of (small) events, leading to a bigger event, fatal or not. It is the same with the unstable exit untill impact. If I look at Jeb Corliss' video's, he is unstable untill opening.... And surely Jeb knows what he is doing. I have done a few back exits myself. I (think I) know the risks involved. To be honest, I will continue doing them. That said, I sincerely greeve the loss of Eddie. Ronald

Damn, damn, damn. I met Eddie last year for the first time in Beijing. Such a nice and cool guy. I can't believe it... What a bad year it is. Condolences to his family and friends. Ronald PS (Eddie is on the left in the pic)

What a surprise! Just zapping past some TV channels monday morning (yes, X-mas) and who did I see at telsell? Joe Jennings himself. Telling how he got back in shape, especially his ab muscles, using some device (I forgot it instantly), BUT, they showed like 30 seconds of his footage. That was good. However, I will never buy that ab device... Ronald Overdijk

FS, in other words belly flying (is cool if it is all you can do) deployement flying etc. Ronald

News in Dutch Metro magazine: Ingenieursbureau Iv-Bouw & Industrie te Papendrecht heeft opdracht gekregen voor het uitvoeren van het totale ontwerp van het Beijing Great Wheel en de bijbehorende bouwbegeleiding. (IV building, Papendrecht, Netherlands, has recieved work order for designing the Beijing Great Wheel) Het Beijing Great Wheel moet veruit het grootste reuzenrad ter wereld worden met een totale hoogte van 208 meter. (Beijing Great Wheel must be by large the biggest ferrieswheel in the world, total hight 208 meters) Deze zeer markante landmark zal gebouwd gaan worden in de stad Beijing (Peking) in het kader van de komende Olympische Spelen in 2008. (This landmark will be built in Beijing for the upcoming Olympics 2008) In de Chinese cultuur wordt veel met symboliek gewerkt. De Olympische Spelen vinden plaats in 2008, om deze reden is er voor gekozen om een rad te ontwerpen met een hoogte van 208 m. (In chinese culture there is a lot of symbolism. The Olympics take place in 2008, for the reason the wheel is 208 meters high) In totaal zijn er 48 gesloten capsules waarin 40 personen kunnen plaatsnemen, het totaal aantal passagiers bedraagt daardoor ruim 1900 tijdens 1 rondgang!! Gedurende zo’n vlucht hebben de passagiers een fantastisch uitzicht over de stad Beijing met haar Plein van de Hemelse Vrede en de Verboden Stad. (There are a total of 48 closed pods in which 40 persons can take place, leading to a total capacity of 1900 passengers in 1 round. During this round the passengers wil have a fantastic view of the Tien an Men square and the forbidden city) Als opdrachtgever voor dit prachtige project fungeert The Great Wheel Corporation; Virgin Islands. Deze projectontwikkelaar financiert en exploiteert het reuzenrad en is op vele locaties in de wereld actief om dergelijke landmarks te plaatsen. (bla, bla, commercial talk) http://www.iv-groep.nl/nl/common/nl_nws_detail_grp.asp?newsId=144 I can't download the pics, so look for yourself. Ronald PS: this url is better http://www.greatwheel.com/beijing_english.htm

Something different then Trango Tower, some benne jumps in Pakistan. As seen in the Frittfall norwegian skydiving magazine. I think it is Anniken Binz jumping there. Ronald

Hi Dougs, Is that a way to increase the hits on your site? ha ha. Very nice and cool video's though. Way better then mine. Ronald

Ask Steve Braff. PM me for his email. Ronald PS: namaste is a hindu greet.

You can get good maps at the provincial capitals (Porto Alegre & Florianópolis respectively). Mais, voce tem que falar Portugues. Ronald

Quote>>>But seriously. Good job. ~But seriously...someone ought to break his fucking pull hand. WTF!? Well, it appears the sarcasm in my first line is a point missed by some people. "Good job" refers to, good job enterering the site that way and jumping it. Not many people have done that, AFAIK. You might be one of them in the future (?), that is, if I look at your users profile interests. Take care, Ronald

"There can be only one" a comment noted as been said by a very upset Mr. Felix B. But seriously. Good job. Ronald

44 years 10 base 570 jumps 132 objects 18 countries Ronald

I did not miss that part. "unfortunate" 2me is an understatement. Also, read my second paragraph. I think there is nothing to learn either from speculation. Ronald

My battery charger for Sony PC10 (yes I know, very old fashioned) has finally give up. Does anybody has one in left his/her video chest? The correct model number is AC-V100. Any help would be appreciated. Ronald

"...but that's the internet - the fault isn't with the people jumping to assumptions, but that they took the information on face value to start with." Well, true indeed. And then, that is the common complaint about media in general, reporting about base..... "People say it again & again: please wait until the facts are posted. I disagree. The only thing a forum is good for is speculation and assumption - and I don't think this is bad in itself, in fact its often entertaining" I totally disagree, sorry. There is nothing "entertaining" about speculation if you might hurt people's feeling which are already over sensitive after loosing a family member/friend. Speculation leads to nothing. Factfinding will, if only people read and understand the facts. Then, and only then, if the facts can not explain 100% what happened, we can start speculation. Condolences to the family and friends. Ronald

Well, There have been record attempts in Norway, Ostankino, Shanghai, to name a few. I guess there is nothing wrong with a record attempt, provided: 1) safety is a primairy. 2) local authorities agree 3) local base jumpers agree 4) organisation and selection is 110%. 5) no big (fatal) accidents happen. Surely, there is no garantuee against number 5, but adhering to numbers 1 & 4 will help a lot. Don't forget that a good record will create a lot of exposure, and eventually, more acceptance for base as a sport. Ronald PS: I trust Valery a lot.

Quote""Hi BASE Jumpers! I love watching videos of jumpers taking the plunge. I was wondering if theres any videos out there with someone in a Business suit running off a building for a BASE Jump. " There used to be nice footage of 3 or 4 guys jumping a building in downtown Brussels. They were wearing suits, in order to get into it. It was daytime, during office hours basedudes.be or basejumperguy.com had it, but I can't find it anymore. Ronald

There is more WOW when you have been to the place Ronald

Patrick, There are no garantuees for the issue you raise. It iss just my gut feeling. Based on the idea that if you have a "bad idea" list it might lead someone to think that as long as he/she does nothing what is on the "bad idea" list, he/she will be OK. And then does something bad what is not on the list. Anyway, we can allways compromise: Do's & don'ts for base. Ronald