Daskal

This one is kinda tough for me, living most of my short life in NYC and having a brother who is a P.O. in the NYPD, so i'll try and give it a shot. I don't fault Mr. Corliss personally for what he tried to do. All of us have our dreams, and if most of us, myself included had our way they would all be fulfilled. Making this jump obviously meant a great deal to Jeb, otherwise he wouldn't have spent the amount of money and time that he did on making the disguise and planning the attempt. I admire his courage and desire to as he put it, "push the human race foward" through his sport. Whether jumping from the ESB helps to accomplish that goal, I don't know, but it meant a great deal to him and he almost pulled it off. The same could be said about Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers in reference to their great escape from Alcatraz. It was an incredible feat of human wit and desire, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was the right thing to do. Whether we like it or not, more often than not laws get in the way of us accomplishing our personal goals. NYC has been through a great deal in recent years, and tolerance for anything that could potentially harm anyone else, particularly large crowds of people is extremely low. I don't care how skilled and experienced you are, anytime a 150+ pound projectile is thrown from that altitude onto a crowd of people on a busy NYC street at rush hour, things can go wrong, and innocent people could have gotten hurt. Innocent people who for the most part just want to get home safely after leaving work every day, and not have to deal with stuff like this. Whether Jeb planned to time his jump in synch with a red traffic light or whatever is gonna be irrelavent to the jury, the police department, and mostly everyone else in New York who see this as another selfish act by an individual obsessed with shameless self-promotion at the expense of the safety of others. Did it really have to be at 4:30 in the afternoon at rush hour? Sure, most of us, myself included don't see it that way and know that Jeb had no ill intentions and was one of the most qualified people in the world to pull this off, but non-BASE jumpers and skydivers are not gonna see it that way, regardless of how it is spun. You can't fault the security guards and police for doing their job. They are there to prevent threats to public safety, and that includes preventing the discharge of heavy objects, humans included from leaving the observation deck by way of the railing. In their eyes, handcuffing Jeb to the railing was the best way of preventing that in the heat of the moment. Could it have potentially jeopardized Jeb's life in the process, sure. The only alternative however would have been to just "let him jump", and at the time it didnt seem to the police that that was the best alternative. Where this really turned ugly for Jeb, both in terms of publicity and legal standpoints, was when he decided to resist being taken into custody. The police had a job to do, and rather than just go quietly with a smile on his face and get at the most a minor trespassing charge, he ended up assaulting a security guard in the process of struggling, as well as resisting the NYPD, who are probably the furthest thing from "$10/hour rent-a-cops" in the world, and eliminated any public sympathy for this outside of the comparably small skydiving/BASE community he might have gotten. To add insult to injury, the New York media (grossly unfairly) reduced an admirable person with a passionate dream into a pathetic crybaby who yelled and screamed when he couldn't get his way in the eyes of the public. Did any real good come from this? Jeb lost a measure of his freedom, dignity, and not to mention a job that most people in the sport/industry would have been eternally grateful for. He also gave an innocent security guard who was doing his job a concussion and trip to the hospital. I'm not asking anyone to condemn or praise Mr. Corliss for what he did, but everyone needs to realize that real life isn't always as romantic as it may seem in the movies or on paper. Yeah, it would have been cool to a lot of us if something out of Point Break took place, with the police officer being a skydiver too, and unlocking the handcuffs after Jeb said that he just wanted to make the jump, and everyone going home happy with one of another individual's many aspirations in life fulfilled. It doesn't always work that way, and sometimes reality needs to set in. Sometimes you can't always think about yourself above everything else. God knows I've been guilty of it many times.

Keep me posted on the rain situation. If it looks like its gonna be terrible on Friday and Saturday, and that combined with the superbowl is gonna keep the attendance down im gonna call off the show. I pick up the truck on Thursday morning, so i'll make the call Wednesday night late.

I will be there probably Friday evening, no later.

You sure thats all your coming down for? I find that mighty hard to believe.....

This is gonna be insane.

Post: Coming RkyMtnHigh Marks Skymama Bendywendy Melstarr & Jason Allisonjr Fireflytx Brains Scaryperry yamtx73 lisamarie Waltappel Missg8tor Jumpchikk Skychick312 NY Bryan SkinnyShrek JCeman and TLML Thinking about it Bolas Louddan Divnswoop Shananay

Coming RkyMtnHigh Marks Skymama Bendywendy Melstarr & Jason Allisonjr Fireflytx Brains Scaryperry yamtx73 lisamarie Waltappel Missg8tor Jumpchikk NY Bryan SkinnyShrek Thinking about it Bolas Louddan Divnswoop Skychick312 Shananay

Post deleted. Please take your personal issues to pm's.

Alright kids, the fireworks show is confirmed for Saturday night. Its been cleared by the airport and DZ personnel, so it should go as planned. Will be about a 10-12 minute show, with the computer firing the actual fireworks electrically. Marks will be on hand with his sound system to broadcast the score, which will include an updated performance of Jerry Lee Lewis' hit "Great Balls of Fire", complete with rolling fireball special effects, as well as an unforgettable finale. Although i've fired many 1.3G shows, featuring shells much larger than the effects that will be displayed at this event, the content of this display seems to be getting more impressive the more I work on it, and the more money i spend. By all means, come down to the event to jump, but if you stay afterwards, hold on tight.

Whoever is running this event needs to get in touch with me ASAP about the pyromusical display. I need to place the order for the material ($1500 or so), rent the truck, and program the firing commands for the show into the computer. I also need to give the music crew an answer one way or the other, so please PM or e-mail me as quickly as possible. I don't mind shooting the show, or driving 2000 miles at my own expense, but I can't just put it together at the last minute. Thanks, NY Bryan

Yeah, its on. Should be a 10-12 minute, computer-fired musically choreographed show. For those of you who can make it down, I promise you it will be something you won't soon forget.

I'll fly down for this. _________________________________________ MOUTH CSpenceFLY & The RoamingDZ plus a few quarts of Peach Mountain Dew Mrs RoamingDZ.com Popsjumper Psycho Bob & Psycho Patty (My wife) RkyMtnHigh stl135... Wonderhog... Thanatos340 Skymama jumpchikk Goofyjumper Skinnyshrek Flytex revillusion Skychick312 & Avalonwings Lauralicious Skyjenb Skydivermandy and Dave Darkwing Nut n lucky Dbattman (tentative) Icon134 micduran,with her new camper Chaoskitty Pyke Yardhippe & Redhot wife (maybe) FrogLady PSW097 missg8tordivr DaGimp Katiebear SkymonkeyOne NYBryan

Will be there with my new Birdman suit. Skyflyer3/S custom, ready to go.

Well said Lee. Until I pass the bar, the J.D. thing on my wall is just a glorified piece of paper. I'll see if I can come down for the boogie. I'm not gonna promise anything. I hope everyone down there is okay.

Pruitt, I don't disagree with all of what Blaine said. He is correct that the USPA guidelines are there for a reason, and for the most part they should be respected, especially if they are basic safety requirements, like minimum pull altitudes, etc. With that said, wingsuit flying, like freeflying, has no USPA mandated minimum jump numbers before you start flying one. Technically, by the letter of the law, it would still be "legal" (in terms of USPA) for a student to fly a wingsuit on a solo jump once cleared to self-supervise in freefall by an appropriately rated USPA Instructor. It would however, be grossly irresponsible and perhaps even reckless behavior. The Skydivers Information Manual "recommends" that you have a minimum of 200 jumps before attempting to fly a wingsuit. There are similar recommendations for other disciplines such as camera flying and freeflying. They are simply that - recommendations. Just like "Freefly Coach", "Birdman Instructor" is not an official USPA title or rank. It confers no legal authority, USPA or otherwise, and is only in effect, a measuring of one's skill. Any licensed skydiver can "teach" another licensed skydiver to do anything according to USPA, so long as no BSR's are violated. I learned to fly my wingsuit from "Scary" Perry, a representative who was described as a "Birdman Instructor" by the company. He is perhaps one of the most skilled and qualified wingsuit flyers active in the sport today. Before I made the jump, he checked my logbook to make sure I had at least 200 jumps, gave me a thorough ground training session, about 30 minutes long, and we practiced the pull sequence until I knew it well. He also went up in the plane with me, showed me how to properly zip the suit closed, and then exited after me to give me some coaching in the air, followed by a thorough debriefing on the ground. The bottom line was that I learned a lot from the experience, and would recommend that most people go that route when learning to fly a wingsuit. You will benefit the most and it has the largest margin for safety. With that said, does that mean that everyone needs 200 jumps before they fly one? Does that mean that all coaches must be dubbed "Birdman Instructors" by the company, no. I personally taught 2 other flyers, (Ryan from ASC, and Kelly from Tallahassee) how to fly a wingsuit, and I made damn sure that they knew what they were doing before I took them up in the plane, and there was no way I wasn't gonna be there with them to make sure they didn't put the suit on wrong or exit in an improper order. I would not have taken them up if I felt that they were gonna do something unsafe, or were not mature enough to handle what was going on. Kelly had 100 something jumps and Ryan had under 200 even though he told me differently. Both made perfect jumps, and came back okay. I look at it in terms of the individual skydiver. If that person seems like they have a good head on their shoulders, and have been fairly responsible, I don't have a problem taking someone with under 200 jumps up. My best advice for you to is to understand your own skill level, and if flying a wingsuit is something you really want to do, and not just to "try something out" until the novelty wears off, then get advice on piloting from experienced flyers, Blaine included, and just be aware of your own limits. I had 200 jumps when I flew for the first time. You had 100 something. Did that 70 or so jump difference make me more qualified then you to learn? Probably not. Unfortunately in a grey world, organizations need to set black and white standards, and for various reasons, the numbers need to be there. Use them as a reference point, take into account your own skills and limitations, and make the decision based on that. It sounds like you came out okay.