dorbie

I wonder if every AFF grad goes through the same thing when they discover the Lutz video :-) The commentary is certainly infuriating when you're just off AFF. There are different ways to interpret the video. It's not just a case of he's a dumb ass and he fucked up. That was my first reaction until I gained insight form AFFIs posting here etc. Aside from that, it's ancient, gear has changed, and an honest appraisal would not be as clear cut as you assume. At the end of the day Lutz pulled silver and saved himself. He could be a skydiver today with an interesting story. The reason he's a pariah is the idiotic commentary and perhaps the background that he sued over this incident.

Discovery? He left in an ambulance after hitting power lines and burning his ankle AFAIK.

Oh man, I hope they shoot video on day 1.

Nobody else in the room felt the need to sexually humiliate the victim or bare their genitals in public. Just this guy. So on whatever bell curve you measure normal, in this instance he's the one on the periphery who chose to be a sex pervert.

"Brian Downing, 32, of Smiths Station, Ala., was booked on charges of sexual battery and obscenity" "Hibbett Sports Inc., confirmed Thursday that the company fired Downing on Wednesday." http://jjb.yuku.com/topic/700780/Alabama-Fan-Arrested--sexual-assault--passed--LSU-fan http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/01/alabama_fan_wanted_in_sexual_a_1.html "His bond was set at $10,000 by a magistrate this morning. Downing was subsequently released from jail" http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/01/bond_set_at_10000_for_alabama.html

There is a strange definition of "best" rattling around that sport. From one expert on hitting shit to another.

We need a new law that undoes the damage the DMCA does to legitimate activities like reverse engineering, decryption for playback of legally purchased content e.g. DeCSS and prevents abuse like encrypting trivial data to activate anti-circumvention clauses and eases the massive widespread abuse of DMCA takedowns, and offers stronger safe-harbor to legitimate 3rd parties.

He just hit the ground in his wingsuit. These remarks should be viewed in that context. He was right the first time.

I worked with one called 'Wai Ling'. And there was a Mr Meenagh at my college. I just watched a Chinese movie "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" with English subtitles there's a character in it called "Donkey Wang". http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/detective_dee_and_the_mystery_of_the_phantom_flame/

Years ago at Uni the tutor played some documentary on Sociology from the OU. In it there was a sociologist called Richard Head, they captioned him "Dick Head". Someone in their AV department has a sense of humor.

You appear to have quoted me and deleted everything I wrote, retaining only what I replied to. In answer to your question, none of those activities would be skydiving. If he's prohibited from skydiving he can't skydive. Court orders are generally not difficult to understand or interpret although some contrive to. He can do what he likes except skydive. i.e. leaving his kid to wander around the DZ alone as he gets on a plane and jumps out is prohibited. Your would be valid if true, but we can all think of fictional stuff to get over.

Calvin, I agree in general, except that my suggestion is that ground effect may have played a role in the "Grinding the Crack" video, not this incident. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfph3iNC-k&t=1m37s Watch at 1:36 and see the additional lift at 1:40, and consider the altitude above the smooth slope, how much was ground effect? I have no idea. My further suggestion would be that such an experience has the potential to be a "negative training" experience if not properly understood leading to less lift than expected in a similar situation where the proximity to a smooth grassy slope was absent.

Indeed, but not enough to qualify as a positive value in terms of the weight of the jumper. A wingsuit can lift 'some' of the weight of a jumper, but it cannot lift 'all' of the weight and provide for a zero descent rate. . Lift is lift, further, in any stable glide slope the upward vertical component of aerodynamic forces equals (is in equilibrium with) downward forces due to gravity, (weight). Any reduction in descent rate or shallowing of the glide slope would mean that upward aerodynamic forces exceeded weight briefly. The forward component of aerodynamic forces is in equilibrium with drag (in fact drag is an aerodynamic force so I'm reluctant to separate it but it helps illustrate propulsion). As for the ground effect again, my point would be that ground effect should not be relied upon, further I said at first mention that we may never know how much ground effect was in play on the video I cited. There is nothing magical about wingsuits that preclude ground effect when low enough.

Yup but sometimes concerns are valid and a judge is supposed to rule where the concerns raised are in the best interests of the child. It doesn't always take a judge. Before I was awarded sole legal custody my ex mailed every dropzone and every wind tunnel in the region demanding that our 4 year old daughter never be allowed to skydive, fly in the jump plane or fly in the wind tunnel. She'd have done the same for general aviation if she could have. Ignorance and fear are a powerful combination.

One of the parents asked him to consider the issue and he was obliged to. It's not about our sport, it's about what is in the best interests of the child. The mother raised a concern, and he considered the complaint on it's merits based on the arguments presented to him at the time. You'd need a transcript of the hearing to know what went on. There could have been all sorts of information presented, overblown or not. Perhaps the kid was bored, you just don't know. The judges stance is to consider what is in the best interests of the child. Perhaps he felt leaving the kid alone for 20 minutes at a time at an airport was not desirable, perhaps he felt that visitation time focused on the father's hobby was not child-centric enough for visitation.

Dude your post is pretty far off the mark, you are arguing for visitation while you work, and calling it quality time, or alternatively saying you want to get a baby sitter during visitation. I can see the merits of this very occasionally so your kid sees what you do but it wouldn't be quality time for long. You should not be working during visitation, that's a red flag, same with the baby sitter frankly. Ask a judge for this and you'll get what you deserve. My impression from the OP was it was a fun jumper who's spending 20 minutes on a load every hour or more.

Skydiving during visitation is not something I have done, but I have taken my kid to the DZ and she had a great time. Considering most of the time spent skydiving is spent on the ground it would be OK provided the kid is adequately supervised when that father is on a load. This is the key message that he needs to make clear. Sadly custody disputes lead to all sorts of nonsense like this but the judge's concern here would be for the kid, not for the father's right to do what he pleases. She may have had a valid concern if he was leaving his kid to wander around the DZ while he was on a load, but it sounds more like your usual custody dispute bullshit, with his ex making exaggerated claims about concerns just to stir trouble.

Wingsuits certainly produce lift. w.r.t. ground effect watch Grinding the Crack on the final lowest camera angle looking up the slope and reevaluate your opinion. Disagree by all means but you should at least be considering the same scenario.

I wonder if any of your whuffo friends say the same thing about you. Not all risks are equal and shooting for 50cm above a ledge with camera crew isn't just another day at the office. Anyone convincing themselves they're good enough to take that risk because they have taken a lot of similar risks before has a PhD in bullshit. They're "skilling" themselves into an early grave. It doesn't matter how many minutes they spend explaining the strike on HBO. We can never be sure how much of a role ground effect played saving Corliss from smearing in his grinding the crack video but it caught up with him here. Jebb didn't learn the lesson from Dwain Weston's death, he probably won't learn from this. If he doesn't then it's only a matter of time (if he's still able bodied enough). He doesn't need hero worship, he needs an intervention.

Exactly. and more power to him for trying too. Someone stepping off the edge is the only reason we can now skydive. Our sport is much the richer BECAUSE of the people who push the envelope, not in spite of them. Our sport would be much richer with guys like Dwain Weston still alive.

Exactly.

HBO were filming it, their special will be called "Browning the Crack".

All the best comments on this have already been deleted from incidents.

The only problem with his actions was trying to catch his freebag after the chop. That has caused entanglements before, it's not worth the risk.

Nothing strange about skydiving fatalities. It'd be strange if jumpers stopped dying.