QuietStorm

Hi! I am going to be working full time in sales for one of the major parachute manufacturing companies in Deland, FL. They would like me to start end of July. RV park at Skydive Deland is completely full with a long waiting list and no openings anytime soon. Wife and hounds need to stay behind in Phoenix, AZ to get the house sold and all those pesky details wrapped up. I need to find a reasonably decent and safe place to live for 6 months around the $400 / per month range to stay in budget so I can go to work and also scout out the area where my wife and I will move to long term. I'm Googling away looking for RV parks or "Fish Camps" within 1/2 hour of Deland where I could take my 5th wheel RV . Does anybody have any inside track or anything place local you know about that may be small and not coming up on Google ? Money is going to be very tight and single bed apartments are coming in at $600 - and simply out of our budget. "Alternate" idea is to sell RV, pack up the truck and look for a room to rent which takes me to the sketchy world of Craig's List. I'm a 47 year old, responsible, "boring" and stable adult. No drugs or partying. Married family man who is professionally employed and now gets to work in our industry ! If you have a room to rent at your house please send me a PM.

Hi! I am going to be working full time in sales for one of the major parachute manufacturing companies in Deland, FL. They would like me to start end of July. RV park at Skydive Deland is completely full with a long waiting list and no openings anytime soon. Wife and hounds need to stay behind in Phoenix, AZ to get the house sold and all those pesky details wrapped up. I need to find a reasonably decent and safe place to live for 6 months around the $400 / per month range to stay in budget so I can go to work and also scout out the area where my wife and I will move to long term. I'm Googling away looking for RV parks or "Fish Camps" within 1/2 hour of Deland where I could take my 5th wheel RV . Does anybody have any inside track or anything place local you know about that may be small and not coming up on Google ? Money is going to be very tight and single bed apartments are coming in at $600 - and simply out of our budget. "Alternate" idea is to sell RV, pack up the truck and look for a room to rent which takes me to the sketchy world of Craig's List. I'm a 47 year old, responsible, "boring" and stable adult. No drugs or partying. Married family man who is professionally employed and now gets to work in our industry ! If you have a room to rent at your house please send me a PM.

Folks here are my "thoughts and concerns": Do you remember when we were school age kids and we would fight, fuss, bitch, and argue with our siblings or classmates? The bickering went on to a point until "authority over us" parents or teachers got tired of the noise, problems, and disruption into thier world and said to us; "if you don't work it out amongst yourselves - I'm going to step in and fix the problem; and if I do - your not going to like the result". I'm a very "independent / libertarian" type of person so I'm the last one who raises my hand and invites regulation, rules, and authority - I like to take care of things myself. As a supervisor and leader I've learned that people are more willing to follow an agreement / understanding that they came together on - rather than having something forced onto them. So in the past I've had to say "if you guys don't figure this out amongst yourselves - I'm going to step in and settle it to stop all the problems and noise" ; Its never a good thing. We had better stop in-fighting and figure this out ourselves - QUICKLY. All I want is for new wingsuit pilots getting trained correctly based on our "combined" experiences / lessons learned to date and NOT HIT THE TAIL OF THE AIRCRAFT ! But even "structure and regulation " to training is no 100% guarantee to prevent a tail strike. As "experienced" wingsuiters we need to remind ourselves and each other on each jump of the tail strike danger. We need that "sticker" of Avoid The Bite - Wingsuiter Public Awareness Campaign; we need to bring this into our Safety Culture ....commonly found in Aviation. We are more than just skydivers; as wingsuiters we are aviators. We need to rise above and act as such. I'm 45; and what I've learned in life and business so far is money, lawyers, and insurance companies are the tail that wags the dog and calls the shots. Aircraft owners / operators are BUSINESS MEN. Dropzone owners / operators are BUSINESS MEN. Business is about increasing your sales, controlling your costs, and making PROFIT. A dropzone is no different. If Insurance Companies who underwrite these policies and thier Lawyers ( The Big Money ) "Risk Management" decide that it is not worth the "Risk" of having wingsuiters continue to exit poorly and damage aircraft they insure- they can simply tell the Aircraft Owner / Operator that they will not cover any claims resulting from wingsuit tail strikes; or forbid it in the policy. If you don't like it - your policy is cancelled - have a nice day! It is done out of financial interest. Much easier for a DZO to capitulate and say "OK Mr. Big Insurance company and your Risk Management Lawyers....no more wingsuits out of my airplanes on my dropzone." No smart businessman in the dropzone business is going to provide the option for a wingsuiter tto sign a waiver / release allowing the DZO to sue the wingsuiter for physical damages to aircraft because of the associated legal costs of the civil suit and low probability of even getting the money back from a "broke" skydiver. Just like parents and teachers stepping in and "solving the problem between bickering children " for them - and they won't like the end result GAME OVER PEOPLE ! It's that simple. I want you to stop and think about how many products, services, or activities are influenced by or have literally been "ruined" over liability issues, litigants, and insurance. It runs the world folks. As a wingsuiter I feel powerless; like I'm caught is some sort of crossfire in a 3rd world civil war. When it comes to discussions about "standardization" of Safe Operating Procedures, consistency in training ....that can help but a major stop to these tail strikes all I hear is a big noisy war of "bickering children" and a complete soap opera. Personal vendettas and selfish agendas, flaming on this board, and individual who formed a petition with forged signatures trying to stop progress at the USPA Board Meeting. Bickering, pissing, moaning, fighting, arguing ; personal agendas - it just never ends - for years - it just never stops; its just keeps going on and on and on.......with no end in sight for the "kids to stop arguing and fighting" Circa 1987 when I first jumped I "dreamed" of wingsuiting; the dream of human flight has now come true. I think if the FAA steps in from an incident; and the " Light Goes On " at Insurance Companies of the "High Increased Risk of Aircraft Damage" from wingsuiters - We will become and Endangered Species. And it is very well possible that if the wingsuit civil war and infighting does not stop so we can get our shit together; insurance companies ( Big Money ) are going to end wingsuiting for us. My biggest fear is showing up to my DropZone and being approached by the ST&A or DZO who have know me as responsible wingsuiter for years say "Sorry - no more wingsuits on this Dropzone - Aircraft Insurance Policy says so" And I'm willing to bet that if this happened; the wingsuit "community" would spend its time on the ground with no wingsuits on with Dropzone on the laptop......bitching, fussing, arguing, fighting; pointing fingers and blaming so and so. People I think we are "there" and "on the edge" right before AUTHORITY ( Mom-Dad / Teacher ) steps in.....and solves thier own problem we created for them.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=4372794;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25 You seen this? You heard about this?

+1 on Squirrels comments; because honestly......I've become sick and tired; of being sick and tired.....of all the shit slinging on this forum. This is a postive contribution that puts everything a step forward

+1 on the comments made by Matt Hoover and Scott Callentine. Key qualifier is "how low" and "how much" do you need to get up; how much "time" you will need to do gain the "distance back up" ....back; in relation to how much to how much "time the dive has left"; and finally what is your relation to others in a formation. If I find myself "low" but "fixable"; I make sure I'm OUTSIDE the formation. Then I "overcompensating" to be flat trying to go "beyond flat" into as much 'hug the beach ball" and "get the ass up"; keep head flat and looking to the side and making sure I can see the formation. Only then do I try to get back in. The last think I want to do is "cork" under a formation. At some point in my mind; I must decide if the distance / time to accomplish this is too great; and the SAFEST thing to do is VECTOR OFF toward the planned opening area and planned altitiude for container opening. Usually I've got my head sideways and I'm keeping my eye that formation above me in my periphial vision so I don't fly right under it.

I can't sleep, I'm bored, and have only been READING this forum for a long while.......holding back a lot of what of what needs to be said.....on a number of things. OK...FINE; I'll be your Huckleberry and step into this one. @ Scott Callantine - I like what you said and how you went about saying it. Miss ya buddy. @ Virgin Burner - OK; you have 300 some odd jumps and started 4 years ago....somewhere around 2007 right? Good for you! Read on Virgin Burner......because I really don't think you have done your homework. Would you like some "documented historical origins" of wingsuit training and instruction? I just pulled off my bookshelf "SkyFlying - Wingsuits in Motion" PUBLISHED/COPYRIGHTED in 2005 by Scott Campos ( Lou Diamond on this forum); Get a copy; you'll like it! Its a 200 page high print quality, extremely technical well written and color / photo illustrated book. Scott also gives contributing credit to Chuck Blue. Photo acknowledgements to some "big names" other folks you may have heard of in your 4 years with us including Jari Kuosma who founded Birdman, Boris Pecnik, Jarno Cordia, and Ed Pawlowski to name a few; others are given credit in the book. All of these folks mentioned are regular / postive contributing members in this forum. All of these folks contributed to this book. So in the "spirit" of who did what first, whose better than who, how knows more than the other guy and why you should listen to "me" the Latest Rock Star that DOMINATES this forum; I continue....... The 2005 COPYRIGHT in Scott Campos' book says the following: " All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. All photos, illlustrations, and graphical representations are the property of the author or have been used with permission. They are not to be used, removed, modified, or used in any way, shape or form without the express written consent of the author in accordance with copyright law. OK.....so we have something "officially in print and documented"; A WRITTEN AND COPYRIGHTED BOOK; on wingsuiting and we have been at this wingsuit thing for how many years now? When I started flying a wingsuit in 2005; I met Scott Campos at my home DZ in Eloy and that is how I found out about Birdman Wingsuits. Later on I also "heard" of another company called Phoenix Fly Wingsuits from other wingsuiters who got trained by people......who sold Phoenix Fly Suits. Back then we had a "manufacturing / go sell the suit based training system" But even back then I heard "grumblings" that Phoenix Fly "stole / duplicated" what Scott Campos/Birdman had put together so they could train people who were sold suits......and we kicked off our little WINGSUIT CIVIL WAR / HOSTILITY Does this mean that people now get "sued" over using copyrighted material? NO! Absolutely not! C'mon realistically nobody can "contain / restrict" knowledge and training unless your the military or government. We have had people training others....who go on to train others, who go on to train others for years; but the information had to have its "origins"...its "Genesis" somewhere at least; right? I can GUARANTEE YOU; that Justin Shorb, Jeff Nebelkpof and thier little "Flock University" crew did not put the first pen to paper and magically create wingsuit instruction out of thin air. Justin copied the information from somebody else, repeated what he had learned / was trained from somebody else, basically copied the ESPN U logo into the Flock U logo for "branding", hooked up with Tony Suits, and along with Jeff Nebelkopf basically opened up a "third war front" going after Scott Campos / Birdman in our little wingsuit civil war. Jeff and Justin went all all over the country pushing Tony Suit wingsuits and everything I heard Justin Shorb and Jeff Nebelkopf say and do for students in training was EXACTLY like I was taught by by Scott Campos circa 2005. And the "newbee" who encounters them circa 2011.....thinks that "its Flock Universities system, knowledge" BULLSHIT .....when in fact they put on wingsuit for the first time and had to be trained by somebody else. Justin Shorb and Jeff Nebelkopf; I'm calling you to the microphone. Who is the person who did your First Flight Course, what program, where, and when? Who do you give credit to teaching you and where to do your trace your "wingsuit origins" DSE; Douglas Spotted Eagle; you know him....he is a forum moderator all over this forum commenting on everything, advising on everything, all the time, as if it is a full time job. I met DSE at the Eloy Holiday Boogie 2007; and guess who did the Birdman FFC for DSE? Scott Campos! Time moved on and a year later DSE got involved in "Flock University" - Justin Shorb and the Tony Suit crowd. Time moved further on....and DSE got involved with Phoenix Fly and DSE started up his own school in Lake Elsinore, CA. FFC student shows up at DSE's school in Elsinore and the student look up from the creeper thinks "All this came from Spot, Spot created all of this, NOPE DSE learned from Scott Campos. Newbee shows up on this forum asking questions and suddenly the one time "students" are now the "masters", somebody's huge ego has to be "more right" at the expense of somebody else being more wrong .....and the pissing contest starts all over again. Same questions / issues just change the screen names; boring...... Your Right! NONE of this shit is new or exciting; NONE OF IT.

Who are you, why are you here, and what do you seek? You have an anomyous profile telling us nothing about yourself and you don't even know what those above abbreviations mean; only to ask with a follow question. Do you even jump at all and what are you trying to understand?

uh....uh; I've been raping the "replay" button on this one

I did something "similar". I found some very small carabiners typically used on key chains that would fit through that little nylon tube on the legstraps and just tied the bungee between the two carabiners. Easy on....easy off. Never had any snag or comfort issues. Sorry...... no pictures.

"Found" this a few weeks ago; if things get REALLY cold or depending on your own personal "discomfort" threshold; Gerbing Heated Gear. They are known better for heated underclothing gear that plugs into a 12 V system of a motorcycle, ATV, or Snowmobile. But they also make a HEATED VEST THAT RUNS ON a SMALL BATTERY POWER PACK THAT YOU HAVE ON THE VEST. Not only could you use this for skydiving but perhaps skiing or other prolong cold exposure in outdoor activities. The reason our hands ( and other extremities ) get cold is because your body is noticing your core temperature starting to drop so it reduces blood circulation to your hands to keep your torso warm; keep you torso warm and you keep blood flow ( hence warmth ) to your hands. Frank Thomas "Anti-Freeze" Baklava is really thin; is designed to fit under all kinds of helmets well; and seals out the cold wind around my neck between my helmet and wingsuit. If I need extra "insulation" a I have found a fleece neck gaitor works well and still allows me to keep my head on a swivel and not feel like how momma used to "bundle me up" before going out to play in the snow as a kid. I have found Uncle Mikes Neoprene Motorcycle Police shooting gloves give great finger dexterity to operate firearms even when the gloves get wet under cold winter conditions and work parachute handles / equipment quite well in cold weather. "Funny" thing is I have never felt "bitter chilling cold" zipped up in my "sweatbag wingsuit" sitting up by the pilot and the adrenaline in flight over rides any cold I might feel; but many times I have found that its does feel cold hanging outside in the weather all day on the DZ all day in winter between loads

I clicked "other"; it say's "explain" I say 500; just my opinion and feeling on the matter

.....not an idiot; i was thinking more along the lines of douchebag. Everybody here ( myself included ) has at one time inserted thier foot into mouth .....and usually in some sort of fit of "over passion." Sangi; you have not been there personally and you have no accurate form of reference, facts, or personal knowledge of all the people involved, how and who were involved in the current situation; and the diplomacy now under way to try to sooth some nerves and put things on a positive path. From this day forward; your CALL SIGN ....in the sky.....SHALL NOW BE "DOUCHE"

Awesome! One you have totally "debugged" and gone smooth I wil buy two, one for me and one for the wife.

Not bad at all! Overall nice work. Purple has a valid point / request. Other thoughts for future revisions under the advanced section. High Altitude Wingsuit Jumps Night Jumps / Small Flock Under Wingsuit.....ask Cate and Brian.....green glow sticks in the wings of my SM1 made for a beautifully lit up reference for a small flock out of the DC-3 on New Years Eve Circa 2008. Water training / Ditching in a large body of water and getting out of the suit and harness container. Personal Question: Circa 2008 / 2009 you were "All About " Tony Suits......pushing Tony Suits; and all "hooked into" that crew and scene; now its Phoenix Fly.....what gives....what happened? Just Curious.