Trae

in reply to " I heared an interesting technice for energency deployment, but have not tested it myself. The idea is, if you cant recover from a bad wipe out/spinn/tumble, that you can; Ball up/collapse wings, fall on your back and stream legs and arms after you and pitching in this position. To me it sounds like a reasonable out if everything goes pear shaped but i really dont know. Anyone tried/had to do this in a big suit? And does it actually work? " .............................. In that situation if it really is unrecoverable for you and you can't deploy your main ? You are in an emergency situation its simple really , don't panic ......go silver... and get ready to deal with reserve line twists.

in reply to "I wonder to myself if new age tracking suits will have similar performance to the classic. " ........................... probably close. I used to be able to get good relativety in my classic 2 with people in tracking pants by shutting down the wings a bit . They were basers and for some reason we never landed on the DZ but they sure could track well. I also had some flights with an expert tracker who used a a loosish jumpsuit. On one occassion I dropped below him on exit and couldn't get back above him (looking up too much didn't help.) You can really hone your basics by trying to get every bit of performance out of your Classic. When faster suits started turning up though the classic just couldn't keep up. More recently I found my V2 fairly unsuited to 3D flocking(too much speed , having to fly too shut down ) and wished I'd had my Classic on DZ. The flocks were so steep I'm guessing the Classic would have had no trouble keeping down with them ;)

in reply to "Went to the dropzone section, but have no idea about the geography of Australia - Any skydiving operations for fun jumpers in Queensland, Australia?" ................................................ Australia's a big yawn for midweek fun jumping unless ur a tandem passenger. Can recommend the Rambler learning curves , mini boogies run several times a year

This guy should get a squadron together he looks so lonely all by himself.

in reply to "So when you see BASE guys claiming to outfly impossible-looking terrain, they ain't lyin'. They've got short burst glide ratios available that spike out the same way that graph does. I'm far from the only bird to be able to do this. It has become almost common, now. " ....................................................... hi there lurch, Just to clarify this statement ...are you saying some base fliers are now using actual (relative to true horizon) climbing flight to clear obstacles ? ( ps I have no doubt modern wingsuits are capable of climbing flight)

in reply to "so does anyone know someone who has a classic laying around." ..................................... Yep got a Classic 2 in my private not-currently-skydiving museum . skydived it, night jumped it , based it , used it as intro suit, modded it (experimental leg extension ) but never 3:1 'd it ... Its still flyable, in reasonable condition....... I used to love throwing that thing around , It did the best flat snap spin turns along flight line with no loss of relative height. And it never frightened me like the terrified Skyflierers. Looking back it was a smooth predictable flyer that never caused me grief. And the deployments were a cinch compared to Vamps. It truly is and was a Classic

Arm wings look good but praps it could use some more leg wing Anyone thought of foot/leg extensions ??? praps tied into lower leg/ knee to give some leverage oh yeah right that'll never work

in reply to "And this is why, IMO, we as skydivers will not figure this out on our own. Everyone is selfish. The guy forcing everyone downwind and you deciding which way you want to land regardless of the direction set. .............................................. I've got a strong feeling we're big enough to work this out. There's room in the sky for everyone if we work together. I don't boss anyone around and I don't like being bossed around especially by dimwitted HP bozos. "idea".... let the main landing area land into wind. let the bozos land downwind..... somewhere else (eg swoop pond)... infront of their adoring crowd

in reply to "Landing against traffic is a good way to kill someone." ........................................ Last and ONLY canopy in the sky each time. Sorry buddy, NOT prepared to land downwind in 15mph wind. We used to call this common sense. I did this fully mindful of the risks .... and the beer rules After a thorough risk assessment I decided that the biggest risk to me landing last , into the wind , was from all the other bozos on the ground who insisted on downwind HP landings .... and were encouraging others newbies included to do the same. Sorry NOT gunna do it , if you let these twits force you to land downwind then in my books you're a little lamby baa baaa baaaa

in reply to "14 people died in 2011 from high performance canopy landings or collisions. You guys look like doubling that this year. Is that something to be proud of? " .......................................... Hi Marisan , good on you for fighting the good fight. here's what we're up against. Recently I landed into wind ( a steady 15mph ) and the DZ safety officer tried to make me buy beer.(what a fucking bozo he was !) Apparently I was supposed to land (crash ) downwind like everyone else. For the rest of the day hardly anyone stood up their landings, instead creaming in downwind , newbies included . I landed into wind for the next 2 jumps and was prepared to be grounded, banned even punched the fuck up , but NOT buy beer. These HP downwindy guys are just basically STUPID.! and I'm thinking a bit malevolent. Like crazed dogs thinning the pack . they've thinned it all right. I think there was a max of 2 females on the Dz amoungst these dumb bruisers... Until basic aeronautical common sense pervades skydiving again we are going to see more unnecessary deaths .... HP + Newbies = carnage. HP + experience= take ur chances like always. onwards

mite not be good taken under canopy

in reply to"but why not take full advantage of the "time and jumps" you have before getting there by develloping your "allround" skydiving ? unblind yourself, and try not to become a 1 trick monkey " .......................................... :) I tend to agree with you piifish, but a lot of newbie WS ers just don't want to put in the time to learn flatty skills , they just want to wingsuit and that is understandable. My concern is that basic skills such as orientation, navigation, approach ( dive, flare, slot dock) are not learnt before these guys are putting on their wingsuits. If these skills are practiced on tracking jumps , with progression to tracking pants before wingsuiting proper, then at least these one trick ponies will have the smarts to be decent wingsuiters . Most new wingsuiters I meet, see flat flying as a waste of time and money. They just want to wingsuit. By training themselves up in their 200 jumps specifically to improve translatable skills, then our whole community benefits. If they spend all their time and money learning skils they dont' want or need then we all miss out as they get cheesed off before they become wingsuiters. That said, having a broad skill level will generally make a skydiver a much better more rounded wingsuiter.

:) Good on you bloke , you're showing the long term way of doing this sport......kudos

in reply to "and there's Adrian, who flocks and does acro in his V2 ... " ...........................

in reply to "I am flying a Vampire2 and I notice that when I sweep the arms back I really start to fly forward much faster. In the beginning I was 'cupping' air too much and it was like brakes....fighting the forward movement... " .......................................... I've found my V2 flocks better with fatties when the I i tuck my elbows in. This reduction in arm wing area allows for nice steep flight so you can easier keep down with the tubby boys. However the V2 wasn't made to flock with. the V2 is a speed machine pure and simple. At full speed it turns like a top fuel dragster ie not well and then you get to the high speed stall on the inner wing... and then you flip under as the inner wing loses lift suddenly... at high speed it skids more than turns, not fun on a base jump and this very thing has killed at least one person I knew who tried too hard to fly proximity with his V2. It was/ is a one trick pony. Wanna get off a cliff, fly in a straightish line as fast as you can away from it ?.... its the machine. if you wanto turn effectively you gotta slow down first . If you wanna flock with it , ?? you'd be better off getting something slower that can turn nice.