BigBUG

IBA course prices are just hilarious... And, to topic starter - do not think that they teach you how to fly and how to coach flyers. All you will get - is to be able to keep firstimers safe. So, if you are not 100% sure that some tunnel hold place for you, this will be look like pile of money thrown literally to the wind. And if they do want you as an instructor - maybe they would like to help you with the training, give you credit, tunnel time, etc? I working in a tunnel for an year already and I am not the weakest flyer there :) but I am still not covered my expences for my own training.

Thanks, Found out that Mike Carpenter is one of the DZOs at New England :) Yeah, sure this is ff-friendly dz :)

Hi, I will be at Boston area 6-11 Aug and in Washington DC area from 15 to 18 August (may be stay for a couple more days). Looking for freefly-friendly :) DZ in these regions, which works during business days. Please advice! Thanks!

If you still need help :) Gatchina is working Wed-Sunday, 1500-2200 business days, 0900-2200 weekends. Two planes (Let 410, Antonov 28). We could figure out an accomodation for you (bungalow-type) on the DZ; and it's really easy to make friends here, so you won't be left on your own. Bring your FAI licence, insurance and logbook. My mail is bg30 (@) mail.ru, give me a note if you are going to join us. BTW, we have a great brand-new 14-feet windtunnel in Saint-Peterburg now, let me know if you want to jump in for a session! Training from belly basics to 4-way dynamics available.

As far I know, main thrusters technically could not be stopped for a 40 seconds after lift-off, to ensure that even unstable rocket go as far from launch pad as possible. Maybe this is wrong information, but I remember it like this from some article.

we HAD it. now it is going to the end quite quickly. 9 failures in last 1.5 years. before 2010 our space launch success rating was nearly equal to American one (difference was that we did not have human casualties for a long time, so it actually was better). since then, it is going down like this Proton-M. as a Ph.D and Univercity docent, I feel grief and anger seeing how our science and technology become replaced by middle-age religion and stupidity.

actually this is a worst thing you could do :) any so-called 'free liquid surface' have a negative effect on ship's stability. Most of the attempts to create a 'heave and roll insualted' part of the ship, starting from Bessemer's Salon Steamer, ended up as failures. This concept just do not work - anything that swings (or, in case of liquids, runs) free from one board to another only makes the ship loose its stability. We have now a system that efficiently works against the heave - it is big and bulky, called Active Heave Compensation and used primarily on drillships, diving vessels and offshore construction platforms. But to fight against the roll we should rely on ship's general systems like active keels and general roll countermeasures (gyroscopic or hydraulic). Good thing is that the behemots like cruise ships are rarely a subjects of serious roll, and, if the sea state is that serious, no one will be allowed to any activity on desk.

from the moment I heard this in the news, I was waiting for this physics discussion :) as a tunnel instructor and PhD in ship architechture I will keep my mouth shut - just not to spoil the fun :)

how for f@ck sake could it happen?

well actually all the good tunnels sucks, not blows :) motors are up there. looking at the pictures, it is quite like the small tunnels we have here and there in Russia. The motors are just weak for the tunnel this size - serious mistake in calculations. Maybe it could be fixed - we have guys in Samara who managed to squeeze a 260 kph wind from their 500 hp diezel drive and you could fly on your head in this tunnel, and the other tunnels with the very same engine couldn't just lift you off the net in a sunny day. But they had an aircraft design bureau nearby working on the upgrades, so correct calculations and experiments weren't a big problem. Hopefuly it could be fixed. We need more tunnels and more flyers around the world.

best thing I ever see in naked jumps is engine malfunction and emergency jump 5 kilometers away from DZ in not-so-hot-late-summer day. 18 guys and 2 girls on board weren't so excited when we managed to get them all back couple of hours later. Never see anyone from this load even talking about jump naked again. good luck.

The most money saving strategy is a huck jam. I actually just returned from one I've organized - 14 flyers done 2 hrs of constant flying. But, there are reqirements - everyone should be very solid in what they do. This is bad idea to try something completely new with 5 guys around. - discipline - both in safety and timemanagement. Everyone likes to fly, so everyone should fly equal time - good Captains - guys who know level of all participants and able to offer everyone some interesting stuff. For example, today we had like 6 good head-up flyers, couple of basic HD flyers and 6 guys who could go dynamic. So most of the flying was 4-way dynamic, lots of fast head-up, carving. Also we have huge 12-way sit formation and rolled 4-way HU to HD in dock :) In average, each flyer payed for 8 minutes and flies about 40 minutes - goooood deal!

Damn, I am guilty too. Just couple of days ago we have a night party in our windtunnel. So one of tricks we wanted to do is literally jump into the tunnel from top ventilation window (about 17 meters downfall), and the wind is quite slow and weak up there - you really brake only 2-4 meters to the net. Quite scary :) So me and other guy standing in the instructors room and looking at each other and laugh - Ok, here we are, two serious Ph.Ds, both working as lecturers in the Univercitiy - dressed me as green dragon, he as yellow (i really dont know why yellow!) bear, going to jump from 20 meters with no obvious reason to do it. Oh.

I am working on bloopers reel from our tunnel Someday I will finish it, I swear! :)

right now there is a big ad from SDAZ right on a main page :) it's a great pity I could not legally work in USA, otherwise I would be first in line to their office :( our situation here is simple. 3 DZs, only one have turbine. and yes, the DZO is asshole. but every student in the area goes to this DZ because this is only option to have normal AFF, so every instructor who want to make a living should work with this guy. godbless windtunnel where I am working now after leaving DZ :)

Cool :) Seems that I will be somewhere in the area :) Where I could get a description of Rookie and Advanced classes in Neo-Freestyle? Our home tunnel is not in IBA system so we do not have any of their official documents. Thanks!

My US visa is on the way so now it's time to decide where to go:) I will be traveling in USA from 02/20 to 03/03 and really would like to participate in any freefly acticity possible - but I found out that I missing all the fun. Big boogies in Elsinore and UPT meet in Eloy will be later in March :( I would try to get at least for the first days of March Madness in Sebastian, but this is questionable too :( Do you know where I should go? I am rather free in my movements and could travel within US. If there are no boogies around (I did not find any), I am thinking about spending a week in Lodi (and jump like hell because it's cheap :), then go to Eloy and maybe to Sebastian. Any suggestions? By the way, if you ever met a lone bearded guy with glasses in black/orange suit in your home DZ in said period - please do not bully him, it's probably me :) My funny English with heavy Russian accent should be noticeable too :) Thanks everyone!

I do not know about statistics and impact of such systems on a incidients rate. But I personally do not want it in my rig, thanks. I do not have RSL either, only AAD. I strongly believe that you couldn't create a complete foolproof system. What you do when you try is just make fools be more creative and give them more complicated ways to show their foolness.

Great work. I am at the beginning of my career as a instructor and tunnel coach, but that is exactly is why I want to do it further. BTW, It is great feeling when your student takes a medal :)

Ok, here we go! Flystation windtunnel in Saint-Peterburg organizing the very first training camp special for girls :) but boys are allowed and welcome! We will have today's World top tunnel flyers - winners of Battle of Bottrop - as a coaches and organizers: -- Fabian Ramseyer -- Filip Isabella Crnjakovic -- Martin Kristensen -- Anna Howerski Here is a FB page of a event: http://www.facebook.com/events/403769683037851/permalink/405779776170175/ Everyone is welcome to have fun!

btw, I think you guys will like this picture and it definitly belongs here. Maybe some even will be able to find me, but I seriously doubt it. http://cs419227.userapi.com/v419227520/2ca2/A-rpqYZfzzQ.jpg not sure it will work with traffic from abroad, let me know if it doesn't

no, no and no. get a full piece and do not go for baggy ones. if you are real big and want extra lift - use cordura (or double cordura) on legs and arms, but never order 'baggy' style suit. good idea for tunnel suit is to order reinforced knees with soft pads, zipper protection on a velcro and extra button on the neck. also pressure and wear in the tunnel are much intensive than ones in the air, so quality requirements for fabric and manufacturing are higher. My first suit was completely torn apart after 10 hrs of flying. there is a bunch of proven manufacturers for the tunne flight, just ask you local tunnel ppl what is easier and faster to get.

Hmm. I thought that ion drives were already used in late 80s in Deep Space mission? And later in 2007 with Dawn? Europeans have ion drive as a main corrective drive on their sattelite since 2009, I believe.

Agreed. We all have differing opinions but I figure that if everyone was grounded -- or stopped from instructing -- due to a real screwup at some time, there would be far fewer of us jumping. Well, there are f@ck-ups and f@ck-ups. The one I see in this video is just inappropriate. You take guy on a recurrency jump and loose control of altitude totally. Oh great. Maybe if you will be fired on field, it will save somebody's live days later.

Thing is that here in Russia we do not have coach system as a rule. So usually the person you do a recurrency jump with, is an instructor. And I found that the way instructor acts on video is absolutely wrong and unsafe. If I was a DZO, I've tried t get rid of him.