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Ahh, parachutist.... the magazine I never read but always got when I was active- My wife was a business manager for several years for many outdoor magazines and a movie production company, so seeing this thread, I picked her brain as magazines and digital media are very much in her wheel house- What I got out of it, was pretty interesting, but pretty much what you'd expect, and I'll make it quick- 1. There is always a certain resistance, against going digital, especially depending on the age of those in charge. The older the age, the greater the resistance. 2. Digital often, on small projects/subscriber number kills your advertising revenue compared to paper. 3. Everyone who doesn't want the magazine delivery, is a win for the maker of the magazine, since they probably only quote member numbers to advertisers..., and since you don't have to produce for newsstand, you know exactly how many you need to make. 4. Making a magazine isn't cheap. If you gave me some numbers, I probably could tell you what it would cost to make parachutist at my wife's former company since she's in the know, but they got preferential treatment with the publishers since they made so many.... book size. Number, etcetera, many terms I butchered I'm sure... 5. Shuttering a magazine isn't easy, and just going digital will probably cost you more money if the ad revenue dries up and the people (and salaries) of those responsible for creating it stay on- That said, when I was active I paid the dues more cause I had to, but in reality it was more for someone to lobby with the FAA on our behalf... In summation, Kill the magazine? If you want an analysis financially, I can get you a quote from my wife, lol. Though the first thing to go would be BOD face to face meetings if she was in charge of the budget probably... _j

I Own and currently fly a crossfire 119 and a storm 120, and wingsuit both. Both are fun to fly. I don't swoop, usually just carve in. If I could only have 1, I'd take the storm. My weight sans gear is 165. Now that I jump less, I may even just sell my crossfire 2 rig. I like the storms performance, but it'd be a step down from the crossfire, but it has a high 'fun factor' _justin

looky here for ideas / suggestions - http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4226296;page=unread#unread

Some of the Elsinore folks were specifically asked to not attend. Congrats on the 100 way. I saw it on our second jump of the day, a blog against the clouds...very nice. Congrats to all the participants, it's a shame that it couldn't beat the 68 or 71 ways (with regard to the grid). Was a grand, beautiful thing to see. A congrats with a little passive aggressiveness mixed in. Beautiful. _justin

I love my stealth 1. That said, it needs a new zipper and has been out of action this year. I find it flys slow (lowish descent rate with ease), but not with a lot of forward speed. Never pulled out my flysight to get a glide ratio. However it had a great range with ease unless you were trying to blast forward. Decent inflation, not too hard, not too soft. Easy to pull. Overall, I like it, and I really need to get it fixed. That said, my other suits are/were phantom1 (sold), shadow, stealth, V2/V3/V4 and X2. I think the stealth 1 had the best mix of range, ease of flight of all my suits. I really need to get out more. damn responsibilities, lol. _justin

What? Apples and Oranges... Well, probably far different then that even. That's not a beginner site by any means. That jump is not your typical Kjerag, Swiss Disney Valley, or Italian Terminal wall. Are you just trying to add sensationalism? If so, good job! Edited to add, comparing base and skydiving is awkward at best sometimes. Especially site / DZ politics. _justin

Own both. Only base jumped the V4. but before based V2, V3 and phantom. Preferred the V4 overall. Both are nice suits, the difference is speed and flying style. However for XRW, X2 is better. Funny enough my new favorite suit; shadow. _justin

I still fly the Phantom, but shadow should replace that. V2 is a nostalgia suit. 1st suit I really learned to base jump on. It comes out about twice a year. Stealth is down for repairs, but just kind of my play around suit for all around. V3 is on loan to Cowboy for long term, but also if I take a header in the V4, and rip it up, no base trip is ruined. X2 is just my suit I bought to do some XRW with my friend Marko I don't really need to get rid of any, but I am thinking about dumping the phantom, V2 and V3 at the end of next season... No big loss, but then again for the money, it's almost like I may as well keep them. It's not like resale is that high on anything besides the latest / greatest. Also it helps I have enough rigs to rotate suits out. _justin

I was just wondering. What do you guys think, for an individual? I just mailed off my order to my dealer for my 7th, a PF shadow. Of course, I never mastered any of them, just continued to upsize. Isn't that the way? Progression, since 06-ish, in order of their arrival... Impact Track Suit -> Phantom -> V2 -> Stealth -> V3 -> V4 -> X2 -> Shadow Oh, I don't instruct, I don't coach, nor do I believe any of the wing suit hype that seems to be everywhere now-a-days. I still own the first 6 too. Maybe I should sell a couple now. But oh the nostalgia of putting on that V2... _justin

What modification are you going to make for your handles? I have heard some interesting ones, and some not so successful ones.... I'd be interested to see pics, as I feel you'll probably work it out for the better. _justin

How many of these young jumpers are pulling at 2k? Very few if any that I have seen... Hell, they will not get out of a plane lower than 4k. Agree. Can't we all be big boys and girls for once? I could see 'perhaps' raising the C license minimum, even though I disagree with it, but by the time you have a D license, you should have a pretty good understanding of how your gear works, how long it will take your main to open, etcetera. If you don't, well that's just sad. What did you do all those jumps? Were you a pilot or a passenger? I'd like to think that as a "Master parachutist" we have some kind of credibility. FWIW, I often pull at 2k, but only on 1 of my rigs, and with a wing suit, and even an AAD. But then again, I have a few hundred wing suit base jumps, and specialized skydiving gear, so I am not the 'norm' _justin

Wait, so they banned wing suiting, but don't want it publicly known? I don't get it. Or they are allowing wing suiting but have asked you to spread the word for everyone to be more careful? Wouldn't a better post have been XYZ and ABC banned wing suiting due to people not respecting the rules and the aircraft, then? Why can't people ever just say what they mean? I need my fucking decoder ring sometimes to read this forum. _justin

It's a bad poll. Very few (if any) people have flown both suits extensively enough to probably get a feel for which was better. I am willing to bet even fewer own both suits (if any). And if they did, it may depend solely upon their flying style for what they get out of the suit. Not to mention, don't you think X2 vs Venom would have been a better poll? _justin p.s. both of those are pretty advanced suits, but you probably already new that.

Calling the Birdman Impact a wing suit is an insult to wing suits. I own a POS bird man impact, worst tracking suit ever made. My friend gave his away. _justin

No. I think it's very important to recognize that these systems don't always work. That's one reason I like cutaways on my suits, as zippers aren't flawless. Then again, sometimes cutaways don't work either, right? If you wanted to state that, state it. Don't beat around the bush. If you are going to be cryptic, expect responses as such. As such, 'We' apparently are the people that can't easily decipher your message and meaning. And the comment about paragliders and base jumping is just silly. As for the original poster, there is a base rig (not one that I have jumped) that allows you to reach your toggles no matter what suit. Here: http://www.flyyourbody.com/en/online-shop/base-jump/base-jump-rig.html But again, that's advanced, as is most of this topic for your stage in the game. You wil learn through progression what will be right for yourself. _justin