Jeff.Donohue

I have had two skyhook cutaways. On one, the freebag remained attached. On the other, the freebag separated, but was found less than 10' from the main.

I would recommend the bonehead mount, but not the 90 degree angle that is shown in the link above. I had one of the 90 degree models, and I had a really hard time seeing the face of the alti clearly without having to bend in odd directions in full flight. I then got Bonehead's newer version (which has a 45 degree angle in it, Paragear has it on their site). I can see it just fine. One thing to note: it mounts on the right (cutaway) side, which some have flagged as a negative, but I've had two cutaways with it with no difficulty whatsoever. (Your mileage may vary.) Another negative is that it IS a hard mounting, so, well, I suppose it would hurt if it was jammed into you in an accident (as opposed to the pillow approach). The problem I had with a pillow (I tried that first) was that the pillow tended to sort of "shudder" (it would catch a little air and wobble) in flight. In full disclosure, I also use a wrist mount for canopy flight and have two audibles.

Whoah Jarno! Who told you about me in PR?!? Oh, wait... Ummmmm.... never mind.

I'm gonna let others complete this list, but a start would be the following. (Please note none of this is about the Intro Suit - it's all about traditional wingsuiting. I have no idea how much of this applies to the Intro, if any. I leave that for others to explain.) Risks I think about are: - Your wings can get in your way at pull time. There's a lot of nylon flapping around, and it can be difficult to find your hackey. There are solutions to this problem, but you can find yourself feeling around back there more than you are used to - or want to. - You have restricted arm movement. Generally, you will need to unzip/undo your arms before you reach your steering toggles. Different people have this problem in different degrees. (For instance, I can reach my risers without unzipping my arms, but I can't reach my toggles). If you're trying to steer to, for example, avoid colliding with another jumper, your response may be limited. - You have restricted leg movement. If you have line twists -- and those who know me know I am the king of wing suit line twists -- you have less of an ability to kick out of the twists immediately. Picture kicking out line twists while wearing a sack. -Flat spins are no fun. With a lot of wing, you can end up flailing through the sky. Again, there are solutions to flat spins, but if they take you by surprise, they can ruin your jump. -This is my personal observation (i.e., I may be wrong), but I think it's easier to generate line twists on opening than without a wingsuit. This is because (I believe) if your wings aren't properly closed down, you can generate a turn while in opening (which results in twists). Your results may vary. - You can lose altitude awareness. At first, you keep thinking "I must be at pull altitude by NOW!", because you are falling at a slower rate. It can be disorienting. It is a bigger problem when you take off your wingsuit (and then the jump goes much faster than you are used to). That's one of the reasons why I never take my wingsuit off. Ever. - Finally, the biggest risk (in my opinion): you will end up hooked on the nylon crack and flying to strange locations with the odd characters who hang out on this fourm. - Your probability of landing out is higher. Spotting for wingsuits is more complicated than it is for traditional skydiving, and it is not unlikely that you will end up landing out from time to time. All of the nasty things that can happen to a person landing out (power lines, killer cows -- thanks, Soby -- trees, landmines, etc.) are all more likely to be in your future. As a result, you should be very comfortable with your canopy piloting skills. In any event, find a good instructor/school and learn from people who do it a lot (i.e., not me, I'm only slightly less of a n00b than you).

That was a good line. But my favorite: Mission Control Operator: Buckaroo, the White House wants to know is everything OK with the alien space craft from Planet 10 or should we just go ahead and destroy Russia? Buckaroo Banzai: Tell him yes on one and no on two. Mission Control Operator: Wait... Ummm... Which one was yes, go ahead and destroy Russia... or number 2?

It was incredible to watch! I'm amazed that the worst he suffered was a bloody nose! This is truly an historic event.

These are really fantastic. Thanks to April and Jim for these! Purple Mike must be slacking - there's only about 30 shots with him in them.

That was fantastic, Phil!

1. Scott Bland (notsane) 2. Scott Gray (The Brothers Gray) 3. Chris Gray (The Brothers Gray) 4. Todd Statdfield (DaMan) 5. Michelle Statdfield (EmLo) 6. Justin Shorb ( Flock U) 7. Jeff Nebelkopf (heffro1) 8. Chuck Blue (Z-Flock Wingsuit School) 9. Mike Masheff (Grey Mike) 10. Phil Peggs (boring uncreative name) 11. Nick Rugai (#1 gay guy) 12. LoudDan 13. Tyler Smith(jumpinfly) 14. Scotty Burns (Scottygofast & Z-flock) 15. Tero Paukku (Aerodynamite) 16. Matt Hoover 17. Rick Hough (Flock U) 18. Bob Futrell (FlyinBob) 19 Frank Boluk (FrancoR) 20 Rand Mahoney (rmahoney) 21.Lurch (Flock U) 22. Robert Kelley (ROK) 23. Marion Mobley (fmmobley) 24. Fraser Corsan (Verticalflyer) 25. Gus Marinho 26. Moonglo 27. Luminous (maybe not jumping yet) 28. Susanjumps 29. Paul Housley (ph8068) 30. Jake Carlow (baseknut) 31. Voodew(Texas trouble makers) 32. Professor(voodew's bitch)Cool 33. Sean Horton (monkycndo, aka-Boogie Whore) 34. Jeff Donohue (aka, Jeff Donohue)

AWESOME.

You've not felt it in your four jumps because no one was underneath you. Basically, it typically causes you to fall relative to whomever you are over (or for them to fall onto you if you're underneath them). So basically, what is happening is that the lower jumper is distorting the air flow, which changes the wind resistance, which typically causes you to fall faster - less wind resistance. It becomes more important to you once you are working on your fall rate, and becomes very important once you are jumping with others (non-instructors). Unanticipated burble drops can hurt both jumpers if they collide. Having said that, burble hops (where you plan on popping over the other jumper's burble) can be fun. It also plays a role in your deployment sequence. If your pilot chute is caught in the burble, there may not be enough wind resistance to cause the pilot chute to extract the pin and deployment bag, which would lead to a pilot chute in tow (a high speed malfunction that can be summed up as "very bad"). This is why when you throw out your pilot chute, you should give it a really good pitch. It's not something to be taken lightly: we lost a wonderful member of the dropzone.com community to a BASE jumping accident a few years back when her pilot chute was caught in her burble. Pitch hard. /Standard disclaimer: talk to your instructor about all of this. Anyone who takes advice off of the internet from someone he or she doesn't know is a fool. This is particularly true in my case.

I agree with Scott C - it was a really fantastic event. Viv and Jason were incredible hosts, and they went out of their way to make it a fun and safe event. I'll be at next year's event for sure. Now I just need to convince the ball and chain to let me get to Flock & Dock.

As Steve knows, I'm definitely to be counted amongst the lazy people who don't want to pack. (210 square feet of slippery new ZP is not my idea of a fun vacation).

I had a Skyhook cutaway 2 jumps ago. I practice full EPs and was in the middle of reaching for silver when I realized I was already under canopy. I was really amazed with how fast the Skyhook had the reserve out and inflated. So I didn't pull it. Then I landed and could see my old AFF instructor, up for a visit from Florida. I pulled silver on the ground because I knew what he was going to say.

Curiosity question: how far is the DZ from the Arecibo radio observatory -- you know, the one that is looking for signs of extra-terrestrial life? I only ask because I'm pretty sure there will be no intelligent life to be found in the skies the week we're there.

Actually, on further reflection, in needs more... me. /Sorry, that just comes from hanging out with Purple Mike.

Awesome. Justing fucking awesome.

Awesome.

1. Scott Bland (notsane) 2. Matt Hoover (The111) 3. Justin Shorb (Flock U) 4. Jeff N. 5. Steve H. (Flock U) 6. Jose (turtle) 7. Yeyo 8 Josue 9. Ivan 10. Melvin 11. Danny (droquette) 12. Scott Campos (LouDiamond) 13. Chuck Blue (SkyMonkeyONE) 14. Bob Futrell (FlyinBob) 15. Matt Wells (Tennessee Matt) 16. Mike Masheff (Grey Mike) 17. Tyler Smith (jumpinfly) 18. Chris Gray (Brothers Gray) 19. Scott Gray (Brothers Gray) 20. Ward Hessig (Mirage) 21. Tony (tony-suits) 22. Jeff Donohue (Flock U) 23. Soby (Flock U) 24. Kevin O - Good Possibility

1. Scott Bland (notsane) 2. Matt Hoover (The111) 3. Justin Shorb (Flock U) 4. Jeff N. 5. Steve H. (Flock U) 6. Jose (turtle) 7. Yeyo 8 Josue 9. Ivan 10. Melvin 11. Danny (droquette) 12. Scott Campos (LouDiamond) 13. Chuck Blue (SkyMonkeyONE) 14. Bob Futrell (FlyinBob) 15. Matt Wells (Tennessee Matt) 16. Mike Masheff (Grey Mike) 17. Tyler Smith (jumpinfly) 18. Chris Gray (Brothers Gray) 19. Scott Gray (Brothers Gray) 20. Ward Hessig (Mirage) 21. Tony (tony-suits) 22. Jeff Donohue (Flock U Fledgling) 23. Soby

I'm in. (Flock U Fledgling).

I jump a Sabre2 210 with similar wingloading. It pretty consistently opens in 500 (brisk) to 700 (smooth) feet from when I actually pitch (as others have pointed out, time may have elapsed from when you checked your alti and when you actually pitched). If you're consistently going more than that, check how much you're rolling the nose.

If you've got a well drafted waiver, it should include a provision that not only waives the dropzone's liability for skydiving activities, but provides for indemnification of the dropzone in case it incurs costs associated with defending a suit over something for which liability was waived. In other words, the provision -- if enforced -- will require that if the participant brings suit, and the dropzone incurs costs, in addition to not recovering anything (because liability was waived), the participant will have to pay the costs that the dropzone incurs to deal with the suit. Whether the indemnification provision will be enforced will vary from state to state and how the contract is worded (many states require it to be conspicuous, unambiguous, etc.). If you run a DZ, it's actually one of those things that it's worth talking to whoever your lawyer is to make sure that the liability waiver/indemnification is as broad as it can be. Most of us hate signing long forms like that, but also from the standpoint of being affiliated somehow with a dropzone (being an employee, coach, etc.), it's actually a good thing if the waiver is clear, comprehensive, and as broad as possible. My dropzone is co-owned by a lawyer, and she generated a pretty comprehensive waiver/indemnification. In addition to that, they have a video that walks participants through each section of the waiver document. ("Section 1 says blah blah blah... This means blah blah blah.") The idea is that no one can claim that they didn't understand it. /lawyer //does not like plaintiff lawyers ///particularly does not like plaintiff lawyers who sue dropzones

I think that's an awesome observation! (And I just realized my friend has a prime number birthday as well: 7-13-73). /nerd disclosure on At one point I was in a McDonalds. They asked how many ketchups I wanted. "Oh, any prime number will do." I got four. /nerd disclosure off

A question for the experienced camera flyers: if he had a camera mounted, what a skilled camera flyer have done differently to handle this situation? I'm assuming cutaway on the helmet (assuming it has one). Any others?