arai

great Pics Scott!, man those florida clouds sure provide a great backdrop and it doesnt hurt that they are a hell of a lot of fun to fly around too.

if your having troubles lining up the shot, just reshape the laser to look like a camera lens, then he'll do all the corrections for you

here are a few ideas for the wingsuit manufacturers to start working on. I can wait for a mid air connectable wing, but I'm gonna need some shoulder laser beams, I'm not exactly sure why just yet, just that I need them. Either that or a space capable suit, your choice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMqm-brv1d4

yeah our project wraps in june, so they've asked for no vacations until then (especially for senior staff) so I'm a little screwed, I've got some time to stick the screws to them so I'll keep on trying though

well fuck, my producer literally laughed at me when I asked about some vacation time next april, she even said they probably wont let me take my birthday off in feb. So it looks like this year I'm missing f&d 4 AND the Puerto Rico boogie right pissed

I'm sure people with a lot more experience will put in, but I'd suggest that if your not good enough to skydive with a certain canopy that jumping off cliffs with it probably isnt a good idea. If its a sport that interests you, start building your experience and come back to it when you've built up more canopy time.

Great shots Matt. I know that they grey cloud background wasnt ideal at times, but when they opened up a bit it made for a lot better shots than an empty blue sky in my opinion.

I think I'm in trailer #6, I'll be around today, gettin in a couple jumps before the weekend starts

I got in tonight (wed), looking forward to the weekend. I'm in a trailer on the dz, is anyone else out here with a car? Trying to find help to run in and grab some basic food groups from the local store. blicky!

I bought a phantom with the acro back vents as my first suit and couldnt be happier. Stable suit, I found it easy to learn on. Wings good size for pull time, and also work well not only for flocking but some acro as well. I can slow it down into the 40's when flying with the bigger suits. There are suits better for any one category, but for me its the perfect mix of performance flying, flocking, and barrel rolling head down acro, to punch through a hole in the clouds.

I get in on Wed the 3rd and leave on Tues the 9th so its a bit of an extended f&d 3.5 for me. After my dislocated ankle my physio cleared me to fly last week so I got out to the local dz for 10wingsuit jumps to shake off the rust. Looking forward to it Dan

I'm currently rehab'ing a dislocated ankle, but my physio said I should be good to go for these dates

planning early definatly helps when you work at a company that requires a heavy lead time on vacation requests. that and it gives me a goal to try and rehab my freakin ankle after it stuck out sideways after a mountainbike crash. I think with a late sept, early oct date I should be able to get it working again by then.

well I always thought my first broken bone/mishap would come skydiving. but yesterday while doing some downhill mountain biking I managed to take my ankle and turn it 90 degrees sideways (pretty fun crawling out of the trails, then having to wait in emergency.) After a dose of morphine and a doctor wrentching it for all he was worth to put it back into place, they took some x-rays and were amazed to see a dislocation without a break of the ankle. (apparantly they were expecting "count the pieces" for my ankle) now, a broken bone might only take 6-8 weeks to heal, but a torn up ankle they say will take me 3 months to get back to normal because of the ligament damage. Anyway.... june, july, august.... umm that still leaves me safe for flock and dock 3.5 right?

yep, advanced open water. Though I'd agree that scuba is an entirely different from skydiving.

thanks guys, I made a quick change last night but I cant edit my post (took to long I guess) just to get the effect to be a bit more subtle after looking at a few pics of the real effect Dan

well my week in zhills is over and I'm already looking forward to my next time out. I just wanted to say thanks, I had a great time and got in over 40 wingsuit flights in the time I was there. Thanks Chuck for the flights and load organising, I was a bit worried when I showed up and was the only bird there, but It quickly turned into anywhere from 4 to 8 birds on the loads. Thanks to all the guys I got a chance to meet and jump with while I was down there. Its a great bunch of people that are down there, and it definitely does not suck at zhills. After getting to try a few other suits, I couldn't be happier with my back vented Phantom, its the perfect blend of flock, acro, and performance for me. I'm still getting used to it, but regular altitude flights were in the 130-140 second range, and it felt really comfortable when trying acro as well. On one particular day we had thundershowers in the forecast, and while we were on hold twice due to rain, it made for the most amazing clouds I've had the privilege to play with. They towered up to 11,000 feet and were parked perfectly just off jump run. It was a death start trench run of dives, barrel rolls, gravitrons, and punching it out to make that last hole. I dont think I've ever had that much fun on a single jump. I got back wondering how I even begin to describe it to some of my friends, so I painted this art piece. Hopefully it does it more justice than my animated narative full of sound effects. blicky Dan

i think the EU poopin might be on hold, I have to check when I get back from vacation. In the mean time Chucks been teaching me the ways of the poopin and the double poopin here at zhills.

we are not sucking at zhills. got out yesterday for probably 7 jumps, no less than a 4 way and had 6 people for the last load. Big thanks to Chuck for organizing it all, had a great time. Hope to see more of you locals out for the weekend. Dan

I hope you and Jeff get back ready to Jump. I came all the way from western canada and was alone today in defending zhills reputation as a wingsuit dz your Buell's safe, I'm only crazy on my own bikes

well 1 day before I was sched to leave they finally approved my vacation (it was a close call). I'll see you birds tomorrow.

yep, got my advanced open water a few years ago. I did my training in drysuits in BC, and it makes all the warm water destinations seem like a breeze. The ocean definitely holds some amazing sights.

another great set of shots Matt. I'm definatly jealous that I missed out (stupid work) but I'll probably see you when I'm down (apr 22-may2) so I'm looking forward to some flights

I love the shot where its looking up and you can see buildings as he flies by. As much as I'm impressed with onboard cams that capture how close to the ground and how far these guys can go, my favorite shots are usually from the ground where you dont only see the wingsuiter but some frame of reference. amazing

nothing yet. Only time will tell with this one. If it goes through I'll definitely bring my gear and some beer with me though.