Ten48

You've got quite the Closer Encounters of the Third Kind obsession going. When are you going to sculpt Devil's Tower? Can't wait to visit the lifesize one at the exit point! It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

Stay the course. Stay the course. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

Fly to L.A. and go to http://www.bungeeamerica.com/. They use a real honest bridge. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

I agree with the use of some kind of "vouche for" system, and not just for the "locals database" (which, like Inzite, kind of freaks me out). I think the "vouche for" system should be used for posting (or even lurking) in certain forums on the site as well. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

What's weird about that statement is that I would have worded it, "The canopy can feel a lot weirder than with no PC" since 96.1 percent of my jumps used a PC. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

What was the bridle made of? Dirty laundry? It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

I think I remember watching that canopy surging backward on opening when you were jumping during the "Yuri Incident." Did you ever sort that issue out? It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

And when we, the BASE jumpers as a whole start saying, "Yeah, there's a chance I might kill an innocent bystander down there. Oh well. 3-2-1 C-ya!" we've seriously hampered ourselves in the eyes of your law. I'm pretty sure I won't be killing any innocent bystanders, as I am pretty sure I'm not going to be sprouting wings. My parachute works pretty well. If I didn't think so, I wouldn't be jumping. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

There's a possiblity he could sprout wings, too, but it'd be pretty rare and has never happened (as no one doing a building jump has ever killed an innocent bystander), so... It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

Recently someone commited suicide by jumping off the observation deck at the ESB. They didn't impact the street or sidewalk or anywhere there might be pedestrians. They impacted the roof of a lower level of the building. No danger to pedestrians. If some very, very rare reason Jeb went in with nothing out, I don't think he'd have been a danger to any pedestrians either. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

You noticed that the recent suicide didn't hit the street, right? It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

I thought I read somewhere that the Sorcerer requires that the main canopy be out before the reserve can come out. Isn't the main packed on top the reserve canopy? If it's true, and the main is already out, then I'd probably always pack the reserve slider off. But also if that's true, then the two canopy system doesn't do much to protect from PC in tow or hard pulls. I've never seen one in real life or in pictures really, just a few fun-a-way videos. Can the Sorcerer reserve be deployed without first deploying the main? It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

Nice one! And doing it during the day makes for good video! I like! It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

Thanks! I did some calculations to try and figure out how fast I could have the vehicle going without hurting myself on opening when the vehicle speed and the delay started intermingling. After my brain started hurting, I decided on 30 mph. My biggest worry was having the sideways velocity cause a big off heading and/or line twists. In the end, it wasn't that hard to exit and/or gymnastically turn into the relative wind before opening. Or I was just really lucky. The biggest affect the forward momentum had was on the visuals. I exited where the steel arch was lower to the ground and fell toward the center where there was open airspace. That felt really nifty. If I remember correctly, you've done the Hobo BASE, right? It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

Bacon! Drat! I passed up an International House of Pancakes on my way to Qdoba for a huge burrito later that day. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

This story is for Mac. I want to say thanks to all those structural engineers that build bridges for us. They're great! More to the point, in the tradition of the Stone Arrogant Bastard toast: "Here's to me!" A short while after I started BASE jumping, I heard of some of the adventures the oldtimers (said only in respect) had trying new things with parachutes. One of the most fascinating, and one I decided I needed to try, was the story of the Hobo BASE. Find references to clue yourself in. After I had more than a few jumps from the Freedom Bridge that holds onto a great history of the sport, I decided I could improvise. Instead of a train, a car will do. I had originally planned on executing this jump, probably the dumbest idea I've ever willingly pursued, last fall. I had a difficult time organizing it. It was so scary that I knew I'd probably do it only once. So I, being a non-oldtimer, wanted video. After many failed attempts trying to line up moonset and sunrise, winds, and people willing to shoot video, it became winter. While you might think winter here is not really very cold, for us thin-bloods, it's cold enough. So last weekend I was having dinner with my girlfriend and a couple others and it was mentioned that I should do the jump for my birthday. Sounds like a good idea to me. I checked the weather forecast, winds, water flow, moon and sun. Everything looked good. I could only round up two cameras and people that don't know how to use them, but screw it. I'm doin' it. So this morning we arrived at the bridge. We did a few practice runs to get the driver close enough to the edge, to get the exit point right, to get the cameraman situated. We pulled off to the side of the road and I got out to gear up. As I'm lacing up my Hanwags, I'm thinking to myself, "This is a dumb idea." But I pin check my rig. "This is stupid." I put on the rig and cinch up the chest strap. "WTF am I thinking?" Legs straps get tightened. Knee pads go on. Then we wait. We're waiting for it to get just a tad brighter, you know, for the video. We wait for what seems like forever, all the while I'm getting more scared. Screw it. Let's go. I put on my helmet and climb on top the car. A tractor trailer is coming down the road from the opposite direction. Crap. Try to blend in like only a man wearing a parachute harness while crouching down on top a car can. He passes, but I'm not sure I know what he thought he saw as it was still pretty dark. No one coming, let's go. Cameraman says, "wait, I need to figure out this camera." "Let's go fucker, I'm on top the car!" That's all inner monologue, but I'm screaming at the top of my lungs inside my brain. "Let's fucking go!" I calmly say, "Let's go." He says, "All right, I got it." The girl starts driving and pulls out onto the road. She accelerates and I'm fighting to stay on the car and re-position at the same time. The light stick that marks the exit point is getting near, but I'm getting that "This isn't a smart thing to do" feeling. The driver gets super close to the edge, closer than she had in any previous practice attempt. It's perfect. Fuck that feeling, I'm going. The light stick comes up and I leap off the side of the SUV as hard as a can. I do some ninja BASE moves to position myself in the air and try to get my torso as perpendicular to the relative wind as possible. The bridge steel is whizing by in my peripheral vision. The bridge is 360 feet high from the deck, so I don't have all the time in the world. I pitch thinking that I'll still have a second or two to get "level" with the wind. As soon as I let go of the pilot chute, I'm calm. I realize I'm doing just fine as far as the position goes. Now I'm just using the eternity between pitching and inflation to take in the visual of the opposite side of the canyon coming up at me. It's like tracking from only 360 feet. *SLAM!* The canopy opens on heading. Nice! I'm lower than normal and I set up to land on the sandbar that's only 1/3 the normal size due to the higher water in the canyon. Hey, I didn't say the conditions were absolutely perfect, I can hit this sandbar if it were still a 1/3 the size of this. Wait. I'm too low and still not lined up. Fuck. Is that a house sized rock? Shit! Flare! Crap, I'm going to get wet. Swoop! Nice. Slight chum, but I made to dry land with some muddy hands and toggles (I can really dig those things down there!) and a dry canopy. Woo! The adrenaline was huge. It was the scariest, dumbest idea I've ever willingly walked into. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. Hobo BASE? Not quite. But we've got no trains around here! Ten48 PS - Thanks again, Mac! PPS - The video came out like crap. Too dark, no wide angle lenses. I'll see what I can do in post.

Check out the big brain on Mac! You don't often see the word sycophant used here. (I had to look up hudibrastic, though.) It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

Early May for a week. Anyone going to be there? It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

Not positive, but I'm pretty sure the Stunt Junkies crew uses a tributary of the Grand Canyon and not the canyon proper. Not sure exactly where the glass lookout is either, but I think it's on the Grand Canyon itself and the two spots are a couple hundred miles away from each other. It probably doesn't matter anyway, because the NPS will arrest you for even talking about a parachute regardless of jurisdiction. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

I squeaked into the sport without enough skydives, too. But I don't put my videos on YouTube and I have a several times more jumps than posts. But I really posted to say: Good choice. Try Firestation 5 Steampumper IPA, too. I get the Bridgeport or Firestation depending on what is on special at the store. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

That's where practice would come into play, to work up to higher speeds and finding the right angle of attack. They'd go through a lot of sport bikes. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

I was thinking he should have worn a full suit and knelt on the seat of the bike. That way he could push up and off the seat before he reached the end of the ramp and tried to gain a little altitude from the relative wind; like a high speed tailgate exit. If you do that a couple of times I'm sure you could get good enough and fast enough to get some significant flight above the ramp before the edge of the cliff. Isn't that something we've always wanted to do? Fly a wingsuit off a bike or out of a pickup truck? I'm sure those were the first drunken thoughts that led to this stunt. But with no leg wing a tracking suit would have been just as good. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

Burner's probably one of the best balloon pilots you can do your balloon jumps with. I've heard lots of stories about the hobbyist balloon pilots. Skydivers talk them into taking them up and then the pilots are just as new to it as the skydivers are. They freak out and sink the balloons hard to prepare for the loss of ballast or they'll get pissed if you push off and make the balloon swing even the slightest bit. Burner does thousand(s) of jumps every season. I've never seen Burner try to lose altitude during the exits, nor have I ever heard him say anything about someone pushing off. He may call you wussy names for using the platform on the side of the balloon, but that's just in jest. I agree with Yuri's advice on how to best use your jumps in preparation for BASE. Pretend the balloon is 600 feet off the ground. If you get to terminal, you've gone too far. Also, looking at or above the horizon on exit isn't the only way to prevent going head low. I personally look at my impact point during exit on nearly every BASE jump I do. Just remember there's no relative wind to push on. It's all about what rotation your body has at exit time and what you do with your foot/feet as you exit to add to/subtract from it. Be in control. Practice. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

Think more. Black-outs occur when blood drains from your brain for long enough that your brain stops working. Direction matters. When the force goes from your face to the back of your head, there's no where for the blood to go. He was laying down. Also, the Red Bull Air Race was reporting that on some courses the pilots where experiencing up to 14 g's for periods of up to 4 to 5 seconds. And they don't wear g suits. Formula 1 crash tests require that the structure subjects the driver to no more than 90 some g's for a period of no longer than somenumber of milliseconds. Time matters. Instantaneous g's is way different than sustaned. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK

Hey, Special Thanks to all the skydivers at the Holiday Boogie who decided to come and leave trash all over the exit point at my local 250 foot E. Extra props to the guy who chucked his plastic drink bottle off to the side hoping it would fall down the hill or into a bush out of view. It didn't. Oh yeah, nice divots at least two of you left in the landing area during your botched landings. Smooth guys, real smooth. It's time now! My time now! Give me mine. Give me my wings! - MJK