VectorBoy

We knew before we ever got in the plane that the rig wasnt exactly a dream fit for my body size, but thats just how it goes.I've had the same thing happen at another DZ on their student gear. Quote Sounds like you will need a custom rig, do you like Mirage?

QuoteI keep seeing the same thing, over and over..."It's the risks of the sport." IT'S NOT!!! This is not the same as having a double mal. This is preventable.Quote Yes it is and here is how. No low turns stop it! I'm talking to you, yeahyou . Stop it, don't do it..... There now you are safer.

Not everybody loves it that much. I know quite a few people that don't get it at all. But like others have posted before some of the things you can do and some of the visuals you get can't come any other way. Skydives that last so long you can't hold it anymore. How else can you you fly relative to the aircraft you just stepped out of, or in some cases get above it while its still in flight and not diving? Better yet watching other jumpers just fall off of it while you hang there? Fly back three miles the long way across a lake to the dropzone? Thread the needle zig-zagging down a line of tandem canopies or a semicircle near a CReW formation? And a gut wrenching puckerfest for some, none the less a visual I'll never forget, were the big RW formations falling around us two years ago at WFFC. Yes deep down inside I sported a dark little smile over that.

Try flying along side another wingsuit with a paintball gun. Each trying paint as much as possible on the other flyer. Wear eye protection and a helmet, cod piece optional. Then get back to us.

I would take the money and the world would be a better place.

I don't get why BirdMan, of all companies, has so many customers that bash them. The irony is that BirdMan is one of the kinder and more generous companies out there. As far the whole BMI/money thing, I don't get that either. EVERYTHING in this sport costs a lot of money. The difference between a first flight with a BMI and without one is stark.Quote I would have to disagree on this one. Its really good to have a mentor, its great to have video. But I will tell you what is stark. Waiting around for a BMI to come to your neck of the woods for a BMI sanctioned first flight course, Especially if they can't afford to or don't want to for monetary reasons ( enter mentors who just do it to increase the numbers of available flockers). When that time could have been spent not so much on the dreaded and sometimes fixated first flight but instead on putting a season of jumps on a suit hopefully in two and three ways improving your flight skills.

I can buy a MTR2 and work to become an instructor for Matter, receiving those benefits, as well. I could cruise over to Spain and try to hook up with a Babylon and become a rep for S-Fly, as well.*** You better learn to free fly first and at the thousand jumps in discipline kind of level that I'm refering to above. Babylon didn't get to where they are by representing any manufacturer. They are masters of their craft in as many disciplines. Wingsuits are just one facet of the way they play. Its nothing that 10,000 competitive /artistic jumps wouldn't bring you say in about five hard core years time. Learning spanish, french and italian would be a plus.

Well I wouldn't have a problem jumping wingsuit now given the opportunity, but I've been told by more experienced jumpers to wait, so I am taking their advice, they know more than I do.

Just kidding. I never had a FFC. And you don't have a flat chest either, boy.

I could help with that you know..... She needs the camera to be non-op, not just a shattered lens.

Who is gonna "air boss" it ? Not every DZ has some one watching skies all of the time. Some times that person is busy prepping students or tandems, cleaning toilets or getting a replacement aircraft for the one that went down for maintenance minutes ago. Is that person gonna ground a new jumper for what they presume was swooping into face plant in the mud landing ( arrival) despite the fact that it was a botched intended regular performance landing? This could be very subjective task. Are they going to set aside the time to coach and teach every suspected dead guy in training on the proper skills and techniques? Is all of this gonna cut into the ability to perform the other tasks at the DZ enough to warrent recouping these costs in other ways? If we do ALL of this we still will have done nothing for the jumper that has been around for years or decades and has many thousands of jumps and a proven saftey record but still may have a fataly tragic weekend. And this last portion does make up an important percentage of the fatalities. You are the USPA, you regulate YOU and don't fail your life may depend on that.

Just because you're not jumping with world champions that deem you worth to jump with, doesn't mean you can't have fun with other jumpers. It also doesn't mean you couldn't take some newbie jumpers under your wing and teach them. Quote Dave You missunderstand the Perris appeal. Sure there are world champions to jump with if you want but it is exactly the second part of your post that makes Perris a FUN DZ. There is always something going on at every level to get involved with.

Whats to know? You look down= you fly up, you look up= you fly down, look left= fly left, to the right= fly right. How hard could it possibly be? Camm'on.

What is this conversion of which you speak?

and now that my main parachute is a little smaller, seems like a good idea. Did you follow the pattened BillVon downsizing checklist before downsizing?

Well have you seen a picture of a wingsuit? Or better yet a video of a wingsuit in flight? For starters you have a suit that has wings. These wings have cells, like your canopy, that inflate into wing planeform. With both an upper and lower wing skin. All of this so you can FLY instead of fall. So most everything about wingsuits from the exit, in flight and deployment are a little different than typical skydiving. You add navigation and traffic avoidance skills, beyond just adequate exit separation, to the jump as you can cover some serious ground. Some dropzones have special operating patterns but most wingsuiters develop their own based on local traffic and activities. The gear ( besides a wingsuit ) may be a little different or specialized for wingsuits, not radically but it just has to be appropriate. And the wingsuit itself restricts movement. You cannot reach above your head to deal with riser twists or effectively use you legs to do the same. And it these same wings that make it very easy to twist yourself up. There are more handles to deal with and four very long zippers that must be dealt with after deployment and before addressing the needs of your canopy. This extra equiptment adds complexity and procedures to regular skydive. Stable deployment of your main canopy is more crucial in wingsuiting than just about any other disciplines, unless you are jumping a highly loaded canopy with aggressive opening tendencies. You have a big burble area, you are not falling straight down and your gear leaves the container at an angle. All of this puts a focus on bad body position. Once a skydiver has enough experience and they want to try wingsuiting they find it really is a natural kind of thing to do. I know a handful of jumpers that think it is boring, too much like flying a plane. Most people really love it and I know quite a few that never go back to just jumping. Its different enough from just falling to really make an impression on your mind and emotions. Thats why you will hear the term nylon crack.

I believe that the original three were the very best line up, or am I just dating myself?

Ok, here is another question along this train of thought. Deploy and stay collapsed or deploy and go back into flight?

Its better than dating a troll.

....the passenger loved it. In my opinion it depends on the players and their skill. At one DZ we go to I got chewed out for deploying too close to a student and others in our flock would have been in a buzz the student situation. The student's instructor did admit it was all due to creative jump run, as there was a massive cloud layer on the normal jump run, and this kept us from flying a normal pattern. But the fact of the matter was that we were no closer to the student than 1000 feet at any time. We all saw all of the canopys in the area and were well clear and I stated that. I have no doubt that behind the scenes saftey disscussions took place without us present with the management. At another DZ the regular flockers are encouraged to perform flybys near tandems at a safe distance. BOTH the passenger and the instructors love to see it. Some of the instructors join us in our extra wingsuits from time to time. We never buzz students as you don't know how they will react. And we always count students, tandems and other high openers to see what kind of canopy loitering traffic we will encounter on our flight back. If we feel the need to perform close in flybys we have one of our own fly a short pattern, pull higher and present in the direction that we will be flying in from. You get some good video this way

Oh thats cool ( and a relief ) I thought you were going to post about what Scoobedoo once saw at band camp.

Not for me... Young Lady,... like BabaLou said, just buy one dammit! Don't wait for the "one". This is not romance and just like any real DZ romance a single girl can have more than one. The one you buy and fly now will only make you a better pilot of the one you get later. And it won't get jealous. I've owned four at one time ( I know, I'm a wingsuit slut ) and still had eyes for the one yet to be released. I know you want one-you know you want one. Stop missing out on all of the fun. Kimberly and Erica are standing buy, order now!

Then you can call it the "chicks flock"! Oh, now that's an idea... CHuck is in charge of the demo program now... think they have enough demo suits for all of us girls??? I bet it could be done!

I can count at least 26 that own their own suits at Perris. Another 10 that have less than 30 jumps but just won't get there own suit. Everything from a handfull of original classics to S3s and a few S4s ( or whatever the mylar ribbed wing is called ), matter2s, a crossbow, a new S-fly. But Perris is big enough that I don't personally don't know all of the wingsuiters and I get suprised to see new suits with familiar faces all of the time. Although there is a core that does mostly wingsuiting, and for one individual nothing but, the great majority do mostly other kinds of jumps. Of course I'm not counting the rock stars of skydiving and base that jump here when they are home but really jump all over the world or those that this is only a winter home for. To add to the confusion I know three jumpers, all with wingsuits, by the name of JP. Two at Perris and one ,of course, at Davis.

I second that, Burner's ship is very nice for wingsuit jumps.