shveddy

Well he was going Wingsuit terminal when the canopy decided to open. I don't think a dancing canopy with no line ension will slow you down very much. It looked to me like the slider was completely down when the lines began to tension, so he might as well have packed slider down. So this begs the question. Could you pack slider down on a wingsuit BASE jump and open even lower?

So that's pretty much a slider down deployment with micro lines at terminal. Anyone know if that caused injuries?

Well I had high hopes for that other thread. It could have been a convenient place for some of the early adopters to post their impressions of and experiences with the new brand of suits coming on the market. Unfortunately it seems destined to bloat with pages upon pages of utter nonesense. I don't want to sift through it all, so let's try to keep things on topic by adhering to some simple rules: 1. You can only post an opinion about the suit if you have seen it in person, or if you have communicated directly with someone who has. We all have access to the same information from the Internet, and odds are you are not special and you don't have a novel interpretation of the pictures we can all see. If you think you have a novel interpretation, post it in the other thread. 2. If you are not speaking from experience, you may post only in the form of a succinct reference to some new information or video that has popped up on the web. Please do so without any commentary of your own. 3. If you have a question to ask someone who has direct experience with the suits or need something clarified, you may ask but do so without shenanigans. No leading questions, no passive aggression, stick to the question, etc... Alright, now behave like adults and obey the rules

F%ck yea, that's what I'm talking about. http://youtu.be/zTNInYDVi_s Hey wherewhaka, just take a zero off of your jump numbers and maybe then people will take you seriously.

Yea, I saw that Norman Kent video about tandem videos and I definitely agree with it (who am I to argue) and I think we agree on the goal, but we're criticizing different ends of the spectrum. I hate it when vidiots get bored and start treating it like a 9 to 5, punchcard type job and stagnate just as much as I hate it when people mess around at the expense of the student. I'm just saying that there is a massive middle ground of challenging yourself to learn new, tasteful tricks that are fun for the student and fun for the videographer as well. It keeps the energy up and some of the tricks can make an impression on the student. I think there is value to a student saying something along the lines of "holy *{%> that guy was upside down and he gave me a high five." after the jump. I guess that's what I mean by justice to the sport. Tandems are a quick window into our world and as a videographer and TI have always tried to show them what is so awesome about it so that they come join us. Being upside down would be one of those things I think is cool to share. By the way, I'm kinda mediocre at free flying so this is all conceptual for me. But I do challenge myself on tandems, generally trying new stuff towards the end of the skydive when I can just pretend like I meant to go low and watch the opening on my back. Of course not at the expense of keeping the student in frame. And I don't think that having 12000 jumps precludes you from asking around for ideas. A least I hope not.

Oh come on. I've seen plenty of examples of freeflying adding to the video quality. Of course it takes balance and you don't want a video to consist of just orbiting the whole time, but there is a chance that the dude has more video jumps than you guys have jumps period and it's completely understandable that he maybe wants to compare notes and get some ideas from what other people are doing. Maybe he has mad 12000 jump skills but could use some help to spark his creativity. Even if he is padding his numbers by a factor or two, I see no harm in sharing cool ideas and tricks for any capable flyerto use in their bag of tricks. The standard issue "exit with tandem, fly to get face shot with sun behind you, make faces or give high five, spin a bit, do an orbit, film deployment" can easily be improved on in a tasteful manner, and if people get ahead of themselves and overdo it, then I guess we'll just have to trust whoever it is that oversees the vidiots at the dropzone to call him or her out on it. Here's one I saw once: Do a big orbit above and around the tandem pair to give them an idea of the scenery and location, but overshoot and end up about ten or fifteen feet below and in front, looking up while on your back and upside down relative to them. Pause for a second, stick out your left hand so that it's in frame and beckon for them to come closer. Get up in their face and start geeking them so they make a face back at you as quickly as you (safely) can while rotating yourself so that they are right side up again, and to the whuffo it looks like they flew down to you with half a barrel roll just to make faces at you. The tandem master can mime a superman pose or pretend to swim while you're zooming up to him just to add to the whole thing. There ya go, it's an idea. If it's done properly it actually looks pretty cool and it only takes an additional two or three seconds tops without being particularly distracting. And yes, it adds some challenge and excitement for the vidiot. Which is good a good thing. Zooming around every which way on your head looks dumb, and treating it like a glorified mall job doesn't do the sport justice.

http://vimeo.com/39517796

I was right above someone who was loaded at about 1.3, not flying like a retarded monkey and I saw his student Cypres fire. He thought that he could get away with a student Cypres at 1.1:1 or so, gained some winter weight and that caused it to fire. So the lesson is to not play with those sorts of margins.

Hey, ummm.. Guys. Click on this link, it's really really really cool. It's also incredibly impressive, quite beautiful and ummm... real. http://vimeo.com/34361079 If you think you can do better, please, please, please, just learn how to sew and show us. If you succeed, I guarantee you we would celebrate your success just like we celebrate what Robi and others have accomplished. And if you can't handle the fact that some people don't know what they are talking about when it comes to wingsuit design, than console yourself in the fact that some people do and they make some pretty badass products and videos for you to buy and watch respectively.

Could have been in there as well. I just have a more distinct memory of Tom showing it to us and me thinking that I probably should have done that for all the packjobs I had packed before . I know a friend of mine had a similar mal and his wasn't packed that way.

Get ahold of Tom Noonan at PD. He did my certification course and he had a really particular way of packing a Dual Hawk drogue that makes this a whole lot less likely. I think it'll be somewhat difficult to properly explain, but the long and short of it is that first you leave about three feet of excess bridle and shove that in the bottom of the BOC. Then you make sure you stick it in the BOC with the opening of the roll pointed upwards; this way the relative wind actually keeps the roll closed. If it were upside down, the wind would blow it apart instantly. Overall, this allows the drogue to be thrown some distance from you before it begins to be pulled apart. If that didn't make sense, call Tom Noonan for specifics or a better explanation. Harder throws are always nice too, but everyone has a shitty day once and a while.

Like no deployment whatsoever? Video please.

Not much of a swooper, but I do do turns and stuff. I mix it up depending on obstacles. Whichever direction puts my last 90 degrees of rotation pointed towards a clear landing area is usually the direction I choose. That way I can abort any time I want. I'd hate to have to deal with a tree after I have just stabbed out. Not necessary or anything, but it feels a little bit safer; I guess.

Ahh, too much emphasis on semantics. The gist of what I was trying to say was that he needs to think beyond AFF and that at certain places he'll have to be proactive about it. Whether or not he gets to call himself a skydiver and wear a "skydiving kicks ass" t-shirt is a fairly unimportant to me.

Just because you graduated AFF doesn't mean you're a skydiver. Not by a long shot. It's 18 more jumps till your licensed and a couple hundred more before you're even vaguely competent. Regardless of what you do for AFF, make sure that you've given as much thought to where you'll be jumping when you get back from your Summer travels. If you want to get a full on license at Lodi, just be aware that once you're off AFF you'll have to be really proactive, seeking out (and paying for) coaches who will take you all the way to your license. Again, unless you've got nice tits.

Higher quality pics from the Russian forum.

I'd stop by, especially for a tailgate.

I think the context should be sufficient to indicate who I was talking about. I'm obviously in no position to give topdocker shit, nor would it be adviseable as I have seen the what can happen in a certain ongoing crew forum thread... And telling someone (in an admittedly drunken manner) that spending 50 bucks on padded underwear because the ride up is uncomfortable is a wimpy thing to do is not really personal abuse. It's merely a continuation of the pointless, endless and impersonal shit-show that is dropzone.com and shouldn't be taken seriously. So yea, sorry for adding to the noise, and please, don't mind me and continue debating the relative merits of different brands of ass padding for plane rides.

Man up a bit, will ya? Its a 20 minute ride, it's gonna be a bit of a squeeze and you're ass may not get the posh treatment it's apparently so used to. You're probably one of those people that can't live without their cushioned toilette seats or quadruple layered, three-dolla-roll toilette paper. Get your pampered ass in a narrow-bodied Cessna behind a tall pilot sometime and maybe then, Mr. Softie, will you appreciate what you got. Jeezus, otter babies...

Well there's something interesting to try over Christmas break.

A friend of mine thought he could get away with it. All it took was a few extra pounds gained over the winter and a 90 degree toggle whip at 1000 feet to tickle his student cypres the wrong way. On a Safire 189.

With all due respect, you're an idiot.

I went to the hot air balloon festival held bi-annually in Metz France (over 400 balloons), and after nagging what must have been at least 100 pilots, someone took me up despite the regulations and lawyers. With the amount of balloons at the Abuquerque festival, you may very well get lucky. Of course lawyers are worse in America, so you're results may vary. But if it isn't too long of a drive, it'll be one of the more spectacular jumps you'll ever make. Can't succeed if you don't try. Worst case scenario you get to watch a balloon festival.

A significantly more exciting use for two cameras: http://vimeo.com/14821961 3d's a gimmick, generally. I haven't seen the human flight 3d thing yet, and it could change my mind. Acting notwithstanding.

I'm assuming the trimmed speed is slower so you don't have to run as fast to acheive lift off? I'm going to have to take your word for it until I can make my escape from the flatlands .