outrager

Tom, i have been thinking... maybe we should keep it simple and do what men always do: lie! Promise them a great BASE career, score and then when it comes to the first jump say "Sorry babe, this is really not for you!". The fact you have just saved her life will by far outweigh any traces of guilt ;-) bsbd! Yuri.

>If she really wants to get into BASE she's going to >do it whether you offer guidence or not. Exactly! I totally agree with you. You have to make sure this is what SHE wants to do herself. It is up to her to start jumping, and you shouldn't encourage her. Now if after all the fatality videos and broken bones you've shown her, she's still out to jump - the best you can do is to pass on whatever knowledge you have, and to point her to people who have more. The point was not to use BASE as an attraction to score. Once you are already involved with somebody and she wants to jump, there is a whole different set of issues. Actually the picture changes upside-down: you probably won't want her to jump. The honest thing here is to swallow your fear and let her decide. You also have to understand that in this case you may not be the best teacher - and you have to be grown-up enough to accept it. bsbd! Yuri.

Tom, you're the the man! This was a very well written piece. I agree with 587 that there are rare cases when it's ok to teach somebody you're romantically involved with, but can't emphasize his #8 point enough: 8) In fact, you find yourself telling her more why it is a BAD idea to jump. It is really scary to see somebody you care about jump. If you try hard to discourage them, give them all the information and they still decide to jump... pity on you! bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! I hold the wingtips pretty much all the time - it seems to improve the flight a bit. I have also tried small wingtip handles (pullup cord loops) but cut them off and settled on small tabs left over from these handles. Basically anything you can grab and hold helps - you don't use much force to hold the wingtips. bsbd! Yuri.

Average skydives are a bit over 3 minutes. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! 3 min long skydives produce roughly 40mph average. 24mph average (i.e. sustained) speed would give you 5 minutes. It is possible to achive 0 or even negative speed for a couple of seconds, but not sustained. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Sustained 24mph ? That IS a mistake, unless he's over 6ft tall and under 100lb ;-) bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Night flights are very cool. If there is more than one suit in the air, you will need a collision avoidance plan. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Headdown in a wingsuit is quite easy and fun. However your wings flap so much they get destroyed in a few jumps. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! If you have any basic experience with a wingsuit (i.e. can exit stable, an equivalent of a static line student clear-and-pull proficiency), an emergency exit fully geared and zipped up is a way to go. Your fall rate is less then half of a no-suit jumper - you will actually climb up above the plane on a high-speed exit. Further on, your canopy deployment consumes less altitude if you pull in full flight. Many wingsuit fliers (including myself) don't zip up the suit until close to the regular jump altitude. In case of a bail-out emergency there will be no time to put the suit on. If a bail-out is necessary, going out with everything unzipped is really no different from a CRW-style clear-and-pull. If you are concerned about your leg wing loose material you can tuck it in your crotch, snap it in quickly (if your suit have the snaps) or simply hold it with your left hand untill you pull. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! The new Skyflyer really picked up in Norway. Best flights had an average vertical speed of 14..15m/s(32..33mph) and the best time was 1:34 (one of Trollveggen exits, 1540m AGL). I didn't measure the glide ratio precisely (not an easy task) but it finally went over 2. Exits have been very easy, and the suit is flying at 4sec or so - like the old Classic. I did not use PC pouch on the suit, as it proved unnecessary - the regular pouch on the rig still works fine. The new Merlin prototype (wingsuit container from Vertigo) did the job quite well, and probably added a bit to the perfomance. On a different subject, i've checked out W.L.O. toggles and they are a must-have for any slider-up BASE rig! These toggles allow you to fire brake lines in a slider-up configuration (using only one hand), clearing a line-over or tension-knot mal instantly. I've tested them on one of the first flights, and was amazed at how easy and quickly i could release brake lines. Use them, at least until we learn to land the suits ;-) bsbd! Yuri.

The best choice would be Stupino (L-410 and multiple Mi8s, about 2h from the city). If you can read Russian, all the info is here: http://www.dropzone.ru/stupino.shtml Sometimes there are jumps at Tushino airfield inside the city, you will have to check with locals on further details. A good person to ask is Toly Zirov, [email protected] bsbd! Yuri.

Every large DZ around Moscow flies choppers as their main jumpships. Mi8 takes 25+ jumpers and Mi2 up to 7 jumpers. It really isn't any different from fixed-wing operations. bsbd! Yuri.

2 more points: On Skyflyer, it really helps to hold the wingtips - both on exit and during the flight. It's much easier if you put some tabs on the corners - anything to make grabbing them easier. On any 2-zipper suit: as i've noticed during these hot-as-hell days, opening both zippers (body zippers, not arms) all the way down after opening effectively wraps your cut-away and reserve handles. They may still be needed in case of a canopy collision and such... so better hot then sorry ;-) bsbd! Yui.

Yo ! Exit as if you already were in full flight, present your wings to the relative wind as much as you can and dearch. It is quite natural. Some people are concerned that 200mph exit with fully extended wings will be too hard on their arms, but in reality the forces you feel aren't that big of a deal. bsbd! Yuri.

I'm still alternating between two positions. Both are the usual roll the shoulders, dearch variants. I either grab the wingtips or simply rest my fingers on top of them - they are actually well pressurized and stable so there's no real need to hold them. The difference (and an open question) is what to do with legs. I have tried to fly with my legs open as wide as possible, but then i have to bend my knees a bit (and push them down, dearching at the hips). Alternatively, i can fly with my legs straight but then i have to keep them very narrow to hold the correct angle. Both ways feel about the same, and i believe it can be flown a bit better, so more fine-tuning is needed. I think the best thing to do is to visit a local gym for a couple of years in a row ;-) Sheer muscle power is what's really needed for maxed-out long flights... bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Garmin has released an updated firmware (2.12) for eTrex Summit that keeps logging altitude data even when GPS signal is lost (inside an airplane, for example). This is a must-have update that makes life so much easier! bsbd! Yuri.

Yes, you can climb up quite a bit above the aircraft after a high-speed tailgate exit.

Garmin eTrex Summit (GPS + barometric altimeter in a single unit)

Yo ! I took a GPS up on a couple of flights over the weekend. GPS was mounted on a helmet. OziExplorer (.plt format) track file is attached. The first flight is maxing it out trying slightly different body positions. Second flight is playing with the suit - in particular, diving and flaring. Here is a brief summary for the first flight: Exit: 4370m (14330ft) Pull: 743m (2400ft) Time: 3:15 Distance: 6.15km (3.8mile) Average horizontal speed: 113kph (70mph) Average vertical speed: 18.6m/s (41mph) Average L/D 1.7 The following data is an average from a 30sec crosswind segment: Sustained vertical speed: 15.8m/s (35mph) Sustained horizontal speed: 113kph (70mph) Sustained L/D: 2.0 The winds were light, about 9mph average according to the upwind/downwind horizontal speed difference. The second flight data has an interesting part on flaring the suit: it appears that following a steep dive the suit levels and actually goes up for about 2 seconds, climbing 30..40m. I have done 3 dives/flares in a row and they have very similar profiles. This is not to be trusted blindly, though, because: 1. it looks too good to be true ;) 2. 1-sec sampling is a bit low for measuring short events like this 3. the data may be affected somewhat by the changing airflow during the flare (altitude data here is barometric) On the other hand, it looks quite similar to the climb after a high-speed tailgate exit (50..100ft above the aircraft)... bsbd! Yuri. all-jul21.plt

9am Orange time ?

Yo ! This past weekend at Orange VA was a blast. There were 22 new birdmen, and most made more than one flight I finally got to fly my new suit, what a sweet toy! Slowed it to 39mph (ProTrack 2min average), will take GPS up once i learn to fly it a bit better. The naked party ruled, and the rest was fun too bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! While we're at it, a week ago in Rio... bsbd! Yuri. http://base416.com

Tom, i don't think this explains it: by the same logic a head-down opening without a suit would work better than flat'n'stable ;-) Fall rate/forward speed on the old suits were roughly 40/80 mph. I'll have some data on my new suit within a month. bsbd! Yuri.

Yes, i normally jump Stiletto 120. It opens equally good with or without a wingsuit. If you need to steer through your openings and cannot reach the risers: grab around 3-rings and shift the weight, that works great. Jari, Vladi and many others jump heavily loaded sub-90 canopies. Once you get used to a suit, it works as good as without one. Speaking about openings: with BASE rigs, they actually open much _better_ on wingsuit flights - compared to terminal openings without a suit. I'm still puzzled about it, but statistics are building up... on-heading perfomance is almost perfect on wingsuit flights. Any ideas why? bsbd! Yuri.