Anachronist

Sounds about right

Awww, no one wants to come play when someone throws down some intellectual authority and offers to back it up with primary sources

Quick question on lines. I had an old stinky main, I hung it up and washed it, got the lines all wet, let it air dry in A/C. Anyway, I'm sure the lines were out of trim before, but this seemed to put it over the edge, started having really funky deployments, inspected, lines were 4 to 6 inches too short. They were "microline." Anyway, anyone have line shrinkage issues after washing, any lines more or less susceptible? Or were my lines already totally f'ed and it was just a coincidence?

Hey guys, I'm a scientist (not joking), I can answer these questions. Ask away, please be specific and I can give links to primary literature.

and guess what... they work. They have been around a long time and have learned quite a bit. Other AAD manufacturers have made mistakes that CYPRES already had accounted for... they just change them on the down low once they see they did not account for it. That's worse than CYPRES saying, get it checked and we will update the unit when we learn more (yes this has happened more than once). Frankly I think this crap about CYPRES should tell all is insane. Other tech companies would never do that yet we skydivers think we can say that they should. I know a lot more than the average skydiver about AAD's but so can you. If you take the time you can actually find out quite a bit and I fully promote that! CYPRES is my choice and I admire that they are trying to figure out the wingsuit differences. Criticizing them for promoting a company project is business and any beef with that is just silly imo. I am also not on here bashing Vigil every chance I get just becasue I choose CYPRES. I do think my choice is a better product for a slew of reasons.... that's why I chose it. So educate yourself and make an EDUCATED decision. To all of the young jumpers out there, I would say that it is a good practice to read through the history of certain jumpers that seem to always be bashing certain products/companies. They have an axe to grind and it's probably unjustified most of the time. You will see this in all areas i.e. canopies, AAD's, containers, etc. To the wingsuiters out there.... won't it be awesome when CYPRES is ready to launch a product that can save your ass like they did so long ago for freefall? Don't worry vigil people.... vigil will attempt to copy it eventually and get close I am sure... but hey they will make up for the shortcomings by offering it to you cheaper! Hiayo.... I kid -Rob Hahaha, yeah and both Cypress and Vigil are on their 3rd generation cutters. I don't bash Cypress, I just don't like their business practices, but I'm not going to kiss their ass either. Vigil pretty much tells all, as it were. To add to that, watch out for people who push one product as "far superior" to anything else, they are usually sponsored, sell them, or have a personal relationship with the company. Hahaha, low and behold, Mr Stanley's profile website lists SSK (Cypress) as a partner/sponsor... who wudda guessed

Ohhh they broke ground, I believe it now! You could probably use a wedge and get it over the net Any idea what prices will be like for skydivers? Comparable to say iFly Denver?

I won't knock an analog altimeter, they work well and are usually cheaper than digitals. But I would say, try out a digital, someone should let you borrow one for a jump. I never considered them when I was buying gear (just figured they were a pro/swooper thing, I was at a small DZ and stupid) Anyway, forgot my alti on a jump and a guy let me borrow his digital since he was doing a hop and pop, after that I was like "I need one of these!"

Good input from the other two. Yeah student gear sucks, when I got my first rig (used and a bit too small for me) my reaction was "I didn't even know rigs could be this comfortable." They make inner thigh padded compression shorts/underwear that might help, but I don't know if the padding goes high enough into the groin to really help. I'll 3rd the legstraps, get them as far up into your groin as you can and make them a little uncomfortably snug, then before exit, push them up into your groin a little more. I've seen slip on leg pad protectors too that seem to have a good bit of padding, did a quick Google search and found these by UPT, you might give them a call and see if they can hook you up with some with extra padding. They slip on and off, so you could use them on student gear.

Tunnel is where it is at. Might take more time that you want but will pay off. Skydiving is long journey, not a quick thrill (that's what tandems are for). "A little tunnel" should be at least an hour. If you are having major issues after that, then yeah, you can say maybe it isn't for you.

Flat lock should work with the adapter, you can call Chuting Star and see what they say, I'm sure you aren't the first person who has wanted to put one on a Tonfly Speed.

Convert to Prores then edit and color in DaVinci 12, export as whatever you want. Not sure if that works for doing tandem stuff but is great for fun jumper vids, and all the software is free. DaVinci is really hard on your GPU though so it could be too slow on a laptop.

Quality is crap but this is it... How to pack a rig Skip to 1:30 for what you are looking for.

Cool off topic-ish thingie, the Russians focused on Venus during the Cold War because the US was all about Mars, anyway, they landed a probe, the atmosphere was so dense it didn't need a parachute, just a (rather small) metal disk. I read up on it a while ago so I could be a little off, but I think the density of the Venus atmosphere is closer to the density of water than it is to the atmosphere on Earth. Also there are photos from the surface, pretty cool stuff. Skydivable if you could find a way to survive the 900 degree temp, might be able to just use a pilot chute too

First off, Chiropractors are witch doctors, plain and simple. The training is laughable and anyone in the hard biological sciences understands their limitations if they know anything about them. They are really just massage therapists. There is a long story involving the Supreme Court about how they even got to legally call themselves "doctors," which was a huge mistake. Maybe there are some good ones out there, but the foundation of their training and purpose is deeply flawed. The vast majority are MedSchool rejects who wanted an easy out and still be able to make some cash; a large proportion are pure con artists. Secondly, G forces are all about acceleration, if you drop a rock from one inch, and you stop it fast enough, you could make it pull thousands of Gs. If you slow a bullet down slow enough it could never experience 1 G in the horizontal plane. The human body can withstand upward of 60 Gs in the right position (USAF tested with a rocket sled). So all this G talk is completely irrelevant. I've heard stories of openings hard enough to distort hip rings, if anyone has more details feel free to fill me in. When you start torquing a human body hard enough you cause internal damage, forget joints, the ligamentum arteriosum will rip a hole in your aorta and you will bleed out. Which is a common cause of death from sudden deceleration. Skydiving is a young man/woman's game, the older folks are in it from determination, habituation, and luck. If you want to play in your 40's and 50's then you are at a disadvantage. There is no way to mitigate all of the risks. That said, some of the things that were mentioned help, neutral head position is best (but a hip ring distorting hard opening will kill you no matter what), and if your doctors aren't skydivers they don't really have any understanding of what the forces are like. "My doc said it's cool" is about worthless (other than liability). It is too much of a niche sport for anything about it to be common knowledge. But we're all a little crazy and I won't tell anyone they can't jump, or do drugs, or bang hookers. If you want to make this work as best as it can you have to find your own limits. Get in the tunnel to learn to fly better and build up muscle strength and get a feel for your flexibility and limitations. Keep to hop and pops with progressively longer delays to feel out those limits. Learn to pack soft openings (but a nasty one can still come and get ya). At 6' and 200lbs (I'm pretty close to that myself) you are probably doing 140mph in a relaxed arch, the tunnel will teach you to fall slower. The odds are stacked against you given your injuries, size (fit or not, mass is mass), and age. Don't be a tard, and good luck buddy, skydiving is awesome and for most of us, worth the risk of injury or death.

911 tapes are public record, but the investigation is still ongoing so not available yet. The issue isn't trying to be PC and pretend that Islamic extremists don't exist, they do, and they have killed thousands of US soldiers in the last 15 years. The issue is trying to not fall into the post 9/11 trap and coming out guns blazing with no plan and end up fighting Vietnam Part 2, or in this case Part 3. Was this guy an Islamic extremist, yeah most definitely, so why not treat it like that? Because people are really stupid (See Vietnam Part 1 and 2) and there is no target that can be attacked to "fix" it. What this guy is/was, is someone who may or may not have had mental illness, was radicalized by an ideology, and acted on it. What he wasn't, was trained or funded by a terrorist organization and didn't have any significant ties to one, he acted independently (at least so far it looks that way). Just like the kid who shot up the black church, acted independently (as far as we know). Not endorsed or trained or funded by the KKK or anyone else, just a crazy redneck who was radicalized by an ideology and acted on his own. So if we start calling every kook who proclaims and ideological motive, now Westboro is a Cristian Extremist group, all the abortion clinic attackers are Christian Extremists, Israel is a Jewish Extremist Group, etc etc ad nauseam... "Christian Extremism" is a bigger domestic problem than any other religion just btw. It is an effort to look at actual, more relevant problems, not just Bush era fear mongering or looking for the "commie boogieman/scapegoat." Ultimately the semantics are irrelevant and the hyper-conservative "thanks Obama" crowd is a shrinking demographic in it's death throes. Not to mention that any religious belief could be classified as a mental disorder under the DSM. The belief in cosmic wizardry is equally retarded (and dangerous) no matter which one is chosen. If you want to find the real culprit for your sad miserable existence and a target for all your hate, check the mirror.

Smallrig, Really nice for the price and all one piece of aluminium. Just takes a week or so since it ships from China, they have an Amazon store. Website Cage

Just wanted to make an FYI post for anyone getting an A6300. First of all, great camera, vid and stills look awesome with a Sigma 19mm prime lens. First issue was the body, it is magnesium and considerably softer than aluminium. With an XShut mount and its spikes for preventing rotation, they bored into the metal (a lot) and slightly bent my housing around the tripod mount with only moderate pressure. To keep it from getting worse I decided to put it in a cage from Smallrig. Great product, only issue is the camera can yaw a little bit (maybe 2mm) once attached, zip-ties fix the problem (see photos). I also picked up their HDMI lock, was made for the A6000 so is a tad short for the A6300 but still works. Holds the connector pretty securely (see photos). The product photo shows a nice 90 degree position on the A6000 but the ports are a little further from the cage on the A6300. I emailed them and suggested they make it a little longer for the A6300. They seem to have pretty good customer service so we'll see. Anyway, hope that helps.

ZHills in FL has a pretty decent flock for novice and intermediate jumpers but might still be a little slow Sept-Dec (the busy season in FL is when it is too cold to jump in the Northern US). They have a boogie Flock 'N Dock, but it is usually in March. DeLand FL is hit or miss, lots of coaching going on but not a lot of novice/intermediate fun jumpers. The regulars are usually jumping very large and fast suits. There is a small boogie in Lake Wales FL called She's Got Wings that is usually in late Oct or early Nov. There are also a lot of other dropzones all a few hours away from each other in FL (just do your research, lots of fun jumper dropzones but also a lot of tandem factories, for instance, don't go to Titusville FL). I've heard nice things about the north west/west US but haven't jumped there myself so I don't know.

I had a similar one where landing wingsuits by flaring became common, even nice and easy like landing a student canopy. I tried it and pounded into the ground, everyone laughed then I got on the next load.

Oh yeah, I've died several times in my dreams from skydiving, even had a dream where someone impacted with nothing out right next to the plane while everyone was loading and everyone was just like "bummer man." Pretty weird shit :P Nothing like watching Friday Freakouts for nightmare fuel

Can be a long road for some and short for others. Tunnel hard, you still have to jump to make it work in the sky with a rig, for exits, break off, altitude awareness, and with other people, but you won't pick up bad habits in the tunnel like you will in the sky. If your goal is just doing some sit flying and looking at your friends from 10 feet away, jump more, if you want to be a ninja, tunnel more. I'm an awful freeflyer but I've seen enough and spent enough time in tunnels to notice a pattern. Lots of tunnel flyers begin to enjoy the tunnel more than jumping, it is rewarding in its own right, and on time alone, about half the cost (at least in the US) and much less if you can share the tunnel with other people. Also, if you are in it for the long haul, don't go to the tunnel and say "Teach me to sit." Go in, find an instructor you jive with and say "teach me whatever you want to to make me a good flyer." You'll learn things in the tunnel you'll never do in the sky but will contribute to how you feel and perceive the air, and will become more important when you reach ninja status. I've seen excellent freeflyers have to start from square one in the tunnel, never the other way around. Cost break down (US based and variable, just ball parking here). 15 skydives $360, 15 min in the tunnel $220 (with coaching in some places). Now say you and 3 friends can all fly together and you each buy 15 min, still costs $220 but you fly for 60 min, 60 skydives, $1,440. There is also a compelling argument that you learn faster in a tunnel (immediate feedback, you can fly 30+min a day once your endurance picks up, (try making 30 skydives ), and there is no 30+ min delay between each min of flight) You aren't limited by weather or time of day either. Oh, almost forgot. When you start, get coaching every single time. Once you get some maneuvers down but just need to refine them, solo it. Become friends with the instructors and they will come in and fly with you and give you pointers for free (standing in the door is boring, if they can have a little fun it is worth it to them).

I applaud them for trying, but I'm going to go out on a limb... Problems, Digital altimeters can be easily fooled into "sensing" a deployment during wingsuit flight, flares can now climb and even moderately experienced jumpers can hit vertical speeds of

Solid reply from Wicked. 90 is best with different groups. If you have one big group you can exit, move horizontally away from jump run, then even back up with it again (or go 90 for a few seconds then bring it back to 45), that way you only have to close side to side distance and not front to back distance, but gives some buffer for tumblers. Also, put the groups or people likely to tumble out first (hard to do, I've seen people much better than myself take a roll on exit, just seems to be infrequent but random even with highly experienced jumpers). With big suits people can start flying pretty quickly out of the plane and just slide away while watching everyone else exit (and outside of the tumble zone). Not something I've been very successful with, I was paranoid about hitting the tail for a long time and developed a habit of dropping rather quickly and then flying. One of my ongoing projects is exiting without losing much altitude. Also don't pile out of the plane like belly and freefly jumpers, give it a couple seconds between each person. If you can't get together with your group by doing that, it just means you need to get better. When dealing with new jumpers or guys who have rapidly upsized, sometimes they get a hard turn on exit that they can't fix right away, which could bring them into others even if they have a lot of separation. The only fix there is putting them out first. Just be wary of anyone with a "sweet new Freak" if they are coming from something smaller, and those without a lot of WS jumps or who are barely/uncurrent. But ultimately you have to work with what you've got, there is no way to eliminate all risk from any discipline.

I have an average sized weewee. Anyway yeah we got a little off topic. I can't pick up trackers, I'm nowhere near in control enough when flying like that, just relaying what I've seen other people do. To clarify, if you are chasing a tracker (or WS) that is well below you, dive; I would guess (and it is only a guess) that is what happened in the case in question. With big suits anyway, once you are with a tracker it is usually hands basically on your rig and heels basically on your butt, it is really twitchy and relatively unstable, you aren't really "flying" anymore so much as your are "falling with lots of drag." You can even fall vertically that way. The totally head down angle, freefly, and belly chasers (Jarno comes to mind) have a special skill set I haven't even attempted and wouldn't for quite some time. With a good tracker and a medium suit (Havok/Funk/etc) is actually pretty comfortable, it is like flying with someone in an intro suit. As for AAD's there have been several threads on this, the big problem is that they can't know what exactly is going on. Are you in a flat spin or did you flare, or did you deploy, or are you just cruising really slow? Measuring altitude and descent rate alone make differentiation between those four things very difficult. Doing slow and floaty stuff I've had an Altitrack and Viso2 not register a speed faster than 40mph for the entire flight (the Altitrack samples every 0.25 seconds). As wingsuits get bigger, they begin to diminish the effectiveness of AAD's, that's just the way it is. Creating a model that could predict those different things is very difficult, even if you had GPS and Gforce input because the AAD will be close to the axis of rotation. As for what can be learned (hard to say here because we don't, and may never have all the details) it is the same as when a swooper hooks in (also usually involving experienced and current jumpers). Know your limits, be cautious and give yourself plenty of outs, pushing too hard too fast or putting yourself in a situation you aren't skilled enough to be in will create problems. I've tapped out on many many jumps when the speed got too fast, I or someone else wasn't in enough control to fly safely, or I lost track of jump run and canopies below. Give yourself more distance than you think you need and pull higher than you are comfortable. For instance, I have several hundred WS jumps and I still pull at 4,000, every time. On the rare occasions (I could probably count them on one hand) I've pulled at 3,500, it has been to increase separation. Also watch this , it is relevant to everyone and coming from someone with more real life experience in the air than almost anyone reading this forum will ever have (myself included).

Show video or I call bullshit I'm continually amazed by even experienced jumpers failure to comprehend wingsuiting. I had a TI with several thousand jumps once tell me to exit before a solo tandem (TI student) because he (the solo guy) would be falling slower than me under the drogue. I was like "are you kidding me? My vertical speed is less than 40mph." He was skeptical but relented. Anyway, not here to entertain you brah and I could care less if some anonymous person doesn't believe me anonymously; I'm sure you can dig up vids of it somewhere, it isn't that complicated of a maneuver.