LyraM45

I see what you are saying but the tunnel does not teach air awarness and a few other things that are important...... MT said what I would have said basically, but then you came back and said what I would have said after him. I am not an experienced flyer at all, but I was blessed enough with the opprotunity to work at a wind tunnel for a little while, so I can hold my own on some freefly jumps for the most part. What the tunnel did not teach me is the situational awareness that I will need on a skydive. It did not teach me currency with my gear and emergency procedures. For this reason, I still freefly by myself or in very small groups head up on my jumps. A tunnel rat with 30 jumps under his belt may be a bad ass flyer, but for the reasons listed above, I voted at least 100 jumps (pref. in the past year or so for currency) to get into hard core freeflying (harcore meaning busting out 10 ways and doing anything much past solo's or coached jumps.) Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

Did you worry about it as much when Reagan and Bush were doubling it? EXACTLY! Where was all the bitching and moaning and spending epiphanies when Bush was in office?! People act like all of the sudden this debt came out of nowhere and it's all Obama's fault. Get over it. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

Not really... they group the jumpers by jump numbers, not years of experience. I think 125 jumps and under was novice, and 125-300 (I can't remember what the upper tier number was for this one) was intermediate, etc. And then I think there is a clause all together that if you have over 1000 skydives or something you're ineligable, and your first jump couldn't be more than five years previous or something. Not 100% sure, but I know its done fair enough to where I didn't feel like I was at a disadvantage competing with 126 skydives in 2006 when I was an undergrad. Take me for example... time is not always experience. My first tandem was in Oct. 2001, and I am only up to 180 jumps now because of the time I took off from the sport here and there while I was in college and couldn't afford to jump. Just getting back into it now, but back then even though I had a few years experience more than other people, I had no tunnel time to help me out, so I had the raw limited jump numbers over a longer period of time. Def. did not put me at an advantage. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

ARE YOU FRICKIN' KIDDING ME????!!!!!!!! LIKE... SERIOUSLY???? Ugh!!! I am so pissed off right now because I had just sorted this all out with them last year when I decided to go back for my masters and wanted to compete again. God dammit. Done.. finito. Petition signed!!! Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

Most airports with identifiers like 57c are not listed on websites reporting cigs (or any kind of metar ob). Most of those airports are not equipped with ASOS equipment to take the reading every hour, and nor are there enough trained observers to go out and take a reading each hour to report it for each little pipsqueak airfield around. Your best bet is to find out what the nearest reporting field is, which will probably have a 3 or 4 letter identifier, and either go off of that or extrapolate between two stations surrounding your DZ, etc. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

**Bump** I wanted to give a little bump for anybody who is interested. I was in the boarding area a few days ago at a DZ I was visiting, and I caught up with an old friend who deals for wings. He looked at my container, and without me even saying anything about it, said the MLW was way too short and the laterals were too long. I asked a friend that previously worked for the company to look at some pics and give me his opinion, and he 100% agreed that it needs to be sent back and refitted. So, to the OP and for people wondering if their rig doesn't feel quite right on their back/shoulders, go get it looked at! I took the advice of ONE employee at wings last year I talked to who said my hip rings were supposed to be about an inch above my hip bone on the new vision containers, and so I've been jumping in pain and discomfort the whole past year thinking as an employee they knew better than me and that was that. OP-- definitely go get your stuff looked at (especially if you were in as much discomfort as me... takes a little bit of fun out of a long jumping day for sure!) and post an update on how it all goes. I hope it all works out for you! Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

Actually, I find more jumpers use profanity than not on a DZ. Kinda comes with the personality type that is a skydiver. That doesn't mean everybody, but I am saying most because you defined the people who use profanity as "not normal," and "adolescent." If you want to get into that argument, line me up 10 random jumpers from your DZ and give me the number of those that use any type of profanity in their language throughout the day. I am willing to bet it will be majority of them. I think you should re evaluate what is "normal," and watch the backdoor attacks by labeling people as "adolescents" who choose to use such language. Edited to add-- What may be "normal" in this situation may not always be right. I'm one for the dz being a more adult oriented place for various reasons, but I don't always think its right (for the most part for me personally) to go dropping F-bombs every other second with kids around but people who choose to do so should be able to in an adult enviroment. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

I 100% agree with that statement... http://www.uspa.org/AboutUSPA/USPABoardofDirectors/tabid/140/Default.aspx At least 2 groups have submitted something per the request of a USPA Board Member with that request being very specific in terms of goals.. What the driving force was or support behind that from other USPA Board members or RD's I dont know for sure. I spoke to my RD this weekend as well as a AFF I/E who knows a little about it and now have a better understanding of the situation. If you cant talk to yours at least fire off a E-Mail using the link above if you don't have their contact info, BEFORE the meeting. This is a public forum and not the place where a/any decision will be made ultimately. The document that was created within the group I was asked to participate in, I think met the goals asked. Is it perfect, I wish I could say it was but given it was generated by an experienced yes, but small group of people does not make it the be all end all. As I understood it,t once we were finished it was going to go into an open review period for comment which was part of why I agreed to work on it. All of that said, Does it carry a good amount of information that can be drawn from and used to formulate something different if that is what ultimately is decided, I hope the answer is a resounding yes. I stated above I don't think the system is completely broken as it is but I do think it can be improved and this discussion having been generated by the editorial and then the public link to a proposal hopefully will lead to that.. If nothing else people should agree, after readig the thread here, that the minimum standards need to be adheared to given so many posters in this thread, even some of the ones railing against the idea of a WSI, have noted knowledge of wingsuit flights by under experienced jumpers and classes being taught by manufacturer Instructors, not just one manufacturer program but all of them.. IF you want or don't want to have some program, IF you want the recommended (and I would say accepted) standards to fly a wingsuit be bumped up to a BSR, IF you feel an expansion of the Wingsuit section in the Sim will help, of IF you want nothing --> take a minute and use the link above.. Scott Callantine D-16437 USPA TM-I, S/L-I Done. I am not a wingsuiter, but I felt I could voice my opinion to my regional director as a member of the skydiving community. Wingsuits are typically none of my business, but because 1 wingsuiter can kill or harm anybody on the load with them, then I think that makes it my business. For example, take the fatality at Sebastian. What if Dan had fallen out of his harness and down through my canopy 500 or 1000 feet beneath his and killed me? Or another jumper? So, yes, I am concerned about whats going on here even though this is outside of my discipline of choice in skydiving. Has anybody put out in plain language or a table the good vs. the bad if this proposal was actually put through? Even if it were to make it just a smidge safer out there do you think its worth it? I'll use the Sebastian incident again as an example. Say a system was set up with a USPA WS-I if he met all USPA reccomendations, same as if somebody has passed level 3 AFF in their log book would get assigned to an instructor for AFF 4. I would picture it much like AFF-I or T-I where the student, Dan, would have to go to manifest and check in with his log book and they would pair him up with the rated WS-I. Now we can get into a whole other argument about padding the log book and getting around the standards that would be set and more enforced through this program, but thats a whole other thread. Theoretically, maybe this would have saved him from himself (I'm sure he was a great guy, but it's stupid to try and pull what he pulled IMO) and helped an instructor not aide people in their stupidity. Is this proposal going to make wingsuiting any LESS safe? Stay the same? Safer? Just my .02, and maybe some of this is over my head, but like I said I feel it affects me when I am on a load with a wingsuiter. If the USPA can help better regulate wingsuiting so incidences maybe have less chance of occurring where a 100 jump wonder falls out of his harness and possibly plow through my canopy underneath him, then my opinion is for the USPA to do what they can as long as it makes it safer for everybody. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

I've already stated my stance on that at a DZ, which was yes I have no problem refraining especially in front of tandem customers family/children. But I think he was just using that example to back his argument all together, not that he would totally not refrain. (and correct me if I'm wrong, MT) JR... say you're at a huge boogie party and there's tons of alcohol, naked chicks riding a mechanical bull, and adult language flying. Would you watch your language around the kids at the party? Or go out of your way to refrain if you were at a bar and somebody had their kids in there? I think the general point is there are just some places where you shouldn't have your kids, and then there are places where people are more than happy to have kids and respect them in their welcomed enviroment and refrain from non-kiddie talk. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

I can agree with this. However, if the kid hears me say "fuck" or tell a dirty joke then that really isn't my fault. It was the PARENTS CHOICE to bring them to an adult activity. The flaw in this logic is that childen can participate in these activities. In which part of skydiving is a child allowed to participate? Bingo, Millertime!!! You summed up exactly what I would have said to this myself and hit the nail on the head! Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

"Adult playground," does not specifically mean adult conversations and language only. It also means that I am jumping with equipment that my life depends on, and children should not be running around near it. It is equipment that adults play with at an adult playground. I guess I have a bug up my butt about this becuase I have personally witnessed kids get really curious about gear, and go up and start touching a rig on the packing mat or on a rack. Last thing you need is a kid pulling a handle somewhere, and the not worst case scenario is you end up paying for a new reserve pack vs. a much worst cast scenario where you can end up with a mal on the next jump; hurt or even dead. Children have no business running around that place, day or night IMO. If a significant other is there or a family is there to watch a tandem and they are supervising the kid, then I am OK with this and like I said earlier, I don't have to express myself with foul language around them, but I guess this more applies for the kids that are always running around the DZ unattended because a local using it as a baby sitting service while they jump. Oh, well.... sorry to get on a tangent, but the point of the reply was there is a lot more that goes into consideration as to what makes it an "adult playground." More so than just grown up conversations, and much more important like the gear that children shouldn't be around. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

I have a W-8 and wanted the container custom to fit my triathlon 135. It's not a perfect fit...more on the tight side. I def. wouldn't put a 150 in mine unless I wanted to cry on every pack job. Hope that helps! Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

You can't go wrong with the stuff Julio is doing with Liquid Sky. I'm pretty sure has an art degree and most times sits there and does the sewing and stuff himself-- you can trust his designs. I've never seen a bad looking suit from LS. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

This is your mistake right here and you said it earlier... with 7 jumps and 4 minutes of tunnel time you really haven't learned how to control your fall rate properly. 4 mins of tunnel time is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Trust me... take your time and find the sweet spot before going out and spending 3 bills on a suit that you'll regret buying because you'll realized you don't need a huge trash bag sized suit after you've learned to fly your body. Just my .02 ... take your time and let your instructor/coach give some input as to what kind of suit and how baggy you should invest in for the long haul. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

He's wearing an authentic suit straight from theh 1970's. He has it to play around in, and it came in handy on this jump because my freestyle speeds are not too fast in that suit! I think we averaged 130 for that jump. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

+1 here. Fly your body. It's a little too early in the game to decide what your actual fall rate is when you are not actually falling straight down the tube and flying correctly. You'll learn how to control your fall rate. Your body weight is not that bad sounding... I'm 120 lbs soaking wet and you and I could probably fly together once you learned your fall rate control. Plus, I would think that if you were that huge of an issue in terms of fall rate, you're instructor would have put you in a larger student suit to give you some drag. Get some tunnel time if you can, and if not, spend your solo jumps or coached jumps going through the trial and error phase of learning how much or how not much you need to arch and fly your body. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

ok... so here are a few pics from first flight or two. suit flies great and is super comfy!! LS rocks!!! Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

They use supplex (and other heavier fabrics if you need it or want it), but put spandex in the suit where you need to stretch and be comfortable. It's in the back/crotch, and underneath my arms. Seriously, I don't think I've ever had a suit so comfy. (and this is the fourth manufacturer I've worn over the years, none of which were ouragan, which I heard was super comfy too, but I can't compare since I've never tried a suit on from them.) whatever you decide to go with, or whatever company, I highly suggest you go for a suit with the spandex in it. I think thats why the spacesuit wasn't so comfy for me (well, besides the fact that it was made too small) because there is no spandex in it. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

What historic positions are you referring to? You mean the U.S sticking its nose in everybodies else's business and playing God all around the world? Yea, I'm really upset that he's missing the boat on that one then, and like you said it makes him more popular with the world's population, so I guess they're really upset about him missing the boat on this one too. If so many people support it and it makes him more popular, then it must be wrong, right? Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

Ugly mug??? PPbbbbbtttt I think you're being a little critical of yourself there! Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

Mornin'!! Bry... I didn't recognize you with a new avatar! getting ready to leave work now. My bed is looking awfully scrumptious after this fine ass whipping I've taken at work over night. (we were SUPER busy tonight. I guess general aviation traffic is picking up again!) Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)