ManBird

A-ight. I took Friday off and will be at SDO. If anyone isn't working, you should head out. It'd be nice to hop and pop the 182 all day. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Assuming your build is average (in terms of the length of your limbs) and at your body weight, 70 seems high for even going fast forwards in a Classic. Best glide on a Classic tends to be 1.4:1. Exceptionally tall and skinny guys get like 1.6:1. If your forward speed is up to 70 or 80, then your fall rate should be 50 - 60. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I didn't shoot the video. BASE rig. I'm just the messenger. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

You can't achieve your fastest (potential) forward speed and slowest (potential) fall rate at the same time. When it comes to distance, you look for a compromise to achieve the highest glide ratio. You also have to take wind into consideration, but one thing at a time. Generally (aka, with an average build), achieving your fastest forward speed (and therefore overall velocity) will involve falling faster by about 20% of your slowest sustained fall rate. Your slowest sustained fall rate will usually peel off about 20% of your fastest forward speed. Your best glide ratio will usually warrant a fall rate that is about 10% faster than your slowest fall rate, and a forward speed that is 10% slower than your fastest. This is all relative, and only translates to to true glide ratio in no wind. If you have a head wind, you will get a better glide ratio as you increase your forward beyond that of your best no-wind glide ratio (which results in a faster fall rate). If you have a forward speed of 85MPH and a fall rate of 44MPH in your "best glide" body position, but are flying into a 50MPH headwind, your actual glide ratio will only be 0.8:1, not 1.93:1. If you increase your forward speed to 102MPH, which may result in a 53MPH fall rate, your glide goes from 0.8:1 to 0.98:1, even though it would be a slightly lower glide ratio in no wind. This means you'll cover an extra 2 inches for each foot you drop... over 800' of extra distance over 5,000' of freefall (though it does shave off some freefall time). When you open 800 feet ahead of your buddy at the same altitude, you'll really notice the difference. The opposite is true for a tailwind. So your best glide is still 1.93:1, going 85MPH forwards and 44MPH down. If you have a 50MPH tailwind, this results in a 3.07:1 glide ratio. Now if you can "float" down to 40 MPH, which may reduce your forward speed to 78 MPH, you now have a 3.2:1 glide ratio, even though you've reduced your no-wind glide. You actually gain 1.56" in distance per foot dropped (plus you get a longer freefall), resulting in an extra 650' traveled. Wind only affects your forward speed, not your fall rate. It can drastically alter your glide ratio, and should not be ignored when going for distance. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

http://www.bird-man.com/images/attachments/gray_from_paraglider.wmv The jumper is Gray Fowler. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Oops! It was late and I was tired. I proofread that literally a dozen times, I swear. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

That E at 1:40 in the Base-exp vid is absolutely beautiful. I've seen it in a few vids, and dying to just stand there and see the world from that point (and then huck one). "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Good question. An airborne Corvette is not a fixed object. Well... the Corvette went off a fixed object. Kind of like ditching skis on a BASE jump. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsuit_flying Don't know who added it originally, but I've removed the stub status and added a modified vesion of the "Invasion of the Skyflyers" article (more of just an encyclopedia format now). "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

It was a Corvette, not a Ferrari, and that movie sucked. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

The best line I've heard (read) in awhile. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

For those that still haven't seen the pic... "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Use Movie Maker 2 (I actually stopped using Premiere in lieu of this app!). http://www.microsoft.com/moviemaker/. FAR better than the first release. Right click on "audio" and select "Mute". Done. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

The slider is still behind my head. It's just that it's only held down on the front grommets. The rear grommets are sort of pinned down between the risers and and under the front grommets. Probably not a good idea to have locks on the rear risers. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

You're right. My mistake. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I do have locks on the front risers. I don't think having some slider under the helmet would stick in a cutaway situation, as it slips out easily enough on its own (leaning my head far forwards causes it to slide out). I generally just do it to avoid flappage when it gets partially inflated after stowing, but that sounds like a reasonable philosphy: "Your main parachute should be attached to you by means of the three rings only." "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I was just saying that using ballistics to deploy a canopy isn't a spoof concept, in reply to someone asking, "you're joking, right?". Not that anyone should use this system without proper training and purpose. I wouldn't. Anywho, these jumps are rad. Good stuff. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Definitely there on Sunday. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Not to mention that if you have to chop for any reason, you're holding onto your main. There aren't many reasons to chop after you've stowed your slider, but there are a couple that are enough to make me not want to use a system like this. I collapse the slider and tuck half of it into the back of my helmet. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Nice! That isn't TOO expensive. Could probably find a deal on eBay at some point. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Well, it'd be like one or two frames every other minute. It happened on all three of my PCs, all of which have at least 512 MB of memory, over 2GHz processor, and fast drives with big buffers. I have a dual 1.25GHz G4 at work, and have the same problem there. I've had this problem with the PC10, PC9, PC105, and PC330 (a co-worker just got this one, and also has a PC101). My co-worker on another Mac with the PC330 edits in Premiere. He now rips using iMovie because of frame-dropping in Premiere. We always connect through firewire. I would just go back and re-rip the part that had a skip in it. The bigger issue was writing back to the camera, which would have weird speed inconsistencies (either frame skipping or playing back one or two seconds too fast). That problem aside, the way that MM2 handles large files is way better. Rather than creating a big wad of a temp file, it makes a ton of smaller TMP files and puts the one you are using into memory. It makes traversing hours of DV as fast as working on a text file. It's rad. R.A.D.! OK, let's not get too off topic. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I use Microsoft Movie Maker 2. It's free and you can get it at http://www.microsoft.com/moviemaker/. If you have Windows XP, it already has Movie Maker on it, but the first version sucks compared to the newer one. I've been using Premiere since its inception and all the way through version 7 (which I still use occassionaly). A couple months ago, I didn't have Premiere on a machine and I wanted to do a quick video edit. I used Movie Maker 2, which was already on the machine, and I found that actually like this program better! MM2 does everything Premiere does, only way faster and through a simpler interface. It handles very large files better, as well... ripping two full MiniDV tapes and editing from there took FOREVER in Premiere. There are more export options (except QT, but I don't really like QT). What's nice is that you can target a file size... like tell it that you want the best possible file to fit into 4 MB. Reading and writing video to camera has literally no frame skipping. I keep a few gigs free on my laptop's HD so I can rip video from people, do some quick editing over a beer or two, put it back on MiniDV (without quality loss), and then just camera-to-camera anyone who wants a copy before we all head home. Premiere can do this, too, but it dropped frames on almost anything over 60 seconds long. I recommend MM2 for any Windows user at the consumer or prosumer level of video production. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

There was about a 15 knot tailwind. Everyone had to fly into the wind from where the group opened in order to setup. Safe altitude took priority over accuracy... which is why the last swoop was sort of a bailout. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Amen "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I'll be in your hood on Sunday, so we should indeed do some flying. You have your GTi, right, Dan? "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click