skyflyingbecca

Ok, what am I missing here? The prodigy won't interfere with the freefly bungie, and what jacket & pc are you referring to? I smell an inside joke here, and I am quite upset I'm not in the loop!!! Or I might just be cranky cause my head is still throbbing.... /thread hijack Come to Sebastian you flockers!!!!!!!!!!! "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Yes, yes, I know most of you know this already, but I wanted to post a reminder. Even though the Caravan is a high wing plane, the tail is proportionately lower than some other high wing jump planes. I hit the back of my helmet on the tail of the caravan yesterday. The impact was relatively gentle compared to how bad it could've been. I exited the plane, waited what I thought was a long enough delay, then popped open my wings and looked up to watch Bjorn's exit. As I looked up, my head was smacked forward & down, chin to chest and my jaw and head still hurt. The helmet dispersed the impact over my whole head. My helmet is a hurricane, & even though it looks like a flimsy fiberglass helmet, it helped tremendously. The pilot felt the strike, or scrape, or whatever you want to call it, and did a thorough check when he landed. When I checked it out, it had a small scrape in the paint (forward to back) nothing structural, no dent. My helmet looked remarkably good too. The top rear of my protrack holder is smushed, but that's it. When I sought out the pilot to apologize for hitting his plane, (and potentially causing expensive damage) he mentioned it's happened quite a few times over the years. I did a couple searches and it looks like it hasn't been brought up in a while, so I figured I'd share my experience. Lessons learned/reminded: 1. Wait to pop open on certain a/c. 2. Wear a helmet. 3. If you have an AAD, remember to turn it on. "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Very good points! Thanks! I must admit, I think people should have proper relative work (in any discipline) skills before they start wingsuits. If you don't know how to safely fly relative in at least one discipline by the time you have 200 jumps, you shouldn't start flying a wingsuit! "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Can't find your email address, and it looks as if you haven't logged in under your username since the post, if you check in, any way you can update that? Thanks! "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Actually, most of the birds posting are in the on-season. Even sadder, eh? Excuse me while I slink away ashamed at being such an e-dork. Trust me I wish I could be at the dz today. sniffle sniffle Mark is most definitely being facetious! ROFLMFAO!! "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

So, I was all psyched for some midnight, ringing in the New Year flocking last week, and there was some confusion from manifest about how many and what time these night loads were going up. The day went on, and all was supposed to be made clearer later in the day. End of daylight comes and goes, and night jump briefing commences. We get some bad news, and it starts a series of events that just sucks: 1. The pilots are all tired and exhausted from flying high(er) altitude loads all day, and only one pilot is willing to fly night loads. Ok, no biggie, and...? 2. He is too tired to make it to midnight, so the loads are consolidated into two back-to-backs immediately after the briefing(7-ish). No one is allowed to go on both unless they have two rigs. Well, poop. So much for ringing in the New Year, being in the air at or close to midnight. Not many are upset, they are happy to get started drinking earlier anyway. Then the little flock I thought we were going to have started breaking up into smaller-ways. My thinking: If on seperate loads, ok, thats safer, but on the same load.... I dunno, what do you guys think? Is it safer to have 4 birds exit at once and coordinate openings, or two groups of two and who knows where the hell the other group is in the sky?!? I thought better of we were all together, but oh well, I am less experienced..... I haven't done the night bird thing before, they must know something I don't, plus you can't force someone to flock if they don't want to! So, oh well, I'm thinking, this sucks, not at midnight, not as many of us, only one night jump, poop, not nearly as much fun as I had thought. And I drove 4 hours just for mostly this night thingy! To be perfectly fair, there were some additional factors to my trip, seeing old friends and flying with good flockers,etc. But a big motivating factor was how cool these midnight jumps sounded! Then I had to listen to this one chick saying over and over how crazy we were doing night wingsuit jumps. "Just insane, it is, why is anyone letting them do that?!?" She just kept at it. I finally had to walk away. I got my rig set up somewhere else. So then we are all geared up, birdies decked out with chemlights, I started getting excited again. Approaching the loading area, I saw a birdie arguing (quite loudly) with the night jump organizer. It sounded like birdie had been grounded. Well, I figured maybe the O suspected birdie of drinking, cause he had stated it was his perogative to kick off anyone he suspected of drinking. Our birdie organizer told angry birdie to calm down, and so he walked away. I thought, jeez that sucks to get all dressed up and spend all that time briefing and strobe/chemlight setting up and not get to go. I wondered if he had been drinking. While loading the plane, I asked what happened and someone said "they consolidated the back-to-back loads, now they're only flying one load, but they had too many people and had to kick off 3!" Those 3 happened to be birds! WTF!! I thought, this dz is going downhill. Since when can a huge dz with 3 planes not keep a pilot in reserve, maybe start flying at noon or later, for an event that is surely a big draw for many people to have come? Why are these high(er) altitude loads getting preference over new years night jumps? After all, it is only New Years once a year. This just bites booty. Well, I felt bad for those guys, really bad. You don't just kick people off loads. I didn't blame the pilot though, the dude was tired. I know how pilots always get the short end of the deal. At least this pilot said he'd stay, not like the others..... (Please know I'm not dissing the other pilots) So there I am in the cockpit, sitting on, covering and smushing my chemlights so as to not blind the pilot when I hear him say maybe no one is going up. Hmm? My ears perk up. None of us? The runway lights won't come on, he says Is it the airport or the button on the plane? I ask The airport's been having this problem apparently. I stare at the birdie load O in gape-mouthed amazement. I can't believe it. WTF is happening here? C'est la vie. So now you guys know why I was a little cranky about this thread. Sorry again. But doesn't that just suck? Oh and BTW, the manifest chicka charged me twice for strobe light rental. Supposed to be an extra $5 per night, not $5 per load,(I was initially on two loads) and during the refund process I thankfully noticed I only got $5 back and not the $10 I had been charged earlier. I momentarily wasn't believed, thank god I have some references there to my honesty. "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

WOW!!! WTF does this have to do with wingsuits? It started out a wingsuit question, but it is really an 'improper behavior' question. This is the same behavior exhibited by freefly gods, RW gods, swooping gods, crew dog gods, what-ever. C'mon people!! There are self proclaimed skygods in every single discipline and the words above can be used to reference any of them! The title of this thread was thought provoking. When would you ground a wingsuiter? Sadly, the rest of it was a waste of the last 30 minutes. BEGIN RANT: I have read a bunch of political bs that is petty. While sad and unfortunate, it is a part of our sport that will ALWAYS be around due to the personality types our sport attracts. There have been a lot of great points made, I am not picking on the previous replies, but they are all excellent points that have been made before. This 'BMi" somehow "grounded" a bird for instability, or more likely convinced the guy he was grounded when he wasn't because obviously as stated above a BMI has no authority to ground a jumper. This is something that every skydiver should know. Those who reference their SIM and don't just believe every word they're told by someone with more experience just because they act like they know what they're talking about. You are responsible to learn on your own, do you believe everything someone with more experience says? I know sometimes people can bully or bluff, but you have to listen to them and talk to others and draw your own conclusions. Don't take a skygods word as law, especially if it's ruining your boogie and/or your fellow flocker's weekend. By the time we are ready to start jumping wingsuits, we're not meek little students anymore, we are independant and can and have to think on our own, to stay in the game at the very least. /END RANT This was not intented as a rant to any specific person, just in general, and I apologize for my mood. I will post the bs that I'm actually pissed about in the next post, where a wingsuiter did get grounded, by someone in authority, for something stupid. That incident is why I'm in a mood, and there is no room here for my mood, so I apologize. "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Someone please enlighten me, (I'm being serious, I think I don't get it) I'm probably wrong here, because I just don't understand what a flatty relative world has to do with making a good wingsuiter? I have the same amount of jumps doing RW as freeflying, so I'm not partial to either discipline. Both fly relative to each other, actually all disciplines fly relative to each other. Actually it seems like 'flat' RW has nothing to do with wingsuit flying. In my region anyway, freeflyers are by far the majority of the people who track, and that's the only thing remotely similiar to wingsuit flying, IMHO. Someone help out this ditz(me) who doesn't get the flatty relative world competence relating to wingsuit skill....? Thanks "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

1 OmarPR 2 "Scary" Perry 3 Matt "The 111" Hoover 4 Jeff "My Eyes!" 5 "Cancer" Chris Ware 6 Scott Bland 7 Nathaniel 8 Zach "Buried" 9 Ivan "Rock On" 10 Danny "Tommy Boy" (droquette) 11 Jose "Turtle" 12 Medusa 13 Macca (Zeemax) - (possibly) 14 Bryan Rapoza (avenfoto) 15 Mark (normiss) 16 Annie! 17 Olivia! 18 Rosalyn! 19 Joni 20 Skyflyingbecca Sa-weet! I will be getting there early weds afternoon as well, let's arrange some carpoolin' shnizzle. Also lookin' for a roomie/couch, anyone have spare room? I'm leaving monday, anyone else? "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Wow, you're so sweet. Thanks for the advice. It's always nice to meet new people and chat about stuff, especially when you're new and learning. Common sense tells you "yeah this or that product would be good or bad, but maybe there's something I'm missing. Maybe I'll ask some of those nice experienced jumpers I've met in that forum, where there is such a vast wealth of knowledge to tap into." I can search old threads all day but technology also changes every day, so sometimes a little extra patience with the "same old question" is nice. If my question bothers you, simply ignore it. There is no button on my screen that tells me to rag on someone who I think is an idiot. Think what you want about me, I could care less. But keep your fucking opinions in your ugly mouth where the other people who like to help us newbies out don't have to read your shit. If you can't abide by the rules of the forum and you go and get yourself banned, I can see how that's my fault and you should come back and bitch me out once your time out is over. And you want me to break my ankles as soon as possible? How mature. Oh and by the way, the part about the gross bacteria was in jest. Who's the idiot again? Oh right, that's me. "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Damn you guys are fast. Have I told you all how much I love you lately? Hmm...... Well here in hot, humid South FL boots are hot and get your feet sweaty and become a breeding ground for stinky bacteria. Gross. I spend so much time in boots for work, I detest them. But if you guys think it's worth it.... Any good boot recommendations? Here's a pic of the boot equivalent, whatcha think? "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Good or Bad? I'm mostly concerned about the bungee holder, but it seems so much more slimline than others. Do you think it would still catch? What about taking off the clear plastic tube and tucking the bungee holder back under the laced section? Should be fine I would think....... "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

DAMN, as a new BASE jumper, just starting out, this was a great read. I really hope it stays 'sticky-ed' for a while. These are great messages to be reminded for those of us who might've heard the words before, but maybe not understood the message. Every so often, after say, a year of so filled with experiences, the same words can carry an entirely different message, and you can continue to draw from the same words, if you are open to it. Thanks for the (modified) contribution Aven, and thanks for the sticky Tom.

Sweet, me too! The 17th will see my arrival as well! 1. gadget (NL) 2. Jari (FI) 3. Jussi (FI) 4. B.J. Alexander (USA) 5. Scary Perry (USA) 6. MCordia (NL) 7. Medusa (COL) 8. Costyn (NL) 9. Joni (USA) 10. Yuri (USA-Russia) 11. Vincenzo (ITA) 12. Tristan (NL/ITA) 13. FeetFlyer (S) 14. Valery Rosov (RUS) 15. Matt Wells (USA) 16. 15 confirmed Russians (names coming soon) 31. Herwig Habenbacher (Austria) 32. Allan Fox (USA) 33. Fish (Switzerland) 34. Kalapala(India) 35. lego (Estonia) 36. Skyflyingbecca (USA) "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Woooooo! You make me blush! Well, almost. You're such a tease I dunno.... Rky, can you handle a reverse rodeo? I think we might be a bit too crowded with cameraflyers to truly enjoy ourselves. "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Or just before...... Uhh, yeah!!! I was just wondering about that today. I am going to do a 'side' trip (quite a big one) to go to Norway while I'm in Europe for the Stupino gathering and I'd love to see the top of an object or two in Russia and/or Northern Europe as well. "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Ooooh, this sounds so exciting! I can't wait! "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Nah, you should have a rig for each wingsuit

That's blasphemous! Its like wingsuit polygamy. When did you move to Utah? Or do they have Mormons in the UK? I'm an ignorant American, I don't know these things. "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

From the 'Thanks Z-Flock' thread: Normiss asked Rky: "So which suit did you order?" and she said: "Prodigy since it offers flexibility for me to do other disciplines without having to attach/detach the suit and my freefly bungie." MarkM asked:"There are other disciplines?? pbla4024 said: "What do you mean by 'detach the suit'? That idea is completely and utterly immoral." HOW DO YOU FEEL? I think: The idea is heresy. An abomination. Cruel. Don't you know how sad the rig gets when it doesn't have its suit? Think about it, the rig just loves us, it saves our lives all the time. Then it sees us happier than ever while we have it and our wingsuit on. They enjoy being mated and being close to us as we experience the best moments of our lives. Then to separate them? And jump the rig all alone? WTF? I hope the rig would still work. Being so sad, missing its partner and everything, the rig might just decide to go in, and take you with it. I wouldn't risk it! Yeah I know I'm sick. Edit: Oh and BTW, my avatar pic was taken BEFORE I got my wingsuit "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

OMG man! That was so sweet! What a beautiful Christas present that was indeed! Thanks so much! "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

I was wondering how long it would take someone to comment on that Jeez it wasn't long! I really guessed it would be someone not so wise in the ways of our intricately ridiculous language, but alas, I see you are just being a smartass I was really hoping for granite, I figured I might as well go all out "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Congrats!! Fucker! I'm sticking to the AS part of my BASE for a while. Besides, as my sig line goes, life is all about ass.... or as, whatever. My gear is gonna be built starting in January, so it looks like I got a leg up on you as far as that goes anyway! I'm hitting the big wall this summer on the way to the Russian wingsuit boogie, wanna come with? No takers so far from my local birdies, bunch of pussies Wait, don't pussies eat birdies? Whatever.... Hey, and post those f'in vids pleeeeeeze! "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.

Dammit, so you're that guy! Kathy said I was the 2nd person they let put an order in, and I couldn't fathom who the first was... I thought I was quick! You must have some sweet connections! Me and my baby are pretty tight too. It lays around on the couch all day and gives me something to come home to and make me smile.

D'oh! Sweet, that is perfect! Thanks so much! tehe.... "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A.