The111

I'm curious why you'd rather pay to jump a rig you don't know very well instead of your own rig with no AAD. But that would probably start a whole other discussion... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Pretty cool Dave, I haven't checked out a Fark PS contest in a long time. I looked through the photo gallery on the BM site and can't seem to find the original pic. Was curious to see if it's somebody we know. I have a weird hunch the suit colors were altered, and I'm also wondering why that Skyflyer appears to have huge "handloops" like one of Loic's suits. Or maybe that's just the alti. They obviously did some PS work on the suit itself to make it look like Wile E's... they added the black stick thingys... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

As in Tom's example above, I have never jumped the Phantom so can't comment. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I'm with Tom, if you want to go used GTi is great. If you have the funds to go new though, the Firebird is a step up, and as suitable for newbies. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Will be good to see you again Yuri, try not to hit any cliffs this time (should be easy in Sebastian ). Come on flockers! 1. Scary Perry 2. Matt Hoover 3. Yuri www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Aggh, I still haven't got mine yet! Is it the 4-way diamond with Campos and Harry Parker? An old pic from Flock n Dock 1.0 made it into Feb. Parachutist though (2005 "summary" feature), you're in it! www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Geez Kris, you could make a demo fleet out of that, and start a wingsuit school for tall thin students only, of course. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Yep. I know a couple of people who've had the same kind of experiences to a lesser degree. Several jumpers have hit hard and ended up with high speed enemas. Geez, I wonder how close I was to serious injury. Back in high school me and my friends used to jump feet first off of a 35 ft bridge. It was fairly painless if you hit right. Everybody wanted to do the larger 75 ft bridge but nobody had the balls. I promised my friend if he went first and yelled back up that he was ok, I'd follow. I hit perfectly feet first, but two things hurt bad for about 5 minutes - the soles of my feet (I never pointed my toes) and I also got the "enema" pain you refer to. Another friend followed me, and while I was still reeling in pain from the experience, he entered the water, and broke the surface 10 seconds later screaming "THE WATER RAPED ME!" I was a geek (heh, "was") and had just taken my first physics class so I calculated that we were going roughly 33mph off the small bridge, and 45mph off the large bridge, on impact. The impact felt significantly harder at only 12mph greater (kinetic energy and all). I can imagine 80mph would be near deadly. For clarification Tom, how did you get scars? From the surgery for your spine? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Hmm, that's cool, I didn't even know that calendar existed. How do you get there from the site? I clicked on "calendar" but still can't find a way to get there. I can't believe it if that 4-way diamond pic didn't make it into either mag... that was a really nice one. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Oh come on, you know I meant did any pics of ME make it. Congrats though, the pic is good obviously. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Hmm, I hope my copy is waiting for me in my mailbox... haven't seen it yet.

I was listening to Coheed & Cambria in 2002, does that make me cool enough? I actually haven't listened to them since then, either, nor had I any idea they'd "blown up" since I don't really pay attention to the mainstream. I did find out that Fallout Boy blew up though, and that was one of the biggest shocks I've ever experienced (short of maybe Jimmy Eat World entering the mainstream, whose sophomore effort Clarity is still way better than anything they've released since being "discovered")... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Well, there weren't a lot of flockers and the weather was less than ideal (especially for first flights), but we still got a couple small flocks done (a 2-way is a flock, right?), a rodeo ( for me), and possibly the best first flight student ever, Trond from Norway. Over 110 seconds on his first jump (from 16,000 feet, admittedly). Trond, if you see this send me an email.

Hey, if you look at sooner dates (March, for example), it is only $760 vs $1200+. I would guess they make the prices for "distant future" tickets more expensive as a sort of insurance against potential fuel price increases. So if you are planning on buying those tickets, don't do it yet! I'll bet they're a lot cheaper in April or May. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Man, I really want to go to this but $1200+ for airfare from USA is a lot. Somebody this weekend told me it was possible to do it for $400. Anybody know the scoop? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I'll be there with BirdMan wingsuits for demo and instruction. Somebody less lazy than the rest of us needs to start a list... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I prefer the idea of LASERS. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Yes Matt, relax. Hopefully it was obvious that was a joke... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Hey! How many swims do you have? Are you an instructor? Leave the teaching to those qualified to do it! Seriously Kris, you will have fun and I'm actually a bit jealous. Let me explain. All jumpers know you can never get your first skydive back. Your virginity so to speak. Well, for someone like me who has been swimming forever, as much as I love being in the water, I can't remember what it was like to learn to swim. It's like trying to remember learning to talk. So to be able to learn something so cool at this point in your adult life is pretty damn unique (from my perspective), hence the "I'm a bit jealous" comment. You will love it... in the water (more specifically under) is the only place outside of skydiving that we can have total 3D control, and it's a lot like flying, just much slower. It's one reason I like freediving so much. When I was a kid I had dreams where I could breathe underwater as often as I had dreams of flying. Let us know what you think of the experience.

About 4 beers, usually. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I'm listening to A Silver Mt Zion right now... I doubt anybody here has heard of it but it's very unique, check it out if you get a chance. It's not for everyone though, for sure. Their best album is Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Why don't you have your wife do a tandem, and we can all buzz her, unplanned? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I'm not gonna call somebody stupid because something they deem convenient "looks" stupid to me. Now what I honestly don't understand is the people who walk around using their phone like a walkie talkie, on speakerphone. They walk around the parking lot or a store like this, with the volume turned up all the way so you can hear the other end of the conversation as loud as their end. How is this more convenient than holding the phone up to your ear? And it is undeniably rude - this is different than "that looks stupid"... this is forcing other people to listen to a loud speaker full of static which beeps every 5 seconds. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

How did you hear your neighbors pounding on your door? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

No audio here either. The video looks familiar though, so I've downloaded it sometime in the past, which means it is probably saved somewhere on my HDD at home... www.WingsuitPhotos.com