The111

What you talking about? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Spelling police here people! It really doesn't bother me if someone has imperfect command of the written word, but I did find it particularly ironic that in a post where you claim people who make simple mistakes look like "fools", you make a simple mistake. If you're going to make claims like that, you'd better not make mistakes in the same post, or you're labeling yourself a fool. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

357 is possible, so I've heard... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I think they're all 3 days... give the DZ a call... skydivespacecenter.com unless I'm making that up. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Yup, that's exactly what happened. I jumped, and even on the plane ride up I could just feel any minor congestion clearing and I could breathe perfect for the rest of the day. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

There is an interests section. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I've read the posts about the hazards associated with jumping with a head cold or clogged sinuses (exploding sinuses in freefall). I'm 95% over a head cold, I feel fine I'm just in that phase where my nose is still a little sniffly and I'm blowing it a lot (but it's not clogged and I can breath fine), almost the same as when my allergies are bothering me, and I know I've jumped like that before. I should be ok to jump, right? Not looking for any guarantees or promises, I won't take your word for the gospel or blame you if I die, just curious what anyone's thoughts are. I'm probably going to jump anyway unless someone says NO WAY DON'T DO IT! www.WingsuitPhotos.com

You should use your other arm (for wiping, not deploying). www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Nope, unless there's been a new Porter in the past 2 weeks. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Maybe because the last time I flew both was a light Van load followed by a heavy Porter load... even my whuffo friends on the ground that were watching me jump said the Porter load took way longer. But there could have been other differences between the loads, besides the fact that the Van was light. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I'm guessing 10 sec for first 1k feet and terminal? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

A good point... while it's true there's no absolute and "flare height" is a specific thing for each person and canopy, a ballpark figure is of large value, and there is a huge difference between 3 ft and 10 ft. I'm kind of curious where the hell you heard to flare at 3 feet?! www.WingsuitPhotos.com

No, the story about getting off the hook because of a nice cop, that sounded possible, and I read that story before (from you maybe). The part that sounded "too good to be true" was this: I asked [the security officer] specifically about BASE jumping and if I was caught trespassing, reckless endangerment, etc. This isn't an exact quote, but this is the gist of what he said... "We're looking for evidence of something that a foreign nation could hold against you or bribe you with. If you're a drug addict, frequent prostitutes, an alcoholic, all of these things could compromise national security. We have given security clearances to convicted murderers, after we deemed them not to be a risk. If you are brought up on charges, and you inform your local security officer, the report will be reviewed. But I can tell you that if you're arrested for trespassing after jumping off of a building, you are not going to get your security clearance removed" Good advice and I'll probably take it. Though I am still curious what answer they'd give me. Thanks for the PM, I'll probably give you a phone call some time since you offered. :) www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Heh, that sounds awesome. I bet I'll be scared standing there on a still ledge so high... different feeling than climbing out of an Otter to meet such strong winds. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I think the Van is faster than the Porter, but I could be wrong. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Are you asking me to not live up to my name? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

On my 5th AFF jump, after 4 perfect radio assisted landings, they decided to let me land on my own. I also decided, for some incredibly stupid reason, to look straight down below my feet on final approach. At about 40 ft, I flared hard and fast and held it. The canopy floated gently down to probably 20 ft or so where it started picking up speed as the stall worsened, I was still ignorant to how high I was, I was actually sticking my feet out expecting to feel the ground. I hit HARD and did an "unintentional" (since I was unaware what was going on by this point) back PLF, basically hit feet, then butt, then rolled over on my back, straight over my own head, pinning my face into my chest (miraculously not hurting my neck), catapulted to standing up, and I was just standing there thinking, WTF just happened? Totally unscathed, save some weird lump in my throat where my own collarbone dug in when I did the back roll. That lump stayed for months, but I got off INCREDIBLY easy by not breaking an ankle or anything worse. Moral of the story: listen to mfrese and DON'T LOOK STRAIGHT DOWN! Look forward at 45 degrees. :) I actually became so paranoid of this happening again, for my next 20 or so jumps, I would keep my neck perfectly straight, so that only by moving my eyes down in their sockets as far as I could, could I see 45 degrees below horizontal. I basically made it impossible to look any further past 45. Though me coming in all stiff necked often scared the shit out of the other jumpers as they thought I was locking up. Only after many successful landings did I relax enough to actually bend my neck and allow my head and eyes to both aim at 45 below the horizontal. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Thanks, the reply by "squirrel" in that thread sounded too good to be true. I guess the smartest thing for me to do would be to get in touch with the security people at my job and straight up ask them, as he did. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Hmm, I'm considering getting on these heli jumps for my first (I mean, "pre-2nd") time too. I've never even done a jump without a helmet. Kinda wanted to but figured the small risk wasn't worth it and my hair is kinda crazy and would probably be in my face under canopy. Maybe I'll do it for the heli though. I'm curious how much most helis slow down... I've heard not all slow down all the way so it's not as true still air exit... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Details?! Did you post about this anywhere? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I want to be on that jump! Maybe it will even be my 200th! :) Remember me? Just so everyone else knows... Macca is the only person I've ever HEARD in freefall, in a fast sitfly 50 feet apart moreover. NO SHIT. He is loud. And he is the only person I've ever seen wear a Javelin into Walmart. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Thanks Tom. That kinda what I thought. Hard to stay current when you can only practice your sport outside of your home country. Unless you're super wealthy, which I do aspire to be one day... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I'm thinking about getting into BASE in the next year or two, at the soonest. Currently I work for a major defense contractor and have government issued security clearance. I'm wondering if any other BASE jumpers are in a similar situation. I'm very worried that an arrest (even for something as trivial as trespassing) could cost me my clearance and/or job. I don't plan on having this job forever, but I would like to keep that door open and it's possible one arrest on my record could close that door forever. I remember reading a story by someone in a similar situation, who got caught by the police, explained his situation rationally, and the cop let him off. Cool story, but I wouldn't count on that happening in my journey. Two questions I guess. Assuming you're super careful and make all the right choices in sites and jump times, can you avoid this risk altogether? Already this is looking like a stupid question, obviously no risk is unavoidable. Maybe what I'm asking is, how common is it for experienced (500-1000 jump) BASErs to have succeeded in evading "the man" throughout every jump in their career? Probably the thing I'm most curious about: has anyone WITH similar government clearance as me, BEEN caught, arrested, and DID it cost them their job? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I think Protracs don't clock the first several seconds of freefall (7-15 or something)... it's in the manual. I figured this out when I noticed that my average speed, distance traveled, and time spent in freefall didn't compute for my jumps. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

are you kidding? i LOVE MASSIVE ATTACK!!! they oh-so-very-rock! teardrop is one of my favorite songs -- Massive Attack is VERY very Sexy! all of their music is stimulating and Beautiful! yaaaaaaaaay! i am happy you like them too! i am listening to Elliot Smith ~ XO ~ Waltz #1 Massive Attack AND Elliott Smith, very good choices. If you like Massive Attack, I'm sure you'd like Tricky as well, he does half the vocals on most Massive Attack albums anyway, but you probably knew that already. Portishead is also in the same vein. If you like Smith, you should also check out Jeff Buckley. www.WingsuitPhotos.com