The111

Why should I care what days gov't doesn't work? The gov't isn't the only one who doesn't work the federal holidays. Does you or anybody in your family get Christmas off from work? What if you no longer did, but got one of the Islam holidays off instead? Then should you care? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Not really. It also doesn't take all that crazy excel stuff. Solve for x: (2*35 + x) / 35 = (2.5*45 + x) / 45 www.WingsuitPhotos.com

This won't help you now, but save your boxes for things that are that expensive. I still have the retail box for every electronic item in my house that cost more than $100. They come in handy when moving too. I have never formatted the HDD in my PS3, but I'm sure it's doable, and Sony is all about allowing you to remove and replace your own HDD so I doubt it would hurt your warranty, but you might want to check the docs to be sure. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Err, what? +1. Why would the suit with the lesser GR win in no wind? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Let me get this straight. The people out there who "own brains and know how to use them" are the same people who will petulantly go against the well-meaning advice of those much more experienced than them, and end up hurting themselves and others in the process (i.e. do something stupid)? You're right, that is a hard concept to grasp. It's hard to understand why you'd call a person smart, who would do something so stupid. If they truly were "eager to learn," maybe they'd approach a dangerous sport more carefully (i.e. take the advice of veterans) and not end up hurting themselves and others. And for the second time in this thread, you are now placing the blame for that potential outcome on the heads of those who withheld the knowledge from the eager little overachievers. You've now said twice, in slightly more subtle words that it is "our fault" if a 50-jump wonder gets hurt because he lacked information we refused to pass on to him. And that is absolute rubbish. The one piece of information he needs to know is that he's not ready. If he disregards that info and proceeds, then he is acting like a child, not like somebody who "owns a brain and knows how to use it." If he was my child, I would ground him. If he is just an adult acting like a child, then he is free to go hurt himself and anybody else foolish enough to let him act out his antics in their proximity or at their DZ. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I see what you did there. And it's not very clever, at all. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Please look at the sticky at the top of the forum.

Probably just doing a sort of carve/dive in front (in his wingsuit) What I like to call "the sacrifice." You start off above and ahead looking backward at 45 degrees or so (James I know you do shots like this a lot). You can move further forward and further downward, but eventually you reach a limit to how steep you can fly and maintain fallrate/stability. So you go into a vertical dive, and take a couple shots as you pass directly in front, sacrificing your altitude for a unique shot. The same move Omar and I used to do in his "gravitrons." It's funny, when I saw Craig's shot I knew that had to be what he was doing. There are two other options, either backflying or flying the "pre-sacrifice" position as close as possible to the edge, but the problem in either case is that you will get the frontside of your legwing in frame. The fact that Craig got the entire picture and vertical field of view (from Luigi's toes to the topskin of his canopy) made it clear he had to be in a vertical orientation to get his legwing out of the way. Also, head-down in a wingsuit? The afore-mentioned gravitron. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Have you seen more snow than that in Houston? Please post pictures if so.

Two more: snow_in_houston_08.jpg snow_in_houston_09.jpg www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Nope, I called it Snow in Houston. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

My first winter in Texas. My front and back yard right now... Most of these are 30 second exposures. It's pitch black outside. snow_in_houston_01.jpg snow_in_houston_02.jpg snow_in_houston_03.jpg snow_in_houston_04.jpg snow_in_houston_05.jpg snow_in_houston_06.jpg snow_in_houston_07.jpg www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I've never done that, but I've done something that is essentially the same when I built my helmet. I had to install the "crown" of the CCM in such a way to create the desired top plate angle in the end. But the process I used wouldn't work unless your helmet is rear entry and has a chin. What I would do in your case is make a cardboard prototype of an "adaptor" component which is curved on one side (to interface to the helmet) and flat on the other, to hold your camera/box. Use tape and do a lot of test placements before you finally drill your actual helmet. Here's something that will make you think. Forget about the helmet altogether. Stand up and focus straight ahead. Focus on the point on the wall which is directly level with your eyes, and center your eyes in your head so that your head (and not just your eyes) is angled properly. Not very easy, is it? There are a couple different variables stacking up here, none of which you can measure in any concrete way, it's all based on feel. How do you know you're focusing on the right point on the wall? How do you know your eyes are centered in your head? I've found it's easiest in front of a mirror, and you basically try to look yourself in the eye centered. Then do that with your cardboard box mounted and a level on top of your head to see if the top plate is angled correctly. You'd have to get a friend to look at the level since it would be running forward and back. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I'll vouch for Bowen, everything he says is true.

Are you implying that this actually would make a difference? I am not promoting the disregard of FAA regs and never have myself. But I would put exactly the same amount of confidence in a reserve that was a few days overdue than one that was not. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Nope, not even that. It says that every 100k jump one of us did die. (or whatever the # may be) We're not coins or cards. When sport parachuting first came into existence, most fatalities, as I understand it, were a result of gear failure. For someone back then to take those statistics and apply them to the future would have been silly, and we know that today, because today most fatalities are not a result of gear failure. What happened yesterday will only repeat tomorrow if the gear doesn't change, the education doesn't change, and our general approach to safety doesn't change. Check the fatality stats, they vary quite a bit every year. Now flip a coin 100,000 times a year, and your stats will be nearly identical year to year, because the coin never changes and the coin never knows what it's doing. Whether you are looking at one skydiver or 10,000, using statistics to determine future probabilities is futile. Using statistics to minimize future incidents, on the other hand, is exactly what we need to do. Notice a lot of people dying from canopy collisions? You have two possible interpretations. (1) "Gee, the probability of dying from a canopy collision went up this year! I guess I'm statistically more at risk now!" (2) "Man, people have not been paying attention to their surroundings lately. I am going to pay MORE attention while under canopy, to minimize my own risk, and also spread the word to others to pay more attention also." The "risk" hasn't really changed at all, but there have been a lot of bad incidents lately all because of human error. I don't think I'm more at risk now than I was earlier, and I don't think my "probabilities" have changed, even though the statistics may have. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

TSA stole my CO2 (I tried to carry it on) years ago so now I just have the PFD with no CO2. I can blow it up by the manual inflate tube if I have to. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

You can use probability to determine your odds of surviving Russian Roulette. You can't use probability to determine your odds of surviving skydiving. It just doesn't work. Probability is use to describe things that are out of your control. More often than not, the things that will bite you during a skydive are in your control. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

PMW-EX3 www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Jeff is the new Campos. Just ask Uncle Charlie... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Except those 10% who enjoy gun shows. I doubt 90% of the population would care if skydiving went away. Doesn't mean it's ok. I'm more amused by the comment that if the "gunshow loophole" was eliminated, gun shows would cease to exist. If that were true, then it would suggest that gun shows only exist to enable easy access to purchasing guns through said loophole. Which would make "gun show" a bit of a misnomer. Surely gun deals can still be transacted at a gun show in the same manner they occur at a licensed gun dealer? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Still waitin'... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Well shi-it... how am I gonna spend my weekends now? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

In general, to suggest that one man (Clinton, Bush, Obama, or anybody else) can start or stop economic recessions is a bit short-sighted, IMO. Further, if you measure a recession by the actual date on which a big market drop happens, you are looking in the wrong place. The signs usually start years earlier, and in both of these cases the recessions were caused largely by speculative bubbles. Everyone who participated actively and ignorantly in either of those bubbles is more to blame than our country's figurehead. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Your subjective word was nowhere in my post. You know the answer to that question. There are plenty of things you can do to "prepare" for your first wingsuit jump, and you know what they are. However, none of those things negate the 200 jump minimum recommendation. None of those things will replace the parachuting experience/skills you'll get from 200 freefalls and 200 canopy rides. www.WingsuitPhotos.com