The111

I thought this was pretty obvious, but here goes. The reason to have a removable ring sight, is so that you can remove it when you don't want jump with it. Probably when people decided to mount cameras on top of their helmets. A still camera IS a snag hazard by definition, plain and simple. That 40D isn't any more "snaggable" than every SLR/FTP setup I've ever seen. And in any case, you have do be doing something incredibly fucked up with your head to actually get lines to go in those places. I know a CRW guy who had an FTP that any freefall photographer would say looked almost snag free. However every time he got in a wrap his helmet tangled too. He eventually created a custom job where the cameras were encased in foam and he looked like a big conehead. Literally snag free. Point is, go take your helmet which you apparently think is so snag free and stick your head through some lines on deployment. I guarantee you'll get tangled. I also admire your enthusiasm to point out what you perceive as flaws, but your post also seriously leaves something to be desired - it lacks any constructive comments. Now that you've finished pointing out everything you DON'T like, how about describing what you'd do different, and why it would be so far superior? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

At 200 jumps and 21 years old, and fairly shy, I was different. The only reason this thread offends me is because the person being spoken about is in a hospital bed, and not here. "Good natured ribbing" is better done to somebody's face, IMO. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Go ahead. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

This pisses me off. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Are you serious? A third party labels him as something, and that means HE is begging for it? He had no part in that description, trust me. Loic is one of the most humble guys in the whole fucking sport, and talented too but you'll never hear it from him. When I had about 200 jumps and knew practically nobody in the sport, I did a wingsuit jump with Loic in DeLand. Later that night after beers I had to leave. I wanted to say goodbye to him but noticed he was in a very heated discussion with the entire PD team (Moledzski, Pilcher, etc). He was describing some canopy mods he had come up with for swooping and they were all VERY intently listening. I did not have the balls to interrupt so I tried to sneak out behind him. Halfway to my car I heard somebody running behind me and I turned around and Loic was chasing me down to say goodbye. This thread fucking pisses me off. And for the record, Loic is probably the person most mentioned to me by whuffo work colleagues. And within the sport his Soul Flyers movies are some of the most popular. Search for "skydiving" on Youtube and sort by rating. Guess what's at the top? So that does make him a pretty big star, but again, it's NOT IMPORTANT TO HIM. PD and the country of France agree. How many people trashing him have ever had a conversation with him? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Many people who were on this load will tell you they were part of the current world record "50-way"... because there were 50 people on 3 Otters (something like that). Look at the picture... does it look like a 50-way to you? I think there's about 33 flyers in frame, but I wouldn't call it a 33-way either. Not really sure what I'd call it. Point is, if we couldn't do a a 33-way a few months ago, why are we trying for something over twice that big next? Look at the FF and RW records... they increase their sizes by small percentages, after success. They don't try to double their size before succeeding at the previous size. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Hmm... it won't be quite as strong as normal CF but it may be strong enough. The weight savings aren't much but I guess every little bit helps. I guess it would work. EDIT: If you want to make countersunk (flush) screw holes, they may not be as well supported with the wood core. I'll ask these guys and see what they think. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Diamonds come in 4, 9, and 16-way. Etc. There is no 6-way diamond. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

To make things even more confusing... there IS a way you could make one switch work both ways. Most tact switches (the kind used in Conceptus mouth switches) have four contacts. However Conceptus only uses two of them, as I've mentioned they short focus and shutter together at the switch. This isn't really necessary though. If you made your own mouth switch, you'd just need to keep all three wires separated and put them all to unique contacts on the tact switch. Then you could indeed use a mono converter on a stereo cable and have best of both worlds. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Worst. Logic. Ever. If you play Russian Roulette and live, did that make it safe? And NO I am not comparing what you did to Russian Roulette. I am just using a more clear example to ruin your poor logic. I have walked away from many unsafe jumps. I'm always glad that I'm driving home with no broken bones or worse, but still beating myself up mentally, over whatever stupid mistake I made, for days to come. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

To repeat what I said earlier... the Conceptus switches with stereo plugs have shutter and focus shorted (at the switch). If you try to make a "mono plug adaptor" to allow dual usage, it won't work. The mono plug will short focus and ground (at the connector). This in conjunction with the way Conceptus switch is wired, will result in a constantly focusing and firing shutter. If you want to use a mono plug you'd have to wire your switch differently. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Conceptus switches all come with stereo plugs, in my experience. For the Canon Rebel line, when you use a stereo connector in the plug, the tip is SHUTTER, the center ring is FOCUS, and the base ring is GROUND. When you press the switch you ground both focus and shutter at the same time. In fact I've taken conceptus switches apart and they have the focus and shutter conductors already shorted. If you use a mono plug, you'll be shorting ground and focus together, which results in constant focusing. When you close the switch it fires the shutter. With my camera (350D), it locks up after one shot. I think some people have had better luck... but even if they do, what's the point? Even if your subject is moving rapidly (freestyle or skysurf), your focus will be determined by distance, not movement. Just use a lens with a good fast autofocus. If that wasn't clear... use stereo. EDIT: I just read indyz's post, and he's right, and I was overlooking the obvious. I state above that my camera would lock up after firing one shot with the mono plug. I was not in AI servo mode. I just tried, and it does work in AI servo, it will continue focusing after each shot. I guess this could be useful, if you think you need it. If you do put a mono plug on a pre-made biteswitch make sure you know the wiring, otherwise you'll short everything together. Black and red (shutter and focus) are probably already shorted together at the switch actually, if it's Conceptus. So if you use the mono plug which shorts focus and ground at the connection, you're fucked. So you'll have to build your own switch, I think. Every Conceptus I've torn apart has black and red shorted at the switch itself. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Haha, thanks for taking the time to post that Tony. Here is the first minute in graph form (not going to take the time to input all the rest of the data from 60 on). There are a lot of gaps in the data, but what you can see is what we all suspected... the only time the speed comes close to 21mph, it is a spike/flair. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

There is a difference between comparing and measuring. You can certainly judge relative height by eye (taller or shorter), you cannot judge height by eye (exactly how tall or how short). Jeff, nobody ever raised issue with the idea that you can fly slower than others. The issue was with the idea that you can fly 21mph. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

If you ask me how tall you are, I can look at you "several hundred times"... but I won't know the answer until I get out a tape measure. People weren't asking how you can determine the fallrates you claimed... they were asking you to show us proof.

If you're safely coming to a stop from out of the air, that's a landing. You could crash an airplane on a steep snowy slope and probably walk away. It is technically a landing. But it isn't "what most people would call landing a plane." www.WingsuitPhotos.com

A bit off-topic, but I don't think it's air friction that stops us from turning when we hold a heading. You are right that nobody can be perfectly symmetric, but you don't have to be perfectly symmetric to hold a heading, you just need to be in such a state that the sum (resultant) of all of your heading inputs is zero. This is basically like a static physics problem. If you are putting out more "right turn input" than "left turn input"... you'll turn right. If the inputs are even, you'll hold a heading... even if you're not perfectly symmetric (the inputs come from multiple places). Notice that it's a dynamic process too, you have to continue to keep your inputs balanced through the whole skydive (or at least as long as you want to maintain heading), since nobody can hold perfectly still, anymore than they can be perfectly symmetric. Air friction may make it easier to balance out these heading inputs, too. But air friction is where we get the inputs from in the first place, so it's sort of a circular logic. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

1. Scott Bland (notsane) 2. Scott Gray (The Brothers Gray) 3. Chris Gray (The Brothers Gray) 4. Todd Statdfield (DaMan) 5. Michelle Statdfield (EmLo) 6. Justin Shorb ( Flock U) 7. Jeff Nebelkopf (heffro1) 8. Chuck Blue (Z-Flock Wingsuit School) 9. Mike Masheff (Grey Mike) 10. Phil Peggs (boring uncreative name) 11. Nick Rugai (#1 gay guy) 12. LoudDan 11.Tyler Smith(jumpinfly) 12. Scotty Burns (Scottygofast & Z-flock) 13. Tero Paukku (Aerodynamite) 14. Matt Hoover 15. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Yes, inside the cover it lists my name and website too. I think the pay was ok. Post up a pic of yours when it comes out!

I am not sure what "digital" and "standard" mean in this context, but you want one with a 2.5mm stereo plug. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I was a little unsure how to work the deal but DSE and Norman Kent both spent some time on the phone with me helping me make sure I didn't get screwed over. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

They found me. The author of the book specifically requested a shot of wingsuits in flight, and the graphic designer who was putting the book together tracked me down. Luckily for me there's not a lot of other people out there shooting wingsuit photos. This is the 8th edition of the textbook, they've had other athletic photos (swimmers, skateboarders) on the covers of previous editions. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Do most skydivers? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Did you offer them $20 a year? $25? There's a big difference between $300k and $600k or $750k. At this point anything less than $35 or $40 and you could count me in. Does anyone know what company underwrites the policy? They're obviously comfortable with the risk, and might be willing to write though another agent if the money was right. Does anyone know the dollar amounts for paying the claims over a year? Is there a limit per occurance? Can we self insure with an escrow account and a couple of administrators? I'd feel comfortable with couple of insurance agents and a couple of lawyers (all skydivers) watching over the fund. Even if all this worked out... would it help us stop Skyride at all? Now we're a bunch of self-insured jumpers, free of USPA. But would that have any effect on Skyride? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

"Chuck Blue Blasphemy" sounds like a good band name. www.WingsuitPhotos.com