The111

Read this thread, there is a rig for $1300 that a few people suspect is a scam. It's a different name, but obviously that means nothing if it's a scam. The name was registered very recently before the ad. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Bill, how can you conclude that the presence (or lack) of a gun in the officer's possession was the leading factor in whether or not he got shot? Did the shooter admit to this? 2 people in blue shirts and 1 person in red shirt all make a skydive. Person in red shirt goes in. Conclusion = red shirts create higher risk? I realize the example I gave is absurd and you do have some logical reasons to believe that the cop who carried the gun "attracted" more hostile fire. But I don't believe, even with regard to that one incident, you can say for sure that the risk was associated entirely with that one variable. Maybe the cop carrying the gun had some other characteristic that drew the shooter's attention to him. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

As I posted in another thread in Speaker's Corner, John was a gun enthusiast, worked full time in the firearms safety field. The few times I talked with him, guns were a major topic of conversation. Despite his mistakes, he was smart enough not to pull a gun. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Please explain how saying "somebody just got hurt without a gun, and could have been hurt worse with one" is any sort of "ammo" for your argument? I don't think anybody will disagree with that assertion, it's pretty clear guns do, surprisingly enough, inflict potentially mortal damage. And, if you knew John you knew he worked full time in the firearms safety field and was a gun fanatic. Every conversation I ever had with him was either about salsa, skydiving, or guns. Fortunately, regardless of what mistakes he made, he still was wise enough not to pull a gun, which he certainly knows how to do. And I want to point out there is a glaring distinction between "pro-gun" (the phrase some love to throw around) and "pro-freedom," even if both types necessarily reside on the same side of the fence. Some of you treat anybody who dares to advocate personal freedom as a gun-loving militant. I'm not particularly fond of guns, but they have their uses, and in a free country adults should not have their liberties trampled upon, even if people are dying because of a misuse of that liberty. It is one of the prices we pay for freedom. As skydivers, we should recognize that better than most. Repeating myself from another thread: I think it's also worth pointing out that stupidity is far more deadly than malice. Tens of thousands of people die every year because someone can't control his car properly. But the idea of being intentionally gunned down is somehow more offensive to us than the idea of being accidentally run over. And we somehow place a much greater value on the necessity of personal transportation over the right to bear arms. Why? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

If knives are outlawed, only outlaws will have knives. Glad you're ok, Randy! www.WingsuitPhotos.com

There is no reason to buy gear long before you can use it. What would you say if a whuffo buddy told you he was going to go through AFF, and had found a good deal on a sport rig to buy before the class? If you're made of money, go ahead. But if you were made of money, you wouldn't be hunting down "good deals." Catch-22. Wingsuits (like cameras) are changing constantly, another reason not to buy one prematurely. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Incomprehensible posting at its finest. Where on earth did you read elitism in that sentence? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

He's tracking... I thought he meant wingsuits at first too. The tandem masters (or anybody) are certainly not going to want somebody exiting behind them and tracking in circles. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

In theory, I guess "staying in the same area" could work, but it would be very hard to ensure you were actually doing this. Basing it on eyesight would be impossible, and if even if you made sure to keep each leg of your zig-zag exactly the same amount of time, you wouldn't be able to guarantee you were covering the same amount of ground each time, and staying in your area. The thing is, you can't be sure of your distance, but you can be sure of your altitude. If you exit at 13k, and track perpendicular until 9k, you've now tracked for 4k feet, and you are guaranteed to be further away from the line of flight that somebody who just tracks for 1000ft after their RW jump before pulling. Now if you KEEP flying in that same direction for a few thousand more feet (until pull time) as you said you were doing, you will end up very far away, as you figured out. But if you track now parallel to line of flight, you can actually open closer to the LZ than you were when you got out of the plane, and you are still a safe distance away from the line of flight, further than anybody else could be. Good luck.

No offense, but what you just described as your second option (which you assume has more risk) is the best and universally recommended way to fly a pattern. You should never knowingly fly TOWARD jumprun after flying away from it. Where did you get this idea, and why do you think that seems ok? (I do not intend to be accusatory, but I'd like to promote some thought along the lines of "why"?) Did you receive any sort of training before flying a wingsuit for the first time? Think about it. Remember AFF... canopy patterns? We fly downwind, then cross-wind, the into the wind. Usually a left-hand pattern, but direction prescribed by specfic DZ. There are two reasons: (1) convention and (2) logic. What would you say if I suggested we eliminate downwind legs, and all set up just downind from the peas. Then from 2000ft all the way down to about 300ft, we just fly back and forth, crosswind, until it's time to turn into the wind. Does that sound like it would create an orderly flow of traffic? You need to know where others are, and others need to know where YOU are. If you are all zig-zagging back and forth in the same airspace, you're going to crash. Back to wingsuits. You need to know where the freefallers are, and they need to know where you are. They do NOT want somebody zigzagging back and forth over their heads (and possibly into their canopy), and you cannot easily keep track of where the line of flight is, when you are doing that. Fly away from the flight-line, then turn and fly parallel to it. Until the end of the jump, without fail, the jumprun will remain where you left it - to your side, at a safe distance. EDIT: I see now that you maybe were referring to tracking and not wingsuits. Same principal applies. Get on a tracking dive with people who know what they're doing. You'll learn 10 times more than you would by yourself anyway. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Yeh, I can't find mine right now. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

You had me at ping. Please explain. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Nice, I don't have to do one now, right? Seriously, very cool! Better than most wingsuit videos I've seen. But you distracted me from my editing for 6 minutes, so now people can blame you for my slow response. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Dude, I'll bet you don't even OWN an armchair. I've sat in an armchair at LEAST a few thousand times. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I saw the shot Scott, nice job getting more pics published. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Cool, Dan! www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Yup. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Cool shots, like the multi-colored smoke. And damn, that is one ugly Vampire in #9. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Wow, here's a funny thing. For 1 year I've been using my PC to delete files on card, and never once formatted in camera (even when it was brand new). After reading this whole thread, I just formatted my card in-camera, after pulling the weekend's pics off. Usually after cleaning card on PC, and re-inserting into camera, the camera tells me "1.9GB available, and 546 pictures" (at my usual settings). Now it reads 1.8GB, and 545 pictures. I know it did not actually drop 100MB (it is rounding), and it only dropped ONE picture, but I still find it funny that I just did what everyone is saying is best, and it actually (very slightly) shrunk the usable space on the card. Different formatting methods I'm sure, but still funny. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

What about chickens? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

What about chickens? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Listen to chickens. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Yes, and I have some great footage of the whole thing, all the way through the hosing, and the little girls still chasing Mike around the following day making chicken noises at him. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

She really does make good chicken. I was glad you guys shared. Boy, for all the people who thought the "chicken" was an innuendo, this thread just got weirder. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Even with the best flyers I know, wingsuit docks never look super-pretty... there is always some reaching and wing distortion going on. I just did my first 3-way dock a few weeks ago, I agree with Tony it's impressive for these people to do it so early. www.WingsuitPhotos.com