NickDG

>>Para-Innovators was based in Perris, California, in the same building now occupied by Basic Research/Apex BASE.

The first time I ever heard of a "no fly" list was in 1978 when I got grounded at Lake Elsinore for hook turning my piglet. My cries that going faster made it land better fell on deaf ears . . . NickD

You know, there is enough talent right within the jumping community to do a decent skydiving simulation we'd all enjoy. I see it as a first person swooper where you have a choice of aircraft, WX, and real drop zones. And that's how we fund it, if a DZ doesn't pony up they aren't in the game. There's your choice of gear from student rigs right up to wing loading in extremis. Rounds, wing suits, and sky boards are also included. You can sim being a tandem master and already USPA is battling against time on the sim being used for the rating . . . Once you've completed 250 skydives, the game unlocks, and you can also BASE jump. In order for Vj to work (Vj = virtual jumping) and to achieve full and total emersion the following conditions will need to be met: - Every time you choose a new DZ everyone there will ignore you. - You can be grounded, but depending on how tight you are with the DZO will determine for how long. - If you go in, you need to start a new jumping career, but there is a cheat for this. - For multiplayer there needs to be a DZ bar, or suitable parking lot, in which to gather. - The first fifty that buy the sim get an old frap hat to wear . . . Why not? With wind tunnels, and all the gizmos, skydiving is going that way anyway. Throw in Skyride, DZO's that run off with your money, and a probable cracking down by some three lettered agency, let's go Vj! The beer's still real though, right? NickD

I've seen this same sort of thing happen before. One friend was working at a local drop zone in San Diego and he's taking his pay in jump tickets. He had a shoebox full of tickets and then one day, poof, the DZO pulls out and those tickets are good for nothing but wallpaper. Another time at Lake Elsinore, and between floods, there was an interim DZO who told jumpers if they paid ahead for the year they'd get a substantial break on prices and a lot of the more affluent (this was during the Yuppie invasion of the sport) did just that. Jumpers are forking over five and six thousand dollars and all at once. A few weeks later the airplane and the DZO disappears. Persistent rumor has it he's somewhere in Alaska. You and your team will probably never see that money again. When you're young and trusting these things are hard to understand, but, you learned a lesson . . . and be thankful as nowadays the sport is much more full of snakes . . . NickD

Yes, I think this photo is taken just prior to the "mutiny" when about 40 people jumped anyway. The wind is howling, the river's high and running fast, there's no sand bar and no shoreline. Jean's main concern is keeping the hundred or so first timers out of the air and there's no way to do that had she accepted the permit. Jean took a lot of heat that year, but she did good. Had jumping commenced in earnest it would have been the year of the "carnage" at Bridge Day . . . NickD

That's good. I did hear something about one of those two fellows . . . Our own house isn't so clean either. For years back in the late 80s there was a snitch at the Perris DZ. If you mentioned anything specific and out loud about visiting the Park you were screwed. NickD

And, I hope I don't run into the guy who informed on Frank . . . NickD BASE 194

>>Here's another opportunity

BTW, I took that photo at BD something or other and that's John Hoover in the black overcoat looking at his toes and wondering, "what the F is going on here . . ." NickD

All they do is infiltrate and gather intelligence. And they want us to pay for it . . . ! NickD BASE 194

Teresa Tran was my roommate and she'd get up early in the morning, jump into her car which was all caved in on one side, and go climb in Joshua Tree for three days. She's number 32 on the List and she ruined Christmas that year. I miss her . . . NickD BASE 194 http://www.basefatalities.info/

There's a climbing gym I pass sometimes that has a huge mural of Half Dome on it and it always makes me smile. When the first BASE jumpers went online in the mid-1980s it's because we are starving for information. This is before the web went graphical and I sat in front of a black screen and the words of the late Mike Allen appeared as from nowhere. "Wow," he wrote me, "we must be some special sub-techno species of BASE jumper." We had magazines like BASEline, and later some others, but BASE technology in the 80s and early 90s could have supported a daily TV show. These are the smaller changes, things like different mesh in your slider, a new toggle system, various sized pilot chutes, and going stowed for the first time (if you started BASE later you may have missed that little adventure). And I remember a good stretch of years when something is always new inside my rig and scaring the crap out of me . . . The internet "was" for BASE jumpers the only place to get timely information, but that era has ended. BASE is now more out in the open and the best place to get BASE information is in a BASE course. Or, go knock on a BASE gear manufacturer's door. The demise of the BASEBoard proved it when all of a sudden they weren't sharing tips and ideas as much as eating each other alive. I thought the relationship between BASE and the internet was over, but then I started to see smaller regionalized and password protected BASE sites where you can name names and sites, give directions, and talk more directly about what you are doing. For BASE jumping this is probably the best use of the Internet. When DZ.com first appeared I thought the premise of helping skydivers who transition to BASE as, hey, any opportunity to say, "Carl Boenish," and spew a little BASE history is alright with me. And now, a new chapter begins . . . NickD

Give it a little time . . . NickD

I just looked at RC.com and no announcement, eh, eh, they don't know we're coming . . . NickD

I just finished reading about the merger between DZ.com and RC.com and I'm posting here as I wanted to look at this from a BASE perspective. From an advertising angle combining skydiving and climbing is fine if you want to attract mainstream adverts like car rental agencies and hotels. However, climbers and BASE jumpers have a history and it's not all that stellar. Skydivers and climbers don't compete for the same access that BASE jumpers and climbers sometimes do. A search for "BASE jumping" on their forum shows that the majority of climbers are semi-hostile toward BASE. Jason Bell was over their bravely holding up the BASE flag and he was getting the business . . . I suppose I could ignore all the above as once they get to know us they'll be crazy go nuts for us. Climbing crews will each adopt a BASE jumper and we'll share skills and all will be swell and groovy. But if not, and considering I pay to play here. Am I going to be semi-supporting a community that doesn't like me . . . ? NickD

We say the best time to change your Velcro is right now . . . NickD

It's all about not making the second mistake that will kill you . . . NickD

Gorden Baxter, a writer for FLYING Magazine before he died said, too many pilots are lost when they don't take the microphone close and yell, "Ok, now I'm not messing around, help me man, help me!" In this case it turned out for the good . . . And, as evidenced by the 3rd recording, the kid launched again. I'll bet his rudder knees are a bit wobbliy. And good on him . . . NickD

Yeah, that's a problem. If they aren't on the Fatality List it certainly doesn't mean it didn't happen. Yet, if your friend lived isn't that the very definition of foolproof. I wrote "almost" foolproof" because of #72 on the List . . . NickD

Prior to pin closed BASE rigs we did okay with Velcro. Its user dependant and almost foolproof. We weren't doing aerials on today's level but plenty of jumpers are doing gainers, tracking hard, and going long, back in the stone age of BASE. A whole generation did Yosemite with Velcro rigs and I saw one manufacturer who tested them from airplanes (no tersh and a couple of terminal back loops thrown in). The later versions of Velcro rigs that tucked the leading edge of their shrivel flaps in for tracking are even better. Yes, Velcro rigs, at high speed are essentially mono-directional but when used that way they work fine. I've seen premature Velcro container openings whilst climbing around on things, but has anyone ever heard of a properly packed and maintained Velcro closed BASE rig busting open in the later stages of a freefall? One of the reasons (and there are a bunch) manufacturers got into pin rigs is they'd now had Velcro rigs in the field long enough it's obvious not enough people are following the rule on replacing the Velcro every 75 to a hundred jumps. Velcro closed BASE rigs, even though they work so well, had served their purpose. And that function was to carry us along for years until we figured out how to make pin rigs that worked in the BASE environment. In any event you can buy a nice new Velcro closed BASE container and still have yourself a grand BASE career, thank you very much . . . Remember, the whole nexus for Velcro closed BASE rigs is the skydiving rigs of 1983 are too complicated for short freefalls. Simplicity has always been our guardian angel in BASE jumping. Let's be careful to not get too far away from that like I see at the drop zone sometimes. Everybody is running around looking for batteries because some gizmo is on the fritz . . . NickD

A VFR pilot gets into IMC . . . http://www.naats.org/docs/flightassist.mp3 NickD BASE 194

Dave Balia is one of my favorite friends and I have much respect for him as a BASE jumper. He's been out there doing it since the 80s and you never hear much about it . . . NickD

I was staff the year of the bungee bucket thing. They asked for twenty minutes and it took them three times as long. And when they did get it together and dropped, it was a big yawner . . . I don't remember the bungee fellow's name, but I asked him, "Gee, what's for next year, eight in the bucket?" We were livid, the jumpers in line are beside themselves, and the spectators are hating the delay in the action. Andy had something to do with the bungee thing and we gave him an earful about it later. From now on nothing stops jumping except the normal reasons, and walking out of Andy's room someone added, "And no more freaking weddings, either!" NickD

>>if you guys know Frank Mott, I heard a rumor he is driving his crazy old butt TO the Texas coast

Here's some audio from Flight 292. http://media21a.libsyn.com/podcasts/joepodcaster/fwm85.mp3 NickD