JaapSuter

And while we're at it, does anybody have the knowledge and time to write down the full story of what happened with Dennis McGlynn? As far as I know he is one of the few (only?) that didn't plead guilty and took it to court all the way. I have only seen the posts on Blinc about how there was going to be a day of protest. I'm curious how many people actually showed up, and what happened in the follow-up of that case. I believe there was jail-time, right? Thanks, Jaap Edited to clarify; I am not referring to the day of protest involving fatality number 53 on Nick's list. I am referring to the letter Dennis wrote, where he asks fellow jumpers to show up during his trial to make a statement. I'm really curious how many people ended up being there.

From http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=563658#563658: I guess we're looking for a new moderator. Any volunteers? Happy birthday Skin, I always liked you better than Tom anyway.

Thanks everybody! Once again the experienced jumpers prove that not everything in base is simple and obvious. To add one last question about pins; why do you trust the points where the pins connect to the bridle? Are you a rigger yourself, have you done tensile tests, or do you just inspect and then trust the material that comes from the manufacturer? This is probably just paranoia, but it would really suck if the closing loop tension is stronger than the pin-to-bridle connection point resulting in the bridle ripping off your with the pins still in the loop. I suppose with a correctly manufacturered bridle the bartacks will have much greater breaking strength than what any pin-tension or PC drag can ever create, but considering the deadliness of a break there, it's just one of those points that have me worried. Sure does put velcro-rigs in perspective eh? Cheers, Jaap Suter

He's back, and he does it in style! Good work Skinflicka!

I wouldn't know. I've never seen it be fine. And while this thread is degenerating anyway, allow me to share the excellent plan the local jumpers and I have come up with for my trip to LA. And I quote from an email I received: That's going to be wicked, and I'm totally looking forward to it. Meet some new people, catch up with some old people, and hopefully get some jumps in too!

Thanks for joining us Linda!

Here is a thread I started about helmets a while back. It has a picture of the Mace fullface helmet I wear. So far I've put 16 base jumps and about 8 skydives on this helmet. I absolutely love it. Peripheral vision is great. Protection seems to be good, but untested so far. The weight is good. It fits snugly and comfortably and doesn't shift around even at terminal velocity. Finally, it has a protruding chincup that stays between my face and a rock. I think that would be a great idea! I'm worried the market might not be big enough to justify the R&D. If you send them an email though, you can tell them I'll be interested too.

I was unaware of that. My apologies. I just checked their website and haven't been able to find out more about their non-skydiving helmets. Do you have a link? Thanks! I use a Mace full-face with chincup mountainbiking helmet. For skydiving I use an NVertigoX freefly helmet. For on my motorcycle I use a Snell approved Shoei helmet. For skiing and snowboarding I use a Giro helmet. For outdoor climbing I use a Petzl. On a bicycle, I use a cheap unknown brand shitty helmet. I'd love to wear my motorcycle helmet with everything I do, but it's always a trade-off between comfort, weight, visibility and protection. For base my parameters are different than for skydiving, that's for sure.

A helmet that breaks on impact is not necessarily a bad thing. Breaking any material takes energy. That's energy that's not transfered to your skull, and thus not hurting your head. Helmet theory is very complicated and involves many fine balances between different factors. It's not just a matter of getting the strongest material. Sometimes a softer or more fragile material can actually work better! Because making a good helmet is so complex, I prefer to spend my money with the company that makes helmets designed for impacts similar to the ones encountered in base. Preferably a company that has a large installed user-base. The more customers a company has, the more money they can put in R&D. Hopefully, this improves the quality of their helmets. Check out the Snell Memorial Foundation. They are a non-profit organization and their website has a lot of useful information. I challenge any skydiving helmet manufacterer to submit their helmets for Snell testing. They'll never get approval, but just to see where they are on the scale of protection.

There is a lot more to helmets than just the strength of the outershell. Other critical factors include the material, shape and thickness of the inner shell (the foam), and possibly even more important the shape and tension on the outer shell. Manufacterers of approved (Snell, DOT, etc.) helmets put a lot of time, effort and money into research that tries to find out how impact forces are distribituted across the surface of the shell. The shape and tension on the helmet plays an important role in this. Ever wondered why helmets can't be used anymore after they have been involved in impact, even when they still look fine? It's because the tension and integrity of the outer surface may have been compromised. This is not some marketing bullcrap to sell more helmets, this is actually true. I don't know how Bonehead helmets are manufactured or how many money they put into research, but I'll stick to approved helmets for my base jumping, just to be sure.

I just witnessed this last night. We were walking around on a new site and suddenly we noticed a security guard only thirty feet away. As BASE 1005 turned around and ran away, did an elite A-team style roll over the fence and dashed towards the parked car, I saw his bottom flap come undone and his entire canopy slid out around his ankles. Talk about a sloppy get-away. Imagine the priceless look as on his face as he screeched to a halt in the middle of his sprint to avoid stumbling over his canopy, now lying on the asphalt. Even though his canopy was unpacked and he couldn't jump anymore, he proceeded to drive me to the local friendly span to PCA me. Nice work Droopy! Maybe you should stitch those half-open corners back together again.

Here's the only one I know of, written by Gus who posts here as well. Thanks for writing those Gus, they're a great read!

Great video! I see nothing but somebody having a shitload of fun in life. I always like that. Kudos for the exit where you walk on your hands a few steps and then do a gainer!

Agreed. Agreed. Having agreed with those points though, I believe that Newtons2nd's posts are well-intentioned. I must admit that I don't think a wackload of physics will make base much safer either, but sometimes a fresh idea from an unexplored corner can provide a new invention that can safe somebody's life. Far fetched? Maybe. But trolling? I don't think so. I don't know if Newtons2nd has zero or a thousand skydives, but I don't think there's a shame in having an interest in base even when you have zero skydives. Maybe it's better to lurk on the forums than post, but even the occasional post won't do much more harm than increase the amount of entropy in the universe. In case any beginners on this forum are too embarrased to fill out their profile, allow me to shamefully admit that the "student" part of my profile is completely true. I still don't have my A license in skydiving. Admittedly if I were to do my theory-tests I'd have my A and B at once but I'm not very big on rules, regulation and licenses. I'll bother some day when I want to jump in the States. Besides, even if I'd have my D-license, I'd still consider myself a student. It's what we all are and always will be. I wonder if CSPA has ever gotten applications for an A-license from somebody with over 192 jumps. So don't hesitate to fill out your profile, even if you have never even seen a plane from up close. As long as your posts are well-intentioned and you've RTFMed, we'll do our best to come up with useful answers. Even when sometimes that's nothing more than: "visit your local dropzone and ask them".

Thanks for the replies everybody. Just to clarify some more; I'm not actually doing true solos. I have done a virtual groundcrew jump but I don't think I'll be doing another one again soon. My question also applies when you're alone on top of an object and your groundcrew is somewhere else. Now that we're talking about pins anyway, another question I have is related to the positioning of the pins. I don't want to discuss priming or whether you do smiley or frowny. I'm curious which way people orient their pins in relation to the tuck flap you close last. My Warlock has such a flap, and I believe most other pin-rigs as well. Because that tuck flap hinges on the left and opens from the right, I like to stick my pins in from the left towards the right. That means the bridle needs to pull to the left to take out the pin. This side has the most clearance because the tuck flap is on the other side. I know that really the bridle pulls upwards more than sidewards, but there's always at least some sideways movement. I've seen at least one other very experienced jumper put in the pins from the other side. This was mostly because putting the pin into the closing loop is easier that way (since the pulling cord is pulled down to the right when you close it, the opening of the closing loop is exposed to the left, effectively making it easier to put it in the opposite way of what I described above). Holy crap, I don't think this post makes any sense unless you grab a pin rig and experiment along. I'm guessing it doesn't matter much from which way you enter the pins as both seem to work for a number of jumpers. Regardless, have you ever thought if you go from left to right or right to left and what was your reasoning for using one over the other? Thanks, Jaap

Woah! That's the world upside down. I believe it was you and KMonster that started rambling about dynamic smoke-vents that the local factories mechanically adjust just to confuse the base jumpers. Next time I get out there though, I'll have helium balloons with me!

Hi, here's another one of those silly questions for ya. How do you trust your pen-tension if you do a solo or virtual groundcrew jump? Pin-tension will always change a little when you gear up and tighten the chest- and leg-straps. By then, you can't reach back and feel your pins anymore, nor do you have a friend to do a pin-check. One could do some tests when you have friends around, maybe even using a fishscale. Do you just trust these results and how they carry over to a new situation? In other words, if you're wearing the same clothes and body armour, do you think the rest variation (strap tightening) will be small enough to be neglectible? Mmmm, maybe I should grab my velcro rig for this one... I feel like I'm asking a stupid question, but last time I didn't ask my canopy opened a little lower than usual, so here goes. Thanks, Jaap p.s. No, I'm not doing true solos.

Contemplating a visit to San Diego during on of those days. If you're an active local and you have an easy object, please PM me.

I have a plane leaving LAX at 7pm on Saturday May 21st. I was told I have to visit the little rock when I'm in LA. If it's jumpable on Sat mornings, and somebody feels like taking a rookie along, please PM me. Thanks, Jaap Suter

The first six chapters of David Hestenes' New Foundations for Classical Mechanics. If would love some recomendations for material on fluid dynamics. Everything I've found and tried so far had a learning curve that was too steep to fit my motivation.

Hahaha, nice! From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva: That explains it all.

Two factors. First, the chart is relatively old, and as gear and knowledge improved, people starting smoking it lower and lower. Secondly, the chart includes the manufacturers liability safety margin. No manufacturer will ever recommend you freefall from 200 feet, even when they might think it's possible. That's because it's only possible for some individuals with the appropriate knowledge, training and skills. Manufacterers can't make that judgement call, so they have to err on the safe side. I have actually been contemplating about switching to a "slider down means hand-held" philosophy. It won't make me a very progressive base jumper, but if I'm having fun and being safe, then who cares? I've always liked hand-held jumps anyway, in a certain romantic historical base-jumping kind of way. I do want to make a few more stowed jumps from the Potato bridge, but I wouldn't be surprised to see myself preferring hand-helds from then on. Edited to add: Of course, sometimes going stowed is safer than going hand-held, for example when there is a sketchy climb to a launch point, or maybe when you take a running exit.

Thanks Nick! That would be greatly appreciated!

Maybe so, but that Visa/Mastercard Priceless picture on your wall somehow wouldn't have had the same ring to it if it said: "100 bucks"

I've done that in the past and still do when I see an intelligent post. It still takes a little work though, and not everybody has the time, energy or computer know-how to comfortably browse around these forums. How many people know how you can quickly reach the 78th page on the Blinc Archives? Only some people eventually learn that you can change the page=XX in the URL at the top instead of clicking "next page" 78 div 3 times. Agreed. I use Wikis at work and for Boost and have great experience with them. I would first go with a comment system though, where people can append remarks to existing read-only pages. If a certain group of moderators agrees that a comment is useful, they can add it to the page itself. Another problem is how to seamlessly integrate it with existing forums. If it's just going to be a third source of information besides Blinc and DZ.com, it will only cause another dichotomy. There needs to be cooperation in some form. Finally, I'm still not sure if this is even something we want. I recall a post by Nick Digiovanni about offering instructions on how to make your own base-rig. He got quickly reeled in by a base manufacturer, asking him what the hell he thought he was doing. Probably Nick can fill in more details. Edit to add url to Nicks post.