mccordia

Yes..though sayd individual DID do a full instructors course (which I witnessed in Sweden, at the Hercules Boogie). What you are doing now is taking instructors who did get proper training, but interprete the rules in their own way. And then blaming the manufacturers for that one. You (as an enthousiast at the time, and not as an instructor) and another instructor read me a manual on a fridaynight, and then told me and a good friend of mine to grab a suit the next day and jump. Not YOU or an instructor present to check our gear, brief us on the jump. nothing. Not saying its a bad thing (though not what Id personaly prefer or recommend). But its how each instructor takes the training they had, and translates that to their actions which determines what the instruction is worth. You can get all the BMI/WSI/PFI training in the world. But if you (as an instructor) decide to say fuck it, and take someone up for a jump straight from AFF, its 100% you as an instructor who is to blame. And pointing fingers at the organisation that gave him his 'rating' wont do a thing. The only difference is that AFF licences get pulled if somebody doesnt adhere to the known rules/recommendations. And in the case of WSI/PFI/BMI/EG-I that person will most likely just move on to teaching the next person... If people took a stronger stance on that one, and notify sayd manufacturers/organisations of flawed teaching/training of certain individuals, than instructors numbers COULD be pulled. But people always seem to rather want to publicly name a person and sling some mud his/her way (or at least just give enough info so everyone can guess who it is) instead of showing some spine and writing the manufacturer/rating involved and notifying them of the actions of sayd individual (which is something that can be done quietly.....you dont do dirty laundry in public) JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

I do think one thing we ALSO need to move past is the fact that a lot of people out there teaching and instructing did get proper training and coaching on their instructional skills. I dont know if a whole new program linked to a specific school instead of a manufacturer is the answer. But do applaud the effort. But having a form/source of validation for instructors, to see if what they do is correct and safe. That would be a nice thing. Sadly a program reviewing instructors (from each manufacturer) and (if needed) pulling the instructor number (lets refrain from using the word rating) isnt something we're seeing too much off (though there are a few cases where this DID happen). I think the biggest responsibilty for now is with the people teaching. NOTE: This is all NOT linked in any for or shape to the recent accident! Regardless of the cause (or guilt/blame a lot of people seem to want to focus on), there is a good chance this recent accident may cause some bigger ripples in our already turbulent (tiny) private pool. The stance organisations such as the USPA will take on the recent accident and lack of jump# on sayd person could go both ways...just hoping the outcome is a positive one for everyone involved (and the whole dicipline/sport in general). Wishing everyone involved a lot of strength... JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=7455 Click the [url] button. Then your web/link. Then click the [/url] button again to make it work. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Our Belgian friend Nico basejumped a raptor/mach1 (it was a slight custom suit, so not sure which one it was) but he did note the pull being scary. I know he mailed back and forth with Tony regarding (re)location of the basepouch to a more suitable location. Maybe Tony has a few words on this subject? Seeing some of the delays the pilotchute experiences (and sometimes difficulty actually accesing the pilotchute, due to too much fabric) on some of the bigger suits in the skydiving enviroment, its safe to say these big suits are far from the ideal choice for basejumping. Nico is no longer jumping the tonysuit for that reason, and switched to a more recent release from a competitive manufacturer. There is a lot of experience with regards to choice of wingsuits (wing sizes etc) for basejumping to be found on the basejumper.com forums. BASE specific questions are usually quicker answered there.. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

I fully agree with you there DSE Slagging of manufacturers and their instructional programs aside, every instructor/coaching 'badge' is only worth what the 'instructor' himself puts in. Not everyone 'who talks the talk, walks the walk' The general concensus of 200 jumps gets (knowingly) subtly bent, or severly broken by a lot of people. Dispite what their 'rating' supposedly says they should be doing. Regardles of who 'rated' you. A non factory/team/school linked website with 'trustworthy' coaches would be worth more at the moment than any of de EG/WSI/PFI/BMI etc anyone could wave at you... As the badge you wear, regardless if its EG-I, WS-I, BM-I or PF-I is only worth what the actual person who is instructing actually puts in in terms of skills, effort, safety, adhering to the rules (and subsequent credibility) with regards to his actions... JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Welcome (back) to the flock then 2009 will be the year of the birds...! JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Im mostly focussed on video myself, and my number of jumps with stills (on a yearly basis) probably wont be more than 30 or so jumps. But regardless, I am curious how this question would have been answered a couple of yours ago (pre-digital) A lot of 'new' skydiving photographers I know come down from each jump with a number of pictures, that would have been close to year-totals for some of the more acredited (older) skydive photographers. Shooting a number of stills on a jump thats more akin to shooting video, than it is to actual framed shots. Just clinging to a biteswitch from exit till opening, and later sorting through the 200 pictures from that single jump, and then cropping/colour correcting and fidling with it like mad to end up with something nice. Where-as in the pre-digital age, people seemed to think a lot more about the 36 shots they where able to get. And often would take a day to fill those 36 shots with beautifully framed and 'taken at the right time' kinda shots.. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

No...its there...just look better.. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Ive flown both the 'expert' and 'pro' and didnt really like the last one. The S-Fly Expert (to me) seems like a much more mobile/manouvrable suit, with more range. Even though its slightly smaller, it seems to have a better ballance and more manouvrebility.. Where-as the S-fly Pro seems to be more ground-hungry, and quite twitchy in flying. A sh*tload of groundspeed due to a high angle of attack, but also at quite high fallrates....the few jumps I did on the suit, I couldnt really get it to fly the way I liked. While the Expert was good flying the minute I put it on.. again..just my experiences based on a few jumps in one and the other suit... JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

I think its just a matter of time and practice...we've been getting better and better the last few years...and will keep improving things the coming years... Happy new year everybody...Im off to Costyn with a bottle of Vodka! May 2009 be another ass-kicking year! JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Ill be there in Nov. for sure as well! JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Coolcool...but any chance at the picture without the grid? Dont think that one really ads anything to the image. Just posting this as a picture of the best 71 way formation in wingsuits ever would be worth much more to me, than trying to look through some black lines.. Again..amazing stuff...wish I would have been there, and will be next year. But forget the grid stuff, and just show people the actual formation..which is the cool stuff I care about...

If you can Underline a bit of text, its also not that hard to make an actual LINK out of it by choosing the URL button instead of the u button.. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Try reversing field order/dominance, or otherwise try and see if frame-blending on/off makes a difference.. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

With Yuri as a post-op transvestite, too proud to admit he actually likes this gay club JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

I have seen one or two, but usually those could be resolved by packing slighly different (mostly, the orientation of the Dbag). 'Kaatje' who posts on this forum had exactly that during a wingsuit jump. She had experienced small hesitations before (always packing grommit2reserve). Even when deploying with her usual slowdown, the slight angle she still had seemed to slighly lock her Dbag slighly. At one point there wasnt anything coming, and she had to go for her reserve. After switching to packing her Dbag grommit2pin (standing upright) she didnt experience any hesitations anymore from what I heard. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Fully agree with the added care (and for some people cursing) in getting a packjob to look good(and be safe) if you're not that experienced a packer. For most people, a normal rig and just placing the bag grommit2pin (upright) will be all the costumizing they ever need to do for wingsuit flying. Its only for the freaks that never take the wingsuit off, or for people truly experiencing big hesitations at pulltime that id recommend getting a wingsuit specific rig with regards to open corners. Having a nice long bridle, and a pilotchute the size of a house will do much more for your openings than the open corners will.. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Slay people without asking? JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Actually, in his profile he's listing his Home DZ as somewhere in Lithuania. I know..but just sending someone a note and asking about them teaches you a lot more than judging them by their profile JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

I had 385 jumps. Did okay..looking back, a few more jumps would have probably made me enjoy it more (from a relaxing and performance pov.) Was already pretty much geared towards wingsuit flight from the start. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Im still waiting for Yuri to put his money where his mouth is, and show up in the top scores for the distance competitions worldwide... Loic, Robert and James are awesome flyers for the #1 positions But they share the #1 spot (or loose:) at a lot of competitions as well from the 'pussy flockers' who would probably hand Yuri his ass in a 1 on 1 race as well JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Shoot me a PM with your home DZ, and me or macca will put you in contact with a wingsuit flyer who can answer your questions up close and personal. Getting a wingsuit flyer to talk about his wingsuit and every little aspect on flying is easier than finding on that will shut up about it for longer than 5 seconds JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Actually it says nothing I haven't read before and it doesn't answer this precise question

Would an 8 year old kid be able to drive your Ferrari... JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

This is the 3d thread TODAY on this subject. Give or change a few words in the formulation.. There is a wealth of information in the FAQ and the dozen other threads on people jumping beginner suits without hardly any experience. Ad to that a high performance wingsuit, and you should have a pretty good indication of the rough answer. And you'll get one or two replies on people who did silly stuff, lived, and think it should be everyones mantra... You living in the UK, and probably jumping under BPA rules puts some strict rules and regulations on you with regards to when and where you're even able to fly a wingsuit. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?