DSE

Those formations are pretty sweet. They very much resemble a recent Red Bull scene. "Thinking outside the box" is good. Seems much of this discussion is caught in a mental lock. Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, if it is the only one we have. Most folks have a tendency to stop looking for answers when they've found the first "right answer" when often times, the best "right answer" is the second, third, etc answer that never got found. Discovery consists of everybody looking at the same problem and thinking differently.

I have a Pentax 645n with a 75mm lens, but the thought of putting it on for freefall has only momentarily crossed my mind. Can't think of any real value for the subjects that I have reasonable access to. I never considered shooting only sky. I guess I'm not artistic enough.

Cuz then it wutn't be art. The aircraft prolly wouldn't give it blur, either.

That "slight blur" lets you know the camera was moving? Either way...the concept is really cool. Not sure about the application/execution in looking at the photos, but the concept itself is cool. High concept and all that stuff.

1. Yuri 2. Jarno 3. Simon 4. Andreea 5. Kyle 6. Kipp 7. Butters (On The Fence) 8. Monkey 9. Purple Mike 10. Matt (No longer on the fence.) 11. Stu 12. Danny 13. Pat 14. Ralph K 15. Randy 16. Gleison 17. DSE

Confetti Cu** leaves em' on my door once in a while. I don't mind cleaning them up. A roll of tape makes it pretty fast. Skymama will skin y' alive if you hit her with one though. They work best if you twist up a rubberband in the middle of it all tho....Glitter spews more. I shoulda realized your question was whether glitterbombs are in good taste vs taste good.

They'll look amazing when blown up to a billboard tho.

The same thing as a Jagerbomb, except made with goldslager instead of Jager. It's prettier, that's for sure (Goldlager has glitter in it). Never tasted one. Seen people drink them...

My screen is sticky with coffee now. Hilarious. Tech note; you might consider outputting to .mp4/AVC for better upload quality.

It's time for the next photo contest! This one is quite simple, and easy for those that live in regions that aren't skydiving due to weather. We'll hold one with aerial subjects soon enough. RULES -Take a photo of any skydiving related object. -No compositing allowed. Tweak the color in an image editor for color, crop, etc, but you may not composite images. -The photo must be taken BY you. -Photo must be taken after today's date. We'll play this one a bit differently. -Size the image to smaller than 200k. -PM the image to me. -I'll post all the images on March 15. -Images will be anonymous, we'll vote on them in a poll. Prize TBA. If the image doesn't need image editing/management, more power to you. Using an image editor is not the goal nor part of this exercise. The point of this exercise is to stretch the eye after a long winter...angle, lens choice, lighting, shot composition... Have fun with it! Looking forward to seeing the creativity of the crew here.

So no change on affi/coach ratings requirements? Yes If you have less than 500 jumps, then you now must hold the coach rating (and do the required number of coach jumps) for a minimum of one year prior to challenging the AFF course.

they were old suits. Lots of Birdman suits out there, that's absolutely true. My position in the S&T meeting was, and still is, that Birdman was a powerhouse that is falling fast. They make jeans and underwear. Their new website has two suits, neither of which is anything unique nor new. Their primary push is fashion shows (if the website is a true example of their direction) Don't confuse a lack of blind loyalty to any brand as being a "flip-flop." Birdman was great. Birdman started a lot of things. They make great suits. There were a LOT of birdman suits in both bigways. Somehow I doubt that we'll continue to see a 'lot' of BM suits out there not for lack of quality, but for lack of products that keep up with the competition. [edit to add] There are quite a few old Tuckers at a car show being held up the street. That hardly means Tucker is a big car company... Actually, I'm just cheezed because I don't get free BM jeans.

Believe me, Jarno...I get the point of needing the manufacturers to at the least step up for now. Please don't misunderstand. At the same time, has there EVER been someone wit a BMI/PFI that has lost their rating from a manufacturer due to unsafe training, poor information, etc? If the manufacturers aren't going to punitively step up, then a governing body probably should. I didn't convey my message properly with that last statement; the USPA can't immediately replace the manufacturer's system. I'm hopeful that the manufacturers will eventually adhere to the syllabus that has been put out there for public comment, and recently edited by Scott Campos, myself, Taya Weiss, Phil Peggs, and Scotty Burns with some input from a couple of others. That'll take time. The system started by Chuck, Henny, Scott several years ago set the stage. However, the discipline has evolved. Other than the new PFC program, has anything new been introduced to instructional information? A recent example might be the person who is taught to cut away their wings when they're unstable. Hopefully some day, like AFF, the time will come to not have manufacturer ratings vs a governing body rating. We're far, far off from that happening, IMO. There is no doubt that for the time-being, Phoenix-fly and Birdman have the best of what there is currently available.

This is true, but there was quite a bit of momentum in hallway talks with several, to support an endorsement on a Coach rating. There was an RD willing to propose, and an RD willing to second. Whether it would have passed the full board, dunno. I will keep fighting to get manufacturers out of the "rating game" simply because they have one incentive; sell suits. The BSR will only work when there are injuries or fatalities, but as you point out, it does give some serious teeth to an s&TA, DZ0, or even casual jumpers when dealing with the "I have 50 jumps and bought a used suit on DZ.com" guy. It was a really powerful moment when the wingsuiters spread about the room stood up as one voice asking for this BSR. Thanks for all your input on the motion.

Putting my lawyer hat on: One of the things that I've never understood from a liability perspective is why the manufacturers are so eager to go out on a limb and give recommendations for experience levels. The moment they do that, they open themselves up to the possibility that some annoying fuck of a plaintiff's lawyer - following a wingsuit tragedy - will say, "well, the manufacturer said 200 jumps, the deceased guy had 210, therefore it should have been safe..." Everyone in this forum knows that it's way more complicated than that in reality to judge skill/readiness, but what will end up happening is that the waiver that is generated by the dropzone will cover the wingsuit instructor (maybe) but not the Wx manufacturer - it's not the same deal as the tandem rigs in that regard. And some little old ladies on the jury will read the phrase "Manufacturer X recommends that you don't begin wingsuiting until ..." as "It's safe if you begin after..." The little old ladies will then look at the dead guy's widow and orphans, and then they will financially kick the shit out of the "big, bad negligent" Wx manufacturer. Shitty risk management strategy on the part of the Wx manufacturers, if you ask me... Similar arguments can be levied at the manufacturers' instructor programs (if you have a program, you have a legal duty to police it to make sure your instructors don't suck, and are consistent in their training, etc.). [Which, by the way, was part of my thinking as to why a USPA rating made sense - it reduced the legal exposure of the manufacturers...] The Wx manufacturers with those programs have avoided that problem (so far) with a healthy dose of luck. But we all know that luck always runs out... -Skwrl Jeff, This was discussed to some length and intensity in the S&T subcommittee. If the acceptance of a manufacturer rating system was not part of the "package" with USPA, there was simply no way that we'd achieve concensus within the wingsuit manufacturers. Three manufacturers said they'd be thrilled as hell to had the rating system/procedures off to USPA. One remained steadfast, saying they would never agree to USPA managing the instructional aspects of wingsuiting. And it's true, the new BSR can leave the instructor (and student) at risk of punitive action in the event of an incident, but that in part, was the intent of the motion to generate a new BSR. We tried...

F-cubed/F3... Nice. cheaper, easier to ask manifest if they have FF coaches or flyers.

Only yesterday was I told that Birdman doesn't make underwear. I'd made a comment in a committee meeting that Birdman was all but gone, with their website focused entirely on jeans and undies. I KNEW I'd seen underwear during the bigway... [edit]You'll have better time hangin hang time in Birdman underwear. Their jeans do fit very well.

As one of the "handful" at the meeting; Tom took the bull by the horns (and dealt with the other kind of bull) very well. He was the first to step up in several instances. Although it's mentioned elsewhere, I'd like to publically thank Tom for his (several) safety and instructor-related motions and his willingness to openly discuss things. It should also be said that JP fought like a very calm, quiet dog, and he pointed out more than one inconsistency with certain issues before the board, one of which required an amendment the day following its passage. Always a pleasure to hang w/you, JP.

Because it uses two different imaging processes to record a still vs recording a video stream.

Looking for a few seconds of a night jump video, prefer something with an exit, solo is preferred. Please PM me if you have anything I can get access to.

Motion passed the Safety and Training Committee, now has passed the Board of Directors. Changes to USPA Basic Safety Requirements; Move to change section 2-1 Add minimum of 200 jumps for any wingsuit jumps. Motion Passed. It's official. It's now a requirement (no longer a recommendation) to have a minimum of 200 skydives before putting on a wingsuit. All wingsuiters present demonstrated a unified voice in this motion. Thanks to Tom Noonan for writing the motion on our behalf; it's the first change in the BSR's in a long time. Thus far, Taya Weiss and Zach Schroedel have presented on wingsuit judging mechanisms. Andreea will present at 6 p.m. We now have 3 members of the BOD who have taken an FFC in the past 6 months, and two others planning on it. Interest and support are growing.

SLC is closest, and as Millertime said, it's about 45 minutes if you drive fast. The shuttle vans from the airport have "45 minutes from airport to heaven." Hope to see you while you're in town.

I had close to 700 jumps on my 49.00 Conceptus tongue switch, and it would have lasted longer most likely, had I not bitten through it when I had a "bad" landing. Other guys at the DZ have had to return a Conceptus after around 1000 jumps, but Conceptus has been super-good about replacements. I like em', even if they do only last 1k jumps. That's pretty cheap, IMO.

Perhaps I should have said more, was intent on being "dry." With regard to Wenger's comments about "in haste," he was specifically referring to Style and Accuracy and "other things", not specific to wingsuiting. Regarding other subjects, a great evening for wingsuit discussion occurred with Taya, Phil, Scotty, JP, myself, Scott Campos, and members of the BOD. Hopefully great things will come out of it. Sushi and sake' afterwards sure was fun. This truly is the "Wingsuit Weekend" with all the various things before the board for our discipline.

In the initial session prior to breakout: "Motion to prevent USPA from endorsing/promoting any wingsuit judging method to the IPC" passed unanimously. Board openly recognized "contention within the wingsuit community" and Chair of Competition Committee admitted the committee has "acted in haste" in some situations. Several WX'rs are here, we'll see where the Competition Committee goes from here. Also before the board is more discussion on a USPA-supported wingsuit instructional system/program/recognition/SIM/syllabus of some flavor or another in some future point in time. Results from the USPA.org syllabus commentaries are in, and are being weighed. Thus far, that is the only WX related discussion, although it's likely there will be more in-depth and varied topics.