SkymonkeyONE

My PC 109 is wierd about wanting to charge sometimes too. I just wiggle the cable or plug/unplug it over and over till the "charging" light comes on. It still shoots great video and it doesn't weigh anything. Chuck

Likewise. I will posititively not return a missed call from an unknown number either. Katie, on the other hand, would go nuts if she didn't do it. Chuck

If you have more than one tandem in a PAC and you try to put 16 in there then you are are going to be fucking miserable. Particularly if there are any wingsuiters at all onboard! The one we have at Raeford has straddle benches (they come stock). I have never, ever seen anyone try to sit on the floor between the two benches up front.

I don't think the PM organizers are coming this year. Blues, Ian Uh, both Tammi Carbone and my wife, Katie, are PMS regional delegates.

Seriously? I change mine when it looks nearly ready to break. I have never had one break in freefall; only while closing the rig. I have gotten over 500 jumps out of a closing loop before. If you are not ripping out your pull-up cord or packing tool you will generally not do any noticable damage to your loop.

Fine, then in that case I would simply ask "how much hassle are you willing to deal with at pull time in that environment?" If I were going for that maximum glide and wanting to hum it "Robi low", I think that too much more rigidity than what's being jumped right now would be a real problem. I don't really think there are a lot of BASE wingsuiters out there who are, seriously, in need of "more glide to survive". Chuck

I think we are doing a fantastic job right now. As it is, there are very, very few wingsuiters regularly flying their high-end suits anywhere near their maximum potential. I would really like it if the average forward speed would increase on flocks and, consequently, the vertical speed to decrease. Without that, it's truly pointless to flock in big suits when a Firebird/Phantom/S-fly is fine. I am about to have a smaller Acro-type suit built for day-to-day flocking and cutting up; quite the opposite of what you envision the discipline going to. Chuck

Those are fantastic!

The only stiffening in modern wingsuits is chord-wise. There is no span-wise stiffening as that would prevent you from shutting down your wings. Also, none of the stiffening (mylar) in any of the high-end suits on the market hamper a person from flexing his body in any way they deem fit. This, of course, comes at the price of prematurely wearing out the mylar stiffeners currently used. As has already been stated, the term wingsuit indicates that it is still basically a cloth garment; not a rigid wing. The skeleton-as-frame analogy was perfect. I am not quite sure what you meant with your "pretentious" comment towards Tonto. Care to ellaborate? Chuck BMCI-4 (among other things)

that was his exact problem, Scott. I just don't think the gloves make sense for a "learner" suit. Still, Jeff has trained an aweful lot of people here on Tony's webbed suits. There are some guys here that positively rule the sky in their webbed, big-wing suits (Fat Scotty Burns is an example), but they are experienced wingsuit pilots. I think the added control offered by the webbies is tangible, but at the price of lessened "feel" at pull time. None of the Lady Flyer models have webbies, nor do any of Jeff's designs. I think if Tony were to make the inside-of-palm side of his gloves out of doe skin (tackified would be even better), then that would really help to persuade guys like me that the benefit of the webbies outweighs the pull-time inconvenience. I just know that the 200 skysurf jumps I made in webbed gloves really bugged me. Chuck

The fact that I got sponsored by PD in 2003 (and have not recieved any support since then) has no bearing whatsoever on what I post and how I moderate this forum. I get the exact same crap in the wingsuit forum due to my relationship with BirdMan. PD was not my first canopy sponsor, but you never saw me talking smack about them when I had that other sponsor (Atair). I challenge you to show me one single post made by me where I had anything critical to say about Daedalus canopies. On the contrary, I have made plenty of posts where I said that I liked the design. It's simply not my style and it's counter to my duties as a moderator to choose sides in an internet "brand war". Jump what you like, bro, but please stop it with the conspiracy theory talk. By the way, my Velo was built in 1999 and I am still totally happy with it's performance. As I am positive I will be paying full-price for my replacement canopy (I am old and haven't competed lately, so I am out of favor sponsor-wise), I can tell you that it's going to be another Velo 84 with 340 Technora (by MEL). You guys jump what you want and I will stick with what I like. Chuck

I didn't say anything about "loving" Bonfire, bro. What I said was that I thought more people ought to take advantage of the topical forums. I think there are a lot of people who post to both of those forums mentioned who ought to get off their asses and actually skydive. You, of course, do not fall into that category. Chuck

The only reason to be invisible on here is to prevent people from seeing whether or not you are online. Lots of people lurk, but don't want others to know they are doing so. If you are posting, then you might as well be "visible" Whether your stay "invisible" or not, people can still click onto your profile and see the last time you were online.

Nope, Ron. In a perfect world the majority of people would take advantage of all the topical forums on here. The great, great majority of my posts are to those forums. I still like Bonfire, though, because it's a decent venue for people to chit-chat.

Huh? That means that I failed to pull over to the side of the road for the police car after he turned on his flashing lights in an attempt to apprehend me. You are supposed to yield to all emergency and police vehicles if they are running their lights and siren; it's a safety thing. Likewise, if they are behind you, you are required to pull over. I did not do that, as I found it prudent to simply run from the law. The motorola won the race though and me and my buddy both went straight to jail when they put up a roadblock. The police were not impressed. This was labor day weekend 1987 and I had a 1985 Corvette back then. Back on topic: As Billy has yet to be convicted for the NC offense, I am not sure how that will play out in his manslaughter charges in FL. Chuck

No, none of those guys are pulling on their backs. And, for gods sake, I hope there aren't any BASE guys doing that either.

My S6 took about ten weeks, but then again it got lost in post and returned to Finland for some reason.

Another thing about the NC charge: refusing to blow simply suspends your state driving privileges for six months. That in no way guarantees that the state of FL has a reciprocal agreement that prohibits him from driving back home in FL. I know this from personal experience, having lost my NC privileges for three years (speeding 157 in a 55, wreckless driving, willfull speed competition of motor vehicles, failure to stop for a blue light, speeding to avoid arrest), I only got three points on my AL license and no suspension for that offense. That was the limit of the reciprocal agreement in that case of (sober) stupidity. They could not take an NC license that I did not have and they could not prohibit me from driving in any other state on my AL license. Chuck

I ought to caveat my post by saying that I have some very firm opinions on certain subjects (particularly religion). I don't care to debate them with anyone as I have reached my conclusions and base my beliefs on my own experiences with different religious denominations over my life. I don't push my beliefs on anyone and I sure as hell don't want people trying to push their views onto me. I got enough of that from my snake-handling, tongue-speaking mother's side of my family years ago. I hope that makes sense. I, seriously, don't ever like to talk about shit like that. Chuck

So I married a vagina murderer

Jesse who? Jesse James? That's funny. Jesse has had his place raided several times for drug offenses. He does (or did, at least) a lot of meth. His life, and that of Billy Lane, are pretty much the same as far as I know. If you are going to play, you are going to eventually pay. Living in the limelight sure doesn't help matters. Chuck

Clay is a fucking mess! The boy ain't right!

I don't. I don't have time to ponder things that don't directly influence me. I would, seriously, rather push a lawnmower around all day long than sit and discuss politics or religion with anyone for more than about one minute. I don't like to get into philosophical debates. I guess there are people out there who get their kicks with such stuff, but I am not one of them. I would rather drink like a viking! Chuck

I recommend squeezing all the goo out and using it as a soup base. Yummy!

Nice! Welcome to POPS!