SkymonkeyONE

I was standing there next to the pond with my gear on, waiting for my round. It was a beautiful splash.

Kris you are killing me! I still really appreciate the deal you gave me on that PC-109, bro. For those not in the know, Kris showed up at Deland with like four wingsuits, but not enough money to skydive because of it! He totally hooked me up with a brand-new-in-the-box PC-109 he didn't need at the moment so we both came away happy and Kris was able to jump all he wanted.

I will be at that event. Actually, I will be moving to Z-hills in July and will run a course there anytime anyone likes.

Out of the two choices he asked me about, I told him to buy a FireBird if he was really wanting a new BirdMan wingsuit. A Phantom would be another decent suit at his experience lever if he were asking me about suits without back venting.

On that note, there might be a few people wondering why smaller guys like me would prefer the EXT over the "normal" Wings. Simple: the slightly longer (but narrower) container makes for less of a reach at pull time. I don't use the BASE pouch on my wingsuits and that little bit of extra length makes a difference.

I have already talked to Wade about it via PM, so he knows my recommendation.

Raeford Parachute Center, NC about 20 qualified wingsuit pilots with at least 6 or 8 jumping their shit every single weekend. Most people fly HP suits here (S3's, Vampires), but there are a few Phi's on the DZ and a couple of Classics of different vintage. Demo suits available in most sizes Two BMCI's and one other BMI on staff

***Does the jumper need to make three competitions in a given "home" district or can it be three competitions no matter where they are just as long as they competed in three sanctioned CPC competitions. I think it ought to be written that any competitor who makes any three CPC events in any district qualifies for the final event in Colorado. The CPC Carolinas district was an absolute bust this past year. Next to no participation and very few guys willing to make even the minimum amount of events. That said, there are a couple of really good swoopers who really want to compete. Guys who's work schedule has them travelling all around the nation (two GK's tandem team guys who swoop their asses off) and would have a much better chance at making the requisite three-minimum meets to qualify for Colorado. I would love for those guys (and two others from my old district) to have the opportunity to continue on. Chuck

I actually think that's a great idea, Mark. Seriously. Ultimately, if you want to do some pro events, Jim is not the only game in town. Go Fast is definitely a pro meet, as is The Ranch PSN and plenty of other "professional" money meets out there. It's semantics. I have no fucking idea what I am going to do this year. All I know is that I am moving to Z-hills in July and am going to have a blast busting some turns on that little pond.

That's a cool idea, Rob!

The Golden Knights bought a few suits and are going to be working on some "super diamond tracks" at Yuma this month (and next) to potentially add some spice to their shows. They are not doing any "tactical feasibility testing". Edited to add that any such "testing" in the US military would be conducted by the Airborne and Special Operations Test Board here on Fort Bragg. I can promise you there is simply no thought of any such testing over there.

Linked gainers are a fucking HOOT! The key is exiting simultaneously, while at the same time throwing your gainer at the same rotational rate. Keeping a bit of pressure to the outside will prevent you from pancake-smacking into each other mid-gainer (right Jason? Or was it the Professor? It was fun anyway, huh?). Perry and I did a couple of really nice ones at Palatka a couple of years ago, both of us with video.

Tactical wingsuit insertion is simply not efficient. You can't carry any load at all, and there is no possible way you are going to cover as much ground as you can on a HAHO stand-off jump. No, there is no branch of the US military testing wingsuits for any such purpose. Chuck

I don't really believe that, Yuri. While technical flocking is what I like most about the discipline, I still really like busting out long, fast flights. I believe a lot of others do too. "BASE-only" guys certainly don't make enough wingsuit flights to claim any performance dominance over guys that make 400 wingsuit skydives a year. While there are some phenomenally-efficient wingsuit BASE guys (out of neccessity?), most of those guys I know (and see on video) simply don't impress me with any out-of-the-ordinary flying skills when I jump with them. Certainly not any more than the average boogie flocker at Z-hills or Raeford. I think people that pigeon-hole themselves into thinking "it's my way or the highway" are really missing out on a lot of what is going on today in the discipline. I am not saying you fall into that category, bro, but there is a definitely perception by some of your cliff jumping compadres that they possess some magical ability to smoke "flockers"; it just isn't so. Every experienced wingsuit guy I know (there are a lot of guys with over 500 flights now) has the ability to do it all, fast or slow. The bottom end of almost every single flock I have ever been on turns into a "performance" race. While my S3 is definitely overkill for flocking, it's the massive range of the suit and the ability to really punch it out on the bottom during those races that keep me in such a big suit. Hell, that's one of the best parts of the dive in my opinion!

My dedicated wingsuit rig has a Sabre2 97 loaded at 1.8 in it. I have a Wings EXT wingsuit-modded rig with open corners, long bridle, and anti-twist d-bag. It's a great rig for what I use it for.

I have launched a shit-load of linked two-way gainer exits out of tailgates, but nothing larger. I have been in a seven-way, all-grip formation as well (an arrowhead), but nothing larger with all completed grips. Chuck

Just a quick post here (I am away from a computer for the next few weeks). Z-hills has a great wingsuit atmosphere. True, there are one or two people that hum it low on occasion, but that is not indicative of the general state of affairs. Chuck

I don't exactly understand your problem. Could you elaborate?

Jason is absolutely right here. I have positively encountered wind shear that rocked me hard side to side.

That guy definitely buzzed too low.

On shitty weather days me and the boys used to do "ten from two". Ten jumps from two grand. A penny more than two grand and we were launching four-ways. Chuck

Wingsuit jumps at Sebastian are the shit! Flying all the way in from out over the beach, then over the inlet, then to the airport is amazing. Chuck

I made a couple of jumps on the one Red sent to Joe Bennet at Skydive Monroe; it had a nice snivelly opening and flew nice. I think it was a 360, but I might be wrong. The Green Beret Parachute Club had one for about a year I think, too.

It might be possible that they have in the past or currently lease one or more of Paul's planes, but as far as I have seen, they use the old STI planes. STI became blackwater aviation a couple of years ago.

That dude is out of his mind. He very nearly dug the tail into that bank when he pushed the stick forward and pulled that half-outside loop to fly out of that configuration. Wow.