SkymonkeyONE

I, for one, am terribly happy that Tony decided to finally allow the creation of a "proper" manufacturer rating for his suits. I told him he needed to do that YEARS ago when he started seriously building suits. I offered to train all of the main TS people the BMI course free of charge back then and gave my course materials to Jeff so that he could have a base document to go off of. No Tony program was created, but Jeff sort of started a "WSI" rating thing and I was totally cool with it. ANY program is better than no program at all. All things come from something. All wingsuit instruction evolved from the original BM FFC. That document was re-written by myself and Scott Campos in, what? 2001? The original PF Coach course was a very-close derivative of that BMI course. the PFC course was re-written much later by DSE and Jarno. Wingsuit instruction (it's NOT coaching if you are teaching a new skill) is not rocket science. So long as your FFC teaches the task in a systematic manner from where you first meet the student, checking his qualifications, checking his gear, choosing a proper suit, rigging of that suit, pre-jump actions, in-plane actions, exit, flight plan, proper body position, then opening and post-opening procedures, and "unusual attitudes/ emergency procedures" then you are gonna be fine. There's a hundred ways to skin that cat, but so long as you cover all that info then your ass will be covered. This, I think, is particularly important to manufacturers. Back in the halcyon days of BirdMan wingsuits, NOBODY got to jump a suit without signing the waiver. You could jump the suit without "formal" instruction if you had over 500 jumps, but it was definitely not recommended. I'm an examiner/ instructor for every suit manufacturer that's had a program up until now. I"m all about training. I'm stoked that Tony Suits has created an in-house program. It's just smart business. Chuck Blue, D-12501 BMCI-4, PFC/E, S-Fly I, EG-I, etc, etc, etc.

I have seen exactly ONE instance where a jumper lived through a one-man downplane. It was a military HALO jump on St. Mere Eglise dropzone on Fort Bragg. The jumper was doing a combat equipment jump out of a UH-60, never got stable, and pulled just as his FF2 military AAD fired. The guy never even noticed his reserve trailing behind him until like 800 feet when it came out of the freebag, inflated, and turned down. The guy didn't know what was up and pulled full brakes on his MC4 main which put him into a sort of 45 degree "drag-plane" configuration with his rucksack dangling below him 200 of us watched the whole thing and we were stunned when he stood up after the crash. The only thing that saved the guy was the fact that he was in superb shape, had TWO 370 square foot canopies over his head (sort of) and the fact that he had his main toggles burried. No, it's never too late to chop a downplane, period, assuming the canopies are NOT entangled BUT, there's a better what to deal with it. CRW demo guys have known forever that it's very easy to transition from a stack to a side-by-side, to a downplane and then back to a siide-by-side. There is no reason an individual jumper cannot do the same in a two-out situation when his/her life depends on it. In that case, (assuming entangled canopies that one cannot cutaway) the jumper has the rest of his life to keep BOTH canopies over his head until landing/impact in order to survive. It's not that big a deal, really. To do so, just pull on the inside-rear riser of one of the canopies in order to get it back overhead. I've been jumping 31 years, have been an instructor for 29 of those, and do this full-time. I've read every book, every report, and have seen both the good and the bad ways to address this. Take that advice anyway you like. Chuck

In general, a good plan. Here's the bottom line: -if you have a two-out situation then you are generally well below your decision altitude (on civilian AAD's anyway). It's ALWAYS your fault if you have two out. I challenge anyone to show me evidence of a two out situation above 2500 feet. -if you have two out the FIRST thing you must do is determine if your two canopies are entangled AT ALL. If you were tumbling when you threw your PC and your AAD fired then it's entirely possible that you threw your PC through your deploying reserve risers or that your reserve PC fired through your main risers. -if you can POSITIVELY determine that your canopies are NOT entangled, then the smartest thing to do is pull on the LEFT rear riser of the LEFT canopy with your LEFT hand in order to separate your canopies and cut away. If your canopies are flying straight ahead in a stacked formation and not giving you any problems, then feel free to ride it in using small inputs with the front canopy or small corrections with the inside riser of the inside canopy in order to turn. I can't believe that there is anyone out there teaching that it's smart to unstow brakes in this situation.. -if your canopies are entangled in ANY WAY, then it's NEVER OK to cutaway and you have the rest of your life to keep both canopies over your head until landing. If one dives away and starts to down-plane, then pull on the inside rear riser and get the canopy back over your head. You will NOT walk away from a downplane under sport canopies.....Period. You cannot cutaway from entangled canopies in a two-out scenario.....Period. The old GK two-out testing was a great project back in the day. Mike Mayo ran it. All of that was done on Fort Bragg behind a truck on the 82nd parade field. There were not any tests done in that project where the canopies were deployed through the risers of the other canopy though, nor were there any tests done where any of the canopies were intentionally setup in a line-twist. When I was a young instructor and dual squares became a possibility, we always trained that it was NEVER OK to chop if the main was flying in front of the reserve in a two out "stack" configuration because it would most likely entangle with the reserve, but it WAS OK to chop if the main was in the rear as it was unlikely that the main would entangle with the reserve flying up front. Oddly, it was not uncommon at all for very-experienced jumpers of that era to do "canopy transfers" when there reserve repack was due. They would fly into the wind with their fully-functioning mains, dump their reserves behind them, then cutaway just as the reserve caught air Who thinks that's a joke? It's not. Chuck Blue, D-12501

The Alti-2 company is VERY good about doing repairs and replacing faulty altimeters. kat and Roger used to travel the boogie circuit doing chamber tests and replacing lenses, etc. As far as I know, their analog altimeters are all have a lifetime warranty.

JIm was an odd cat, but I did like meeting him at WFFC a few years in a row. Sad to hear of his passing. Chuck

Positively not

what the fuck is a "top center mounted" gopro?

No, bro. I was talking about the one before, at Raeford, just before Jari came and visited us. I landed in the field right across the street (near Sheck's) on this one. You are talking about the second one at Eloy. Thanks for bringing that back up though.

"mountain dew motherfuckers" You made my day Chuck

Me too, because I HAVE had to use the secondary cutaway system twice on jumps where my zipper jammed/ broke in the "zipped" configuration. To the guy who was asking whether or not I have had to use the secondary release in order to safely control my canopy, the answer is definitely "yes". Years ago, maybe 2001, I opened into a spinner due to a brake fire. I counter-steered in the harness and went to unzip. My left arm zipper jammed/broke and before I could get to my secondary cutaways I was already VERY spun up, so I chopped. My reserve opened up to a couple of line twists, I could not reach my toggle on my left side, and I pulled my secondary cutaways then got out of the twists. I got it totally sorted out at like 800 feet. Not having QUICK and EASY access to my secondaries might have totally fucked me. I don't think I'd consider ever making mine more difficult to access, but what do I know, right? Chuck BMCI-4, PFC/E (among other things)

They notice him because he wears tight shirts. Somebody made a point about people wanting to "raise hop and pop altitudes' for swoop comps. Do any of you remember the genesis of why that is? Prior to competitors routinely jumping RDS in meets, we all exited in passes of four broken down by (generally) by team and in wingload order from highest to lowest so that nobody "stacked up" and got cut off. Being able to maintain stack discipline is a basic skill that anyone competing ought to be able to manage. Once RDS systems started showing up more and more in competitions, some people with heavier wingloads (and RDS systems) where whining that they ought to be able to exit last because they took so long to remove, roll-up, and stow their shit. It became a problem in meets because then, after getting their shit stowed, they would encroach on the lower-wingloaded guys who had already set up the stack and then people would bitch because they got "cut off" or "couldn't get to their turn initiation point due to traffic. Whining and rejumps followed. Once pretty much everyone on the Pro-side of the events started using full RDS in competition then the exit problems SHOULD have ended as peoiple then SHOULD have started exiting in wingload order with no exceptions. It's definitely not rocket science: on a pass of four the first guy takes like a ten second delay, second a bit less, third a bit less, and the last guy out dumps out the door. THAT is how the stack sets itself up. It's your job as a competitor to maintain stack discipline and land in order without hosing your buddies. Did it fix it? Nope. People still bitch(ed) because they all want to dump straight out the door and have the most time possible to stow, wait for everyone else to get out of the way, then get that perfect setup. Lots of buddy fucking going on because people are afraid to take their canopies on a ten second delay.....Odd. I cannot imagine that any promoter is ever going to talk a DZ into dropping down to two a pass to decrease traffic. Two reasons: gas costs and the amount of time it would add to the event. I also seriously doubt you are going to get a DZO to give you more than five grand for hop and pop prices. Jesus, I can't count the times at meets where we got 4000 feet and just had to get it done. Chuck ECPA/PPPB/PST Pro (1999-2005)

So I'm guessing you've never broken an arm zipper...I have and I was very happy to have those secondary cutaways. Your head is not in the right place, bro. Chuck

I'm just gonna throw this out there: I was running the BirdMan booth one year at the WFFC teaching FFC's and Organizing. Bill Von Novak was there as well organizing belly groups. On one of those loads he had an "experienced/ Licensed" jumper in his group who got on his back and was spinning out of control almost immediately after exit. He had to fly down, do a spin stop, and roll this person over. Was he supposed to simply let the guy ride his CYPRES in on his back? I don't think so. I guess that doesn't apply to this thread, though, seeing as how Bill is an AFFI. Still, If I were in that same situation and did not have a rating I would have still done everything I could to help that guy out. Oddly, I had nearly the exact same thing occur on a jump I organized at my home DZ. I put together a one-point 16-ish-way skydive for a guy's 1000th jump. He blew the exit, got on his back, and was spinning out of control until I flew down, spin-stopped him, and flipped him over. I'm an AFFI, but I was far from the only guy racing down there to fix this problem; I was just the first one there. NEVER assume that just because someone is off of AFF that they are immune from such things happening, even with 1000 jumps. Chuck Blue, D-12501 AFF/SL/TM-I, PRO, PFC/E, S&TA

Agreed. +1 It's a risk you take when you choose to wear a helmet. I, for one, am sick and tired of seeing wingsuiters with big, stupid gopro-equipped booms all over their shit so they can video themselves.. Chuck

That was outstanding work, Scotty! Remember when Nebelkopf docked on my tandem (in freefall) in his wingsuit at Z-hills?

I believe that both sides would benefit from a more professional business model with set standards and clearly-defined contracts with their employees, vendors, and concessions. Unfortunately, the "good old boy" system, "handshake deals" and rampant nepotism seem to be the standard at many old-school operations. Others would argue that this system has worked for so long that they simply don't care to make any changes. Chuck

I totally agree, TK. The GREAT majority of people jumping ANY crossbraced canopy don't have any real business doing so and would be way better off with a Sabre2 or a Spectre.

no cameras till 100 jumps. Funny guy Yet you ARE sporting that gangsta-ass Rockstar ....I bet you've got a lot of energy.. Personally, I like that chrome visor. I'd have serious doubts about it's durability though.

I don't see any problem with that setup at all. I've been doing this since "this" existed in the USA.

I've got over 2700 wingsuit jumps and I have an RSL on my wingsuit rig. I"ve chopped two BAD spinners with it and I have not had a problem. Still, I brief both the pros and cons of it in my FFC's. If I had a Skyhook rig I would ALWAYS use it; I do not. With or without an RSL one of the things you MUST try to do prior to cutting away a main is take your legwing out of the equation. I ALWAYS teach to hook the ankles and break at the knees and try to throw yourself back onto your belly prior to pulling the cutaway handle to help prevent doing a gainer. With a "regular" RSL there is the chance that you could backloop through your deploying reserve risers if you chop from a spinner that has you on your back with your neck tied down. Personally, I throw my knee into the direction of the spin, hook my ankles, then chop. YMMV, but I doubt it.

EXCELLENT choice, Willem!

SOLID!!! I didn't realize you were also in that club, TK. Me and Eric Butts will have a toast to that this afternoon. Greetings from Skydive San Marcos. Chuck

Maybe the world champion will get one now...

have you disassembled the MLW friction adapters ever for some reason? If not, and you know they are correctly assembled, I recommend loosening them up and cleaning the hardware on ALL SIDES with some alcohol to wipe off any oils that might have accumulated. My legstraps used to slip a lot when I was jumping in Arizona and I had to really stay on top of it and keep them clean. Chuck

That's some funny shit, Dave!