SkymonkeyONE

getting your head back on my chest will do a number of things: It will promote a good arch into the relative wind It will help prevent you from bashing your head into my chin and giving me another scar there when you decide to throw your head back after we exit.

Mean Jeanne! Check it.......out.

We will very-likely not take any sub-500 jump skydivers on first flights. We jacked it up to 350 last year, but still had people flying all over the place.

That's one of Scott Campos's rigs. Mike, did you take any pics of my tandem rig before you sent them to me? I don't have any to post.

Of course you log it. Of course you also log all your freefall time as a Tandem Instructor.

I adjust both my legstraps and my chest strap prior to boarding the plane, but always readjust my legstraps when I stand up on jumprun prior to exit. This a product of the importance of like-adjusted legstraps under sub-100 square foot mains. I don't really make them tighter, I simply ensure that they are equal left and right.

Actually, we had more than seven people in the air on the same flock on more than one occasion at the CSS Easter boogie in 2000. I got my first suit, a GTi, at that boogie. Chuck BMCI

do a search on water landings in this forum and you will find the very thread in which we discussed water landing procedures. I would do it, but I am too busy working in the other forums right now. Chuck

I just read Speaker For The Dead again after a very-long time and yes, it drags along for most of the book. The original, Enders Game, has long been on the "to read" list at many military leadership schools.

I have never chopped my velo (or any other supposedly spin-prone PD canopy) due to linetwists. It has gotten around twice on me on two occasions, but I was always able to kick out because I made sure my links were on the same level and threw a big kick in the opposite direcion immediatly after I saw it happen. The only irrecoverable linetwists I have ever had were under an out-of-trim Cobalt in a wingsuit.

Your brake lines are too short for that application. If you use your front risers to dive, then you need to be able to pull both of them down all the way to your chest with no deflection of the tail. This, of course, means that you are going to have to utilize a longer toggle stroke to get your canopy the same degree of "stopping" power that you previously had with the tighter brake setting. I, as a rule, fly all of my canopies with very-loose brakes as I routinely use my front risers for diving prior to landing. BTW: I jump a Sabre2 97 for about 33 percent of my skydives these days. It's my wingsuit main.

I don't know about "without a single broken line", but I know for a fact that Stephan Lipp at Eloy put 1600 jumps on the original Vectran lines on his Velocity. This was discovered last Christmas at the holiday boogie by Kolla.

Actually, the wingsuiter, Jeb Corlis, was not working hard at all to get there. His body position was very neutral in that scene. If he hasn't already, I wonder why he just didn't go ahead and take the dock on Luigi. Chuck

Right, Glen. Just like last year, there will be no one allowed onto an aircraft without the "BM" or "WS" on their wristband. Likewise, the manifestors, we hope, will point wingsuiters towards the aircraft flying the outboard jump runs. We ran into more than a couple of problems last year which we hope to not repeat this year. With more than one suit manufacturer in attendance (this assuming JP will be representing Matter at the convention), we need to all share in the responsibility of keeping ourselves and our flocks in the right airspace. I look forward to some truly magnificent end-of-day flocks. Chuck BMCI

We are not sucking in our wingsuits. The flock is immense now. If last year's WFFC was any indication of things to come, I doubt there will be a single tailgate aircraft that leaves the convention grounds this year without a wingsuiter on board. With this increased activity comes more individual navigational skill responsibility. The ability to exit as a group and stay in that group becomes paramount in the large-boogie scenario. Head-on collisions between flock members (or entire flocks) would be very ugly. Expect very-structured briefings every morning at the convention and be prepared to stick with whatever flight plan we come up with. I am running the BirdMan (Incorporated) booth/tent at the convention this year and I will be giving the seminar on whatever evening it falls this year. Other certified BM-I's who wish to gainfully employ themselves are more than welcome to help out. PM me for details. Chuck Blue BMCI

That is a fantastic video. Very-well put together. Props to Luis.

Anyone attending this course please PM me so that I can get a good idea of how much material I need to bring. I will be arriving very-late Friday evening or very-early Saturday morning in Cullman. Chuck

One weekend last year a group comes in and wanted to do tandems. It may have been a family reunion or something, but man were they all TALL!. Anyway, the sort of "alpha" female of the group finds out she is jumping with me and goes "why do I have to jump with the SHORT man?" Everybody busted out laughing in her group, so I just played off it and started cutting up with them. She was very, very humble when we stepped out the door of the otter and was incredibly happy when I stood her up right in front of the beer line. All her buddies on the load with us got ass-surfed across the DZ. She sent the DZ a very nice thank you letter after they got home. Also incredibly happy was the great big guy I jumped last weekend. Six four/five and 283 pounds. Nobody else was light enough to jump him, but I didn't even blink an eye. We landed softly in the pea pit and I have to tell you, this guy was incredibly thankful. He said it was the thrill of a lifetime and that he was anxious to lose some more weight so that he could start student progression. Working at small, country-type DZ's, you get at least ten people per year walking through the door who have not only never jumped, they have never been in an airplane of ANY type. If it's the middle of the week, then guess what they are jumping? Yes, the 1957 C-182. I get great satisfaction out of taking those people up and explaining everything about the operation of the aircraft, showing them the sights, then taking them on their maiden skydive. Chuck

As both Rob and Beezy Shaw jump them ALL the time, I believe them to be the best sources of information on the subject. It helps that they have both been jumping over 20 years and work/worked in the industry. They both love the system and I have seen video from both of them. If I had a camera smaller than our PC-120 I would be jumping one as well. Chuck

Gary, anytime a student (anyone who does not possess an A license) shows up on my doorstep and has not made a jump in 30 days, I am going to put them through a refresher and then repeat the last jump they successfully completed. The only caveat to that would be that I would not make a student repeat an AFF Cat A (old level 1) if their logbook showed that they passed that skydive. I am not letting go of them on a Cat B anyway, so I see no reason to not let them do that skydive. Chuck AFF/SL/TM-I, BMCI, PRO

Do a search in Safety and Training or in the video forum and you will get plenty of ideas. I think we covered this about a year ago. HERE is the thread in S&T. Chuck

Alti-2 has fantastic customer service and the free product servicing they do at boogies is brilliant. Chuck

There was generally a stopwatch and an altimeter mounted on a tin bracket which affixed to the top of your belly-mount reserve.

Biker bars abound in Fayettenam and there are also several places for pretentious yuppies (ITZ, Broadstreet). The problem with North Carolina, though, is that unless the establishment does half their business as food sales, then they must be a private club with a three day minimum in order to get your card. Without a card, one must either have a friend sign them in or beg a stranger. I am sure there are people on here who have memberships to anyplace you might want to visit. Chuck

Right. I seriously don't give a shit about any of the techie crap; I am in it for the social flocking aspect of it. I enjoy doing a little aerobatics, but not solo. I never jump my wingsuit solo.