SkymonkeyONE

Oddly, I just happened to be in Deland when they had this"off the record" meeting concerning the direction of tandem certification in the USA. I had not heard such a meeting was to take place in Parachutist nor did I hear that anyone else had known about it when I asked afterwards. The people I know to have been involved in the meeting were John and Nancy from Jumpshack, Ted Strong, Bill Booth, Jim Crouch, TK Donle, Todd Spillers and several others on the S&T committe. When I asked one of those people the outcome of the meeting about two weeks later I was told that the main focus of the meeting was who was going to get paid and who was not. I was told that the manufacturers were not happy about losing their ability to collect their annual fee from their rated TM's (like they did prior to the end of the FAA exemption). I was told that they thought it was BS that the USPA was now collecting that $20 dollars every year. I was told that, in the end, what came out of the meeting was that people were going to have to pay BOTH their annual USPA rating renewal fee as well as the manufacturer fee , plus get their USPA rating in order to be "legal." I had e-mail conversations with at least two USPA reps who were there, but I am not going to mention their names here. I guess if you don't already have your USPA transition then you had better get with it. I know plenty of guys working at USPA group member DZ's as TM's who do not possess so much as a Coach rating. Guys with thousands of tandems. I am anxious to see what, if anything, happens to those guys. It's my guess that plenty of them will simply be allowed to continue on as they are now until they get ratted out by some outsider. Chuck Blue D-12501 AFF/SL/TM-I, PRO, S&TA, BMCI-4 Z-Hills.

Positively not. In the beginning of this "modern" wingsuit era, you could not make a wingsuit jump built by BirdMan unless you had 500 jumps....period. It was not until Rantoul 2003 that we lowered that number to 350 for the WFFC and then, the next year, lowered it to 200 jumps (within 18 months) if you were trained by a BMI and flew with them on your first flight. Yes, in the beginning you could send a guy with 1000 jumps a demo suit, the flight manual, and expect him to do OK. No, there was never a time when BirdMan would sell a suit to a guy with 100 jumps and tell them it was OK to go for it. The people on here that would tell you differently are mistaken and just repeating rumors. The great majority of those people also didn't begin flying wingsuits until long after the BMI course was established. In the beginning there simply were no suits "laying around" and for sale on the general market. The only way to demo one was to show up at an event where Jari and Robi were travelling showing off their creation. If you liked it, they would measure you and then get you a suit built. Again, for you people who simply don't know any better, structure is always safer than a lack of it. The BMI program was established, however haphazard at first (prior to 2002), to prevent incidents like the fatality in Kansas where a young college student bought a second-hand suit online, lent it to a friend who got zero training, and that kid subsequently went in in a tangle of lines and canopy. Oh yeah, the kid also had just over 100 jumps. I am simply over Glen's anti-establishment rants. I am not "the establishment". What I am is a life-long instructor with every rating available who just wants to keep people safe by offering them a proven, established way to get into the sport (including wingsuiting). I don't train 20 female Norwegian BASE jumpers with 30 jumps who offer me a blowjob and I don't train people to wingsuit with under 200 jumps.....ever. You fuckers do what you like, but get over your problem with "instructors" and people who actually do enough for the sport to acquire sponsors. You all sound like whiny bitches....seriously. Chuck Blue D-12501 AFF/SL/TM-I, PRO, S&TA, BMCI-4 Z-hills

This might surprise some people, but I think it's great that there is going to be a turbine closer to Opelika/Auburn/Montgomery. If the stars had alligned perfectly there would have been a -20 Twin Otter in Tuskeegee in March 2003. It would have made a ton of money (I would have assured it). Alas, it was not to be. There will never, ever be a turbine on that airport. Not for as long as my dad runs his business anyways. It's simply not his style. He is perfectly content to run a two-Cessna operation. No, you are not going to make alot of jumps at such a dropzone, but there ARE many, many benefits to jumping at such a "club" operation. If my dad, Buddy Blue, was in your ass it's because you either were a prick or you smelled like pot. He hates stoners and it's impossible to "out prick" D-597. If you show up, have an interest in learning, are not in a rush, and want to be a part of a "family" then it's a fantastic place. If you want to make ten jumps a day with newer gear and pay the premium that comes with "professinonal coaching" and all that stuff, then just go to Thomaston or any of the other larger, turbine operations. Again, I think it's cool that there is going to be a turbine closer to I-85 and that part of Alabama. And personally, I don't care who is running it. It's funny that they are setting up at Elmore County Airport! I made my 6th, 7th, and 8th jumps there on March 14th 1981. I landed right in a swamp just off the runway on my last DRCP under a 28' 7-TU and made my first freefall under a Papillon. The original sign that they used to have in front of the airport which read "Montgomery Skydivers" is still in my dad's garage in Opelika. A friend of his took it down when they closed the operation there many years ago. Chuck Blue, D-12501 AFF/SL/TM-I, PRO, BMCI-4, S&TA Performance Skydiving/Z-flock wingsuit school Z-hills, FL

You should have allowed multiple options in your poll.

It was done at least six years ago in Deland by Vladi Pesa and another person, actually.

Who's "they?" Macca got his BMI rating from me two years ago here at Z-hills.

Not accurate on all counts. There are plenty of female soldiers who are HALO and even HALO jumpmaster qualified. They are all riggers or support troops in various special operations units. Likewise, there are female military divers; just not female combat divers. Girls can also be fighter pilots and fly all helicopters, including the AH-64 Apache. Chuck PS: There is simply nothing cooler than launching a five way off the back of a C-17, C-130, or C-5 over NAS Key West (Boca Chica) and getting paid for it. I ran every single USAJFKSWC SL water jump and HALO jump to key west my last five years in the army. PPS: Kevin has some kick ass RC planes!

I watch it, but the writing is very shitty. They have some really odd dialogue. No, Grayson Fletcher cannot act; it's painful to watch him even try to speak. I don't think I have seen any surfing in the past three episodes.

Friday night is drunken whuffo kareoke night at Aviators for sure if you are going on jumper to whuffo average. That's cool though.

Scotty will post pics this week, I'm sure. There was some good flying there at the event. Tyler, you and DZ Tom were rocking it local-style. Excellent performances from both of you. Chuck

I made a shit-load of wingsuit jumps under a comptetion Cobalt 75. It was all good until the canopy got way out of trim and I almost went in at Eloy about four years ago.

SkyFest did not suck. "Hey Turtle, do you mind giving me a hand over here?"

Hey George, it was great meeting you! Thanks for the offer of a ride back to Hobby. Seen you next time. Chuck

What a great trip. I could not have asked for better hospitality from all of my friends there. Thanks particularly to Cyndi and Cory for putting all of us up in your tremendous house on Tuesday. Thanks to Clint for offering up the perfect place to stay at the boogie. Thanks to Jello J for many laughs. Thanks to all the other participants in the setting of the Texas State Record 22-way Flock. Thanks to everyone else who showed up. No thanks at all to mother nature for unleashing Noah's Flood on us late Saturday night/Sunday morning. The water was over ankle deep outside our camper Sunday morning! memorable quotes and memories: "The eagle has landed!" "Dude, Bigun is asleep on the couch again" -our friend "Tom McGowan" running into the camper, drop his pants and yell "I need some help here!" after being eaten alive by fire ants in the parking lot (after getting his car stuck in the mud) Chuck

And here is my advice: if you like the longer risers, but hate the tremendous reach to your slider, just get your shit relined with with longer lines (by Skyworks or someone else) to achieve the same, desireable, longer recovery arc. Chuck FWIW, i jump 22's and i am a pretty short guy.

Arriving today at 5:00!

I sat on my ass and watched three episodes of the "Kitchen Nightmares" show yesterday. I liked it. I like Hell's Kitchen as well.

Watch it, boy! Tony G will wipe the floor with your ass!

I am flying to Texas tomorrow for SkyFest and am checking both rigs, my camera helmet, and all of my jumpsuits on one bag. I have never lost anything on an airline flight, but I HAVE lost over $12,000 worth of wingsuits shipping them UPS. Fuck UPS.

For distance, the larger wing at a similar wingload (with weights) will ALWAYS go farther. For speed, a heavilly loaded smaller wing will get you through the course faster. For accuracy, any wing that you can shut down in 240 feet on your feet is best. I don't even touch my rears for zone accuracy. Others just do their same, gargantuan turn and move their setup back.

I recommend a "paper asshole" on your goggles. I don't care what any other "professional" tells you , this option is plenty fine for "work" skydives.

There is a female prison directly across the street from the miltary jump school in Honduras (not far from LaVenta). It's not uncommon for people to land withing the fence. There is also a fantastic Chinese restaurant called Don Lee's right next to the prison. Edited to add that there are very few things quite as funny as a Chinese person trying to talk to an american in Spanish. Chuck

Hurry the fuck up, kids. I will be back up there on the 20th of July.

I caught the "edited by Stinker" thing at the bottom, so you are fucked. I'll take a fine Jewish beer, fool.

In addition, I bet there are at least five people who post here that REALLY believe that I did, in fact, ruin their lives. Fuck them all and feed them fish heads. Chuck