SkymonkeyONE

I generally get a full minute of freefall on 5000 foot "hop and pops" here at Z-hills. Nothing wrong with that at all. That's out of a big-doored Otter though. King Airs do have small doors though, and yes I have jumped out of them with wingsuits (at Monroe when that was the only choice besides a Cessna 182). Exit completely closed/balled up and stay that way until you see the entire plane in front/above you, then open your wings. Don't, for any reason, open your wings until you see the whole plane above/in front of you. PAC's aren't that bad either. We exit sitting three abreast in the door and just pop out, pivoting off our right palm. Later exiters pile out sideways and completely closed up till they are clear of the tail. There is at least one guy who posts here, Bobby Gill, who popped up and out and destroyed the tail of his suit when he hit the tail of a Cresco/PAC in Australia. Chuck BMCI-4

Perfect!

I don't think John or his wife jump at all anymore, Larry. I believe they settled in Hawaii though when Margaret took over as head of that hospital there. I haven't heard his name mentioned in some time by any of my Hawaii jumper buddies. Chuck Blue

Kurt was here in Z-hills today and I told him you were trying to get in touch with him. They are training in Avon Park.

Smart move, Bushman.

It's more overcast than anything. We have been flying loads most of the day here.

Another thing I would like to mention concerning "boogie" high altitude jumps: doing it while hungover. Doing a high altitude jump very-early in the morning after a hard night of drinking is a sure-fire recipe for disaster. If you can't be 100%, then just DON'T do them. Chuck

I don't do it ever, but I don't think it's a bad idea so long as you don't fuck around on your back and continue the BR until you are back on your belly. The reason we wave off is to give people above us "fair warning." If you are concerned that you are going to have people above you at opening, then perhaps you need to break off higher and/or work on your tracking technique. The only people that "get rained on" are the people who suck at tracking or simply don't track long enough. It's a survival skill that you ought to be practicing on every single skydive.

I know Aaron Stoccum is going over.

Speak for yourself, fool!

Just a few points here: -Army Special Forces/Navy SEAL/MarineSOC/AFSOC divers routinely dive closed circuit UBA gear and stay subsurface for over two hours (at less than 33 FSW). We purge our rigs of surface air and then enter the water. No big deal, so long as you do not flood your rig. We use 100% o2 in those rigs. -military freefall parachutists go on o2 prior to 10k feet if we are doing jumps between 13,000 and 18,000 feet. For exits above 18k we prebreath 30 minutes. Not 25k as Bill stated. AF pilots go on O2 at 10,000 feet and stay on it till jumpers are away and they are back below 10k. We pre-breath and exit on 100% o2 in the MFF world. Hell, there are people passing around walk-around bottles on "normal" MFF jumps from 12,999 and lower. More on chamber testing: Some people find that they have incredible tollerances for low o2 levels. Guys who live at higher altitudes. People who drink alot (oddly), and some other people. Individuals who are routinely tested (at least once ever five years these days) often play "king of the chamber" and see who can remain lucid the longest after unmasking. This is, of course, closely supervised by the phys-tech in the chamber with you. You are given some paper and pencils and asked to complete tasks. Some guys can't even write their name. Others stay off mask until forced to do so by the chamber safety/phys-tech. I was alway one of the last still functioning and forced to remask. It's funny to see others flip out or pass out very quickly. I really, really don't recommend participating in any high altitude jumps on less-than-kosher o2 systems if you have not been to a chamber. This video is a PERFECT example of what not to do. Chuck

That's a good looking plane! Nice tall door!

My Blade has not arrived yet, but I can tell you several things for sure: -The Vampire 2 is a wingsuit-BASE specific suit. It was not designed at all for skydiving. That is straight out of the inventor's mouth. It is not back-vented and they will never sell a back-vented Vampire. There are plenty of us who backfly Vampires just fine, but they do not inflate at all on their backs. If you want a proper backflying PF suit, get one of their other great suits which are designed for such purposes. If you want to go straight fast, this is a great suit. -The Blade is front and back-vented and is, by design, a high performance flocking suit. As many, many of us routinely fly around on our backs, I think this is the better suit for people like myself. I'll tell you all about it when it arrives. FWIW, my S6 flys as strong as my V1 and I get much better performance in it than I do a V2 in the flocking environment. I actually like the back-vented Phantom best out of the PF line. I believe there might be a few people in europe who have sufficient experience on both the V2 and Blade by now to make a reputable comparrison. Let's see what they say. Chuck

Thank god all of our new Tony demos are black!

Again: not accurate. While there might be ~35,000 people in the USA who still pay dues in our association, I don't think more than 50% of those people are "active" skydivers. That's the problem. Yes, you might get the numbers of dues-paying members from every country that has an association, but I don't believe for a minute that those numbers are accurate representations of how many people still actually skydive with enough regularity to be considered "active" or even "current."

where is a link to pics of the actual plane?

You are positively not qualified to jump that canopy. Chuck Blue AFFI/SLI/TMI

I can tell you exactly what went wrong. You were above 18k, you didn't pre-breath for thirty minutes, there was no proper supervision in the back of the plane (phys-tech), you were using shitty a shitty O2 system, and that guy who was all hypoxic was reason enough to take the plane down. It's this callous disregard for safety as it relates to proper O2 operations that is, without a doubt, going to get somebody killed soon. Probably not on one of these "once per boogie" King Air jumps, but on a world-record big-way RW jump. The systems currently in place on those jumps are positively LAUGHABLE by military standards. It's serious shit, people. Want to protect yourself from such danger? Carry your happy asses to the nearest USAF hypobaric facility and get yourself some proper training. SEE what your limitations are under proper supervision in a controlled environment before you go volunteering to fly slot on the latest and greatest jump with nothing but a nasal canula stuck in your factory diver and no pre-breathing whatsoever. I have had this conversation with PLENTY of big-way record guys and most just blow it off. Bill Von Novak gave a seminar on it at PIA this time, but unfortunately I was tied up elsewhere and missed it. Concerning that video: That pilot was dead wrong for not taking that plane down after that first guy started showing CLEAR signs of hypoxia. The fact that he was allowed to exit was just criminal in my mind. Unbelievable! Chuck Blue D-12501 MFFJM (among other things). No, you can't borrow my Gentex, mask, or O2 bottles. Buy your own proper gear.

I don't know where you live, but I have never been into a sewing machine shop, or large craft store that sells machines, that would not let me try whatever I would like on their demos. Is that an option for you?

I really like my Sabre2 97, but my wife sold both of hers and bought Pilots because she liked the way they flew better. The Safire2 is nice as well. My cousin Jay took one all the way across the pond at Rantoul on his first jump on the canopy.

This is not a Johnny Gates thread, guys. No, I clearly should have said "died", but you guys taking that as disrespect clearly don't know his camper sits two over from mine here on the DZ and that he was a friend (and fellow muff brother). Sorry for the wording. Holy shit. Sorry that's all you got from this report.

Outfuckingstanding

hackey on both rigs: no bridle/hesitation problems ever in over 1300 wingsuit flights. That said, I have seen two instances where weak throws have let to knotted PC/bridle.

I would be totally stoked if someone with KFC's contact info would tell her to put in a damn change of address form. She has at least 100 pieces of mail jamming our mailbox here at Z-hills.

I tell my students to get their knees up, legs out a bit, and toes up; just like barefoot waterskiing.