SkymonkeyONE

Looks like you have to pull two cables to release both sides of that slider (as opposed to pulling one center one on MEL's). Looks nice though. That's also more than Joe and MEL used to charge for theirs. I don't know what their current price point is though. Chuck

Have either you or Chuck jumped a Prodigy? Be safe Ed Sure I have, and I flew it fine, but that's not the point. My point was that I find it a much-less-balanced suit than the other suits I specifically mentioned. My other point was that I have seen several students (and one tremendously experienced wingsuit instructor) do front flips at pull time in the suit. My final point is that I still would not condone anyone flying ANY wingsuit before they had 200 skydives. For the record, we have a tremendous variety of wingsuits at our school in Z-hills and I, myself, show no preference whatsoever to any brand. We put our students in whatever suitable unit we have which affords the best fit. If a guy wants to jump a PF suit that we do not have in his size, we simply call Rob Jones and he drives the four miles from his shop to the DZ to drop off a suit. Yes, my favorite suit is still my S6, though I also routinely fly my Vampire. Chuck

A lot of what you said was spot-on, Kris, but I am going to argue with you when you say that "even a skilled pilot cannot fly a suit that is a few inches too long". Very few of us find a perfectly-fitting wingsuit to try when we are either first starting or as we progress and want to try bigger and better suits. Personally, I would rather fly a suit that is a couple of inches too long than one that is prohibitively tight and does not allow me to point my toes. I have flown both extremes more times than I care to count. My Vampire fits me much looser than my S6 (the Vampire was cut for Scotty Burns), but I still fly it fine, with no flappage. I can't completely "stretch it out", but it definitely does not flap. Proper leg/feet positioning prevents that. Conversely, I have jumped several "perfectly fitting" wingsuits that I could not get to stop flapping (a Phi and a GS1). Odd. Chuck

-Alsee Richardson (jumping at least 35 years) -James Givens from Fort Bragg, but jumps at Louisburg (jumping at least 20 years) -"Big Cecil" Malone from Fort Bragg. Retired from jumping a few years ago, but started at least 35 years ago There are QUITE a few black guys that jump at Raeford these days! Black doesn't mean anything to army guys, at least not in the units where I worked. We are all simply "green", regardless of skin color. The people who want to really live will all eventually make their way to the dropzone. Who cares what the other people do. Chuck

It would be much easier for me to tell you where to go if you indicated in your profile or your post where you live. Two places I know, for sure, that train 16 year olds are: Raeford Parachute Center in North Carolina and Skydive Opelika in Tuskeegee, Alabama. Edited to add that I can promise you that I have been involved in training over 100 students under the age of 18 to safely skydive in my 25 years as a JM/I. Chuck

I made my first skydive on January 24th, 1981 at age 17 on Moton Field in Tuskeegee, Alabama. That's a long time ago. Man, how times have changed! In that time I have scraped a lot of skin off of my feet (jumping in flip-flops) and legs, but the only bones I have broken have been two knuckles on my right hand. I learned on rounds and belly warts and landed in a swamp under my brand-new Pegasus (with two-pin Wonderhog) on my 12th jump. I remember test jumping 150 square foot canopies and having people tell me I was going to die and now wondering if I could get away with doing a tandem under a crossbraced 150. I have watched Burt Lancaster fly "the cape" in Gypsy Moths and now I have over 1300 wingsuit jumps. I have seen jumpsuits go from coveralls to very-floppy, to very-tight, then back to sort-of-floppy. I remember being forced into getting my SL JM rating with 100 jumps at age 19 and dispatching tons of new students at that experience level and thinking nothing of it. I jumped 18 years before I ever put an AAD in my rig and had no problem with that either. The skydives sure are better these days, but people were FAR more eager to take responsibility for their actions back then. Anyway, I am bored up here working a contract in Virginia and thought I would pass that along. Chuck

Caravan

I second all of that. Some of my least favorite exits are solo swoop jumps. PARTICULARLY out of Allouette's at meets and beach events. I touch my handles at least four times on every skydive anyway though. I reached my 26th year in the sport two days ago on the 24th of January. Chuck

This definitely needs to be in "general", as do all "death of skydiver" threads.

Dublin

That was fucking perfect, Harry! Very nice.

Good luck with that.

I had forgotten about that song. Nice...

I will give you my thoughts: -Personally, I would rather see an underqualified student jump an Acro, Phantom, Classic II or a GTi than a Prodigy. While its true you can drop the grippers and reach your toggles on the Prodigy, it's a terribly unbalanced suit. WAY too much legwing in my opinion. I have seen more than one person front-flip at pull time because they simply reached back without collapsing their legwing in that suit. One was Scary Perry! Out of a Helicopter at Palatka! At 1000 feet! Also, I have personally seen at least three instances where one wing came undone on a Prodigy mid-flight. Yes, even rigged correctly and after being JMPI'd by a PFI. It's for those reasons that I would MUCH prefer a person train on the "more advanced" suit. BM Classic II's and GTI's, PF Acros and Phantoms are FAR superior training suits in my opinion. I have never had a student front flip at pull time in any of those suits. They are simply easier suits to fly. The fact that you can reach your toggles in the Prodigy right at pull time, and the fact that it can be adjusted to fit a wider range of people does not make it superior in any way in my opinion. Particularly when compared to the other two rock-solid PF suits I mentioned. Ultimately, if you are going to break the rules, I would rather you do it in a suit that is far more forgiving of fuck-ups at pull-time. It's THEN that jump-number experience matters most. I base my opinion on the fact that I am an instructor first, and a flocker second. If you don't deal with students on a regular basis you really have no idea what goes on in the real world. That's no joke. Chuck Blue BMCI-4

Possibly the oddest poll ever. Come on, Kris.

Zach, your "Ybor" logon is clever, but we all got over that the next day after your drunken-ass found your car exactly where you parked it. You are now, and will forever be, "CAKE BOY". It's OK to get laid in the BirdHouse, but it's NOT OK to dump birthday cake on my pristine, brand-new pavers. Fucker! You are SO lucky my dog likes to eat flies! To Jason: Zach is a Z-Flocker who simply lives in Texas. Unlike the "other" Zach who is a "Texas Posse" guy living up in yankee land. CHuck

Some 0f my best memories are taking some new guys on first flights who just KILL IT right out the door and all you can do is look up at them and go "NICE JOB!" Like you, I also really love flying with the plane when we pre-arrange a dive after exit.

You left without sweeping the floor in the BirdHouse, mothefucker! If you send my wife her XP boot disk back I MIGHT consider looking for your computer power cord. CHuck

To pop up.

Well, the deal is, the family is going to have first dips at his remains. Rest assured, we here at Z-hills are going to have a massive fucking skydive in his honor at the first possbile opportunity. At 4:20 PM today, we ALL rallied around the pea pit had held a vigil for our asshole brother Johnnie. Yes, there might have been some nig-noggery involved, and there were certainly some good stories told. You simply cannot be sad for Johnnie. He went the way ALL OF US hope to go. Died tracking away. Sack of potatoes under his CYPRES-fired reserve. Landed next to Tony Suits. Plenty of folks tried to revive him, but with no luck. Any of us with a real outlook on life who have spent a ton of our lives involved in the sport could only HOPE that we go that way. Perfect. "Hey asshole" "What?" Count off!" "ONE!" Chuck

The french company making freefall deployable paragliders is Nerverous. Paraflite has apparantely bought a patent from them and is now marketing their "high gliding HAHO chute" as another name. I can tell you for a fact that four years ago the Nerverous main was free-standing. At the last PIA, I had a ParaFlite guy argue with me that it was not the same canopy. I laughed and told him I could prove where the overlap was. Chuck Retired Moderator

I would never PRO pack a canopy larger than 120 square feet. It's pointless, takes longer, and does not open any better. If you, when PRO packing, cannot lift the canopy off the ground and hold it at your hip while you flake it, you are wasting time. If you hold it over your shoulder or, GASP!, use a hook, you are really out of your mind. Chuck

NO, I think he might have actually meany unexperienced people. Those less jaded by what they might have heard, ets. Once again, I don't care who kicks ass in which suit. I just want to see someone who thinks they are "all that" put the caddywompus on some other blabbermouth. Bring it. I will have cheetos in the BirdHouse. PS: if you don't pay the rent in our teamroom, keep your shit out of it. Chuck

And that is the point. There will be many representatives/instructors/dealers from many companies who will be there in an "unofficial" capacity because their bosses chose not to spend the time and energy to put up a proper booth. If any of you want to speak to a BirdMan Chief Instructor at PIA at the event, feel free to come by the Tactical Parachute Delivery Systems, INC booth and talk to me. I will be there for the duration of the event and will gladly talk wingsuit stuff as long as you like. While BirdMan will NOT have a booth, nor official representation at the PIA, there will be plenty of us there who will gladly answer any and all questions you might have about the BirdMan line. Sincerely, Chuck Blue D-12501, BMCI-4

It's not a secret. Mine's on the way. I hope I like it.