fergs

Hey LeRoy, You back in the real world? I came home to Australia last year and love it. And the skydivin' is so much better. Come visit some time. Blue Skies, fergs

Ooh really?? Did you find a suit for me to use on that demo jump???? Please say yes. Please say yes! uh oh... I'm gettin the shakes again! It's all comin back!! Crack head bobby, Have just pm'd you. All is prepared for our wingsuit demos over Canberra this coming weekend. So go get the PM and call me. fergs

Nylon-crack-head-Bobby, OK, I've got a suit for you. Call me, f

Addict-bobby, more nylon crack awaits you over parliament .... so come play. f

Jarno, Great job! I'd dearly love to get a copy of the full version and am happy to pay for it. I was at the very first Herc boogie, in 1982. Haven't managed to make it back since - but the prospect of unbelievable wingsuit flights sure makes it tempting. Blue Skies, fergbird

Does anyone know if there are any official world records for: a. Distance covered b. Freefall time I'm interested to know. Thanks, fergs

Bobby, yeah, you missed a great meet - well, it's still going on at the moment. Next 'nox, I'll definately try and make it there for the entire 10 days of the boogie. Over my 5 days, we made some great flights - little flocks, medium flocks and were building to a new Australian record - which may have been done by now. We had around 6 to 8 new birdies in each morning class - and everyone made lots of flights. Awesome! Is your S-3 back from repair? Maybe we should plan a Picton day soon? Call me. Blue Skies, fergs

Can you post a link?

Although I only managed the first 4 days of the Equinox Boogie, I had 10 days worth of fun. Day 2, sunset load had one slot left, so I took it. We took off just as the sun was disappearing behind the horizon and then raced to 14,000. I was beside the pilot and so had a great view of the now-growing susnet all the way up. Run-in was 270 so we were running straight into it. It was one of those really pretty sunsets, with fingers of cloud across the face of it. I got out much shorter than usual - and spent the majority of the flight flying my S-3 directly into the sunset. The sunset seemed to swallow me up into itself. Wow, what visuals!! Wow, what a jump!! After landing I had huge goose-bumps for hours. Life is good! Spread the love! fergbird

I've had a zipper tab break on 2 out of my 3 Birdman suits. It's frustrating - such a simple seeming event needs the major surgery of replacing the whole zipper. fergs

I agree - the visuals are stunning. I jumped there at the world POPS meet in 97. Here's a pic of my mate making his first tandem. Brian is a paraplegic, but does not let anything slow him down. The day before he did his first scuba dive. In background, starting at top and going clockwise, you see Egypt, Israel, Jordan, SaudiArabia all wrapped around the Gulf of Aqaba. Aqaba itself is a nice place to get some local culture and good food. So I'd receommend this boogie to any one who can make it. Blue Skies, fergs

Have someone ever washed their wingsuit? Mine is kind of dirty (white wings) after beeing handled... and landed in hairy conditions

My BMI never had me sign a waiver. I never even knew there was one. That's it, I'm suing. They have a fantastic Waiver-From-Hell on their web-site. Wonder where it came from? hahahaha

Some of us don't get Parachutist. Can you scan the pics and post here? Thanks

Maaaan! I must have had it tough. Just completed a 10 year tour in Saudi. Last couple years we were jumping from C-130's and twin rotor choppers - jump prices, ZERO. And some of the C-130 loads we had 15 or 20 jumpers aboard. What a problem?! Now back in Australia. At least I get double bang for buck in a wingsuit. Many jumps I'm still in free fall .... watching canopies land (yes, they exited same pass). Blue Skies, fergs

If the low-life brings your suit to Australia - we'll get him!!! Blue Skies, fergbird

I'd say get a GTi - have 50 or 60 fun flights on it - decide to get your S-3, order it, tell all at the DZ you've done that - you'll have jumpers lining up to buy your GTi - sell it as soon as the S-3 arrives - then enjoy helping to coach whoever bought the GTi - flock lots with him/her - help him/her order their S-3 50 jumps later - and so on. Before you know it, you'll have a flock around you. My experience with the S-3 after over a 100 GTi jumps .... it can certainly bight you in the tail when not expecting it. I fear that if I'd bought an S-3 too early, I'd have gotten scared and thought twice about wingsuits. It's all about experience, confidence and performance. There's no magic in an S-3. It demands experience. This last weekend I was jumping with a guy who swears by his GTi. And his regular 3 minute flights are testament to the fact that a GTi can rock as good as the best of the S-3 flyers. Blue Skies, fergs

Hey Screech, Firstly, sorry about getting off track with that thread drift regarding the paintball stuff. Like all disciplines of the sport, some take jumpers by the scruff-of-the-neck and blow their minds. Other skydivers are not necesarily affected the same - and we should never assume what hits us in such a way will necessarily hit all others the same. The main thing is that you gave it a go! It isn't so important that you were not blown away by the experience. My only suggestion would be to make a few more flights. You now know you can do it and how natural it is. So subsequent flights will be more about enjoying the ride rather than having to concentrate on all the unknowns that you may have has prior to your first flight. Find some cloud valleys to fly up and around. Find a big puffy cloud to cruise casually around. Find some friends to flock with. Get close and talk together as you fly. Laugh and grin and enjoy. And then you'll have given wingsuits a real go!! Blue Skies, fergs

Hey Le Roy, Yep, that's exactly what it is. It's funny how in your mind you know what is needed - but just haven't "seen" it yet. So there I was down dumping toner cartridges from the office at the toner recycle place. I'd thrown all into the hopper and picked this last one up ... and just knew it was the solution. Melt a couple of slits top and bottom for the webbing to pass through ... small alteration to the S-3 leg ... a bit of thought on how to set up each end's opening ... and bingo. Plus it's still a recyclable product, and now awaits the next flight. I'll sure be happy for at least a portion of my own ashes going on their last flight in a similar way. Not for lots of years, I hope. But by then, who know's where wingsuit technology will be up to. Blue Skies, fergs

QuoteSo a boogie is being organized in order to be able to "calibrate" the airport? reply] Aren't you being a bit harsh on someone whose first language is not the same as yours. I'm sure the intended word is "celebrate". Don't worry, you're forgiven. Blue Skies.

We lost Darryl earlier in the year. After 16 years in a coma (motorcycle accident), his body finally said enough. Darryl had loved his skydiving and so when his father asked me to take him on a final skydive and spread his ashes in freefall, I accepted without hesitation. I had dispatched him on his first skydive all those years ago and so I felt honoured to "dispatch" him on his last jump as well. But in the time he’d been an active skydiver, the wingsuit was still far from the dreams and imagination of the skydiving community. So it was only fitting for his last skydive to also be his first wingsuit flight. It only remained to design a suitable method of successfully carrying out the flight. You may remember a while back, I posted a request thread for suggestions. Many were received with thanks. The final version is in the attached pics. It was basically a cylindrical container, open at both ends but a larger opening at the top end where it would present to the relative wind. The desire was to have Darryl’s ashes release slowly, much like a smoke flare. So the much smaller bottom opening ensured the rammed air would push the ash out in a controlled slow release. The container was attached to my outside lower leg, using webbing through a newly purpose cut keyhole in the leg of my S-3 and also fed through the LQRS tab-gaps. It was the opposite side from my pilot chute to minimire any chance of conflict at deployment. The design of the webbing straps also allowed for a quick release if necessary. The jump went well. Also on board was Darryl’s son Darren as a tandem passenger, who had a more conventional ash bag. Darren and I shared the ashes between us. Unfortunately the free-fall pics failed (well if the truth be known, two video cameras and a Neptune all failed on the jump – and Darryl’s family all swear it was him getting the last laugh), and so the actual ash release wasn’t captured. But they did indeed release much like a smoke flare. I know Darryl enjoyed his first wingsuit flight. The container was a success and I’ll be happy to share the design so we can improve for the next time one is needed. Blue skies, fergs

J-Bird is 100% correct - it was Bobby's leg wing that had the contact with the tail. His Tailplane4 pic clearly shows the impact marks. Bobby's leg wing is white on the front and blue on the back-side, so there is no room for any confusion here. So picture what happened here. He exited and climbed high instantly, despite his knowlege and practice on all previous W/S jumps regarding tail strike possibility. He climbed fast and high. This point is very clear from the frame by frame analysis of the video he shot on that jump. He climbed up and out to the left - and his leg wing met with the tail. He was instantly flipped over, simply be the energy caused by his leg wing self distructing. The video show this very clearly. Another inch or two higher and he'd have actually cleared the tail. But if Bobby had not climbed so high, there is the very real possibility of a disasterous result, caused by head or container impacting the tail. I know Bobby's primary reason for posting this experience is one of knowlege-sharing, for the benefit of all of us. He'll take any resultant ridicule or criticism in his stride, just so long as we all learn something from his experience. It's now important that we get this news out to all wingsuiters. His experience has made all of us who were there realise the very real danger at exit time of any side-door aircraft. This is a critical time of any wingsuit flight. We all have to get it right each and every time. So spread the word. Collapsed wings means all wings, fully collapsed on every exit (apart from a tail gate). Do not spread your wings until you are looking at the underside of the tail from below and behind the aircraft you just exited. Only Bobby's extreme skill enabled him to climb so far in such a short distance. Any less and we may be discussing a fatality right now, as well as loss of an aircraft. As an aside, it was indeed a beautiful S-3. I'm sure BirdMan will be able to restore it to it's original beauty. Blue Skies, fergbird

Yes helmet mount. I recommend boneheads GunRack. Keep the bursts down to less than four so recoil doesn't peel it of your head. You are going to have to develope your own bite/tungue switch for the trigger. I've got faith in you, skydivers are brilliant. Especially after a few drinks. YOU ARE THE MAN!!! Bonehead GunRack sounds like the ideal platform. It must be a new option, as I cannot for the life of me find it on their web-site. No matter, I'll continue the planning and designing on the basis that you can get me a prototype from Bonehead. Preferrably in that nice deep British Racing Green color. That should be a nice contrast color for the AK forestock. So the Bonehead with a Newton Ringsight will be the beginning of the solution. I'll adapt the firing mechanism for 3 round burst limiter to keep the neck in tact from the recoil complications. Lets see ... now I'll need you input here ... but feel the AK should be mounted upside-down on the bonehead. Better for visibility that way. Trigger mechanism can be as you suggest, a bite or tongue switch. Wow, a few little items to finalise the design and we'll have a real winner. You'll need to help with the final product costings - I'm certain we'll be swamped with orders in no time. Life is good.Spread the love! Thanks and keep up the good work. f

Looks like that cod piece is no longer optional Hahahaha, well it could be optional if it helps you fly stable - I find maintaining controlled on heading flights a bit difficult when firing on full-auto. Maybe I need to carry one in each hand - no, that would things at complicate deployment time. Any suggestions? fergs

Paint Ball gun? Ha - here's what I use. Wanna come play ... you bring your paintball gun and I'll bring my toy? I promise a fun few flights. Blue Skies, fergs