fergs

Linda, 1. fro ALT: I believe Squeak was saying "from altitude" - (right squeak?) 2. Oz: well it's not that we Australians are lazy when we speak - it's just that most of us speak so much and at such a high speed that we must abbreviate as much and as often as we can. "Oz" is short for "Australia" ... Oztralia - get it? So don't blush - just get with the flow. Blue Skies, fergs

Here's one of those new-experience things ..... I dropped into Picton (south of Sydney) for a quick one on Sunday afternoon (had been in Syd to see Lion King on stage and was on the way home to Canberra). It was virtually solid cloud base on exit - but a tiny little hole was off to one side, only half a mile or so away - so I flew towards it thinking I'd nail it and fly through - but almost immediately as I banked over a few seconds after exit from line of flight and headed to the little hole, a circular rainbow appeared just to the side of it. Yep, you guessed it, I changed course ever so slightly and nailed the rainbow, gliding straight through its' centre. Man, I literally got goose bumps as I went through. For sure, that was a once-in-a-lifetime wingsuit flight. Wingsuits rock!! Those traditional skydivers who choose just to fall will never know what they're missing. fergbird

Hi Linda, Well I’m confident you’ll enjoy Western Australia. Main problem with “the west” is that it’s so far from the rest of the country – but at leat they speak the same language. Southern Skydivers is around 2 and a half hours south of Perth. Many good things in the area, but the most important thing outside of the DZ is that it’s surrounded by wineries. You’ll enjoy!! They have a 182 and a Britton Norman Islander. I haven’t jumped there, but I believe it’s a pretty fun place. Other Western Australian DZ’s below. If you come over East, give me a call / email WA DZ’s: FREEFALL CLUB - DZ Located at DALE RIVER. HILLMAN FARM SKYDIVERS INC. - DZ Located at HILLMAN FARM. KAMBALDA SKYSPORTS - DZ Located at KAMBALDA WEST. SKYDIVE EXPRESS - DZ Located at YORK. SOUTHERN SKYDIVERS - DZ Located at BUSSELTON REGIONAL AIRPORT. SPORTING SKYDIVERS CLUB OF WA - DZ Located at VARIOUS. THE PARACHUTE CENTRE - DZ Located at DALE RIVER & PERTH. WEST AUSTRALIAN SKYDIVING ACADEMY - DZ Located at PINJARRA. WICKHAM SKYDIVERS INC. - DZ Located at WICKHAM AIRSTRIP. Blue Skies, fergs

...just celebrated to 30th anniversary of my first jump. More importantly, will celebrate 25th wedding anniversary in a couple of months. But actual age? fourtysomething.

I jumped a balloon over Canberra, Australia’s National Capital city last month – in the news today as George W arrived last night for a short visit. Couple things I’d suggest for your balloon jump: 1. I took along a little plastic step-ladder which was about the height of the basket. This made getting to the top of the basket and then standing on the edge a real easy task. Without the ladder, getting out would have been a drag – as climbing up and over would be somewhat restricted by the suit. 2. I just stepped off (did not push off), legs bent and wings fully extended – same as a base exit 3. I probably extended legs a little soon as I went a bit head down – but almost immediately the arms pressurised and I was off and flying My exit height was 7000’. So I had a nice long flight before pulling. It was a blast of a jump. In fact, it was my birthday and I landed just up the road from my office. A really nice way to get to work!! Blue Skies, fergbird

Leroy, what the heck happened - did you fall over on the golf course again - how many time do you need to be told, give up playing golf and stick with safer passtimes. The sooner you get back into your wingsuit the better. In the meantime, sell all of your golf clubs!!! f

G'day from Oz, Obi, A great post - esoecially to follow up on the guy's Base Pouch Instructions a week or two back - which also were exceptional, with more and more of us already or about to use the Base PC pouch. The more info that is shared around, the better. And the safer!! So now you need to be very specific. The shrivel tube is on the bridle. The bridle has the pilot chute at one end and the deployment bag containing the packed canopy at the other end. When you say "stitch it only to the TOP...", which end are you referring to? The end closest the PC or the end closest the bag / canopy? It seems to me that we all must be aware so 100% of us get it correct. Thanks and Blue Skies, fergbird

hahahahahah - and we are just coming into summer. Oz is having a lovely warm and sunny springtime at the moment. I haven't even needed gloves at altitude for the past few weeks. Blue skies and warm flights. fergs

Jim, You are the Man!!!! But yes, Pat Moorehead must be up there too. Either you or I need to email him and get him in to this forum .... mind you, he's on the road and travelling so much I wonder if he even gets time to do mundane stuff like emails, hahahaha Blue Skies, fergs (who hasn't yet jumped Canada - where's your home DZ?)

Adam, talk with Jesse. We'll have him joining the OzFlok pretty soon. Will probably do it at Picton - the Sky Van is a nice aircraft for wingsuit exits. fergs

G'day Adam, BirdMan's recommendations are pretty universally followed all over the world - a minimum of 200 jumps with one-on-one instruction and 500 jumps (as long as you are heads up and very current) without the one-on-one. Having said that, wingsuits can easily catch you unawares especially in early jumps - so I would actually never recommend to anyone just to go off and read the manual then fly on their own, even if they have thousands of jumps. By the looks of your profile, you're half way there! So it shouldn't be too long before you make the 200. In the meantime, I can recommend some tracking dives that will put you in very good stead when we finally get a wingsuit onto you!! I can guarantee that it'll be well worth the wait (perhaps others will comment to you here on this guarantee)!!!! Please pass on my regards to all at Elderslie. The POPS meet the other week was great fun - even with the 20 loads a day limit. I had to leave prior to the presentations - could you let me know who got silver and bronze in the accuracy comp. Email me your contact details and we'll get together soon - perhaps with Jesse along also. Blue Skies, fergs

Jesse, I'm a birdman dealer and live in Canberra. I have a GTi demo and a demo Classic II on order. So email me or reply here with you and we can set something up. I see that you are an Elderslie jumper. Were you there weekend before last? I was there for the POPS meet. Incidentally, my canopy choice is a Spectre loaded 1.25 or so, which I psycho pack. It is ideal for wingsuit flights - soft, dependable on-heading openings. Blue Skies, fergs

Ed, thanks for the advice - I've got 2 birdman suits coming and I'd hate to be hit with the import duty. I've now asked BirdMan to label the customs declaration as parachute equipment. So I guess I'll owe you an ale or two ... Blie Skies, fergs

Well it's now yet another reason to look forward to my new S-3 arriving. Incidentally, I'll be pretty much all Aluminised Silver in the S-3. On occasion I jump my GTi into the center of Canberra (Australia's capital city). I reckon I'll show up on Canberra Approach radar in the new suit. Hahaha Blue Skies, fergs

Tom, yes, we all missed the significance of the feat by the (survuving) wingsuit flyer. Your reminding us was relevant and needed - so we can now focus on what WAS achieved on Sunday. Thanks, I certainly look forward to seeing this amazing flight on the video when you've edited it to an acceptable standard. fergs

G'day Steve and Kevin, Great job both of you!! I know it was late, but one statement needs to be tidied up a little, as the double negative left my poor one syllable brain shaking: "The shrivel flap should be permanently installed on your bridle do not install the shrivel flap and not tack down" My new S-3 should arrive in a couple of weeks and I'm certainly planning on using the base PC pouch from the start, so both of the instruction sheets will be a great help to me. Blue Skies, fergs

Jasbird, I'll spend Monday jumping at Picton on my way home from the POPS meet. See you there. Did you see your pic in the other Ozflok post I did on Monday? Fly Hard, fergs

I'm an Australian. In 30 years I’ve spent much of it jumping in different countries – and being a non-military/non-sponsored recreational skydiver, I wonder if there’s some sort of record in the making (the challenge is on!)? In addition, in some countries, I’ve jumped in many different states and DZ’s (for example 25 or more states in the US) OK, here goes …. and without log books nearby, I may miss a few: Australia Papua New Guinea USA UK France Germany Austria Switzerland Sweden Greece Turkey India Jamaica Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Japan Hong Kong Italy Belgium Scotland Kenya Zimbabwe South Africa Holland Cyprus Jordan I’d love to write pros and cons of each – but really, non have too many cons. I admit that some required quite a bit of effort to jump in (India, for example; Turkey was another). But at the end of the day I can say that I’ve never felt as privileged as when I’m travelling in a new country and I arrive at a DZ. The welcome I’ve always experienced has been extraordinary. A good example is a vacation to the US some years back - my wife and I travelling from state to state, DZ to DZ for 6 months. We bought a van to live and travel in. When we finally left the US I added up the number of nights we’d actually slept in the van. It was only around 20% of our nights in total. The rest of the time, jumpers would invite us home. They’d then call ahead to their mum, sister, second cousins three times removed and tell them to expect us through some time in the future. What a privileged way to see a country!! What a “Christmas Card List" we’ve built up over the years!! What a fantastic network of worldwide friends and fellow skydivers we now have!!! Life is great!! Anyhow, as I remember more countries for the list that I’ve forgotten, I’ll add them. I’ll close by saying that my home is always open to skydivers passing through. Just give me a day or two advance warning… Blue Skies, fergs

Jari, did you see Jasbird's pic in the Still More Ozflok thread? She was a natural - all teeth and grins - you'd have been proud of her!! Blue skies, fergs

Hey Rich, I'm a reasonably conservative jumper, with 30 years and a few thousand jumps - but even to a relatively new skydiuver like yourself, I have no hesitation in recommending a Spectre as a main canopy - for you 190 smallest or a bit bigger. It does everything well, a few things very well, no real bad habits. And I'd also recommend learning to psycho pack it right from the start - so your pack jobs aren't nightmares. Be aware that PD do not recommend psycho, but ask a few jumpers who pack this method and evaluate it's pro's and con's. Blue Skies, fergs

And we also welcome Jasmin to the Ozflok!! You’ve never seen such a set of grinning teeth on a first flight as Jasmin had yesterday morning. So Jasmin, you are now officially JasBird!! It wasn’t enough to make two long, controlled and perfectly controlled flights – JasBird then came up in street clothes and we made an awesome rodeo dive. Yet again the Ozflok grows. Please jump in and post a welcome to JasBird!! Blue Skies, fergbird

I welcome Warwick (Wok) Finch to the flock! Wok made his first 5 wingsuit jumps over Temora, a lovely country Australian town west of Sydney, a week ago. It seems those 5 flights caught his attention very well, as it seems Wok will be ordering a new wingsuit in the near future. From now on, any flocks that he’s on in the future will be called a WokFlok. So the Ozflok is growing – and we are just coming into summer, so anyone from the North who gets tired of their cold weather in the months to come – why not come have a great vacation in sunny Australia! In the meantime, please dive in here and post a welcome to Wok! Blue Skies, fergbird

In around 80 wingsuit jumps I used my LQRS for the first time last weekend. It coincided with my first opening with line twists on my wingsuit. It was all too easy - casually unzip the arms, casually pull the LQRS cable to instantly free a leg, then kick out of twists like I used to do 10 or 15 years ago (did I mention that I haven't had any sort of line twists on any sort of skydive for 10 or 15 years?). So I'm now convinced - it's a very useful option. fergbird

Bo, Tell Sparyk I know how he feels - I busted my femur on a skydiving vacation to the US way back in 1976. I was just a teenager and being uninsured and far from home was a lonely experience, I can tell you! Being uninsured also meant that it was certainly not a cheap experience. I've tried twice now to buy some tickets - but have been unable, as the system (paypal?) keeps rejecting me. Any ideas? Blue Skies and say G'day to Sparky from me. fergs

GTi - as my first wingsuit. Have now had it and flown it for 8 months. Now have an S3 being constructed. Looking forward to flying it in (hopefully) 3 or 4 weeks.