fergs

Mike, Well as they all say – each to his own tastes. But let me tell you of my experience and feelings …. After 30 years in the sport (not counting 8 or 10 years as the DZ mascot and enthusiastic child-packer), I’ve pretty well been emersed in most disciplines of our wide and varied sport of skydiving. But I can say that I’ve never had so much continued fun in the sport as I have had since starting wingsuit flying earlier this year. I’m just having a ball – despite most of my wingsuit jumps being on my own (there have been only a few opportunities to flock – due to not many other suits in the area). The sheer thrill of long flights; ability to fly in formation with the jump aircraft after exit, sometimes being above it for what seems like ages; the buzz of still being in freefall and seeing jumpers from the same pass landing their canopies far below me; gliding around clouds and poking up the valleys between them; the sheer joy of the whole experience ….. As I constantly say – it’s so much fun it should be illegal!!!!! I used to be a confirmed RW freak – always had a ball in whatever group I was jumping with. These days I don’t even take a RW suit to the DZ. So just go out and punch out 50 or 60 wingsuit flights and see what you think. I’m sure your experience will mirror mine. Have a ball!!!! Blue Skies, fergbird

Hey there, I reckon I’ve got the best “how to use a cell phone in the sport” story – so the challenge is out … someone will come up with a "I've done better" story, let's hear it! 10 years ago (remember those days – school kids didn’t own cell phones back then) I was doing my annual display jump into the Australia Day celebrations in Commonwealth Park in Canberra (that’s the country’s capital city). That year we wanted to provide something “extra”. So between myself and a telecom technician friend we: 1. Developed a throat mike that was strapped onto my throat directly above my voice box. The mike had webbing above it too, so that wind noise was minimised. 2. Wired another cell phone into the TV / Radio station gear as well as the PA system in the Park.. On jump run I phoned the ground phone and basically made small talk about the scenery, what we were about to do, etc. Then on exit and in freefall I continued to chat – continuing on under canopy. We were a 4 way team (although this display was individual exits due low cloud). The plan always had me landing first, as I did on this jump. After landing I continued to give commentary on the last 3 jumpers as they landed. All the time the radio and TV crews had my live commentary as a part of their shows. Plus it had been broadcast at the same time over the PA system. Even the talking while in freefall was quite audible. Sure was a novel way of having live commentary for a display jump. So let’s hear from others as to their use of a cell phone while skydiving. Blue Skies, fergbird

Yo Kimibird, Bonvoyage - but look foreward to seeing you in and out of this forum in the future. When are you coming to visit Australia? Blue Skies, fergbird

I have watched two jumpers go in with no reserve pull. The first had a few hundred jumps – relatively minor malfunction, cutaway, no attempt to pull reserve, stable face to earth to impact. The second had over 2000 jumps and just returning to the sport. Borrowed gear – unfamiliar (but had jumped it a few times the previous day) – pulled cutaway handle first, main pilot chute second (think about what happens next – main deploys but is already cutaway so jumper continues on in freefall) – did nothing more, simply stable face to earth til impact. So do not be complacent and believe it can only happen to inexperienced jumpers. No one is immune. Jump safe and pull something before impact!! fergbird

OK, enough of the techo stuff! I reckon I’ve got the best “how to use a cell phone in the sport” story – so the challenge is out … 10 years ago (remember those days – school kids didn’t own cell phones back then) I was doing my annual display jump into the Australia Day celebrations in Commonwealth Park in Canberra (that’s the country’s capital city). That year we wanted to provide something “extra”. So between myself and a telecom technician friend we: 1. Developed a throat mike that was strapped onto my throat directly above my voice box. The mike had webbing above it too, so that wind noise was minimised. 2. Wired another cell phone into the TV / Radio station gear as well as the PA system in the Park.. On jump run I phoned the ground phone and basically made small talk about the scenery, what we were about to do, etc. Then on exit and in freefall I continued to chat – continuing on under canopy. We were a 4 way team (although this display was individual exits due low cloud). The plan always had me landing first, as I did on this jump. After landing I continued to give commentary on the last 3 jumpers as they landed. All the time the radio and TV crews had my live commentary as a part of their shows. Plus it had been broadcast at the same time over the PA system. Sure was a novel way of having live commentary for a display jump. So let’s hear from others as to their use of a cell phone while skydiving. Blue Skies, fergbird

Apart from scrapes, bruises and sprains: • Broiken femur • Broken shoulder • Busted tooth • Broken wrist • Broken pelvis • Head injury causing one week coma • Broken ankle • Broken bank balance (multiple occurrences) On the other hand: • 30 years of fun and laughter • worldwide network of friends • cinstant benefits when travelling • met a great gal who became my wife of, now, 25 years • memortable skydives too many to mention • kept me out of bars and off the streets (at least in daylight hours) • kept me young – you know the story … “you don’t give up skydiving coz you’ve got old, you get old coz you’ve given up skydiving.”

QuoteDude i wish, I will see if i can pull some major strings. I have a rig with me but its not my sport rig, its a huge truck sized parachute. I could probally get in Oman easily. Le Roy _______________________________________________ Le Roy, best continue via email - what major strings do you need? So email asap and we'll see what can be done. fergbird

Leroy, .... can you make it out on a short local leave? There's a comp / boogie coming up in Jeddah in July. Wanna go? Saudi visa no problem. I can probably stitch you into free skydives .... but you'll owe me a beer next time you're down-under in Australia!!!! Let me know, Blue Skies, fergbird

Flat Pack, PRO Pack, Trash Pack .... then there was Psycho Pack (only psychos pack that way!!) Well a number of us who love to psycho pack were not happy with the term (although we may indeed be psycho ..... well you don't HAVE to be psycho, but it sure helps....), so we've come up with a PROper acronym: Introducing the FLOS pack. Stands for: Flaming Lazy Old Skydivers. So any of you who use the easiest packing method available - the Psycho pack .... you are now FLOSsers. If you are a trash packer, flat packer, PRO packer - try a FLOS, you won't go back. Enjoy. fergs

I had an interesting experience on Sunday evining .... It was the last load of the weekend - last light sunset load to 14,000'. There'd been some cloud and intermittant rain for a lot of the afternoon and we were in a caravan whose pilot always uses GPS for spotting. An RW load of 10 or 12 as well as 5 or 6 freeflyer group exited before me. I got out, chased the caravan for 5 or 6 seconds, then turned for a casual wide circuit flight to the opening point. After not too long I was flying through cloud - then clear yet pretty sunset glowing skies - then into a dense cloud that was very hostile. It was basically 4 thousand feet of hail, which felt more like slivers of ice rather than hail stones. Anyhow, even with no headgear on, I wasn't too offput by the ice. By the time I landed, the freeflyers and RW load were back in the hanger. A number had badly bloodied faces. All, when they took off their jumpsuits, looked as though someone with a pen-knife had made little stab marks all over their bodies - even through not only the jumpsuits but also their shirts - literally hundreds of little puncture wounds. All were also soaked with rain. On the other hand, I has hardly even damp, apart from my hair. I certailnly had no ice injuries or marks. So there we have it - flying horizontally through hail is a lot better than falling vertically through it. Better by a whole lot!!!! The added bonus was that many of the others on the load pulled high after abandoning any hope of RW. Yet I flew through the cload/hail/rain layers without a care and got a magnificent sunset in between each layer, including a sunset all the way to the ground after opening. Life is Great. Spread the Love!! fergbird

[ At any rate is there anyone else out there who jumped in Casa Grande in the 70's? I hope I didn't exaggerate too much on these stories. Most of them I'm telling second hand, and I wasn't there......Steve1 Yeah, I jumped casa Grande in the 70's - it was 1976 and I was on a 3 month jumping vacation around the US. Stayed at Casa Grande (the Gulch) about a week. Evenings after a few beers were entertaining - the locals would take you on a "crater-tour", of the previous bounces. Yes it was a long tour. Someone had "the arm" - a mumified forearm and hand, clutching a ripcord. Ghoulish!!!! But it was great jumping there - everyone was friendly and visitors were welcomed as brothers. At the end of that trip I busted my femur in Antioch (Cal) under one of the original ring-and-rope strato-stars. We didn't understand what a gust induced stall was - took a few of getting busted up to finally recognise a danger of these ram-air rockets, hahahah. fergbird

Yo Schwede, well I was at the original (at least I think it was the original) Herc boogie back in 1982. I'll try to make the 2004 one - I guess nothing will have changed - hard days getting as many jumps as possible, hard nights involving food and alchohol, an hours sleep, wake up and repeat all week. Blue Skies, fergbird

Kim, well you can't measure mine - don't want you to laugh at my shortcomings .... hahahaha 60 or 70 wingsuit jumps - all GTi's since first in January this year. Haven't had an RW suit on since then - they're all accusing me of being an anti-social skydiver now, but, hey, it's THEM being anti-social not me - they're the ones without a wingsuit!!! Keep spreading the love, fergbird incidentally, my GTi jumps at an undisclosed location in the Middle East around the time of the recent Iraq events made me realise that it's easier to fly with a weapon in each hand - only one throws your balance - anyhow, either way, the scuds never really had a chance - take a look at the attachment. scud-buster.ppt

Hey Tonto. I think it's all been said - especially Kim who gave a great description .... My wingsuit experience is much like most of the others who have responded. I bought my first wingsuit early this year and so far have around 60 or 70 jumps on it. It's a GTi and I love it. At the time I ordered it I was living in the Middle East, but am now back home in Australia. As there were no wingsuits in the area, I relied heavily on this forum site to evaluate meaning I had no-one to talk to or watch (thinking about it - the very first wingsuit I ever saw was mine when I took it out of the box) or ask which suit to buy. The GTi was a good choice for me. It's easy to fly and hasn't caused me any problems. Pull time is easy and predictible - I have a 100" bridle, incidentally. I pack with the deployment bag grommet against the rig's closing grommets and haven't had any twist experiences to speak of (one early opening gave me half a twist, which prompted me to change to the grommet to grommet method). I've loaned my suit twice. One guy, a very heads up and experienced jumper went into a spin immediately out the door - recovered with the butt to earth method (go find Rob Tonnesons post on this method elsewhere in this forum), straight back into a spin, recovered again and started flying finally. That made me now very conscious of the responsibility to loan only to heads up jumpers and always give a full briefing - especially flat spin recovery. At this stage I don't feel the need to graduate to a S3, but no doubt will at some time in the future. But from what I and all of us have read, the S3 needs prior wingsuit experience. You may indeed find it easy if you buy one up front - but I certailnly wouldn't advise chancing it - lest it bite you on the bum and destroy the flying-experience .... How's Jo'burg? I jumped there on a vacation years ago (1984) - most enjoyable. Decided Sth African jumpers are as crazy as Aussies. But I won all the after hours beer comps .... especially one down at Citrusdal .... the ppl there decided they should put the visiting antipodean under the table - no luck, I was last standing .... perhaps the boorovos (sp?) from the brai helped with my stamina? So go order a GTi - lets jump together some time!!!! Spread the love!!! fergbird

leave it as is with the hard cones - they work well and don't need messing with. Not sure if the line stow pic is after you put it back together - but you'd better not have 3 or 4 stows in one band as in the pic. Also the crown lines stow in the bands groups closest the top of the deployment bag (end closest the crown lines.). Get someone to hook up a reserve, get a main bridle and spring loaded pilot chute, get trained on it after a rigger old enough to know the system checks it out - then go enjoy it!!!!! You'll find a sweet canopy - fastest turns you'll ever see, lightest toggle pressure you'll ever see, predictable landings (don't flare it like your zeepo thingy, tho), and a real fun ride. Jump it at least 10 times. Blue skies, fergs

Image 4 is a UT-15 .... a canopy which many jumpers in the early 70's regarded as superior to both Papillon (I had a french one) and the PC (had one of those too). I never jumped a UT15, but loved the pap.

Back in the good old days I used to pack a loose knit sock with flour and tape it to my ankle. Worked pretty good for cheap and easy smoke for demos. In fact, I've been thinking of trying for a similar thing for wingsuit flights .... Any ideas as to best way to fix a flour filled sock to the suit? fergbird

...well this pic is definately very recent and definately in the same region as Iraq. What do we make of it? Has the Baghdad feat been done already?????? scud-buster.ppt

Was that an X210? Aha, that's it ... an X210, nice canopy of its' day. But it ended up giving me a hard landing up in the mountains in Jamaica and busting my ankle. Probably a handling mistake on my part, but after that I decided to change anyhow. fergs

....starting 1973 - Double T; 7-tu; PC; Papillon; thunderbow; stratostar (ring and ropes reefing, loooong lines); stratostar (slider reefed); strato-cloud; strato cloud; cruisair; pegasus; raven 3; raven 2; sabre; and now a spectre. Oh there was another 210sq' something made by Security in there too, but for the life of me cannot remember what it was called. Reserves have been T10a; navy conical; 17' GQ; PISA conical; super 22; raven; and now a PD something. Reserve rides were only 2 - the navy conical (1977) and PISA (1982). Haven't had the pleasure of a reserve ride since - but won't hesitate should the opportunity present itself soon. Can't say I have a favourite main - all were great canopies in their day. All were well made and dependible. But the current spectre is a real sweety. I never seem to have spent too much effort at packing neatly or by the manual (even the cheapoes back in the early 70's), so don't like to think I'm qualified to comment on reliability of factory pack jobs. I've been psycho packing last 6 or 7 years and find the openings consistantly soft and on heading - plus it's the fastest way to put it all away ready for the next jump. Incidentally, those of us in the know don't call it psycho pack any more - it's a FLOS pack job ... Frigging Lazy Old Skydivers !!!!!! Blue Skies, fergs

Sorry, you're misinformed - US Intelligence actually heard about our new Scud-buster initiative in the Middle East (for security reasons, cannot tell you exactly where...I'm sure you understand). Although the patriot batteries have had limited success at intercepting incoming scuds - our BirdMan Scud Interceptors are quietly yet successfully convincing them from launching too many scuds. They're just too scared of us now. Anyhow, the pic says it all, in ppt (powerpoint) format. Enjoy! Incidentally, I soon learned that flying with an AK-74 in each hand made it easier to maintain a straight line in flight - especially when firing - less recoil effect, hahahahahaha. Spread the love fergbird scud-buster%20VII[1].ppt

Aaron, I certainly don't pretend to know it all ... and PD do not advise it, but .... I had a sabre 190, loaded about 1.35 for 8 or 900 jumps. First 200 or so I did regular PRO pack. Every 30 or 40th or so opening would either slam me or be a rock and roll ride. I then changed to a FLOS pack job (see post elsewhere in Gear and Rigging - some not-up-to-date jumpers still call it a psycho pack) From then on until I changed to a Spectre a couple mof hundred jumps ago, all my openings were ientical - soft, on heading and most importantly - a real easy and fast pack job. So there you have my opinion - FLOS packing is the only way to go. Blue Skies, fergs

mine does that when battery is near death .... so try a replacement battery - should do the trick. fergs

OK, we all know that PRO stands for Proper Ramair Orientation. And we are all comfortable with the term and all it represents in the sport. No doubt, many choose to pack that method simply due to the name. But although I've been a keen Psycho packing advocate for 6 or 7 years, I've always been uncomfortable with the connotations of the word Psycho. So a few weeks ago a couple of us addresses this very important issue and have come up with a new name for what we've been previously calling Psycho Packing... ENTER: The FLOS Packing method!!!! F rigging L azy O ld S kydiver Yes, the new term fits the job .... psycho is indeed the easiest way of packing a canopy, especially a ZP one - so we can all be very proud of being termed FLOS ers. Spread The Word. Life is good, Blue Skies, fergbird

Hahahahahahah.... all i can say is hang in there - or simply go jumping. Mine arrived in December - but I couldn't jump it til January. Since then I've made 40 or 50 jumps and am loving it. It's such a pleasure to let the last group exit ... and then casually wait another 30 seconds before getting out. I've been jumping a Grand Caravan. As has been mentioned elsewhere in this forum, I haven't been inflating the wings for half a second out the door (low tail makes tail-strike a danger). The last 10 or 15 wingsuit jumps I've been having extra fun with: 1. Out the door 2. after half second or so inflate the wings, looking at the aircraft. 3. For the next 4 or 5 seconds flying formation with the aircraft - 20 or 30 feet below and 20 or 30 feet behind .... and staying exactly in that position before peeling off and continuing the skydive. FREAKY AND FUN!!!!! Use your flight points and find warmth - It'll be worth it!!!! fergbird