cpoxon

Is that why you're not showing it? :-) Looks a bit cumbersome; we've found these bullet cams to be more versatile. p.s. The mag arrived and is going in the post today.

Stan, let me know when you are coming to the UK and I'll see if I can sort you out with a lift to Hibaldstow (I live quite near Heathrow)

Well spotted.

Maybe :-)

Yep Actually, that wasn't me! But it would appear that Norwergian sheep aren't easy!

I.P. you are quite close. There are a couple of ways to do it. The difficult way, which should always work, is to view the source of the HTML page (in IE right mouse click and View SOurce) that's playing the video. As you've found it it references /images/movie.mov but it's a relative link. It's relative to the page it's loaded from. In IE, right-mouse click on the page and select Properties. This will give you the URL of the page, in this case http://para-net.org/paramag/archives/directlive/directxxx/qt.html Since it is relative to this page, take the directory http://para-net.org/paramag/archives/directlive/directxxx/ and add the images/movie.mov to it. Another way is to view the source of the page that launched the pop-up and see if you can see what page is being loaded there. An easier way that doesn't always work is to try and directly browse the directory i.e. http://para-net.org/paramag/archives/directlive/directxxx/images/ If the administrator has allowed browsing you can copy the link you want on the page but right-mouse clicking and selecting Copy Shortcut, in IE at least Anyway, here are the links. http://para-net.org/paramag/archives/directlive/direct184/images/entrave.mov http://para-net.org/paramag/archives/directlive/direct182/images/fil.mov http://para-net.org/paramag/archives/directlive/direct180/images/lune.mov http://para-net.org/paramag/archives/directlive/direct180/images/lune2.mov http://para-net.org/paramag/archives/directlive/direct176/images/skyb.mov 182 (fil.mov) is just freaky. Recently saw it on a PdF compilation tape and it shows you how quickly and badly things can go wrong.

A few friends and I were at the Kjerag heli boogie over the weekend and took the opportunity to do some foot-launched wingsuit jumps. Thought you might like to see a few pictures. DSC00031.jpg is me going off exit point 6. Took a ProTrack with me and the graph is quite interesting; it took about 10 seconds for me to reach the max speed of about 70 mph, before I started flying and levelled out about 5 seconds later in the low 40s for the rest of the dive (another 10 seconds). I did another jump which lasted about 30 seconds according to video but the ProTrack didn't record it for some reason. DSC00038 is Meekerboy DSC00045 is Max going off with Magoo DSC00051 is Bjorn and PerFlare exiting at the wet end of a day's jumping DSC00004 is Atle in his "smoking" pants, with which he can out-track some wingsuits DSC00021-25 is Meeker going off with some smoke DSC00001-3 is Meeker and Max going off the "diving board" at exit point 6 Typical! I take loads of footage of everyone else and what do I get of me? One measley side shot!

Superbly. There is no better incentive for a good landing than having to land on your backside 100% of the time. He puts a lot of fully limbed skydivers to shame.

When I was at Birdman in Deland during April, for the BMI course, I noticed the Spring 2003 edition of the European Mazda Magazine on their coffee table. Leafing through it I came across an article about BirdMan. I noted down some contact details from the magazine and when I got back home I requested a copy which the nice people sent to me. Here are the scans from the article. Sorry for the quality, but it's about the best I can do with the 60kb attachment limit. I think it's just about readable. Let me know if anyone has any problems and I may upload the full size images to my website. Some really nice pictures, especially of BirdBabe#1!

What sort of helmet? Last year, I attached mine to a ProTec which was handy because I had one lying around and it already has a lot of holes in it. I used cable ties to attached it; through the mesh of the wig and holes on the helmet. After jumping it, I used a lot more, to keep the wig down to the edge of the helmet to hide it (so I ended up routing through the holes and around the lip of the helmet) to keep the helmet hidden and to keep the wig more under control Word of warning, some of the bigger wigs were downright dangerous, especially when flown head down, due to obscuring vision and were being chopped back! I'm sorry I'm not going to be there for this one! Hope you have a cool time and the weather behaves!

From http://web.archive.org/web/20010502165731/www.stuntsae.com/2rig.shtml Now what reserves fit into 350 cubic inches is another question!

Ben is in the UK, so more importantly than the packing data card he'll need BPA Form 112 - the Record of Inspection checklist. It's not on the BPA website, I guess to stop people printing and completing their own, but the Tandem equivalent is. As far as I'm aware (and BPA Advanced Packers or Riggers please correct me if I'm wrong), I don't think the reserve packing data card is required, but it does provide a bit of maintainence history. At least on it's own it is inadequate since Form 112 contains such information as AAD service/batteries date and pull force poundage (required in the UK). It's colloquially known as the rig's 'MOT'; an analogy to the UK's Ministry of Transport Vehicle Inspectorate test certificate, which is a legally required yearly inspection for vehicles over 3 years of age in the UK. Edited to add: Checked my facts. According to Section 6 (Equipment) Paragraph 8 (Parachute Packing) Sub-paragraph 8.6 of the BPA Operations Manual, it states,

5: Skydiving BASE Numbers 66, 67, 68 BSBD

Seen this? Had a quick search but couldn't find prior mention. Skyline 0.3x lens At €125, its cheaper than than $175 Diamond Royal Lens although there does seem to be a bit of vignetting which the Diamond claims not to have.

Yes, you are right. When I used the sheath, I was unaware that it had to be tacked to the bridle (Robert later corrected me), and used it without. Sorry I forgot to mention that. So it was only acting as bridle management (for the external bridle between the container and the pocket) and not as a shrivel. Still I wouldn't want any unnecessary velcro on the bridle if I didn't have to (to avoid any snag potential. Ideally you'd have a Birdman bridle with velcro attached and one without. People do have different (longer) bridles for wingsuit skydiving but they tend not to change it to a shorter one when they are not wingsuiting; I suspect due to the hassle of changing it over in conjunction with weighing up the potential risks of a longer bridle (entanglement? snatch hesitation?). With BASE it is easier to change the whole bridle than with skydiving and probably more advisable since with no reserve, unecessary velcro is a greater risk. This is what I initially prepared but when I talked with Robert about it, he said it was unnecessary and advised routing the sheath back up under the harness to mate with the velcro. I don't know if it is different now.

I have that option. I used it a few times skydiving, to get used to it, then I used it for real for peace of mind! I went through the stage of occasionally struggling for the hackey whilst I was skydiving. I weighed up the risk of having the hackey in a different location compared with trouble reaching the hackey and I decided I was happier with it more accessible (with skydiving practice of course)! I'm a lot more comfortable now with reaching my hackey so I may go back to a normal BOC deployment. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks :-) A few points about this option: Since all BASE PCs do not have a kill line and are attached by lark's head at the bridle, it's very easy to take the pilot chute off, slip the shealth over the bridle and reattach the pilot chute. Skydiving pilot chutes with kill lines are a lot trickier. At least with my Voodoo, I had to detach the bridle from the bag (Voodoo's have a ring looped between 2 splits in the bridle INSIDE of the bag) and the top of the canopy to get the sheath over which meant upacking the rig or waiting until after a jump. And the reverse to take it off again. I ended up leaving the sheath on the bridle for a few non-wingsuit skydives but this worried me because of the added risk and complication to the deployment mechanism from an unnecessary component. The hackey on the Voodoo is really tiny and I was hoping I could slip the sheath over the hackey and down the bridle but it was not possible. I don't know how wide Robert is making the pocket now but on my Skyflyer it was extremely voluminous! Even a 38" PC would slip out of the pocket when I stood up or moved around so I didn't even want to try my normal 30" skydiving PC. So I got a rigger to stitch part way across the mouth and then up the pocket to drastically reduce it's capacity. My suit is made out of Atmotex and so is the pocket, which is then elasticated at the mouth. This isn't as stretchy or retentive as spandex and a compromise on the pocket was required; did I make it tight for the 38" PC or the 30" PC? I went with the 38" as that's what I would be mostly using with the pocket and had to risk a slightly looser pocket for the occasional skydives and a 30" PC. This could be overcome by stuffing the PC but then you risk a stiffer pull. I don't use a larger PC when I'm skydiving, but then 30" is fairly large for skydiving (150 Crossfire main) anyway. Your Mileage May Vary. Finally, the sheath is very long. From conversations with Robert (please correct me if I'm wrong!!), if the velcro on the suit sits under your harness when you are wearing it then the sheath must go under there too. This seems slightly unnatural to me! So the bridle comes from the BOC, OVER THE HARNESS (i.e. don't route it round and pack yourself a total!), the sheath is mated on the velcro (which will probably run under your harness) and down the leg to the pocket.

Well, I've riden down the side of it...see attached You have to remain current to continue flying into it

GoldenEye

I would imagine that it isn't the drag Michael is worried about, and since the mud-flap isn't obscured with a wingsuit it isn't the fitting either, but the possible discrepency between it and that of a wrist mounted alti, since Bird-Man don't advise the use of chest mount altis. It's still pretty much chest-mounted so I'd stay away from it, but it would be interesting to test by comparing readings between it and a wrist-mount through a variety of manouevres.

Yeah, sounds kind of stupid when you put it like that. I was under the mistaken impression that they'd ceased to perform that manoeuvre after the accident. Apologies.

They still do the Diamond Track after Dana and Jose?

See CYPRES Batteries rumor, fact and fiction...

From rec.skydiving:

Come on Lou?! A simple Google search on ESRI and MapObjects got me here

It is. Potted history: Barry manages info on http://www.skydivenet.com/fatalities/ I created a searchable version based on this information and hosted it at http://www.poxon.org/Craig/Skydive/Fatalities/ Eric Denney set Barry up with a queryable version with it's own domain at http://www.skydivingfatalities.com/ Skydivingfatalities.com wasn't getting updated so I resurrected my queryable version with updated information and hosted at it's own domain which is www.skydivingfatalities.info Unfortunately, skydivingfatalities.info is being regularly updated :-S BSBD