Skwrl

Does anyone have a link to the proposal? I can't find it on line currently. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I think the short answer is "it depends". If you do a good job of it, it will be fine. If at the end it looks like it was done by a paste-eating five year old, your cameras will likely be wibbly-wobbly and you will either have to rip it off and start over or replace the helmet altogether. How good are your arts and crafts skillz? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

+ Eleventy billion to this! Can we please pull the personalities out of the discussion and focus on the proposals? Claiming that Spot is in it to make a fortune (like there's a fortune to be made in wingsuiting instruction!) is complete bunk - given the amount of time he's invested, the fact that he's a pretty diversely talented guy, and given that at most he'd be one of 5 or 7 WSI/Es around the country if the proposal is adopted, I can think of about 12 different ways off the top of my head that he could make more money per hour invested. It's as silly as the argument on the other side of the coin that "if we don't adopt a WSI rating, the FAA is going to shut down wingsuiting and give us all wedgies..." Let's stick to reality and sanity. I have friends on both sides of this discussion. And I'm still on the fence, myself. Reasonable people can disagree. But let's be reasonable as we disagree. Let's focus on the merits of the proposal, not the messengers from each side. Yes, there are a lot of grudges and other bullshit on both sides. But whether you agree or disagree with the proposal, it's an important one to talk about like rational grown ups. Everybody - read the proposal. Think about whether you want a mandatory rating program, whether you want something else in its place, or whether you don't think anything has to change. Talk about that stuff, not the people who want it or don't want it. Other than that - like a lot of people - I'm pretty tired of the whole subject... Unicorns! Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I think that was part of my point... I'm sure whoever that was was told "stay small when you're leaving the plane" when he or she first was taught to wingsuit. My friend and instructor Steve Harrington knew that, for sure (as I mentioned, he taught me that!). In my estimation, risk-wise, I don't think it's the first flight guys that are at risk - it's the experienced guys who get complacent or upsize suits too fast... And one answer could be, "well, sure but a WSI program will fix that because everyone will be taught not to do that on their first flight!". But I'll point to my (really awesome) AFF instructor who taught me and a bunch of others in my class not to turn low. Some of my contemporaries (hundreds of jumps later) started swooping. Some of those guys biffed and hurt themselves. Would a better AFF program have prevented that? I'm not sure. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

First, tail strikes happen without wingsuits, too. Second, walk me through how a WSI rating solves this, please. I have yet to hear anyone say "he struck the tail because he wasn't trained to stay small." Based on the information that I've seen, the tail strikes have been by experienced wingsuiters in large suits. In fact, the one fatality from a tail strike we can point to was one of my wingsuit instructors, for example. I know he knew how to miss the tail - he taught me how to miss the tail. He got complacent. Complacency kills. And if it is complacency that is killing, what would actually be MORE effective in stopping tail strikes this is NOT a rating, but something more along the lines of the "Awareness Builder" option I described earlier in the thread. A reminder that tail strikes kill, etc. - something that all wingsuiters should be reminded of, not just a one time FFC. And the purported reason for a WSI rating is something long the line of "because if we don't do something, the FAA will do X, Y, or Z to us", then I'll share an email conversation I had with Randy Ottinger (USPA's Government Relations rep). Last week, I was told by another wingsuiter that "FAA is considering reclassifing wingsuits as gliders - or something else - or otherwise banning wingsuits" and later told that "if there's even one incident involving a wingsuiter and an aircraft, FAA is ready to shut wingsuiting down in the US". Since Randy deals with FAA as his day job (props to him, that's a thankless gig), I asked him if these statements were consistent was his experience. He wrote back, "Not sure of your sources, but I’ve never heard the FAA (Flight Standards) make any of the statements you mentioned... no proposed regulation, no threats, intimidation, citing incidents, or even discussion of wingsuiting during our frequent conversations." Given FAA's likely budget cuts, I suppose I am not surprised. As I've said before, there are good reasons for a WSI rating; the FAA boogeyman is not one of them. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Ironically, that's precisely why I stopped supporting it: humility. (To be clear "stopped supporting" doesn't mean "oppose", it means I'm not pushing for it or against it, quite frankly.) A few years ago, I was part of the group that was pushing for a rating. When our effort went public, we received a lot of criticism on it - from a lot of the people that are criticizing it now. I thought we were doing a world of good coming up with our proposal, so the criticism caused me to take a step back and try to see it from another point of view. The criticism that "stuck" was the notion that a bunch of people banded together without getting input from the membership as a whole (and the wingsuit community in particular) to create a program, which would have fundamentally altered how USPA deals with licensed skydivers, and would have set the stage for future, similar programs in disciplines I had (and have) no involvement in. I took a step back because humility is important. USPA is a diverse organization. There are folks who want everything regulated. On the other hand, there are "skydiving libertarians" who want "education, no regulation". We're a mixed bunch. [And to be clear, there are still others who support or oppose this proposal not on principle, but because they like (or dislike) people behind it (or opposed to it)...] The bottom line was that assuming that I (or anyone else) knew what is best for USPA as a whole was utter hubris. So, in short, I'm glad it was put to a poll, although I wish it was done in a more organized manner and not ad hoc. It extends the dialogue, yes, but for this large of a change, dialogue is good. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Alternate proposals exist. Here's just a few of the options: 1.) The Seal of Approval: create a USPA-approved, non-mandatory wingsuit rating program. It will help "standardize training", but will not bring with it a lot of the issues that people have claimed come along with a mandatory rating, including many of the things that have been raised in this thread and in the Wingsuit forum. [Argument against: USPA doesn't do this sort of thing. Counter argument to that: USPA doesn't really do mandatory training for experienced skydivers either.] 2.) The Union of Concerned Wingsuit Instructors (a.k.a., the Grass Roots Approach: pull the USPA out of this process and create a network of like-minded instructors who are willing to work together to advance wingsuiting. Like "Seal of Approval", it would not be mandatory, but the people who are big names in wingsuiting could work together - without USPA authority - to collaboratively set a standard for wingsuiting instruction. Picture a not for profit organization that is dedicated to bringing the best techniques forward on a non-denominational basis. [Argument against: this doesn't obligate everyone to be involved, and may be hard to herd the cats involved. Counter argument to that: it would demonstrate the community can come together and solve its own problem. If it's not "owned" by one party, it might actually gain credibility.] 3.) The Awareness Builder: put aside a "rating" program, and focus on getting the word out to dropzone owners about wingsuit safety, and provide information to local S&TAs (the folks who normally oversee skydiving safety) about the special needs (pun intended) of wingsuiting. Provide guidance and instructional materials in various media (video/print/whatever) about the questions that S&TAs should be asking to folks who want to wingsuit at their DZ (e.g., "How are you planning on exiting the Caravan?", "What's your flight plan?", "You're jumping an Xbird with 12 wingsuit jumps?") and more importantly, let them know what safe answers to those questions would be. This could be backed by USPA or could be backed by the "Grass Roots" team described in #2. [Argument: it doesn't address the problem of crappy WSIs. Counter argument to that: I would think it would help flush some of the crappy ones out if they aren't providing instruction on the very points we're talking about.] 4.) Stay the Course. Keep going with current model. There have been five deaths in the US in wingsuits in the last five years. Of that number, two are not clearly wingsuit related (Pete Luter's medical event and Kerry Kirsch post-landing dragged by her main). The remainder were a no or low pull by a sub-200 jumper (Race Price), tail stirke by a highly experienced wingsuiter (Steve Harrington), and forgotten leg straps (Dan Kulpa). Compare this to canopy-related deaths in the same time frame... So is there a need to change things that is disproportionate to the lack of change that we've found in canopy piloting? Phoenix Fly's program has been greatly revamped by Douglas Spotted Eagle and his team at Skydive Elsinore; I would argue that this already sets "the standard" that people keep asking for. [Argument against: that's one manufacturer's specification, and non-mandatory even by that manufacturer.] 5.) The Current Proposal Adopt the proposal that has been presented. I don't need to give the pros and cons on this one; that what this thread and prior discussions have done. Personal bias disclaimer: I'm really on the fence on the whole subject. I was part of the group that supported the original proposal, a few years ago. Enough people disagreed that I took a step back and wondered if that was the right thing to do. Now, I'm very unsure. I disagree with many of the arguments used by both sides; particularly when they are based in fear, uncertainty, doubt or personal integrity attacks. (I point the finger at sides when I say that). I am not an instructor, and the not for profit wingsuit school I help out at wouldn't be helped or hurt by any of the proposals. (Nor do I speak for it; each participant has his or her own view.) Lather, rinse, repeat. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I'll be sending it to Matt for his editorial discretion. For anyone who doesn't follow this: there was a "Skwrl in Tow" malfunction at the big way- a relatively rare event where a wingsuiter is outsmarted by the camera step. In this case, we climbed out on a formation (i.e., high) speed jump run, then the pilot decided we had to climb back in. Turns out, when the front float (and the rest of the gang) climb back in, it's really hard for the camera guy to climb back in. Who knew? (I'm told big way RW guys have the front float remain outside when this happens for just this reason... But I never got that memo.) Anyway, I was trying to claw my way back into the plane against 1.73 windtunnels of relative wind. Once I realized I was supposed to get in, I was really wigging out trying to climb back. Didn't want to let everyone down... But I couldn't climb in. Which made me wig out more... Until, you know, I realized "Oh, wait, I got a rig on..." and remembered that I have perverse love of landing out... I had one of those "moments of clarity" where everything became cool. In any event, the best part was Bill Wegner's really, really impressive determination to pull me back in. He had my chest strap and was damn certain he wasn't going to leave me behind. His plan would have worked, but my hand slipped off the plane as I was trying to switch it from the camera handle to the doorway... I pounded against the empennage (that's French for tail) of the plane a couple of times, then decided that I didn't want to risk breaking the fancy cameras on my head against the tail, and dropped off. I kind of feel bad I let Bill down. He would have saved my ass, but for gravity. On the other hand, the marina I landed in was pretty and the people were very nice. They gave me a sandwich, a Sprite, and a lift back. So, you know, Skwrl complete victory and such... Well, the sandwich was a little dry, but almost complete. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Agreed. Goals should be hard, or else nobody will choose them as their goals. Nobody wants to aspire to the "most months of not sticking a Crayon up his nose" record. (Well, nobody except Skwrl, circa 1975. But those damn things just looked like they would fit! How can that kind of temptation be resisted, I ask?) I think you're low by an order of magnitude. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Matt is going to be editing together a video. I still need to cull my video to get him my stuff; I am aiming to send him much of that tomorrow. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I call dibs on the video slot! Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Agreed with that 100%, Matt - there's definitely parallax, and I think you've diagnosed the sources of the problem pretty well. Of course, that raises the tricky problem of "how do you know where the camera dork is precisely in the right spot when the record pic is taken?" These are the some of the many questions that will be slugged out by those who get excited about these sorts of things... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

The rest of the pics are now up at http://skwrl.smugmug.com/Skydiving/Summerfest-2012/24511381_JHbVDk#!i=2000827859&k=gnB8vcm This event was a lot of fun for me; I really enjoyed seeing a lot of my wingsuiting friends and getting to check out the local marina. As an aside, let me offer up the following observation: the revised grid requirement (the "27% grid") is fiendishly hard for a large formation to meet. You'll note a bunch of very, very pretty 36 way formations in my and Hoover's pictures that don't meet the 27% grid. To be clear, I'm not arguing to alter - or not alter - the grid or to start a long conversation about whether the grid is the right method or whether we should use a lattice method, a complex algorithm, or some other method that requires non-Euclidean geometry, fractals, and CERN to measure. (I personally don't care, I just take the pictures.) But it's pretty obvious that the revised grid is a challenge to meet, particularly when you get to formations bigger than 20 or so. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

This is a little dated, but it puts stuff in context. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/01/us/budget.html/ To make it more interesting, click "hide mandatory spending", which are expenditures that are subject to existing laws (and aren't separately appropriated each year). Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Pictures from Tuesday - including the new Illinois state record - are now at http://skwrl.smugmug.com/Skydiving/Summerfest-2012/24511381_JHbVDk#!i=2000825373&k=HbLvhjX Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Yep - pictures coming up later today. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Because I'm heading to Summerfest, a video from last year's Summerfest: https://vimeo.com/38047879 Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Agreed. It wasn't that. This is a fair accusation. I do not own a bull horn. Can I add an interpretive dance instead? Peace out. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I just shared that description with my fiancee. She asked, "How the Hell can he tell that, given you're wearing a wife beater in dim light?" She's a smart one, that one. Polish women FTW. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

[Big old sigh.] It was I. Alt set up a long time ago, actually forgot I had it. That will teach me to try to be humorous without getting involved in a pissing contest. Lesson learned is to post behind proxies or risk some self-important mod-min from crapping on you and thinking they can be douchey because you'll never respond... Yes, Scott, I just called you self-important. Is that direct enough for you? I'll add a picture just so you can look into my eye as I call you that. I'll repeat it in person with a bullhorn. We cool now? Awesome. But I stand by my original comment. It was exactly the point that others made, and it's so fucking obvious a paste-eating child would notice it. And Simon and Spot: I've talked to both of you guys from time to time. If either of you can't take being called on your bullshit, then I'll happily not bother talking to you again. -Jeff Donohue Edited to add: Sorry I didn't use my sexy face in the pic. I'm sure you guys will forgive me. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

From previous conversations with you, Mark, I think I know the things that you're referring to in this quote, but I am pretty sure that "the community" was fractionalized, cliquey and ego-driven loooooooong before those events... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I picked up a CX760 (the US equivalent of the CX730) and jumped it on a few wingsuit jumps and a tandem jump this past weekend. My review can be summed up as, "WOW, this thing makes stable video". Video of me diving to a wingsuit flock is usually (with my CX550v) wibbly-wobbly, but with B.O.S.S. on, it was absurdly smooth. It also worked wonderfully with a tandem, although I would say that you'll need a wide angle lens to do any close up work. (I used a .6 screwed onto the face of it for the tandem, and between the camera's wide angle and the .6, it was plenty wide for close up tandem work.) One knock on it - the manual focus knob can be turned by the wind (over the course of one wingsuit jump, it lost focus), so this needs to be gaffer taped or otherwise restrained. I haven't yet tried to shoot using autofocus (was set to spot focus), but given some of the other features, I'll give that a try. Overall, I

Do you guys not like hanging out with other people? I get amused by the whole "if you're not legs out you're not flying!!!1!!" line of thinking. It shows up pretty predictably once every 3 or 4 months here on dropzone.com. If you're flying base and have a big/fast forward suit on, you can (i) fly at max flight, at Ludicrous Speed, and scream away from everyone else, or (ii) adjust your flight to not move as fast as possible to allow other people to get into the flock as well. Other people in the flock (the two guys on the side in this picture) might have to adjust as well. Could the three dudes collectively go faster? Sure. But maybe they didn't want to leave the rest of the flock in the dust... Case in point - this weekend, on one jump we put together a small flock with Rick Hough, Andreea Olea and two inexperienced guys. The goal was to help them learn how to approach a flock. Rick could have gone full flight in his suit, and Andreea and I could have kept up and we would have had sexy, straight legs. But you know who wouldn't? The two n00bs in the Intro suits... Sure, it's nicer to fly legs out, but that only works well if you have a flock of people with appropriate suits/weights/skills, which doesn't always happen. Wingsuiting is like sex - doing it alone isn't as fun. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I said "that's all I had to say", but in reading on, I guess I lied. I think some people are confusing two very different ideas. I think the vast majority of us believe that a good first flight course is very important. There's lots of stuff to teach in such a class. Read SIM 6-9 for some of it. A good FFC can make the difference between a safe wingsuiter and someone who is a hazard to himself and others. But that's not the question. The question here is "do we want to have a USPA-mandated and supervised first flight course, or do we want to continue with the lack of formalized structure?" Personally, I think that a good argument for a USPA mandated course would be if we could point to poor instruction that is resulting in hazardous situations, injury or death. Then, having a uniform program would make sense. Conversely, I think a poor argument for a USPA mandated course would be "it will help stop tail strikes", "it will reduce the likelihood of upsizing", or "it will reduce wingsuit/canopy collisions". As I said before, I don't think many of these are the result of lack of training - or lack of knowing what one "should" do. People who have completed the most amazing FFC on the planet (a) may still hit the tail if they get lazy (see, e.g., Steve Harrington); (b) may upsize suits too fast if they overestimate their skills (see, e.g., the dudes jumping Xbirds with 25 wingsuit jumps); and (c) may still fail to navigate well and may fly too close to canopies if they aren't vigilant. A USPA-mandated FFC does not stop those things, in the same way a USPA-mandated AFF does not stop low turns or people hooking it in. If a wingsuiter has never been told to keep his wings closed, avoid upsizing too fast, and navigate to avoid endangering others (among other things, of course), then that wingsuiter's FFC was completely unacceptable, no matter who taught it. If we had evidence of these things, then - to me - that would support adoption of a USPA-mandated program, to make sure that all FFCs more or less cover these things and many more. If, however, the wingsuiters were given these instructions clearly, and they just don't listen - which my gut tells me is far more common - then a USPA-mandated program won't make a lick of difference, at least with respect to those three topics. So, to me, the question is "is the existing paradigm not instructing new wingsuiters well enough"? Personally, I'm really on the fence on the whole matter. I think solid training is incredibly important in wingsuiting. That's why I helped to establish the wingsuit school that I do photography for. If a USPA-mandated program is approved by the USPA Board, I'd support it. However, if it doesn't pass, I'd support a collective effort on the part of all wingsuiters - in the US and outside the US - to commit ourselves to better education, training and awareness. But regardless of what we decide to do, if we're going to take an action (or not take action) as a community, let's make sure we're thinking about this stuff clearly. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Hey all, I'm not sure how many of you are skiiers/snowboarders and/or fans of Warren Miller's movies, but his organization (Warren Miller Entertainment) is running a "win a set of GoPros" video competition. It's not limited to skiing or snowboarding, but to videos of any "action sports" (by which I assume would include skydiving). I might pull something together and submit a video, but I haven't yet. http://www.skinet.com/warrenmiller/photo-contest/go-pro-contest/home Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork