Skwrl

So, for the record, a state shouldn't have the ability to regulate the insurance products being sold in its territory? This should be governed by Federal and not State law? Interesting position, since I thought a lot of folks who are opposed to the federal mandate concept are pro-State's rights... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

If you want it to be realistic, you need: - a forum in which participants will be required to bitch and trash talk, as well as create new records with shifting (and bitched about) rules; - a rule that says if you haven't played the demo version at least 200 times, you get sent back to the beginning of the game and bitched at by everyone in the forum. - a feature if you play the game for the first time without an experienced player telling you what to do, you automatically die. Unless you don't. - factions - you need groups of people who have pathological hatred toward some of their fellow players, mostly driven by ego and petty differences. (Think of clans in some other multiplayer games.) Basically, you will have two or three groups of players; the groups will be basically indistinguishable from each other except for some minute detail that doesn't make much difference to flight performance. Each group will insist that their clan is better. - some sub-factions within those factions. Those sub-factions hate each other for vague and shifting reasons (usually egos). (Like if you play on some other guy's server and don't get treated like a king, your player is supposed to bitch, sulk and go back to his or her own server.) Ultimately, it should involve a bunch of egos that often suck the fun out of it. Am I doing it right? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

The result of the law will make this happen by default There will be very litle private insurance in a few years ACA makes sure of that In the same way that no insurance companies offer health insurance in Massachusetts, right? Oh, wait, that's not true at all. Lots do. I'm insured by one. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Wow! Fantastic shot! Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

This is a fantastic shot, but I have a horrible urge to photoshop this logo onto it... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

So which is it - far left (Socialist) or far right (NASDAP/Nazi)? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I had to click the link to find out what the slogan was. I was expecting "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need". But instead the slogan is "Forward"? Seriously? And you're worked up about that? Would "Backward!" be better? Hell, I yell "Forward" at my dog whenever I walk him. Maybe he's a secret Mooselem terrier. I'm not an Obama fan, but perhaps you should get those new flexible drinking straws that Solo puts out - they are way easier to grasp at. By the way, Romney's logo incorporates red, a known socialist color (Look it up.) And re-arranged, Romney can spell "RMoney", as in "Our Money", as in he's trying to protect the interests of the 1% that he's part of ("he's trying to protect our money", they would say). His logo also looks remarkably like the AquaFresh logo, which makes me suspicious that this is actually a plot to foster sodium fluoride in our drinking water, a well known socialist conspiracy (look it up, see, e.g., Dr. Stragelove). That is how dumb that article sounds. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Yeah, but that's Purple Mike - so it would only become a problem if a reserve / sunglasses lanyard entanglement would make for good video... Waaaaaaaaaaait a minute! Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Great work, Medusa! Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

The full video is now up at: https://vimeo.com/40834525 Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Unless something's changed since November, I'm going to say the opposite. The stitching wasn't great: for example, double needle along the tail on the suit I saw was accomplished using two single needle passes that wavered significantly. Also, there was another one at the same event that partially blew up. The suit I saw and handled was very heavy. I had heard about an Alien wing that blew up at an event in Elsinore. That was one of the reasons I looked at it carefully before putting it on. My guess is that they either got better in general or at least this particular suit was better. Since I have no way to tell which one is the case, I can't really respond to that unless I decided to sample more of their suits (which I don't expect to). Edited to add the following: The phrase "which I don't expect to" shouldn't be read to mean I wouldn't jump Alien. It's just that I am not currently in the market for a new suit, and jumping an Alien was sort of a novelty for me. Similarly, I'm not likely to jump an i-Bird again - not because they aren't good suits, but because I don't need one. Having said that - and in case it's not clear from my review - I'm not a rigger and I don't design or make suits, so I only have an end-user's perspective of stitching and design. If a particular part of the suit needs a particular type of technical stitching (i.e., if every manufacturer just knows you need to have a basting stitch and never a backstitch by the crotch for some reason or other), and it didn't have that, I wouldn't have the knowledge to be able to identify that error. I based the "stitching good" comment on the fact that it looked as straight and thick as the TS and PF stitching. Beyond that, I'm not competent to say. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Chuck, Given that, and since it's not likely that I can get the trailer closer to the power supply, would you suggest going with a generator? Keep in mind I'm only in it on the weekends (and it's in Massachusetts), so it will probably only be run a total of 16 or so hours per week (8 hours / day). -Jeff Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Thanks for all of this; all very useful information. What I'm planning to do is get a portable gas generator and hooking it up directly to that. It should allow me to figure out if it's a local (compressor unit) problem, a more fundamental problem with the electrical service, or both. I'm currently betting the compressor will be able to start up with that generator, but we'll see. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Since more than a few skydivers are familiar with trailers, I'm wondering if I might be able to get some thoughts/advice on a problem I'm having with mine. I've got a 1995 Starcraft trailer at my local DZ. My DZO provides electrical currently through a very long (~120 foot) and probably insufficient gauge extension cord that provides service to my trailer and a neighboring trailer. It looks like that circuit is 20 amps. Lights and refrigerator work just fine. It was sufficient to power a small space heater. Yesterday was a hot day, though, and I tried to turn on the AC. The fan spins, but it seems like the compressor doesn't seem to activate. It makes a whining noise, and then blows the circuit breaker. Fan alone seems to be no problem. So I'm trying to diagnose the source of the problem. Is it likely to be caused by insufficient electrical service (in which case, it could be fixed either by getting better service or a generator), or is it likely that it's just a crappy compressor that needs to be replaced and the lack of electrical doesn't have anything to do with it. Any thoughts? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Thanks for doing that - it's very helpful. My only criticism is that you're putting the CX115 at an automatic disadvantage by side-mounting the CX115 in that comparison. Side mounts put the camera much more into the wind-stream, so all things being equal you are going to get more shake. If you could top mount both and show the comparison video, that would be awesome. Or if you can side mount the CX730 and it still isn't wibbly wobbly, then that's proof the BOSS technology is, well, BOSS-like. Personally, I'm trying to compare this new camera with my current CX-550V. It seems to be pretty similar (not 100%, but close), except for the BOSS feature. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I flew an early version of the G5 model for one jump at Flock and Dock. Here's my quick review. Review Overall, I thought the quality and materials of the suit were very good; they seemed on par with the Tonysuit and PF lines. It's a very heavy suit (meaning multiple layers of thick fabric), and the weight of the suit surprised me in comparison to the equivalent Tonysuits and PF models. The fabric seemed durable, but actually breathed pretty well. When I first put it on - about 20 minutes before boarding the plane, I figured that I would be a ball of sweat given the warm Florida weather. I was not. The construction and materials felt very sturdy; each wing attached to the torso by two separate zippers, which caused the wing to have a built in "shape" to it that some of the competing products don't have. The stitching and manufacturing QC that went into it seemed to me to be very good quality. The leg release system is interesting in that it covers the lanyard with fabric, so the lanyard isn't exposed directly to the wind stream. Zippers were all large and good quality. The one real knock on the suit's appearance was that I noted the "Alien Logo" on a number of the suits was cracked and faded, even though they otherwise looked like new-ish suits. (I think the logo is added to the material after the fact like an "iron on", but I'm not sure.) Also, the little red "Alien lights" (small battery powered lights that are attached to the zippers) are cute, but gimmicky - they're not really visible during the day in flight. I suspect they'd be too small for any meaningful use in a night jump. I'm not sure if Alien is still including those lights in the suits or not. The suit I used incorporated a design by which the jumper's chest strap can be mounted through the suit (so there's no exposed chest strap). It's not necessary to use this feature, but I did. If you're one of those jumpers who likes to attach stuff to your chest strap (hook knife, altimeter pillow, birth control, whatever), you wouldn't be able to use the design. But since I only carry a hook knife on my chest strap, and the suit had a built in hook knife, I took advantage of the feature. Routing my chest strap through the suit did cause me to have two separate moments of "HOLY CRAP MY CHEST STRAP ISN'T DONE!" on the plane. (It was attached properly, of course, it's just I couldn't touch the chest strap in my usual OCD ritual of checking my gear.) If I jumped that design regularly, I am sure that freak out wouldn't happen. It was easy to access the cutaway and reserve handles on my rig directly. As mentioned, the shape of the wing was different than what I was used to with my S-bird and X-bird. You fly in a position with your arms lower compared with those two suits. Before I jumped with it, I was told that users tend to fly more with their hands (in other words, slight hand position modifications would be used to change flight) than with other comparable suits, and I found this to be true. I jumped the suit in a flock that I was attempting to film. I found the suit to be very stable. It seemed to want to fly very straight and very fast forward. I am not used to flying the design, so I struggled trying to make a lot of the fine adjustments that one needs to making when flying camera or flying a slot. I think that it is the sort of thing that you can get used to and master, but because the suit flies differently, it might take a little practice before one can really master it (and certainly more than the one jump I gave it). When I landed, I compared notes with a friend who was also jumping an Alien for the first time - he agreed that it had interesting potential as a "max flight" suit due to its tendency to flight straight and fast forward. It would be interesting to compare the suit with others in a head to head performance jump, but we didn't do that. At deployment time, I had a momentary hiccup. I'm used to the scalloped Tonysuit "-bird" wing shape, and at pull time I had to remember that I had to reach below the wing (rather than simply behind me). Again, with practice on the Alien Suit, that would be a non-issue, I'm just used to the suits I regularly jump in which I don't really have to do much of a reach around. (Heh, I managed to fit the phrase "reach around" in a review.) The suit I jumped didn't have a wing cutaway or a "safety sleeve"-like design. The shape of the wing also tends to keep your arms relatively low. This means you really have to unzip the wing to grab toggles. If I had a suggestion for improvement, it would be to incorporate a cutaway, release, or safety sleeve in case of a zipper jam. Overall, I thought it was a good suit, but I'd need to jump it more to get a better handle on its flight characteristics. I think the whole Alien production line has a lot of promise. My Background and Bias I have about 1075 skydives, of which about 850 are wingsuit jumps. I own and regularly jump an S-bird; I also own an X-bird which I use less frequently. I'm not sponsored by anyone, but PF supplied the suits to the school I'm a member of (Northeast Bird School). I've not yet flown an Sfly suit, so I can't compare any suit to any Sfly product. Personally, I like Migs and enjoyed hanging out with him at F&D. I'm not compensated by Alien suits or anyone affiliated with Alien suits for, well, anything. I am not a wingsuit instructor, coach, or anything like that. I take pictures. I'm also a Leo who likes long walks on the beach. Disclaimer Don't buy any suit you haven't tried. See if you like it, if it fits your flight style, or it it makes you look fat. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Pics are now up; they're at: http://skwrl.smugmug.com/Skydiving/FD8/22247334_3NJ3JQ#!i=1777173113&k=LGqQVQm If you were at the event and we're not Facebook friends, add me (Jeff Donohue is my secret identity) so you can get tagged. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Thanks to Scott Bland, Scotty Burns, Scott Callantine, Simon Repton, and Tony Uragallo for putting on yet another fantastic Flock & Dock. It was great to see everyone again, and to meet some new folks, too. I think a good time was had by all. The quick and dirty video that was made for the bar for Saturday night (very rough cut, not the best footage, bashed together in under 2 hours, etc.) can be found here: https://vimeo.com/39628209 It's a compilation video; not just my footage. Stills and (better) video, with credits, coming soon; stay tuned. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Me too: https://vimeo.com/38047879 Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Hey everyone, A few years ago, I recall seeing an ad in Parachutist that had a picture of a skydiver giving two big thumbs up as he exited the aircraft. The picture generated a lot of controversy at the time (well, at least a letter or two to Parachutist) because the photo made it appear as it he was close to hitting the tail as he exited. I don't recall whether he actually was close or whether it was a sort of optical illusion. Does anyone recall this photograph? More importantly, does anyone know where I might be able to find that picture? I'm preparing a talk on tail strikes (I'm opposed to them, myself), and it would be helpful to have it. Thanks... -J Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Elaborate hoax is elaborate. http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/humanbirdwings.asp Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Not a Go Pro, but similar problem to what you guys are talking about. i was one lucky-assed skwrl. https://vimeo.com/37998866 Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Can we get a sticky at the top of this forum that says "try before you buy!"? It would really save a lot of posts. All good suits, but what works for one might (or might not) work for others. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

At the time? No. I didn't realize exactly what was entangled - I thought it was a steering line, not the excess break line. Panic and inexperience made it worse. In retrospect, I wonder if it would have helped given how spun up it was. I'm guessing it would have, but... Something didn't seem quite right the first time I watched the vid so I took another look. I think you may have a few things going on there... After the deployment starts you do about a 180 as it's opening. As the canopy inflates, it appears as if one side is loaded a lot more than the other...even prior to the snag one riser group is several inches higher than the other. Also as it's opening it looks like the left group has a twist in it? Am I seeing things or did that pack job really suck? I think you're right, but I'd also factor into our thinking that it was a wingsuit deployment and I was just learning how to fly one. I was notorious for having crappy body position, which can cause spin ups (although based on the video, I don't think I had a lot of lateral motion in that particular jump). I think you've identified an additional factor, though! if you've just learning how to fly a wingsuit why did you add a camera gear on a top of it? Did you watch the recommendations at the end of the video? One of the things I pointed out was that it was a mistake for me to have done that. Keep in mind the video was from a jump in 2007, but I added my commentary and thoughts about it as of 2012 - a major one of those would be "learn both but take your time to do so." In my opinion it's important for people to acknowledge their own mistakes so that they (and others) can learn from them. EDITED TO ADD: But to answer your question, at the time I thought I had the necessary skills. I was wrong. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Hi all, I'm working on a project and I'm looking for ground footage of the night "UFO" jumps that were done in advance of the awesome fireworks display at Summerfest this last year. I was on a team of wingsuiters that that jumped with sparklers; there was a RW group that also jumped with sparklers right after us. We have air footage but we need footage from the ground for this particular project. I'll pay $100 for up to a minute of decent footage. Thanks. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork