Skwrl

Why's that? Did I miss the part where the wingsuiter, using the wingsuit alone, maintained level flight (or went up)? Anyway, very, very cool video... nice job, guys. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I'm not sure anyone is making them currently, but the instructions/directions from Wes Rich are still available and are floating around dropzone.com. The only person that I'm aware of that has completed one is Matt Hoover (his username is "the111" here). (There may be others, but he's the only one I'm aware of.) He made a video of all of the steps involved, which can be found here: http://www.matthoover.com/gallery/skydiving-videos/Phyxius_Project-HQ.html (You get bonus clips of Scott Bland's kitchen when Matt got plastered.) It's a monumental task... I started work on one using the instructions, wasn't happy with where it was going (and I wanted to have a helmet during my lifetime), so I bought a Skysystems Wes Pro Vapor and blinged it out. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Finally, some evidence that the wingsuit forum can be used for more than just snark and douchebaggery! Thanks for sharing this, Spot. I'm sure it will help a lot of wingsuiters. - J Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

ZOMG! Threads NEVER drift on the internet! We always stay on topic. I smell a conspiracy supported by the RAND corporation and the reverse vampires. Oh, and the guys REALLY behind 9-11 (you KNOW who they are...) Oh, and the unicorn-meat lobby. Those fuckers have been messing with US farm politics long enough! (Where's the largest US production of unicorn meat? Yeah, the 'pivotal-to-the-primaries' state of Iowa. No surprise, huh?) Outside the US, the EU has has given unicorn huge subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy's 'Fanciful Animals Program" (CAPFAP) which are second only to Leprechaun meat (which we all know was a political compromise for Irish farmers to get them to go along with the EU's Maastricht Treaty back in 1992). I, for one, have had enough. No Blood for Glitter! Should we bump this thread to SC? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Different set of risers? The risers I'm lookin at right now...I wouldn't jump em', but I'm funny like that. These look pretty hammered. Same set of risers (i.e., risers were not replaced or changed in the last two years). And yes, I get it - it needs new risers. I had a complete overhaul scheduled for that rig at the end of the season (i.e., now). The only reason it was still being jumped at all was that our mutual friend wanted to borrow a rig, and my "good" rig was already in pieces with my rigger awaiting a repack. So she got the old rig. Was that or nothing. In addition to new risers, the canopy needs a new line set. For what that's worth, the rig needs a new cutaway handle (not just because the one on it was dropped in the cutaway; the one that was there had too short of a cable on the reserve side). It also needs a UPT-mandated mod to the Skyhook (I still have the old stitching). It also needs some of the Velcro repaired, the AAD needs to be serviced, etc. In short, yeah, I know. Never had a problem with it before, but replacement and repair was planned. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

What happened that you had to chop the Storm? Not a particularly interesting story. Crappy body position on deployment. I was trying to film Zach S. doing something (I forget what). (Zach tends to do something in the air a lot; it often makes for good footage.) So, I flipped over on my back to film him, was wibbly-wobbly, flipped back when I heard my audible go off, and pitched a little faster than I should have. I usually give myself a moment or two to "bleed off" wobble that might cause an unstable deployment. Spiraling line twists followed; footage showed right riser was far higher than left. Three revolutions in I realized it wasn't going to get better. Skyhook (love it) chop. Boring reserve ride. Repacked in a jif by the guy who owns Skydive Utah (Thanks, Guy Whose Name I Can't Remember!). [Edited to add name I just remembered: Jack! Thanks, Jack!] In short, it doesn't inform us of anything about the Storm - it would have happened with any canopy. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Nah. My only cutaway with the Storm was when I was at the Utah boogie (Two years ago? Three?). The remaining five were on a Sabre2. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I've had an abnormally high number of cutaways in wingsuits (6 in ~1030 jumps). I had a safety sleeved (or whatever it's called) wingsuit on for all of those except the first one. (The first one was a camera/ring sight entanglement, and I wished I had had a safety sleeve on that one.) Being able to reach up and out of my suit? Very, very helpful. Peace of mind. Good stuff. It gave me much more comfort than I had when I jumped a suit with a threaded cutaway wing. Would both features be nice? Mayhap. But when we add extra things, we also add extra things that can screw up, right? I personally think it was an improvement. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

You mean this one? http://vimeo.com/27498985

It puts the canopy into the d-bag or it gets the hose again! Come to think of it, I say that to my packers all the time... /Tucks it in and starts dancing... Clicky Awe... some.... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I take a different tack, or at least I did when I wasn't in a committed relationship - I generally wouldn't date skydivers. Basically, I avoid drama. Now, having said that, before meeting my current girlfriend, I met and dated a really nice woman from another dropzone, but I met her through Match.com! I had set a rule for myself that I wouldn't date another skydiver for the same reason that I won't date someone I work - if the relationship falls apart, I don't want to have to deal with drama, etc., in one of the major activities in my life. Similarly, I love to skydive, and if I dated a skydiver and it blew up badly, I'd have to run into them at the DZ all the time. One thing I did realize - I need to date someone with a skydiver's mentality (no, not "retarded", I mean a woman who is active, passionate about life and not afraid of doing new things). So, my current girlfriend is a crazy skier - she's fantastic on the slopes - who has done a tandem, but it doesn't excite her in the way that day on the slopes does. (She taught me to ski as well, by the way, but I'm a complete novice comparatively even after skiing 50 or so days last year.) Similar world view, similar life philosophy, but different way of expressing it... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

It puts the canopy into the d-bag or it gets the hose again! Come to think of it, I say that to my packers all the time... /Tucks it in and starts dancing... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

That too. Definitely not a "loop" as the rest of the aviation world defines it. Do you understand context? I ask because we're not talking about aviation, we're talking about skydiving ... and Gee, must be why we are regulated in the USA by the Federal AVIATION Administration. However, if you'd prefer "Aeronautic", then we can still have the same definitions as the rest of aeronautics, and our US national organization belongs to the NAA, and the NAA is a member of the FAI. Does backloop have a dictionary definition? No. Thus it's definition is based on common usage in a given a context. Regardless, you still haven't answered either of my questions. Can you backfly in a wingsuit? Can you do a backloop (or, as you prefer, a backflip) in a wingsuit? If you can't, it's not to late to get coaching ... I'm curious - why do you have such a hard on for Kallend, Butters? (And vice versa, Kallend?) I mean, it's like clockwork - if I see a post by Kallend, I expect within 45 minutes to see a post by Butters pissing on it. And, of course, the inverse (converse? I can never remember which one is which) is true for the Professor... I've met both of you and - in person - you both seemed like personable, decent guys. The vitriol (I started using a thesaurus after Spot's Great Paragraph of Big Words) is amazing and persistent... (What? Don't like the word vitriol? It's a perfectly cromulent word...) If all I had to go with was your on line interactions with each other, I'd assume you were both obnoxious pricks. But I don't think that's the case with respect to either of you from my in person interactions. Help a dumb skwrl understand... Did you flunk some class Kallend taught, Butters? Kallend, did Butters give you a crappy review on ratemyprof.com? What's the deal? Maybe I just don't care enough, but to me, wingsuiting is so much more fun when we're spending our day bitching at each other... (Or maybe that's just dz.com. Shrug.) For what it's worth, I'm genuinely curious and not trolling. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

My head hurts now. Skwrl: Re: startfox, do a barrel roll! I'm glad SOMEONE got the Starfox reference (Slippy, Falco, and Peppy) I made. (Although each is a better wingman than some skydivers I know...)

I would submit that no mammal can adjust their bodies like we can, other than perhaps flying Skwrls, and since flying skwrls can't speak English, they can just fuck off when it comes to using terms of avionics. And I'll continue to refer to "barrelon roils" as barrel rolls, and ass-burble reverse flips as "Backloops" cuz even the most ignorant, dumbass student from Bilgewater, Nebraska understands what I'm talking about. I despise the sophisticated nomenclature used by brobdingnagian cunning linguists morphologically complex words to describe really simple, everyday things. All this disambiguation is one huge pandiculation, positively antedeluvian, and moreover, superannuated. Not sure what that last paragraph means (it is above my verbal SAT score), but.... You can call it anything you'd like. I'll probably keep on calling them barrel rolls, too. My point is that I get confused when two groups of people use the same word and it means something different to each one. (I mean, it's easier when you actually KNOW they are doing it, but at least for me I didn't know the difference between a barrel and aileron roll until recently.) (Shrug.) Having said that, it will be cool when a wingsuiter someday does an honest-to-God, I-mean-this-in-the-traditional-airplane-sense barrel roll. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

http://vimeo.com/31931773 Hmmm...not on-axis, carving rolls, not really barrel rolls, but not aileron turns either. Are they "barrelon roils?" (Other stuff omitted)[/url] That's as good of a term as any. The closest analogy I've heard anyone come up for our arm wing is that it's like a "flaperon". But that doesn't map to our sport perfectly either. Of course, few of the terms port over very well - there aren't any aircraft that change shape to the extent we can in the air. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaperon

That too. Definitely not a "loop" as the rest of the aviation world defines it. Do you understand context? I ask because we're not talking about aviation, we're talking about skydiving ... and that is considered a backloop in skydiving. By the way, can you do a backloop (or, as you prefer, a backflip) in a wingsuit? I ask because you were doing wingsuit aerobatics before I even started skydiving ... Right on, Butters! Now all we need to do is all agree to call the direction toward Earth "up" and we'll be able to fly up! Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Without ailerons, I'd suggest "axial rolls". A fair point that we don't have ailerons. DSE and Kallend agree on something on dz.com. Surely, the apocalypse is upon us. But is "axial" roll the right term? There are at least three axes - a yaw (vertical) axis, a pitch (lateral) axis, and a roll (longitudinal) axis. (I'm leaving out the implied time axis and a whole bunch of axes that are rolled up too small to see, if M theory is right... i like my descriptions of spacetime to be complete.) So, my point is wouldn't "axial roll" be ambiguous as to which one you mean? It's definitely around an axis-ish (depending on how skilled the wingsuiter is), but... Longitudinal rotation? It doesn't have the same linguistic charm... I mean, I doubt I'm going to hear wingsuiters going, "Holy shit, man, did you see that crazy longitudinal rotation I did right before dropping from 5 meters onto Scott Bland?" (Scott is wingsuiting's favorite target.) The Venn diagram of wingsuiters who talk about flight and people who describe flight in accurate aeronautical terms looks like a big ole set of boobies. In other words, I have a feeling it will still be called barrel rolls. EDITED: TO ADD PREVIOUSLY REFERENCED BOOBIES. BECAUSE EVERYONE LOVES BOOBIES. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Similarly, none of us do barrel rolls, we do aileron rolls. Notwithstanding what Slippy, Falco or Peppy have to say on the matter. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

UPT - a great bunch of folks - very graciously agreed to the waive. They're getting in touch with Perris shortly. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

You rock, Ed. I hope you guys are able to make that happen. Has anyone been in touch with her family yet? My concern is that we've got a lot of activity (BSR waivers, lining up DZs, AngelFlights, etc.) but unless I'm mistaken her family is not aware of it. I'm concerned we might get all this lined up and then end up with her folks nixing the idea for various fears for her safety, etc. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I'm clueless, but not that clueless. We've been in touch with them and got our answer. Thanks for all the feedback and support. -Jeff Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I did the same as well. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Does anyone know the DZ at Skydive Oregon? I'm trying to get in touch with him concerning a charity/Make A Wish Foundation type jump. Thank you. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

That completely made my day! Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork