Skwrl

Try a different browser, as well. I noted that my work Mac's Safari would freeze - or generate weird things - on some sites, when Chrome and Firefox didn't. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

We (well, Flock U) DID use those military smoke grenades, but only after a significant modification to the smoke bracket from the one in the video. They were over-rated in the air, actually, and didn't burn all that long. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I did one with a group of wingsuiters at Summerfest this year - video can be found here: http://vimeo.com/27498985 We used custom made devices, which you can see in some of the still shots. Contact Rook Nelson at Skydive Chicago and ask him for the contact information for his pyrotechnics guy. And get a really, really good bracket if you're going to play with fire in the air. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Obvious answer is obvious. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Even if he managed to avoid it by three meters, it's still a very bad idea to open one's wings until you're clear of the plane. Three days from now will be the second anniversary of the death of a good friend of mine from doing just that. The fellow in the video has his wings open in front of the tail. Clearly, wingsuiters haven't learned much in the last two years. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I had to crunch the file size way the heck down to get it to upload, but here's my best shot. Higher resolution of it can be found at http://skwrl.smugmug.com/Skydiving/Summerfest-2011/18292854_Z3NSrK#1411455842_PvSWvRp-A-LB Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

While that's an interesting line of questioning, that's not where I'm going with this. I'm trying to find a list of the groups that have done this; let's save the discussion of which ones we like and don't like for a different thread. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I'm trying to get information on charities that have used skydiving to raise funds for various causes. I'm aware of: - Jump for the Cause - Jump for the Cure - Raise the Sky I know there must be others, though... Can anyone help identify some? Thanks! Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Wow. You got mad MS Paint skillz! Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

It's kind of hard to diagnose without seeing you fly, but the R bird is, in general, a good intermediate suit. All things being equal, I would have suggested that you do more jumps on your old suit before you switched to the R-bird. Not criticism, just what I would have said if you asked for advice before you bought a new suit. But having said that, an obvious question arises - does the suit fit you well? I think the best bit of advice you're going to get on DZ.com will be to get a coach who can watch (and hopefully video) you to provide feedback. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

[Golf clap.] Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

As opposed to now, where they don't even have to get on a list? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

1. Don't jump it without proper instruction. 2. Don't jump it without proper instruction. 3. Don't jump it without proper instruction. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Uhm, no. Brewster county= 16,040km sq United Kingdom= 243,610km sq Ummm, dude, he meant in terms of hat size, obviously. With the exception of the 11th Doctor, when have you seen anyone in the UK wear a stetson? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Oh, no question. It would be awesome if everyone in the formation had suits that were perfectly tailored to their flying a vertical stack. When I was there, I wished I'd brought along my Xbird (I only brought my Sbird). It's similar to the problem I have when I travel and want to film FFCs - I often wish I'd brought my Mbird (but I usually don't because I don't want to go over the 50lb checked bag limit). I suppose one of the differences between us and RW is that our suits are a lot more expensive, so not everyone who is going to participate will have the luxury of getting the perfect suit for this event. I mean, a lot of folks only have one suit and don't have the luxury of having 2 or 3 (or a fleet of them). And, of course, the suit you picked might not be the right tool for the job: if you buy a suit because you're interested in "max hang time", it might not be the best tool for you for "tight flocking". Can it be done? Sure. Is it harder? Definitely. When my regime comes to power, we'll all have custom made suits for all just for events like this (and free hookers and beer, too), but that day is still a little far off. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I *THINK* your point is something along the line of "ZOMG! Bent Leeeeeeeeeegggggsss!!! American Flying!!!!11!1!" But you're being a little cryptic, so this is just a guess. Here's the challenge - when you have a LOT of people in the air, you need to find a common denominator forward speed if you want to stay in formation, right? That's particularly important in a vertical formation where you don't want to play Plinko with your fellow bird. Since we all have different suits, different body shapes and different weights, for some people that is going to be max flight, for others, it's going to be bent legs. The formation was flown at a few different speeds - the "max forward speed" one (where most, but not all, had legs out) left a bunch of people (even Europeans) behind. Slower forward speed ones built more effectively - but yes, some folks in bigger suits weren't sticking their legs all the way out. In a perfect world, we'd all have our legs out and be in perfect formation, but as I'm sure folks who participated in that event can tell you, it's hard enough without trying to focus eliminating the crease in the knee. Ultimately, I think it depends on what the priorities of the formation is - if you're trying to build a visually pretty vertical diamond, you have to decide whether it's more important to be in one's slot with slightly bent knees or potentially trailing folks who can't keep up. I've filmed vertical formations that were a lot smaller than this and were "legs out". When I look at those pictures, they don't give me a chubby any more than this bendy leggy ones do. Maybe you've got a leg fetish...

I dunno. Some of us are short... But to your comment, I think the bigger thing that we as wingsuiters should be wary of is people who are just a little too eager to take docks: http://www.urbandictionary.com/iphone/#define?term=docking Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

For a lot of skydivers, that's sort of more horrifying than comforting... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

My pics from the Vertical Challenge recently held at Skydive Carolinas are now up, and can be found at http://skwrl.smugmug.com/Skydiving/Vertical-Challenge-September/19175799_GqHKD8#1498704846_9X7TT77 Despite a lot of crappy weather (and a weird beetle infestation), I had a fun time - and it seems like a lot of other folks did, too. It was really nice to see a lot of wingsuiters that I haven't seen in a while, and to meet some new people. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I've jumped a bunch of smoke in a wingsuit, including the Skydiver Smoke ('cold' smoke and 'hot' smoke) sold in Paragear and military/law enforcement tactical smoke. The military/law enforcement smoke burns incredibly hot and spews fiery bits everywhere, (you can see one of our experiments with an M18 smoke grenade design here: http://www.vimeo.com/5416406). As a result, I'd be really interested to see that "hand held" demonstration that you referenced. We like to do a red/white/blue formation for the Fourth of July, and our current sources for high quality smoke have dried up (and, as I mentioned, they burned dangerously hot and required us to use a very awkward bracket to get the can far enough away from the leg wing to avoid damage) so a new vendor is appreciated. This is particularly the case if we can get consistently high quality product with reliable burn times and consistent amounts of smoke output without the same heat/burn problems that we've had. To the original poster - if you can ship to Massachusetts, and I can do so safely, I'll gladly demo and get video of a wingsuiter using your smoke. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Intellectual property. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Considering that I was part of the working group that proposed the WSI rating to the USPA - in fact, I wrote the first draft of the course outline that is now found the SIM - I wouldn't mind this. But until that happens, we have the world as it is now. And honestly, I'd bet you $50 that USPA won't change anything in the next three years. As much as it maybe should, it's not likely. I've heard of this place of which you speak. Not enough ice cubes for my taste. But more seriously, Simon's business - from what I can tell from his web site - is in the US, and I'm assuming his list is US-centric. That's why I mentioned USPA. This is where being a lawyer is useful. The folks who publish the Yellow Pages can't get sued for a doctor who is in their listing that commits malpractice. It doesn't work that way. I'm going to just roll my eyes at that comment, Jarno. You can disagree with the idea of a list philosophically all you want, but to claim that I don't value the lives of fellow skydivers as much as you do because I recognize that Simon's list is functionally no different than a deep Google search? That, my friend, is fucking bullshit. I'm done on this thread. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I think we just have different philosophies on this, but let me point out a problem with your reasoning. I DON'T believe that you are saying that "only manufacturer-sponsored programs are qualified to instruct" (of course, that would mean ONLY PF coaches are qualified). You're not saying that, right? If you're NOT saying that, then you are left with a fairly major problem - who decides who is "qualified"? You? PF? If it is not USPA, then who do you propose makes the decision? We all know that there are good non-PF instructors out there. And there are crappy ones. But we don't solve the problem of crappy instructors by pretending they don't exist. If you really want to solve that, you either need to implement a rigorous USPA (and foreign equivalent) WSI program, or at LEAST try to have periodic meetings of like minded, safety conscious instructors who want to do a better job for students. The solution to poor training isn't going to be preventing people from putting their name on a list of people who call themselves instructors. The same people will operate under the radar either way, list or no. I propose we stop worrying about the boogeyman of a list and start thinking about ways that ALL instruction can be done better and safer. It shouldn't be that I have to travel cross country if I want to get a top notch First Flight Course, in the same way that I don't have to travel cross country to do AFF. The path to growing wingsuiting is going to be coming up with training that everyone can use and benefit from. Not trying to control who does what... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Boom indeed. If we were that concerned about SAFETY, that wouldn't be possible, now would it? I think the real complaint here isn't that Simon is proposing a list. I think what the neigh sayers are REALLY saying is that they don't want anyone other than manufacturer-certified people giving instruction - or at the very least, they don't want anyone finding out that there are non-manufacturer-sponsored instructors out there. (Which is tricky at best, since there is no Tonysuit instruction program...) In a perfect world, we'd have some sort of non-denominational, across the board certification of wingsuit instructors. But that doesn't exist - and the idea was flatly rejected by hordes of wingsuiters when it was proposed. So the result is that we have one manufacturer program of which I'm aware, a few "schools", and a bunch of folks that just give instruction. You can wish all you want that everyone be certified a PF coach, Flock U coach, or whatever, but that isn't required by the BSRs, and as a result, it isn't going to happen. What Simon is doing is basically creating a place for those who haven't signed onto a school to advertise - or at least be included in a list. I personally believe in high quality instruction. I think that everyone who gives instruction on wingsuiting should be held to a rigorous, non-denominational (i.e., not tied to a manufacturer) standard. But USPA rejected the proposed USPA WSI rating. And the practical reality is that you aren't going to get everyone who wants to teach wingsuiting to agree to become PF Coaches, even folks who can teach well. So we're left with a bunch of independents. Pretending they don't exist is just silly. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

So, Jarno, let me ask you this... As you know, I'm not an instructor currently. I don't rent suits. I am not a wingsuit manufacturer... So what would your response be if I proposed to do the exact same thing as Simon is proposing? I'm not going to take the position that I know who is and who isn't a good instructor. I would just take a list like he's making and publish it on my web page. Anyone could look at it or link to it as they see fit. Still bothered? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork