kevin922

That might be good for a dz who is nice to have on hand.. but i only do maybe 10 night jumps a year and don't think it would be cost effective with how many i use (now that i do night wingsuit jumps i use 8 of them in my wings one on my chest at least one on my back)

AZ Airspeed? I've heard of them.. they do that RW thing or something don't they??

Yeah i've bought a lot of stuff on the internet, the latest was a KILLER deal on a base setup that I needed for bridge day.. i got a canopy with 2 jumps and a rig with 0 jumps with a bunch of extras for 900 bucks... found it on dz.com actually. Payed for it via paypal and had it 3 days after I bought it.. so it is possible to find great deals and it be as described... I didn't do the whole "send it to my rigger and let him look at it" jobby as it had 0 jumps on it.. but that is a pretty common practice when getting used gear that you haven't seen...

Not to be a dumbass here but with a wingsuit (i know you aren't going to be jumping one of those anytime soon) you can very very easily hit the tail if you aren't careful... If your body position is such that you are dearched and you hit the prop blast it actually gives you a fair amount of lift. On a different note, I did a negative g exit out of an otter once video I wasn't extremely close to the horiz stabilizer but much closer than if I had just jumped out.. you can see it in the video. King airs scare me.. i've only done wingsuits out of them but it just seems like the tail is so close and so low... Kevin

I consider myself a person who likes to give back to the sport, helping people out with their pack job if they are struggling or giving what little advice I have to offer, for example. However, my attitude has changed a little when it comes to being a BMI. As well as my slot, I also charge £15 (~ $25). BirdMan are quite keen for their instructors to charge, the idea being that if someone is paying, they are likely to take it more seriously as it's coming out of their pockets! It also covers the suit hire. As we all know, these things aren't cheap and, sadly, people tend not to look after things as well if they don't belong to them; the suits will need repair and replacement. Also, as with any paid for service on the DZ, my DZO wants a small cut too. I also offer a ProTrack loan, download and internet availability of the results as well as my time. I think this is all very reasonable; I'm not doing it for free, but it's certainly not for profit either. Please feel free to tell me if you think otherwise?! Having said that, I'm a tandem whore now so all of my values are screwed :-S Well you're doing a lot more, the protrak thing is a great idea.. i personally am not out to make money - i'm not a BMI (yet) but I have a spare suit and if I were training people would have no problems letting them use it at no cost.. I don't look down on people who charge it doesn't matter to me either way.. I haven't ever jumped with any of the "greats" (mcgowan, gasson, hartman, kent) but it would be nice to think they would do a "fun jump" with someone every once in a while and not stick the jumper with a huge bill for it... i've heard good things about a number of those listed that they do just that which is cool. I hate seeing people that skydiving is just about making money to them.. i know some people skydiving is their life and it is their way of supporting themselves, but it would be nice to think they could every once in a while just go along for the ride.. to me skydiving is about teaching, learning, and having fun.. -K

Mwahahaha.. i can only imagine.. that PD is so um.. unorganized.

Oh i'm very familar with kevin mitnick i do computer security for the government :) Thanks for the info! Hehe -Kevin

high: got my new base rig low: not close to anything legal to jump :(

I'm not up on my HI geography.. i saw there was one dz in HI, in Wailua.. is that anywhere near Maui? Is there anything in maui to jump out of? Thanks! Kevin

Yep great video.. and they mention it costs crazy amounts of money to rent that dang thing too

I totally agree with you.. i cracked all mine before I got on the cessna for the night birdman in raeford.. you can ask blair700 (as he was the only other one on the load) but I don't think either of our night vision was f'ed up.. i think at my dz everyone would jump all over me for that.. i think it is crap as well. BTW i just bought 15 glo sticks off ebay for 2.25 :)

Yep i'll be there.. got my hotel booked 'n everything.. you better bulk up.. i did a 'higher' altitude jump from 15 or 16 and by the time i got down to 6 my arms were hurting.. by the time I got down to 4 they were really hurting.. and i was flying somewhat dirty :)

Okay, so you've scoped out your building figured out it's a good height, good landing area, etc.. at what point do you determine if you can actually GET roof access?? Do most of these buildings you jump typically just leave their roof access unlocked? I know after talking to some base people around here there are some 'well known' spots that "when the window cleaners are working it's good to go" type of thing. What about access to the building itself? If you typically do these jumps at night, aren't most of these buildings closed? Unless it's a hotel, casino, or the like or you have some inn.

Blair - so i take it this means you're S/L off the building?

I"ve been 4 - 4.5 w/o much of a problem (other than sore arms) Kevin

So i'm just getting into base and still learning a bunch.. been looking at various objects thinking "is that jumpable??" how do you guys know how tall things are ? Do you use laser range finders or can you look at things (such as antennas) and know how tall they are based on something like # of sections or something? What about buildings -- is there some safe guesstimate such as # of floors x feet per floor? What is a safe altitude to do a hand deploy 0-1 second delay?

I've started pulling both legs up at the same time (like a ab crunch) put one zipper in each hand and put my feet down so it unzips both at one time

SIM recommends steady on lights, not strobe b/c strobe will really screw with your night vision. This is true, however glo sticks don't meet the requirements for distance.. strobes do, turn the strobe on under canopy and point it away from you

Hello kramer, please check out birdman.com for current pricing.. or click on the birdman link at the top of the wingsuit pages.. to answer your question I believe they range from around 600 - over 1,000 you can also find used ones for cheaper. Kevin

Wanna go base jumping ? :) For a real nightmare think about birdman baseing! ehhe

I'm no BMI but the course takes i'd say about 45 minutes or so you watch a video go over stuf fin the suit on the ground with the instructor, practice pulls etc.. you go up and fly.. the instructor flys with you gives you hand positions to tell you what you're doing wrong or right.. you do some practice pulls and enjoy the flight! I believe instructors vary as far as what it costs.. i know if I were doing the instruction it would probably only be the cost of my jump, but others charge rental fees for the suit as well as a fee on top of the instruction. I am not sure that it is a pass or fail type thing.. of course if you "fail" you might not have to worry about another jump. The instructor can tell you what you need to improve on or if wingsuits just might not be your thing right now.. i think ultimately however it is up to you. There is no certificate you get making you an offical birdman flyer.. the instructor will sign your logbook but I don't know of any dz i've been to who asks to see if you are checked off to fly a BM suit.. i'm not saying strap one on without training, by all means take the training!

Uh is it just me or should they have become suspicious when it was xrayed and they saw a GUN IN THE BEAR?? "well bob, i see on the xray there is a small hole here.. lets check that out"

Now that is a cool monkey

yeah I think the joystick stops working after 6 min, didn't try and add any aircraft though i'm thinking it might be an easy hack if you re-name them to an existing aircraft

I haven't had a chance to look outside, but according to intellicast the sun is gone!! Say it isn't so! well those of you who don't like night jumps i guess have just ended your skydiving carrer.