outrager

That explains it VTec without valves has a very poor flare, compared to a regular valved or non-vtec canopy. It sinks down better, but the price for that is inferior glide and flare. I put V-Tec on one of my older Foxes, and the flare has suffered dramaticaly (i could directly compare it to my second non-vtec Fox). bsbd! Yuri.

If for any weird reason you do want a 2-parachute system, Vector 3 with SkyHook installed can be a reasonable choice as well. I am sure Stein can be talked into accepting such a configuration, assuming you know what you're doing. bsbd! Yuri.

Not counting BASE: My comfort level varies a lot, from 1500' to 4500' - depending on how current i am and what gear is on my back. 3k for a relaxed relatively current flight with Stiletto as a main, 2k if doing a fly-by or passing through a busy airspace. I have recently added Skyhook to my Vector and feel much better down low... but wouldn't abuse it too much, considering much higher chances of a cutaway due to lack of altitude to deal with simple problems. bsbd! Yuri.

You should see it in IMAX theater. There it's as real as it gets, at least the BASE part. Visuals are amazing and they match what you see at that cliff in real life 100%. I can confirm first-hand Awesome job filming the movie!!! bsbd! Yuri.

By the way, many/most people are taking a different trail these days (crossing the ridge past the exit point) bypassing the sign altogether. bsbd! Yuri.

Happened on a slider-up tower jump in Russia: http://www.skydive.rostov.ru/4images/details.php?image_id=54&sessionid=fcd9d89e8f1697c7a8d7371d48175656 The bridle ended up wrapped around the tailpocked. Jumper landed ok. bsbd! Yuri.

It means "cool girl" in Russian.

Please do. Ya nemnogo govorit' po-russki Just look at night139's friends in LJ bsbd! Yuri.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/night139/ http://www.livejournal.com/users/brits17/ I could add a few more links of Russian base jumpers but they are, duh, in Russian Speaking of Russians, here's a fresh video from one of their local playgrounds: http://www.skyclub.ru/lika2.avi bsbd! Yuri.

Big boobs ? Sorry Tom, couldn't resist bsbd! Yuri.

I have never heard of anybody trying to count seconds on a wingsuit flight It would not be accurate enough anyway, and pretty much pointless. Instead i'd suggest being conservative at the beginning and pulling high, using the ground as a visual reference but not waiting for the groundrush. I run into unintentional low pulls problem after about a hundred of wingsuit BASE flights. Somehow it was not an issue until then, but your mileage may vary. The problem is usually being fixated on making a landing area or a specific landmark. If you are just flying around, the altitude is easier to perceive correctly. bsbd! Yuri.

Been doing just that for the last couple of years. I firmly believe that a carnage video must be shown to each and every student before they make a decision to enter the sport. Aside from many technical aspects it really shows on emotional level what they will be dealing with. Funny enough, i still have not seen any student who would walk away after watching a video. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! With this coordinates #1 to Cafe is 1.9km, water edge is around 1.6..1.7km. bsbd! Yuri.

Just a quick progress report: it's been two and half weeks now, nearly perfect vision on both eyes: 20/15 on the right, 20/15..20/20 on the left depending on the time of day (my astigmatism has always fluctuated a bit during the day, so i expected this). Did my 2-week check-up on Fri and asked the doc when can i get back in the air... he said "tomorrow"

Playing with MapSource GPS map at the moment (Thanks Batman!). According to the map: #5..7 to LZ is 720..770m, to Lighthouse is 812m. From #4 it's about 50m more. Can't pinpoint the exact exit altitudes on this map. Flying across the fjord is 1.1km. #1 to Cafe is about 2.0km, to the shoreline 1.8km, exit shows as about 920m above the water. 1.3km to fly across the fjord, about 520m to track over the water (or 430m from #3). This is a great toy, gotta look up the numbers before we fly in the future! ;-) bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Does anybody have GPS distances for Smell flights handy? #1 and #3 to Cafe in particular? bsbd! Yuri.

First, i did put it in a classic "a friend of mine would like to know..." way Second, i am bored out of my mind! I feel awesome, i can see 20/15 but still have to chill for another week before i can jump. LASIK rules, but then you really see what you're missing! As for the mind control, we will discuss it in private. I must say that certain rumours regarding a potential wedding keep me deeply concerned

Yo ! I just had an interesting discussion with a friend who is trying to put together a wingsuit competition. His idea was to set a fixed distance and see who is the fastest to cover it. I see a major problem here, since being heavy (or adding a huge weight vest) is a sure way to beat an equally good but lighter pilot. Max glide (max distance) competition favours a particular body type (tall, long arms) but that is offset somewhat by the fact that longer arms make it harder to hold a perfect position for a significant period of time (basic leverage comes to play here). Then again, same body type is also an asset in max speed comp, where you actually need to have max L/D plus max weight. A wingsuit model and fit make even more difference. What to do about that? Finally, how to measure? GPS is a great and precise tool, and one could cut a piece of GPS track between, say, 12000' and 4000' to get a very accurate result. However, it will only be meaningful for people who fly at the same time, because the winds aloft change all the time and are almost impossible to measure accurately, and they are a very significant part of the resulting ground speed measured by GPS. These wind limitations are very minor or almost non-existent on BASE flights, and such flights are very easy to measure precisely. However a majority of people stick to airplanes, so we will limit this discussion to skydives. Another very promising direction would be competing in teams, basically RW flocking etc - there can be a million ideas in this direction. Average skill level is almost here to start doing competetive team flying, we would only need some good ideas. This puts everybody in equal conditions, since max glide or speed are not important - the competition focus is precision flying. This is not my favorite type of flying, but many others can throw in tons of experience. Acrobatics is another obvious field. What else? Any ideas, suggestions etc ??? bsbd! Yuri.

Your mileage will vary, depending on a particular gear combination. Pretty much never (and very rare offheadings) in BASE wingsuit environment. Once every 4 or 5 jumps when skydiving (Vector 3 with open bottom corners and Stiletto 120). Usually not too bad, only chopped it once so far. Freepacking a 7-cell into a rig with open bottom corners will almost insure good onheading openings, while a regular skydiving container and a small elliptical in a bag are quite a fun mix ;-) Anything in between will probably be reasonable. bsbd! Yuri.

A bit of confusion here but i believe WTC has been jumped like it could be (8 sec delay on the last one, right?) and so has ESB (5.5 sec? but nearby buildings shrink available altitude there). bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! CONGRATULATIONS !!!

My brother jumps too, and he's much better then me bsbd! Yuri.

There is a great story involving our friend's mom coming to see him jump a building for his 17th birthday. 846 can tell it better, so i'll let her to do it bsbd! Yuri.

25 crack whores. bsbd! Yuri.

What i meant to say was this: you can consider the loss of vision the same as a bounce, as it is always very easy to kill yourself in such a case. Just a mental trick, nothing more... LASIK is indeed way past "innovative", my doc is over 7000 surgeries. There are other newer technologies like LASEK, but they also seem to share most of the past good experience. I kept thinkg "i'll wait a few more years..." until i realized the technology will keep changing and improving forever, while my life is finite. bsbd! Yuri.