outrager

Wrong conclusion. The point was to highlight a misuse of terminology by biased parties. Other easy examples: US called a "democracy" while being ruled by a minority-elected leader (a republic, certainly) or the same group of people migrating from Afganistan to Chechnya to Iraq being called sequentially "Freedom Fighters" then "Terrorists" then "Freedom Fighters" then "Terrorists". I equally dislike OBL and US actions, it's really hard to choose a lesser of two great evil. bsbd! Yuri.

Absolutely! Giving your life for a cause you believe in, for your people or your country is heroic by definition. Meanwhile bombing defensless enemy with B52s or even fighting up close with nearly absolute superiority giving 100 to 1 casualty rates is not considered heroic by independent observers. Such observers would call heroes those standing up for their cause knowing they will almost certainly die fighting. Further on, in this example terrorists (or heroes) did hit an enemy target. While not a military target, it can be easily argued that a majority of casualties (a voting population in a democratic country) are directly responsible for that country's behavior. The rest are collateral damage. The same cannot be said about Iraq, for example, that was/is a dictatorship where a population does not rule the country and therefore all killed civilians (an order of magnitude more than WTC vasualties) fall into collateral damage category. Basically from a Western point of view terrorists have "bad intentions" and kill a lot of innocent people, while US has "good intentions" and kills a whole lot more of innocent people. Good intentions pave the road to hell. bsbd! Yuri.

This is so true! Going through old logbooks is a lot of fun, it brings up plenty of warm memories. In fact, logbooks (and videos) seem to be the only recollection of certain especially well-done party trips I still log BASE jumps for this reason, but lost track of skydives a few years ago. Peeking into somebody else's logbook opens a whole new world of joy

I disagree. A baloon jump, fixed or not, is a skydive. The definition is a bit murky here... some people i know call low-altitude helicopter jumps "skybase". Then others call McConkey a base jump. Yet others claim 60ft over the water is BASE... Whatever makes you smile, i guess

Cannot make it this year, but planning on the whole summer of fun next season bsbd! Yuri.

Nothing exciting, really - one of the last prototypes before S3 came out. Basically S3 with slightly smaller arm wings and no grippers. Marginally inferior to a production version but it fit me well and flew ok so i never bothered to change. You have a valid point on experience levels of S3 vs MTR, but it also appears that MTR's learning curve is faster. It is a good thing by itself, however i do not believe that extra time will significantly improve the numbers we see. Even on S3 that takes a while to finetune i only had a marginal gain between the 1st and 2nd seasons. Could somebody post GPS distance data for MTR base flights so we have a reference point here? bsbd! Yuri.

I completely agree with Jason and on those rare occasions where it comes to PCA i use the same exact method. It puts all the force on the bridle while controlling the slack and backs it up with PC that remains unloaded in another hand. Can't really get any better

I'm glad it flies well for you. Not to imply anything, but a well-fitting and well-flown S3 generaly outglides MTR2. You should be getting about the same time and noticeably more horizontal speed/distance in S3. As a reference point, my old S3 prototype was going about 60km/h vertical and 2.4 L/D on better flights. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Pretty lame and useless troll providing zero information. If you want to take on a suit war you better sign your name and post some relevant info - like what exit points you can now take off from (rock drop?), how far can you fly (know how to use GPS?) and what glide ratio it gives you (familiar with basic math?). If everything else fails, maybe a stopwatch will be simple enough to give at least some measure of your success? bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! There were quite a few wingsuits at Ostankino tower boogie. Tolis took a bunch of excelent shots. General links were were posted in BASE forum already, but in case you haven't seen them: http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image32.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image33.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image34.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image35.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image63.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image64.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image65.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image66.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image67.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image68.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image69.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image77.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image113.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image119.html http://www.basejump.ru/photo/tol7_MBOA2004/imagepages/image120.html bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Yeah, Tom has appreciated quite a bit over the years... there's some residual value, though! bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Looking for the best place to do LASIK, locally if possible but don't mind to travel if i have to. Really scared and would appreciate any info and encouragement

First, i would like to put on the record that the abovementioned rig was not mine. Second, they are legal, if barely. I hope you made as many base jumps recently as i did y.g's... or vise versa - you loose either way! We will talk back home! bsbd! Yuri.

35mph is an average S3 vertical, flown by a good pilot. bsbd! Yuri.

I have jumped a slider-up BASE rig that sat packed for a year and half. Opened perfectly, as it should, and it would work just fine after 10 years. There is nothing in BASE pack job that would deteriorate over a few years. Packing is so overrated... bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! I would like to say that i have received sufficient information to believe that Stavanger BASE Club had nothing to do with a drug raid, and in fact put a word about it in advance. It still sucks that such a shameful event happened... keep your guards up! This world is not free and safe - be it cops, rangers or gravity. As the money goes: i have been in Kjerag every year since '96. The cliffs have not changed much since then. You can come and jump them exactly as they were. There is extra service provided, such as a bus ride up and a boat ride out. You can compete by driving your own car and flying a wingsuit back to the campground, for example. If this is beyond your current abilities - suck it up and pay or invest in a competing service that will drive the price down. This setup is actually a classic natural monopoly, but this is how the wolrd operates - not because you can't, it's just not worth it to start a competing service when the first one is doing a reasonable job. I personaly hate rules and rigidly organized places. However there's always a fine balance between total freedom and chaos, between the law and common sense to brake it You take chances and win - or loose. This is how the laws of nature work, don't be surprised when human laws follow the pattern. Just don't be caught and have fun! bsbd! Yuri.

Not at all. My comments had to do with a conclusion, based on newspaper articles and conversations with jumpers, that police was invited to raid the boogie by insiders. I will not comment further until i get more specific info. Regarding the new jumpers, nothing can be better for the sport! They bring all the energy, motivation and spirit to push the limits over the horizon. In our little neck of the woods 90% of the current objects have been open and are currently maintained by "beginners". I wouldn't make half as many jumps if they didn't drag my lazy ass off the couch. I understand there are people who would like to freeze the time... but it's stupid and futile. I hope there wasn't any misunderstanding here bsbd! Yuri.

It is very unfortunate when business gets in a way of fun. I'm afraid Kjerag has officialy turned into a DZ, with the worst side effects manifesting themselves rapidly. Oh well, it was good while it lasted! bsbd! Yuri.

http://offheading.com/gpage1.html "18.06.2004 It is really unbelievable, but it is a fact!!! The Norwegian taxpaying jumpers could see (in deep disbelive) with their own eyes the meaningless disabuse of their money on the first night of the commercial happening in Lysebotten, Helliboogie, organized by the local company Stavanger Baseclub LTD. The babylon (police) performed a raid with following drugtesting of some of the basejumpers that were sitting in the "White house" (Tourist guesthouse). The drug raid team included 4 police officers and a drug dog (the smartest member of the team). Two of them and the dog (K9) came with a non uniformed white Volvo station wagon (older modell), while the other two came with a small boat. The international jumpers were humiliated and forced to take a urine based drug test. If the test was positive, it resulted in a fine of 2000 NOK (ca.250 USD) and a "narc" mark in the surveillance papers. This operation costs the taxpayers a whole lot of money. Just imagine how expensive it is to send 4 officers out of the town friday night (overtime payment), to the remote mountains far away from any civilization, to find out that some people smoked a joint instead of drinking a bear..Suckers...And remember. This can happen again on the DZ Kjerag...anytime...who might have benefits from that kind of action...This smells bad..." Is that true ??? Anybody willing to comment ? bsbd! Yuri.

Careful with "another six inches" remarks, you know what i mean ? I'm 5'10"/150lb, that's a pretty average ratio... wish i had a tall and skinny body style - with some gym work that would yield fenomenal flights! Too bad none of those guys are into hardcore suit flying :( bsbd! Yuri.

And you stick them exactly where ? They won't get a good signal in the most obvious spot bsbd! Yuri.

I don't have GTi numbers, only made a couple of flights on it. Classic needed about 11.5-12k to cross 3min mark (i.e. 14000' exit opening at 2k). This can be improved a bit i guess, haven't flown it in years. If you must cheat, 200KT tailgate exit will add about 10sec flight time ;-) The key to maxing a suit is balance. Maxed out position is also most unstable. You can only tense so far before it starts to wobble. As your muscles get tired you start to loose your balance - well before you loose strength. Trying to relax mentaly while being tense physically is a basic idea. It is even more important on Skyflyers. bsbd! Yuri.

This setup will work well on any BASE object. 0.8 loading is a bit higher than ideal, but not by too much - i come close to that on many of my BASE jumps. A pin rig works very well for the entire altitude range. So your options are wide open ;-) This is what i would do: if you intend to use this as an all-around BASE/wingsuit rig, get a vented 245. If, on other hand, you are going for a lighter/smaller wingsuit-only (or slider-up only) rig, get a non-vented 225. Vents will be a waste of money, weight and packing volume on slider-up jumps. You can still jump this setup comfortably at the legal bridge. bsbd! Yuri.

Please send your arrival info to stasy@aha.ru, so you can be picked up at the airport. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Tom, where are you? Hurry! Oh no... it's too late! Just about every goddamn object worldwide has been blatantly burned This is the end of BASE as we knew it. It was good while it lasted. Nice knowing ya'all. I'm out to repeatedly shoot myself with a BBgun as soon as i log off. bsbd! Yuri.