TomAiello

Yes, he does. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I talked to Maggot today. It sounds like he's doing fine, just a little bruised up, but nothing broken. In fact, he was considering going out to make a jump tonight. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Train students in judgement, mentality, and approach to the sport, as well as in technical jumping skills. Judgement is difficult to train, but not impossible. Whenever possible, I try to take a student out in bad conditions, and then refuse to make the "no go" call, waiting until the student makes it. Judgement is a muscle. It needs to be exercised through repeated use, and it can be improved through training. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Adam Hartley took a photo years back, from the same exit point, but at sunset. The bright red and orange sunset was reflected on the surface of the water, and the cliff was in shadow, but the jumper in sunlight. I think I've got a print of it somewhere, but this was pre-digital, so it's just on paper. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

is that why you are nicknamed Gaper ? His real nickname is "The Pick" which he has justifiably earned many times over. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Please read the "Before You Post!" guidelines linked at the top of this forum. We're not going to have a discussion of site locations here. Basically, anything that has a sheer drop of 200 or more feet can be jumped. Many of those things have been jumped. Most of the people jumping them would prefer that you not know about it. It depends on whose publicist you ask. Seriously. It also depends on what you mean by "high"? Highest vertical drop? Most altitude between exit and landing? Most altitude that can be flown with a wingsuit? Each will have a different answer. Terminal: A drop tall enough that a human body can reach terminal velocity when falling from it (this takes approximately 9 seconds). Sub-Terminal: A drop too low for a falling human body to reach terminal velocity. Wall: Usually a cliff. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That's definitely a discussion for a new thread. I know that Jason Fitzherbert and I went around that several times, and I've also had that discussion with Yuri K (although he was a little less serious minded when talking about it). Obviously, there are many experienced jumpers who've thought it through and come to conclusions on both sides of the issue, for various reasons. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I teach that because it's the way they are going to be jumping in the future in 99% of cases. I think that they should begin jumping the gear and configurations which they will need to gain experience on from the very beginning of their BASE training. In general, I hope that I can screen out people who consider the landing are under the bridge here to be "tight." It's so large that landing in it should be a non-issue for anyone qualified as a student of BASE. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

See also: Risk Homeostasis and Open Canopy Fatalities, by Vic Napier. The short summary is that as the gear gets safer, we take more risks, and keep the overall level of risk the same. So, it's not just "Body Armor - No Brain." It's also "Reliable Gear - No Brain," "Better Heading Rate - No Brain," "AAD - No Brain," etc. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think you may be reading more into Robi's post than he wrote there. He did say that he thought protective gear was a good idea. He just said that he thought good judgment was more important than anything else, including protective gear. Put it this way: The brain between your ears will always be your best defense against injury. The armor you cover it with can protect it from damage, but if you're not using it, that doesn't matter much. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hey BASEJumper, It sounds like you have a lot of experience. I was wondering if I could ask you a technical question: When performing a rollover (unpacked jump, where the canopy hangs at the end of the lines and the jumper launches over it), can you tell me if it's important to maintain line tension? Should the jumper launch hard out, to keep the lines tight? Or should the jumper launch down at the canopy, inducing line slack, as the central jumper did in this accident? Here's some food for thought: After I posted my thoughts on that accident, that jumper became very hostile toward me. He felt that I had unfairly summarized the accident, and that somehow I had done this as a personal affront to him. After repeatedly launching into tirades and personal attacks, his account was disabled on these forums. Shortly thereafter, a new account was created that posted many similar things. The user of that account claimed to be a real person, but it turned out that, in fact, he was not. He was, in fact, the same person, back to throw around more anonymous attacks. This week, that same old incident report got brought up in conversation in this forum again. Unsurprisingly, a new anonymous account was created by someone claiming vast experience, but unwilling to give their name or substantiate their claims. That new login launched into the same type of attacks again. I'd suggest that you ought to have a good hard look at yourself, and your real motivations for launching these attacks. Could you be feeling guilty? You shouldn't. Accidents happen in this sport. People make mistakes. Yes, you made some mistakes, and yes, someone got hurt as a result. But no one is blaming you, aside from yourself. Self-blame and guilt are making you lash out at me. All that's doing is making you look silly. Stop beating yourself up. It wasn't your fault, and no one blames you or holds you responsible. Nick, I'd be happy to talk with you about this, if you can get past the stage of shouting obscenities at my voicemail. You've got my number. Give me a call. I'm not your enemy. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's comments like that one that make us the most hated people in the world. I've been teaching for the last week or so, and haven't been on this forum much. So, my apologies to everyone who had to sit through this pointless thread. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Just an additional observation. In addition to damping PC oscillation better than ZP, the F-111 PC's actually start with less oscillation. This is because of the typical inflation patterns. From observation, the ZP PC's will inflate when they reach bridle stretch out to one side of the jumper (which means that they have a "pendulum" swing to start the oscillation). The F-111 will actually swing up and over (directly above) the jumper, and _then_ inflate (eliminating that initial "pendulum" into position). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That'd be Nate B. I remember seeing him when they loaded him onto the helicopter, and he looked like bloody death, only not warmed over. I couldn't believe my eyes when he was back at the hotel limping around 2 days later, with not a single broken bone. I think he got really, really lucky in that he hit a fairly loose, sloping bit of scree, that slid away under him and dissipated some of the energy. Comparing the two, I'd say that they had about the same amount of canopy out (meaning, almost none) when they impacted. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I have several F-111 PC's in service for FJC's here. I've been pleased with their performance (I think they oscillate noticeably less than even the best vented ZP PC's I'm using). I replace the F-111 PC's approximately every 100 jumps. At some point I'll try to sit down and edit out all the video from my FJC's, to compare PC's, as Annie did at the events in Malaysia. The short version, though, is that I agree with her conclusions. F-111 PC's are an excellent tool, and are usually vastly underrated by modern BASE jumpers. I don't think I'd mind if everyone used F-111 here, provided they were careful about maintenance (and replacement). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Me too. Newbie4Ever, feel free to drop me a PM or email if you want to discuss specifics about him. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

[/url] It's one of them. There are various vent configurations available. The pictured PC is 32" A/V series PC manufactured by Asylum Designs. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Parody is the highest form of flattery. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You win the prize for the best answer to the endless, mindless questions about "which suit is best" that seem to cycle through this forum in a giant loop. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If you want to ask about a completely different rig, you probably ought to start a new thread. They Odyssey isn't similar to the Vision at all. In fact, the Odyssey wasn't similar to the Odyssey, really. I've seen different examples of the Odyssey that were completely different from each other. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Sent this off via snail mail to the office address listed on his web site. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The most similar rig I've owned to a Vision is a Ray Losli Soft Cock. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Unless I am mistaken, your email address is INeedAGirlfriend@. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Thank you for actually trying to post useful information, when so many are just hammering the guy. I've got a pretty well developed nose for Trolls, and I'm thinking this isn't one. To the original question: Exiting a King Air at speed with a wingsuit is going to be scary. If you exit with the wings open there is a reasonable chance you'll get popped up into the tail of the aircraft. Personally, I wouldn't do it, but if you really want to, I'd recommend rolling out the door in a ball, and then opening the wings 5 seconds or so later. Details of the Birdman instructor program can be found on the BirdMan web site, or by contacting a Birdman Chief Instructor (3 of them on these forums are Scott Campos, Chuck Blue, and Jussi Holopainen,who is also the sales manager at Birdman headquarters in Finland). Details of the Phoenix Fly instructor program can be found on the Phoenix Fly web site, or by contacting a Phoenix Fly instructor examiner (3 of them on these forums are James Boole, Baxter Gillespie and Robert Pecnik, the owner of Phoenix Fly). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I was also trying to make the point that I thought the preparation and deployment of the PC was more important than the size difference between 42 and 48. At 200', the thing that will get you isn't the slower opening--it's inconsistencies in the opening. My strategy at those altitudes isn't to try for the fastest possible opening, but rather to try for the most consistent opening. If I could somehow eliminate hesitations, I'd trade that for some extra altitude that was sometimes there and sometimes not. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com