TomAiello

Three thoughts: 1) Ratings don't necessarily make you a better instructor, but they do help you to convince people who don't know about your discipline that you've put in the effort to teach well (and safely). That can help you convince a DZO (or whoever) to let you teach on their turf. 2) Following a standardized instructor certification doesn't necessarily generate a better instructor or curriculum. It's very possible that someone could have extensive teaching experience from something totally unrelated (being a SCUBA instructor, or an instructor pilot, or heck, an actual school teacher) and translate that into a very effective self-designed curriculum. 3) If you're serious about providing good instruction, taking at least one of the various instructor courses offered ought to be a minimum first step. Taking such a course is by far the easy--not the hard--way to get started. The hard way is to start from the ground up and develop the entire curriculum and teaching methodology yourself. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've split this discussion off of the Z-Hills Flock Thank You thread. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. It spins like a top. You have to put a swivel at the bottom of the lines. More information (and lots of numbers for Yuri_BASE) can be found in the Knacke book. (edit to add: I've got a copy of that, too, if you want to look through it sometime.) -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Get your hands on the Carl Boenish train jump footage (I've got it, if you want to watch it the next time you're in Twin), and look for Randy Harrison jumping a little tiny high performance round. The thing looks like a beanie waaaay up at the top of the lines, and it's tiny. I think if what you want is super small, and you can perfect the system (good luck), a spinning round would work best. Spinning rounds have much greater drag per area of parachute and are much more stable. Unfortunately, Department of Defense (i.e. very well funded) researchers have been unable to make a spinning round larger than about 8 feet that will deploy reliably (but maybe that's large enough for this application). You could test this kind of thing by doing canopy transfers off the bridge here, where you wouldn't have to chop your big main canopy until after you had the little round fully inflated and functioning. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's a shorty wetsuit, and it's to keep warm in the cold water, since he was doing intentional water jumps. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The moderator of a forum is not in control of the individual replies posted to it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think (I don't know) that the moderator who moved it probably thought "no one but a BASE jumper is going to have any experience or insight into the issue of jumping a small round into water." I certainly think that the average reader of this forum is more likely to have jumped a round (of whatever size) into water than the average reader of the General Skydiving forum, where the post started. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That was my understanding also. I asked about their idenity point blank, they have have to be honest. Otherwise, it's considered entrapment. But also thats what I've always been told. Do Undercover Police Have to Identify Themselves? Note that in this case, the rangers were off duty. They have no more duty to identify themselves or tell the truth than any other private citizen. If they, as private citizens, choose to report things to the authorities, it doesn't legally intersect their official capacity at all. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Robert was flying with them this past summer. I bet we can get a quick "from the field" summary from several different people to let us know if it's "close" or "not even close" at any rate. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Check out the VKB speed suits (I'm sure you've seen the threads). They're moving in the opposite direction from many wingsuits (smaller, lower drag, slicker surfaces). The idea was to get faster flights, but I bet they're getting enough lift that the glide ratios are getting pretty close. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I don't think it's even 1000' sheer. Word is that the rock drop is around 5-6 seconds. I wonder if a wingsuit could make it, though? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. It's essentially a pin rig where the pin cover flap is attached to the bridle, rather than to the rig. I actually saw the same thing and emailed Loic about it. He said that it's a personal prototype, and that it's not likely they'll ever sell that version of the rig. The production version is called the Snekor (I think the current model is the Snekor 2), but does not have that flap on the bridle. I believe that you can buy them through Fly Your Body, but I don't think they are on the web site. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Clicky. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hmmm. I must have been on a lot of drugs, because I don't recall you ever being present when I was recovering from an accident. It's that roll-over to stepthrough thing that you invented at the Go Fast Games. If you put the step through in before hanging the rig down (but in the opposite direction), you can go through the lines like you did, but end up with no step through once the canopy is in flight. I hear a lot about how I've proclaimed myself to be various things. Can someone point me to one of these proclamations? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

As yet untested in court. There has been one case of jumpers launching from NPS land and landing outside NPS land, and still being busted. They plea bargained rather than fighting the case, so we don't know how a judge would have ruled on the idea that you could be delivering yourself out of the park. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Ok. I apologize for letting my personal issues with Miles' and his crowd get the better of me in this forum. That's definitely not true. Miles has told me that he asked Shane to "pump him up" on these forums. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Let's keep the discussion in the original thread. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

PM BASE 587. He's probably the best TARD jumper I know, as well as the person who's done the lowest TARDs. I think he's got all 4 objects under 150 ft. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

From low to high: (a) No Slider (or slider pulled down to links and attached there). Altitudes approximately 200-500 ft. Delays to about 4 seconds. (b) Mesh Slider. Altitudes above approximately 500 feet (more like above 800 to be safe). Delays over 4 seconds. Be aware that short delay slider up deployments create more inconsistencies, and are not recommended, especially when in close proximity to a solid object. Sail sliders are very rarely used in BASE, and generally only by experienced jumpers, especially those with special situations (like back problems). Which type of mesh slider you use depends more on the canopy type and manufacturers recommendations than it does on the jump. Some experienced jumpers will switch large to small mesh sliders, and mesh to sail sliders as they gain altitude (both overall freefall altitude and altitude at deployment). This is an increasingly uncommon practice (most people nowadays just use the one slider for all slider up jumps). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The canopy is way too small for him. He ought to find something bigger. What you are describing about the canopy porosity sounds pretty normal to me. F-111 will pass air through. ZP skydiving canopies will trap air. A new F-111 canopy will trap a great deal more air than one that isn't quite so new. I'd say the wingloading is a much bigger issue than the porosity of the canopy--but remember that I haven't actually seen the canopy in question. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I lasered that exit at 173' to impact. I think the impact point I measured to was a very small distance (single digit feet) above the landing. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I clicked on that. It says they have 4 suits, but then only names the other three, and gives information and prices for those 3. I can't find anything about the single layer aside from the photo that shows it and says it exists. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Wow. That's an amazing coincidence. I must have been present for most of Miles' unpacked jumps. I had thought that he mostly jumped unpacked, but I guess it's just that I coincidentally happen to be out when he's running up the unpacked laps, and miss all of his packed jumps. Hey, since you seem to have his logbook information, would you mine posting a breakdown of the jumps, like the ones posted here by Dwain and others? I'm sure many people are interested in what statistics can be drawn from such a large number of jumps. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

... To which I think the best reply has already been posted: Quite honestly, I think that anyone who likes to have their friends get on-line and spray about their numbers ought to be willing to break down those numbers. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I can't find the single layer suit on the Tonysuits web site. Do you know what the retail price is? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com