TomAiello

How many of those were unpacked jumps from the Perrine Bridge? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think Dave actually does a pretty good job of stating his experience level, to let people reading decide for themselves what to make of his advice. You really don't want to play that game. You know why not? Because: (a) You showed up here immediately after another username was disabled; (b) You give identical advice to the that user; (c) You claim 1200 BASE jumps, but none of the very experienced jumpers in your area have ever heard of you or made a jump with you; (d) You give dangerously bad technical advice (like advising people that it's better to induce line slack in a rollover than to maintain line tension). Maybe you shouldn't be giving people advice either. At least Dave is honestly representing both himself and his level of experience. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You know better, Dave. I'm banning you from this forum for 14 days. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

A youtube search for Jimmy Halliday returns 6 hits. All of these, are, of course, stunning demonstrations of BASE jumping skill and maturity, which provide a great deal of positive publicity for the sport of BASE jumping. They include such wonderful PR moments as Jimmy laughing at someone who is crying, trash compaction, and wildly unstable exits with pool toys. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The first time I heard the term "proximity flying" it was being used by James Boole to describe flights by Robert Pecnik. While I'm sure that you are much more proficient at wingsuit flight generally, and proximity flying specifically, than either James or Robert, I do have sufficient respect for their skills that I'm willing to allow them the ability to use common english words in an effort to describe the flights they have made. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

All, I've removed a bunch of off topic one liners from this thread. Please remember that the wingsuit forum is a topical forum. If you feel a need to discuss the mechanics of ponies and lube, that's what the Bonfire is for. The nature of the wingsuit community is going to mean that there will always be a certain amount of banter here, but let's try to keep it from wandering too far, and creating a giant string of one liners in this forum. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Since I know absolutely nothing about skydiving, I'd say you ought to ask your rigger. Minimum height for a BASE jump is probably about 200 feet. For a slider up skydiving reserve? I'd want an airplane. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Actually, when I was living in Birmingham, I found some very nice sites in North Alabama. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

When they were doing the demo jump at the Superbowl, Apex had to do a bunch of drop tests to satisfy the various powers that were involved in the event. They found that tying break cord at the end of the bridle had a noticeable rate of premature breakage (if I recall correctly, Jimmy told me it was 1 in 20 or something), but that tying the cord halfway down the bridle reduced the premature breakages to the point that they were unable to create any with repeated test drops. They created bridles with sewn in loops to static line from, about halfway down, just for that demo. An easy way to tie in partway down is to put an overhand loop in your bridle and tie to that. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I have used fishing line, electrical tape and cotton twine. I know people who've also used condoms, plastic shopping bags and various other kinds of line. Honestly, I think I'll stick to break cord until someone demonstrates that one of the alternatives is clearly better, which hasn't happened yet. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I was talking about Faber. You know, during the great Dutch rampage across North America, when Faber, Nikolaj and Peter drove around trying to get Ray Losli thrown in jail, and making Chad drive for 48 hours at a stretch without sleep. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Wow. That's stunning. Did he ever figure out what happened? Was there some kind of misrigging on the static line? Maybe the bridle snagged on the object? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've pulled the pack job out of my rig before when loaning it out. I clearly remember the horrified look on my friends face when I took the fully packed rig out of my trunk, yanked the canopy out, stuffed everything into the stash bag, and gave it to another friend. Either I've loosened up since then, or I've just gotten lazy, because I've let lots of people jump my pack jobs out here in TF (the aforementioned incident was when I lived elsewhere, with a slightly more technical object being their destination), and regularly let my students make repeated jumps on my pack jobs to build currency faster. I even once packed for some dutch guy who didn't seem to have a clue what he was doing with a borrowed rig. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

No, they don't. In fact, one of the great things about most modern liberal democracies is that there are a fair number of citizens walking around in them criticizing their own countries. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I don't think it will damage the bridle attachment point of your canopy. The forces just aren't there unless you've misrigged something. However, if it did, it still wouldn't be dangerous. By the time that part of the system could take a big load, you'd already be at line stretch. Even if your attachment point was damaged then, you'd still have a functioning parachute over your head. Gear maintenance issue? Maybe, but I doubt it. Safety issue? I don't think so. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It also has "How to jump from a high bridge into water." Several years ago, I was hurt in a high speed impact from a bridge into water. For christmas that year, I received 3 different copies of that book from different family and friends, and all of them had been marked on those two entries. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Grey is significantly less visible than black in low light conditions. I've seen a large number of canopy flights in low light conditions. By far the stealthiest canopy I've ever seen was mostly grey, with some purple, and black lines. From a few hundred feet the thing completely disappeared. Obviously my interest in this topic is from the opposite direction of most of yours, but I think some of the information is applicable if you just look for what I'd pick and avoid it as much as possible. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Tracking gear can make it harder to find the PC, and it can also throw you into uncomfortable body positions, as well as effecting your ground awareness. It's far better to be comfortable with the mechanics of the BASE jump itself before adding another layer of complexity. It's the "add on new thing at a time" principle. The safest way to progress your skills is to add only one new thing at a time, so that you only need to focus on one additional skill or complexity. Then, once you've got that down to the point it's second nature, you add the next one. For example, say you have never made a BASE jump, but you'd like to side float your friend on a 2 way. The intelligent way to approach this is not just to go for it. The first thing you'd want to do is learn to BASE jump. Be able to perform good flat and stable forward facing exits, and comfortable with mechanics of the jump and landing. Staying at a familair object, you'd next learn to do a side floater as a solo. Only then would you try adding the other jumper. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You're also not reading through the 20 or so posts I removed yesterday, which are the primary topic of this conversation, and the thing that concern most of the posters. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

People who have recently lost a loved one are, I think, allowed to be offended in that context, without being labelled "weak little bitches." A little consideration for grief isn't going to kill anyone. Step back, calm down, and remember that most of us have non-jumping family and friends who are likely to be a bit shocked by some BASE attitudes about death. Being careful what you say around your friends families doesn't make you oversensitive--it makes you tactful. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've purged a lot of the wandering discussion from this thread. Although there are no specific forum rules mandating common decency, I'd appreciate it if we could try to be a bit more sensitive to the feelings of other posters, especially where a fatality is involved. Unless and until I'm overruled on this, I'm going to remove comments of that nature. Also, let's try to keep the one liners and banter out of the more serious discussions in this forum. I'm reluctant to move all of the banter type threads to the Bonfire, because I've tried that before and it seems to lose a certain amount of the human interaction and flavor of the group. I'll continue to remove posts that I think are meaningless noise, and encourage everyone to remember that the primary purpose of this forum is to communicate--not to get your giggles at the expense of others. Please respect that there are others here who really want to use this forum as a means for communication, and conduct yourselves accordingly. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Tim R. comes immediately to mind. I've often wondered if his absolutely low key BASE approach comes from the fact that he's already on the big screen doing what all the Mt. Dew drinking teens want to do, or if perhaps he just wants to keep the recreational parts of his life separate from his work. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Health care costs vary a tremendous amount from State to State here. When I was injured in Idaho back in 2000, I compared the cost my insurance paid in Idaho against what they'd have paid in California. Idaho ran them about a half a million dollars. California would have been about 4 times as much. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

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

Have a look here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com