TomAiello

In a former life I was a supervisor of about 30 employees for the University of California. UC had a policy that you couldn't say anything bad when someone called for a reference check. If I had something bad to say, I'd just explain UC policy on references, and then follow up with "and I have absolutely nothing to say about this person." Sure. Remove the reference from your resume. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

And what about alluding that someone is overweight? That's only ok if it's me or your mom. In all seriousness, there is a major difference between saying someone acted foolish and calling them a fool. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

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

The idea is to make the pack job as controlled and easy to replicate as possible, especially for a student. After Bridge Day I'll try to compress the video and throw it up on the SkydivingMovies.com server so you can all pick it apart. You'll notice in the video that I'm packing a top size canopy (Troll 290/305/whatever they're calling that size now). As the canopy size gets smaller I find that less clamps are necessary. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I have a friend who was involved in some of the testing for canopies that large. He has a rather impressive story about a total malfunction (if I recall correctly it was a failure of the AAD) and the resulting crater caused when the test load impacted at terminal. I have no idea how fast terminal is for a 30,000 pound pallet, but the impact energy has got to be a lot like an airstrike. Reportedly, the soil underneath the impact was so fractured that it took on a shaving cream-like consistency. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Actually, what I think is that calling someone a fool is a personal attack, and is not allowed on these forums. I have neither knowledge of, nor an opinion about, the underlying situation. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Ah, is that why customs confiscated them from you? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That is the primary important reason for the robert cutaway system. The only time I ever pulled those handles was one instance where I jammed a zipper on my left arm unzipping after a brake fire. I had to pull the wing cutaways after I got under my reserve. They serve a very important purpose. I think they are also slightly faster than the zippers (especially the leg zippers if you are a fatso like me). I've pulled the cables when I opened low before to save time (when I say I was low, I mean that after landing I walked back the 100 yards to where I dropped them and just picked them up off the ground). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Ian, Stop. Now. That's your warning. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I keep mine in a bag, with my other packing tools. Since I have a couple stakes in there, I keep my PC's and such separate. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The reasoning was, I believe, that you did not completely leave the object with the rig packed. The jumper was still connected to the object (by the break cord) until after the rig was open. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm not sure how Carl B. would have viewed it, but I do know that there was a whole school of though among jumpers in the mid to late 90's that a static line (or a direct bag) was not a BASE jump. I believe they felt that you had to completely leave the object with a packed rig in order for it to "qualify" as a BASE jump. On the original topic: jump however you feel good about it. It's going to do you very little good to say "yeah, but it was a real BASE jump" if you're lying at the bottom of the cliff bleeding and broken. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm not sure I followed that correctly. Are you saying that the profusion of information has reduced barriers to entry, thereby increasing the participation level? And as a corollary, are you saying that if a significant portion of those offering information and/or training currently withdrew from the market, the incoming participant numbers would decrease (perhaps dramatically)? If that's what you are saying (and I'm not sure it is), then I think that you are wrong. I know of at least one person with less than 20 BASE jumps who is currently in the process of establishing a commercial BASE school (at least, that's what he's thinking of it as--it's more a "how to jump from paragliders with BASE gear" operation, but regardless, graduates of such a program will then go out to try their hand at fixed object parachuting). Those sorts of things are going on now. Any amount of withdrawal from the training process by people or groups with higher levels of fixed object parachuting experience is likely to only create a training vacuum, which will increase the rate at which new training programs (of better, worse, or equal quality is still to be seen and debated) are created. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Many other people aside from Craig would be interested in a true digital mini-cam system. If you could put one together that used the IEEE 1394 (firewire) ports on the Sony camera, you'd definitely have a market. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

For those who are on the "Get BASE quick" plan, I don't believe FJC's lower the barriers to entry. In fact, if any of those folks were to take a FJC, I think it would actually slow them down, at least by the hours spent in the course, with someone standing over them saying "no, you can't do a gainer yet." I'm not so much worried about the people who actually go to the effort of seeking out formal instruction. It's the people who don't do that at all that concern me--they end up doing a gainer as part of a 3 way for their 7th jump and thinking that's a conservative progression (true story). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In Italy? I don't know. My guess here in the US is that it would be the latter: -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Honestly, I think you're lumping too many things together there. I'm always going to be in favor of people sharing technical knowledge, or building better gear. Those are the kinds of things that save lives. Teaching courses...writing articles...sharing technical information...none of those things keep me from sleeping at night. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know Carl Boenish didn't mind showing his videos to people either. I'm sure he would have been thrilled had YouTube existed in his days...

Here's the rub... Imagine if Apex, Asylum, Morpheus and company all stopped giving FJC's, after being swayed by Nick's argument, and Jaap took down the BASE Wiki, and I was somehow able to delete everything I've ever posted on the internet. We'd still have people coming into the sport. Only now, they'd be doing it either (a) without guidance, or (b) with guidance from other folks who weren't swayed by Nick's argument. Neither (a) nor (b) is better than the current situation. I guess what I'm saying is this: There is no going back. All we can do is try to sort out how to go forward, and each do what we think is best. It seems to me that just getting off the train isn't going to stop it. It's just going to put a different crop of folks in the engine, and they're likely to have even less knowledge and historical perspective than the folks who are there now. Oh, and Nick, if you start to feel like the lone ranger, remember that Kleggo and Rick H. are still regulars here.

People are capable of learning and changing over time. I don't know the specifics of any particular situation. But, if you keep backing someone into a corner, he'll probably never come out of it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's a BASE mecca. I used to live there, and it was less than an hour from my house in any direction to a good object. Try the local BASE gear manufacturer--they should be able to point you in the right direction. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Congratulations! Nice MINI. We love ours. I can't decide if it's the most fun practical car I've ever owned, or the most practical fun car. Either way, nice. You've even got pretty similar colors to ours. We've got an Indi Blue/White '04 S, named Pigwidgeon. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In flight cutaway on the monowing systems is reportedly significantly scarier than on the tri-wings, because the wings tend to try to inflate anyway. I think it was LouDiamond who experimented with this a while back. Maybe he'll share his experiences again. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What would you do if it was your local object? The major distinction is in the local object. Ray's local stuff is all pretty typical US objects. Mostly illegal, generally more technical than ITW, and a whole lot lower. If someone showed up at his local cliff with a Sabre in a skydiving rig, Ray wouldn't have to stop him. Darwin would do that. Afterward, the authorities wouldn't step in to regulate jumping--because they've already banned it. An access sensitive legal site is a long way from even the most travelled sites in Ray's (or many other jumper's) area. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Is it fixed to just backward or forward, or can it turn to any angle? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com