TomAiello

The photo caption reads (misspelling is in the original): In my opinion, the paper makes this sound fairly bad, when it wasn't. I'm particularly concerned about things like the sentence "The Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office used a boat to retrieve the jumpers" which implies that an official vehicle was used (in fact, the jumpers were retrieved by a private boat that happened to be on the water at the time). There's also an interesting illustration of the public resources brought to bear on the situation (" two...ambulances and a Life Flight helicopter responded..."), when in fact the jumpers used private transport entirely in removing themselves from the canyon. The press here has definitely become less friendly to BASE this summer. No more incidents here this season would be quite helpful. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I wasn't trying to imply that the Big 12 was weak. You said that the "other conferences" (which by inference include the SEC) have only "one or two" good teams. I'm saying that there are significantly more than "one or two" good teams in the SEC. And so, I ask you to point out which of those SEC teams are the "one or two" good ones, and which you would say are the not so good. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

So, at risk of inciting Billy Vance to violence, which of the following are the one or two good teams in the SEC? Alabama Auburn Florida Georgia Louisiana State Tennessee You think a schedule that includes Auburn, Florida and Tennessee every year is weak? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Here's one of those "other conferences", with only "one or two" good teams (top 25 teams are in bold). Here's your Big 12 (again with top 25 teams in bold). You want to retract that statement? Or you want to start a real argument about it? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Nah. He's not drinking anymore, so I'm sure what he was doing was just a weaksauce stuntman. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's very difficult to even take a guess without specifying the type of rig. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I log my jumps but do not number them. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Have a look at the Rob Fry Memorial video... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I don't recycle, and I drive a little tiny economy car. When I first moved here, you couldn't recycle anything but aluminum cans without driving a little over 100 miles to do it. We've got some recycling now (plastic bottles and newspaper), but I haven't gotten back in the habit yet. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That's a personal attack. Please review the Forum Rules, and consider this your one warning. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

No idea. I think it's kind of silly, but I'm not part of PF. I've lost a wing on a Skyflyer 1 in freefall (on a BASE jump). It's definitely a situation I'd prefer to avoid, but it's not an automatic death sentence, and it's not something I'd say is only possible with suit X, Y or Z. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It makes perfect sense once you realize that it's not for skydiving. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

VLC works. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I actually have several "BASE" flags that I acquired in Brussels a few years back, when I was on a BASE trip. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

ITW is an excellent choice this time of year. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It became a discussion about you when you used yourself as an example. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

As with the well armed 6 year olds, it's possible that conducting such an experiment, should it prove a failure, would have costs far greater than any potential benefits from a success. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Those are 2 different things: 1) It can be done; and 2) It can be done safely. Having done something successfully one time does not mean that it is safe. To generalize that something is safe, you need an evaluation of safety issues and a repeatable pattern of success. For example, if I give a 6 year old a gun and he doesn't shoot himself, that doesn't prove that what I did was safe. It demonstrates that there is some possibility that a 6 year old won't shoot himself. If I try to extrapolate from that and give all 6 year olds guns? Then I bet we'd be looking at some major problems. Note that this is not a comment on Dave and Matthews experience. I believe the two situations are radically different, in many different ways, one of which is that Dave isn't doing this because he wants to have sex with Matthew. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

BASE 808 has been completely bald for the 3 years I've known him. There's a photo of him here, but he's wearing a hat. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's called RW and a number (the RW stands for Relative Workshop, which is the original designer/manufacturer of the 3 ring system). The RW10 and RW01 are both large rings, if I remember correctly. One of them (I think it's the 10) is slightly thicker and beefier, and intended for Tandems. The other is intended for skydiving rigs. I think the RW8 is the small ring. I believe they get designated with and S at the end for stainless, so the RW8S would be the bottom piece on a small stainless 3 ring assembly. If you want to know for sure, give Rob at Morpheus a call. He's the one who explained this all to me several years ago (so no fault of his if I can't remember it exactly right, and screwed up the numbers). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Have you seen the ABA vid where Jason FH and Fast Al make a jump and land in the pond with the sign that says "Warning: Crocodiles" or something like that? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Jaap in 3.....2.....1 Interestingly, I think Jaap has done that. I've done it. Be prepared for a weird feeling opening (harder or softer), and get Don in the water under you in case things go bad. Any time you try to induce malfunctions in your own (single) parachute, you're taking your life in your hands. Be sure you're prepared to deal with the consequences, no matter what they may be. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I mostly use large mesh, personally. I just accept that my openings are going to be faster/harder. Even with all the hardware in my spine, I still find them tolerable, but if I wanted to make 6 or 7 terminal jumps in a day (or night) I might switch the slider out. You can get a sail slider for almost any BASE canopy. If the manufacturer won't make you one (which would be weird, I think), you can just get a competent rigger to sew one up. Most of the folks with holes cut in their sail sliders cut the holes themselves. I even saw one guy who had a 10 year old illiterate mexican villager do it for him (that sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I've got photos somewhere to prove it). The best methods I've seen are either a single coffee can sized hold dead center, or a set of 4 or 6 coke can sized holes spread symmetrically. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

A sail slider with a hole or holes cut out of it. I've seen this used very effectively on several occasions. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That's pretty offensive, honestly. Most of the folks on this forum are looking for an aircraft that will allow them to use their "real" rigs. BASE rigs are just as "real" as skydiving rigs. Each is designed for a different purpose. Taking a skydiving rig off an object--any object--is pretty much just plain dumb. Sure there are. With your current attitude, I'm personally not going to tell you where they are. Here's the problem. If you want to jump off a 3000 ft cliff with a skydiving rig, you'll only have a thousand feet or so to track away before you open your--less reliable, more malfunction prone, and more likely to be off-heading--skydiving canopy. If you take longer, you won't have time to use that precious reserve you've lugged up to the top of the cliff. A much safer way to jump that cliff would be to use a "real" rig designed for it--in other words, a BASE rig. Then you could take the full available delay, opening well away from the wall with gear designed and manufactured to open on heading, with fewer problems, and with a more appropriate flight profile for the environment you are in. Please read the guidelines linked at the top of the forum under the heading "Before You Post!" Right here, right now, you are the person who is the underlying reason for those guidelines. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com