TomAiello

What if they could be disabled in a premier members view of the forum (like the way you can turn signatures on and off, but only available to premier members)? That would add value to premier membership, and also give people a way to put their money where their mouth is. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If you're working out a way to sort out the times that the string appears inside another word (what shall henceforth be referred to as "the emoticon case") you might consider working that functionality back into the classifieds notifications, too. I've got a classified notification for a BASE canopy (the Ace) and about 75% of the hits are false positives (most comonly for rAcer containers). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Fixed that for you. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hold the canopy in your hands, and toss it into the air, while dropping off underneath it. Done carefully, you can get very fast inflation and good heading results. You can also use this as a way to crank out a huge number of jumps in a short time, because you don't have to pack. TARD is an acronym that stands for "Totally Awesome Rapid Deployment." There are many variations, among which the most popular is probably the TARD-over (hold a tard and do a front flip over it). You can see a still photo of one of these in NickNitro's "Deployment Stability" thread. A TARD is not the same as a WAD ("Wild Ass Deployment") a technique pioneered by Mark Hewitt in the 90's, and which involved holding the (almost completely packed) canopy in one hand and pitching it into the airstream. Be aware that performed improperly, it's possible to create a near total malfunction with a TARD (by inverting the canopy). There's a thread about how this was done, which you can find by searching this forum. McConkey = Rollover (two equivalent names for the same maneuver--I'm partial to the first name because I was the one who named it that). That's it. I think there's still a video of this in my Skydivingmovies.com folder, simply entitled "McConkey." If that one's not there any more, you can see the same maneuever in a couple different "McCutaway" videos on the SM.com server (one of them is in my folder, but there are others), which start out that way. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If you're thinking of jumping there, be certain to read this thread and then contact the locals so they know to have solid alibis. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Adam's address is on the CR Web Site. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

My opinion, based on more than 50 each way, is that it matters not at all. It's mostly a psychological prop for the jumper, so you won't grab at air and throw yourself off. I do think there is some merit to the "French" technique (I call it that because the first time I saw it was on the Soul Flyers video, and as far a I know they were the first guys to do it that way) of holding the toggles in the hands for immediate control. If you try this, be very careful not to pull one down further than the other during the roll. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hang in there, Matt. It'll seem like forever while it's happening, but when you look back on it, it'll get shorter and shorter over time. When I was stuck in the hospital (only for a couple months, so less time than you), I used to sneak out for walks on the hospital grounds. The doctors and nurses were not amused, but I got some of the other staff (OT's and PT's) as well as my family to help me "escape" for a bit. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

A review of the BLiNC archives ought to give you a number for PDX. Some folks had a habit of posting "PDX object #XX" there for a while, with the XX numbers climbing over 50. I'm not sure which of those were actually within the city limits, though. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yup. I was working the landing area for that accident, and got to help with some of the pick up. Will Forshay shot very good footage of the accident, didn't he? You can find it on his excellent Lemmings Extreme, and also on the Lemmings video for that specific year (I believe it was 1999). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That wasn't actually during bridge day itself, but at an 'extra-curricular' activity around the same time. There has been more than one incident with this type of outcome. I know of at least one on Bridge Day itself, and one during the extra-curriculars. Unfortunately, I managed to be one of the folks helping pick up both of those accidents. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

A bridge where you cannot possibly land dry (i.e. the canopies glide couldn't possibly put you into an object or onto dry land) would probably be the safest, assuming a good pickup boat. I know of several bridges that meet this criteria. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Melissa, I'm very sorry to hear that. You seem like a very nice person who is going through some pretty rough times with this. I do think that you'll find that you'll land on your feet and be better off in the long run for this whole experience. That said, I think we've had enough discussion about this here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

One of the good guys. He'll be missed. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've moved this from BASE, and left a pointer in BASE. It seems like the question ("has a manufacturer considered...?") is better asked in Gear and Rigging than in BASE. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Chad, Michael, You guys need to take this somewhere that is not this forum. I've banned you both for 14 days. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Come on, Sam, be nice to the kid. He's gotten enough hard-ass lecture here, I think. He's probably more likely to respond to a "hey, good for you, let's talk about what you need to do to prepare," kind fo approach. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

PM sent. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Brazil has a significant population of new jumpers (30 or so), but almost no one has reached 100 jumps yet. They even have a logo, an association, and these hideously ugly day-glow orange jackets. I'll get you some contact info. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'd definitely recommend asking them why they said that. With your jump numbers, it's unlikely that's it's a "number of skydives" thing, so you'll want to find out specifically what they are worried about, so that you can work on those skills. All of my advice on that topic is linked at the top of the forum, so I won't bother you with a boring repetition here, and just assume that you've already seen that and read it. It sounds like when you get back you'll have the money and time to travel to a big DZ, find yourself a nice big 7 cell canopy (or use the BASE canopy you have already ordered and have waiting when you get back from Iraq), and do 30 or 40 canopy control practice jumps to get yourself current. From there, you ought to be able to head straight to a First Jump Course. With the time you'll probably have, you ought to be able to stick around in Twin Falls for a week or so afterward. If you spent a month doing this, you'd come out the other end with some good canopy control practice jumps from a plane (on a BASE canopy), a solid grounding in BASE (from your FJC) and 20 or 30 practice BASE jumps to establish currency and start working on basic skills. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Many manufacturers will want to check references for people purchasing gear, to make sure they won't hurt themselves. That said, if you're coming to a First Jump Course, any manufacturer is going to be perfectly comfortable selling you gear and bringing it out (if they are also the folks you are taking the course from) or shipping it to your FJC instructor. I've acted as a mail drop for that kind of thing (both for myself and other instructors) on numerous occasions. All of this, of course, doesn't apply to used gear. Buying used gear totally depends on the seller. Some will sell to anyone, some ask for references. Basically, it's a general (unorganized, spontaneous) community effort to keep new jumpers from hurting themselves due to lack of instruction. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Are all theese 3 cases WS jumps? No. Only one of them was WS. The knot in bridle case was an over-rotated aerial (interesting that it's the same case in which Yuri_BASE is saying this system might be undesirable) in which the pitch was made in a downward direction, and the PC ended up floating back up through a flailing wad of bridle. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I meant #70 (Lukas Knutsson), as several people had pointed out to me. Interestingly, I got the number by pulling up www.BASEFatalities.com, which I thought was just a mirror of Nick's site, but which appears to be an out of date copy of the information, with a different set of numbers. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Collin, Is this from a test that you did? When I played with the Morpheus system last year, practice pitches (on the ground) got the PC all the way to bridle stretch. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. And also about the construction of the PC. I don't think there's a silver bullet here. I do think that there are lots of incremental improvements to be made in PC deployment and inflation. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com