TomAiello
-
Content
12,507 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
2 -
Feedback
0%
Everything posted by TomAiello
-
Did everything else about the PCA seem normal? Yes. It was a light tailwind from a span (which, I would have thought based on other experience, makes an on-heading more likely). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
In my experience, opening heading on a PCA is much more consistent than on a freefall. I theorize that this is because the extraction point is steady, rather than moving. I have, however, seen a 180 on a PCA. A PCA is not a guarantee of an on heading opening. Nothing, so far, appears to constitute such a guarantee. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
I agree. But that's not the problem. The issue is whether the slider grommet might get low enough to trap the toggle stub, and essentially jam a toggle. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
There's also a good collection of quotes (mostly BASE related) on the BASEWiki Nugget Page. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
I've been doing that since sometime in early college. I've attached a current copy of the file, as text (I keep it as word, with some formatting). I particularly like the first one and the last one. Do you have the people who said all of yours? I'd be interested in knowing who said them. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
In general I agree with you (ultra low freefall excepted). But Sean is an experienced jumper who chooses to do so, so it's possible that he has a good reason. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
CR made these custom for a friend of mine a while back. I'd guess that Asylum could make them for you with no problem. As an aside, I think the floating handle is better than the internal handle in all respects, and feels identical to the user. Morpheus makes them. I believe Rob calls them High Puller Big Grabs. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
What was it Chad said in the other thread? How many Tom's do we have? Tom A, Tom B, Tom D... Maybe we ought to say there can only be one Tom for each letter of last name. Who's Tom C? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
Can you elaborate? Maybe start a new thread (or I'll split this if it gets too lengthy). You think the length of the centerline is more important than the diameter of the PC? Or is the length of the centerline relative to the diameter of the PC? I ask because one of the best ways to create a self-stabilizing PC appears to be varying the length of the centerline and bottom (mesh) skin (i.e. creating a 3D PC). Do you think this will have an impact on the drag created by the PC? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
Is the 4 spoke just because that's what you have, or do you have a real preference for 4 (rather than 6) once you get more airspeed? And if so, can you explain why? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
Isn't the camera man doing a floater (hence straight to flying position) while the other guy does a rear facing exit and has to barrel roll? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
I think your odds of finding a consensus on that kind of question is pretty much zero. Why do you pair Warlock (which isn't produced any more) with Rock Dragon (which is)? How did you come up with those pairings for your examples? For what it's worth (very little, I'd think) my favorite is the Blackjack in a Gargoyle. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
Definitely. For the last 30 years or so (she's retired now), my mom worked at the company that prints the Charles Shaw labels, and 2 Buck Chuck was previously a $7-10 bottle that just got relabelled because they had a huge surplus of grapes one year and wanted a way to offload the extra. They then realized that it was a mega-seller, and started growing and bottling it specifically. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
Yes, but not a whole bunch of them. In general, they happen when plans change at the exit point (or just before, as in your case) or when you want a really soft opening (I did some of these as my first jumps back from spine surgery about 6 years ago). I've never made any attempt to measure exact opening altitude on one. I'd say you are going to be open lower than a slider down freefall, so 250' sounds a bit sketchy to me. However, be aware that a slider up canopy begins decelerating you as the slider starts to descend. The slider does not need to reach the links for the deceleration to reach a point where water impact is easily survivable without injury. If your object is over water, I think you could try it out in relative safety, and form some opinions about doing it over hard ground. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
I've seen this "pre-jump briefing as only training" quite a few times. In fact, my first jump was done that way. I agree with Nick that there are much better ways to go about this. I definitely see it happen a fair bit, though. I don't think it's a very good idea. But it's a reality. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
Videos posted there have to be reviewed and approved by the site management (mostly to be sure that they are really jump videos, and people don't start using it as a porn server or something). It's usually taken stuff I've put up there about a day to show up. Sometimes it's longer, of course, depending on how busy folks are. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
It also adds another element that can go right, and perform better than a static line. They are extremely convenient. You can think you're going to freefall the jump up until 30 seconds before exit, and then do a PCA. Static lines take a bit more foresight. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
They're not obligated to tell you what it is and they generally have policies in place will not allow the employee to give you the number. But, if you ask nicely, you'll probably get it. Just don't expect to get it when you buy something. If the something you are buying is a house, not only will you get the numbers, but you'll also usually get free professional help in clearing up any problems (the mortgage broker wants that commission, after all). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
Roughly the same. In theory, static line and PCA should perform almost the same. In practice, I've seen good PCA's that seem a bit better than a static line, and plenty of bad PCA's that are much worse. The PCA just puts a human element into your static line (for better or worse). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
Hey, how come they link to the RWS page for Bill Booth, but they don't link to The List for you? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
Are you getting this, Chad? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
Would you guys mind discussing the great pin v. velcro controversy over in the pin v. velcro thread that is still on the first page? Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
Or your altitude back? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
I'm no longer welcome at my original home DZ. Does that count? I guess it's sort of a lifetime grounding. There's an ultralight operation on the same airport, and the ultralight guys will let you pay for a tandem ultralight ride, and then jump out at altitude. Of course, the ultralight guys wouldn't know a parachute from a backpack. So, I took my Prism and FOX, got out at about 2500', and pulled around 300'. I think I'd have probably grounded me for doing that, too. The really funny part was that the ultralight pilot, when I talked to him later, said "wow, you threw that parachute right away!" -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
-
I'm not sure about full strength, but I'd bet that a soft link is stronger than a crossloaded rapide link for sure. And cross loading doesn't really appear to be an issue with soft links. Not that I've seen a lot of crossloaded links in BASE, but what's the old saying about planning for the worst? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com