TomAiello

I don't know anything about them. I'd love to hear from someone what research is being done on them. Most of the systems I saw were adapting rounds from other uses (like paraglider reserves) rather than actually involving any new research into the round parachute itself. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think we need to start a separate "spoilers" thread for people who have already finished, so we can actually talk about the plot of the book. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Any actual figures? Just curious cuz I have heard that certain rounds are very reliable but 99% would be a very unreliable parachute indeed. In skydiving terms 99.9% would be about right for squares. (Difference between 1/100 and 1/1000) The difficulty with rounds v. squares in BASE is that round technology stopped being the focus of development 25 years ago. I don't think we have any real numbers about rounds. It is my opinion, that a round is generally less consistent than a square in terms of inflation speed, and it is my experience that rounds open slower, but usually harder, than a slider up square canopy. In terms of malfunctions? I think that if you are over water (which is the case for virtually all modern round BASE jumps), impact under a malfunctioning round is going to be ok. Fast and hard, but generally not injuriously so. In terms of overall reliability? My gut says that the 20 year old rounds most of us are jumping are less reliable than our squares, but are statistically reliable enough for what we are doing (jumps over deep water) here. I'd bet that a BASE specific round built in the last couple years is going to be better than that, and I'd also say that there are things you could do to build rounds better than we have, but that it's unlikely anyone is going to go to the effort to do this, because the market niche is so small. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In the words of Dennis McGlynn, so that "the parachute is out before your bad body position has time to screw things up." Many students have problems with exit stability. A PCA (or other quick deployment method) gets a canopy before the student can go head low, head high, off axis, or tumble (or at least before they can do much of it). In general, you want the student to make a couple PCA's and demonstrate a good, stable exit before you put them off for a free fall. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

For my FJC at that span with a well known manufacturer I did a 3 sec delay hand held for my first jump............ has this changed? If I recall your details correctly, yes. The Apex BASE courses have been doing PCA's for first jumps--isn't that who you took your course from? When I learned, the "standard" was a 2 second, hand held slider down jump. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The modern technique used in all first jump courses (not death camps) here is a PCA for the first jump. We tend to just keep the extra altitude as a safety margin, with the understanding that a quicker deployed canopy has less time for the students possibly bad body position to screw things up. Unless the object is high enough to track, I'm pretty convinced that a PCA is a better first jump regardless of altitude. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

People that can read that fast disgust me. My wife finished about 3 hours before I did. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Finished about 2 hours ago. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

He's been doing death camps for some time. Why would this cause a drastic loss in his credibility? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Is that what people around here mean when they talk about killing kittens? I've always wondered. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Use a chain or cable that has a lesser diameter to get through the wear point, then attach it to a rope that goes the rest of the distance. Or if you want it to be really sturdy, just use a cable for the whole thing. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/more/07/15/bc.bbo.youngplayerhurt.ap/index.html?cnn=yes Wow. If that was my kid I'd likely be jailed for assaulting the coach with a baseball bat. Unbelievable. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What is scary is how you take one comment from one person and generalize that to behavior practiced by an entire country of 260 million people. Ditto. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

About 30 feet. On an exposed granite talus, next to a lake at 12,000 ft. We didn't so much hear the thunder as feel it. I will never forget seeing chunks of earth and stone thrown into the air by it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

http://www.BASEKjerag.com -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Several years ago I saw a guy dislocate a shoulder on opening (during a BASE accuracy contest, no less). He was able to get both toggles in one hand and steer in to land in the circle. I don't know that I'd recommend it as a long term solution, but with a sufficiently docile canopy, it's possible. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm really not trying to be a smart ass here, so please take this as an honest questions. Did Osama Bin Laden really name this organization in our letters? Wouldn't he have named it in Arabic, and hence there wouldn't actually be a "correct" spelling in English (since we're just trying to phonetically simulate the arabic words)? If he really did give it a formal name with letters in our language, I think it speaks volumes about his thinking. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I can just picture him shouting "Respect my authorit-eye!" as he did that. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Definitely read the "Before You Post!" guidelines in bold at the top of this page, and understand that we're not going to have a discussion of specific sites in this forum. For info about legal jumps in Mexico, I'd recommend contacting Adrenaline Exploits. The difficulties on the Mexican big wall sound like they're mostly post-opening and landing, rather than freefall. There are plenty of legal jumps in the US (there's a nice bridge in my home town that's legal 365 days a year, and sees jumpers most of those days). There's also a whole bunch of legal jumping throughout the desert southwest (check in with Apex BASE in Moab for some info about one popular area that hosts a boogie every Thanksgiving). Short answer? There's plenty of stuff. And Texas is a big state. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I have done it from airplanes. I found the slider noticeably slowed. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Some people here might be interested in Yuri's Vampire Chronicles Posts in the Wingsuit Forum. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think I'll put a pointer up there, instead. It's pretty relevant to both forums. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In general, moderators try to exercise extra restraint in moderating attacks on themselves. It's fortunate then, that I am not Bill. I've banned you from this forum for 14 days. Let's try not to repeat this after that. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I can definitely see how a willingness to answer (or not) would be more important than the actual answer. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You know, if we're discussing politics, it's not real relevant where he jumps, or even if he jumps. I mean, if you asked me the same question, "what DZ do you jump at?" I wouldn't be able to provide a satisfactory answer. It's not like he's giving advice on hook turns or something. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com