TomAiello

Can you explain this? I've never been able to make a tailgate rubber band tight enough to cause problems on a freefall jump. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm part of the "give them food" school of thought. If they're willing to accept food, then they're probably really needy. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Many Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

On the 3rd page, the blue and black pants are apparently Phoenix-Fly pants. Both jumpers are very good trackers (the blue pants jumper is the Smoking Man himself). Edit: since Paul put me straight on what was going on there. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The container, certainly not. I wouldn't sell it, as the market is probably small, and you'll still want the container for skydiving, most likely. I have no idea if one of those would be suitable for BASE. My first guess would be "not really", meaning you could use it for Bridge Day, or easy jumps in Idaho, but not really for serious BASE. BASE canopies are about much more than wingloading. Just because something is big, and has 7 cells, does not make it a BASE canopy. I have no idea what the inflation characteristics of your canopy are like, especially slider off (although, being military gear, I'd bet there is some data out there somewhere). However, since it's designed to deploy big loads (jumpers and heavy gear) from high altitudes, I'd bet it's designed to open very soft, which is a rather undesirable characteristic in a BASE canopy. Short answer: I wouldn't use the canopy for serious BASE. Long answer: You'll need to talk to someone who knows about airfoils and BASE inflation, and see what can be done. Perhaps adding bottom skin inlets would help? I'm not sure. You'll also be in for becoming a test jumper if you try to go this route. But heck, you'll be a test jumper for any custom oversized canopy you have made, as well. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

See here for Wendy's post. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Larger canopies are generally more docile, so you get more time to deal with things. Anything you can do to slow things down in an emergency is desirable, in BASE. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Since Robert designed the BM pantz, I'd guess there are some similarities. Since these are his latest, greatest design, and are getting positive reviews from Smoking Pants trackers, I'd guess that they are far better. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

For the camera folks reading this... I'm not sure if it's an issue skydiving, but on BASE jumps, particularly slider down, the opening shock is hard enough that it makes some cameras cut out (either entirely go black, or just blur when the floating lens gets shaken around). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm going to move this thread to Photography and Video, and leave a pointer here. Perhaps we'll get some more input from the camera flyers over there. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In my opinion, Robert knows more about wingsuits and the aerodynamics of human flight than anyone else on earth at the moment. I'm very excited to see his new products.

Robert Pecnik, robibird, has left Birdman to form his own wingsuit company, Phoenix-Fly. Web Site: Phoenix-Fly Email: Robert@phoenix-fly.com As far as I know, DZ.com login info remains the same. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I still think it's better than just showing number of skydives... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'll email you the rest of the contact info... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I agree that it would be even more accurate to see number of objects--and even more accurate than that to see type of objects--and even more accurate than that to see an on-line reproduction of the poster's log book. However, it seems like that might entail a whole lot of extra work for a limited (in terms of number of DZ.com users) return. Simply having jumps per discipline would be a step in the right direction, and would also benefit folks outside of the BASE forum. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's not the exit point that matters, it's the container system. Even with a BASE canopy, a skydiving rig is not a BASE rig. There's a far greater potential for malfunction introduced by the container system itself. I'm pretty sure he used a WS-Xtreme (BASE rig) for that jump. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm pretty sure it was an airplane jump. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

How big is it? And is the display backlit? Those are two of my major criteria. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That would be Tom Aiello. He's one of the moderators After that happened I tried cutting a tensioned riser (hung the riser from a tree and hooked into it) with the same hook knife. It cut very easily. I've got a video somewhere (it's on Beyond Extreme) of a jumper spinning in with only one riser attached (it was a failed cutaway over water). It looks pretty violent, and I'm not sure how easy it would be to get the knife on the riser under that spin. Once the knife makes it to the riser, though, I'm confident that the actual cutting could be done in short order. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've entered my jump numbers in the "mini-profile" data as Skydives and BASE jumps. I've noticed the jump number field is now setup to disallow this sort of entry, I was wondering if it's possible to put in multiple "jump number" fields, with secondary indicators for "type of jump". This would allow some indication of areas of specialty. This would help us identify experts in particular areas (Freefly, CRW, BASE, etc) that might not translate well to (or from) other disciplines. While I think this is particularly important for BASE, I think there would be value in other areas as well. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Nope. It requires modified gear that most people don't have, and that would be dangerous to make "standard" BASE jumps with. And the technique is (in my opinion) inferior to the "throwing up" method if using standard gear. Hence, I'd rather not discuss it in an open forum. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You get more answers in public. Plus, you get to cross check a variety of answer's against each other, and hear people discuss the pros and cons of each one. The whole purpose of this forum is to exchange information. What's the point of having it if the first time someone asks a question we all tell them to go ask somewhere private? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think if we ease off Iran, they will reform themselves over the next 20 years. If we push them (or, god forbid, invade) I'd guess we'll see them reverting into a hard core theocracy. The reformers there are our friends--but they don't want anyone saying that, and the more we get close (positive or negative) the worse it is for the pace of reform there, in general. I'd say Iran is best approached in a very hands off fashion, at the moment. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Rauk, can you elaborate on this further? When I do ultra low freefalls (sub 200'), I am generally holding the ZP of the PC. I've made around 50 successful freefalls in this range using this technique. I generally S fold the entire PC and extra bridle into a softball sized wad, then pitch it hard, straight up, to bridle extension. I've also seen this technique used with a super mushroom style bundle, which may be superior by virtue of helping reduce the chance of hesitation. In that case, you're holding pretty much all ZP (and virtually no mesh). The only time I'm holding exclusively mesh is when I do very low freefalls (sub 160') on a specialized setup (non-standard gear). Could you give us a more detailed description of your technique? Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Nope. A "floating handle" is the technique that Avery described above. I learned it from PerFlare. You basically just put a small, hard, light object into the PC. It sits in the "handle" position when packed, but falls down off the topskin on deployment, so you don't get any of the weirdness associated with a weighted topskin. You can manufacture a PC like this by inserting a handle of some sort, then sewing the mesh shut enough that it simply cannot fall out. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com