TomAiello

What is the canopy? I jump a 7 cell loaded around .64 pretty regularly. I haven't had any problems moving forward. I can get enough forward, flying aggressively, to make good progress into 15mph headwinds. Don't forget you can use your front risers to penetrate. Also, if you are just sinking straight down (rather than floating up high forever), you may just have a really clapped out canopy. How's the flare on the canopy? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You could argue that taking guns out of the hands of the populace at large cuts the number of gun related accidents (as distinct from gun related "on purpose" incidents, which would involve those black market guns). Personally, I believe one of the costs of freedom to be the potential to have accidents while exercising that freedom (whether it be the freedom to jump from a plane [or cliff], the freedom to drive a car, the freedom to own a gun, the freedom to use recreational substances, etc, etc, etc). I'll take freedom, even if it means I have to accept risk. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. PCA means that someone stands behind you and holds your PC as you exit. They hang onto the PC until you reach line stretch, getting you open in relatively little distance. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Pilot Chute Assist. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Not directed at Deuce: I just removed several pedophilia jokes from this thread. Come on people, it's "Speaker's Corner", not "Forum Rules Don't Apply Here." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Skin, I can't believe you missed the riotous fun in this thread earlier this evening. It included such naughtiness as a very experienced pseudo-russian jumper offering to perform fellatio on a canine. But of course, that party pooper, Mr. Aiello's son, has deleted all of it by now. I think there's a bit left in the "packer's" thread--but it's not nearly as much fun as the parts that are gone... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Can anyone over here help out in this thread in BASE? Specifically, has anyone used Woolite to wash an entire canopy? Good/bad effects on the canopy? Degradation to F-111 or ZP? I'm pretty aware of the trim issues, but I'm wondering if anyone has any insight into the effect of the woolite on the actual fabric of the canopy. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's pretty much the same corner. When I got mine, Morpheus was licensing them to Sunpath, so the Javelin corner was identical to the Gargoyle corner (adjusted for size of the container, obviously). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Are the announcements in Portugese? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Woolite is a non-detergent fabric wash. I'm sure there is a comparable UK product. If you ask a rigger, they might be able to tell you what it is. It's also the same stuff that climbers use to wash ropes, so a climbing shop might be able to point you in the right direction (just don't buy the super-expensive "rope wash" stuff, that's basically Woolite in a different bottle at ten times the price). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Of course it is. You can prevent any incident by not exiting. Skipping the jump guarantees you will not have a jumping accident on that jump. I agree with this in theory. However, I do not believe that we are at a stage of technological development where we can even get close to having sufficient data. The systems involved in this sport are so complex, and our understanding of the dynamics is so primitive, that the best we can do is make our best generalized guesses, in many cases. Even the most experienced jumpers today, with the most advanced gear currently available, are going to encounter many situations that are simply outside their understanding. This "black death factor" isn't going away any time real soon, in my opinion. In general, I'd say that most jumpers do not sufficiently consider the variables of their jumps. So your point (that we can prevent many incidents by better understanding) is well taken. But I still think we're a long way from being able to understand everything that happens. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That's not really a good comparison of the valves. You'd need to compare to a non-Vtec FOX to get a good idea of what effect the inlets were having. The Ace has _much_ cleaner inflation characteristics than the FOX, so the fact that you are opening around the same altitude probably indicates that the valves are having a huge effect (bringing FOX openings up to the level of Ace openings). Adding valves to different canopies can have quite different effects. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'd be willing to bet that you can find those kinds of abuses in prisons all over the world--not just in the US. The Stanford study was very interesting. Even well educated, "nice", upper class kids reverted to being animals in a simulation of the modern prison environment. There has to be a better way, but for the life of me I've got no idea what it is. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I believe that during the development of the Vtec BR tested a canopy with vents on the outside cells (1 and 7), and abandoned those locations because it was causing strange heading/inflation effects. My memory of it is a bit hazy, but I seem to recall someone commenting that the end cells appeared to be inflating early in the sequence, and that effect would magnify offheadings that might be caused by other things. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

My general experience has been that higher wingloadings actually yield openings that are crisper and more predictable. I haven't got any experience with your particular canopy and wingloading, though, so take this with a grain of salt. In general, I've found that smaller canopies give "better" (i.e. inflation is faster and more symmetric) openings, and that higher wingloadings give "better" (same definitions) openings. So, if you have a big canopy (say, a 280 or so) loaded under about .6, you start to see really squirrely openings. With your wingloading? I wouldn't worry about it. I'd bet it will be fine, and if it's not, you'll find out as you work your way up (err, down, um, whatever) to more difficult objects. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There's a thread on here somewhere with some discussion. The suit is "home" made (I think Shaun actually hired professionals to sew his suits). I think the one in the photo is his sixth or seventh prototype. It does not have the greatest wing area (I believe he was running into problems with larger wing areas being nearly impossible to fly for any length of time). The huge wing area has some definite advantages for BASE (primarily that it begins flying sooner), but isn't actually that big a deal, especially for skydiving. The efficiency of the S3, for example, means that it achieves much higher forward speed, which yields more lift and hence better glide ratio, even with less wing. I'd guess that the SugarGlider in the photo was getting a little better than 2-1 glide (compare to top flyers in S3's getting 2.4-1 or so, if I recall correctly). There are lots of tradeoffs involved in the use of bigger wings, and generally I think that the "big wing" suits are seeing slightly worse glide ratios, but have the potential to start flying sooner from zero airspeed (important in BASE, irrelevant in skydiving), be a bit easier to fly at lower experience levels, and move slower in both the forward and downward directions (which might be important if you wanted to land the suit). Lots of interesting designs floating around out there--but personally my money is still on Robi for the most efficient suits, at this point. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think I remember hearing someone say there were two different edits. I know I had the original one, so perhaps that's the difference. My copy of the tape didn't include the side shot. Does your copy also include the bit where Dwain's head is stuck in the cactus? I sent that (as well as the side shot) to Al after mentioning to him that I thought the stuff that didn't make FFoF111 was worth including (particularly the "head caught in the cactus" footage). I also liked the post jump bit where AG (the Indian guy) runs up and says "You're a f@!*ing Psychopath!". At any rate, if you see AG saying the "psychopath" bit or myself saying "you're bleeding" you've got a copy that includes that later set of footage (which was not included in the original version that I got). Does your copy have that stuff? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

A quick Google search finds this bit of explanation, which jives pretty well with my understanding of the legal history: Some general quotes from the drafters of the constitution, and other political thinkers of that era, on the definition of "militia", and related concepts. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I disagree with your definition of "censorship." "Blocking" distribution would mean: working to prevent the film from being distributed by anyone. What Disney is doing here appears to be refusing to distribute the film itself. If I refuse to speak your views I am not censoring you. You are still free to speak your own mind, on your own dime, at your own time. I'm just refusing to give you my time and money to do so. Not paying for a view to be disseminated is completely different from censoring that view. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think some patience is probably in order, too, as I understand that the Elsinore fire had some impact on the BD video project. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's worth noting that this video is a re-edit of Will Forshay's excellent Lemmings Extreme video, collected by Will over the course of many Bridge Days. After Will's death, Johnny re-edited and re-released the footage, presumably after making some kind of arrangement with Will's family. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The Dwain low pull wingsuit video, shot from the side, is not on FFoF111. The helmet cam footage is, though. The ground footage is on my web site somewhere. I'm too tired to dig up the link just now, but I'll try to do it tomorrow. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Check out this post over in the wingsuit forum. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Does he still introduce himself by saying "now, look, I'm not really a people person, and I know I'm going to offend you, so I'm sorry..." He's a heck of a laugh, actually. I edited some nice video of him flying in Norway last summer, but the copies on my web site are low quality enough that they aren't really worthwhile. If I get off my butt sometime I'll try to upload high quality copies somewhere. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Not responding to Michele, just everyone in general... OK, let's try to keep this on issues, not people. There's some not so nice name calling in this thread, much of it racially slanted. I've had to edit or remove posts three times. Let's try to cool it, ok? Thanks. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com