TomAiello

You ought to contact either Robert Pecnik of Birdman (robert@bird-man.com) or Stane Krajnic of Atair (atair@k2.net). They both live in that area and jump the terminal wall in Northern Italy quite often. You may also want to inquire about their other nice balkan objects. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There's some fairly good discussion of this down in the Gear Compatibility thread, if you haven't had a look at it yet. Check out spottydog's explanation near the bottom of that thread: -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I helped beta test this system with a Mac. PM me here, and maybe I can help solve your technical problem. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

My comment is: Customize your Deep Brake Settings. Do it now. Do it yourself. I ignore BR's instruction not to customize DBS on every one of my canopies. You might want to read the thread on Deep Brake Settings that I spun off of this thread. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That depends on the country you are jumping in, I think. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Actually, I think Tim was trying to speculate on what might go wrong with a system that had incompatible pieces. I think he was very consciously trying to steer away from discussion of a specific incident (hence his removal of this discussion from the incidents forum). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

How about $80 up front, then $15/yr for updates, or something like that? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

My best guess as to that is basically the same as this, from the first post in this thread. ***Main too small for the container? If the main pin is not sufficiently tight (due to main/container incompatibility), the pin may be easily dislodged, and then the main could extract and be still held by the BOC/ROL and risers – again, horseshoe malfunction. Still, I'm sure that accident will be well analyzed in due time. Just now there seems to be a lot of press spotlighting the whole thing. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The only thing I can come up with is mixing mini-risers with full size rings on risers. Say you put mini-rings on the risers, but had a full size ring on the harness. It wouldn't work the other way, because the ring wouldn't fit. But if you had small rings on the riser and large rings on the harness, could that make for a hard cutaway? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Um, aren't Dutchmen from Holland, not Denmark? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

How is that a compatibility issue? "Incorrectly manufactured" is a manufacturing error, not a compatibility issue. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Interesting that a democrat represents that area... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This wouldn't happen to be a wingsuit jump at your DZ, would it? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Can you honestly say that when you had 50 jumps, if you had a cutaway, you wouldn't have thought it was an "incident" (however defined)? People without the benefits of your vast experience are going to be excited when they have new experiences. That's part of the beauty of this sport. Come on. Even if you feel old and jaded, do you have to be so derisive of those who are young and excited? How about pulling at 300 feet? To me, that's not the basement either. It's all a matter of perspective. Why deride others who don't share yours? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I know that Dennis McGlynn (Gravity Sports, Ltd) embroiders a hook, and the letters "GS" on the handle. I'm not sure about others, but if you know what to look for, it's pretty easy to tell the major manufacturers PC's apart. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Um, who claimed that the CR PC was a 45"? As far as I know, CR has only ever made stock PC's sized 32", 38", 42" and 46". So, unless the PC you were measuring was custom, it couldn't have been a 45". Do you know if the CR PC was vented? The CR A/V series PC is built on a slightly different model, where the ZP, when inflated, actually pulls down around the "corner". I believe this is supposed to make the PC design more stable (I've seen no data on this). Without having seen the PC in question, I'd guess that was a CR 42 A/V and you were measuring the ZP, rather than the topskin surface. Still, measuring your PC's is a good practice. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

- Neville Chamberlain, 30 September, 1938 -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I believe that reverse, or Integrity, risers, were originally developed to be _stronger_ than standard three rings (since there is no hole punched through the middle of the riser). I don't believe it had anything to do with aesthetics. Most BASE jumpers still use integrity risers for this reason (although the technical strength issues were resolved by RWS quite some time ago, as far as I know), but we, admittedly, don't have to worry about cutting away a malfunction very often. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The best organized boogie in the states is the Turkey Boogie. Contact Vertigo for details. Go Fast sponsored a boogie from a high bridge in Colorado this year. Vertigo organized the jumpers. I'm not sure if that event will happen again as planned, due to an unfortunate incident at the first event. You might contact Go Fast or Vertigo to inquire, if you are interested. Be aware that space is limited, and it's an intermediate level jump, so experience and references are required. There are informal boogies at the potato state span around Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day. There are people jumping there pretty much all summer. As of May 14th, I'll live in Twin Falls, so give me a shout when you roll through and I can give you the rundown if you've not been there before. There are also several boogies outside the States, if you're willing and able to travel overseas. There is as a yearly tower boogie in Malaysia (it's going on right now). Contact Avery Badenhop for details. There is also a yearly competition in Malaysia held around New Years. But it's more focused on the competition than the boogie, and there are jump/skill/reference requirements for entry. Contact Slim Simpson of the Australian BASE Association for details. There is a helicopter boogie at the Big Wall in Southern Norway, usually in June. Contact the Stavanger BASE Klubb for details. There is a tower boogie in Moscow in the middle of each summer. For info contact Denis Lenchevskiy (his email address is on the linked page). I know you mentioned it, but as long as I'm writing up a list, don't forget the Grand Daddy of all BASE boogies, Bridge Day. Wow. Lined up like that, it looks like a regular BASE gala going on all year, doesn't it? Malaysia in the winter, Europe in the summer, the States in the fall. Now if we could just get a big spring event kicked off in South America, or Africa...

I had an email from the author a few months ago in which he said the English edition would be coming to Press in late spring or summer this year. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I had a friend make a skydive with an uncocked PC. He ended up firing the reserve, then having the main extract once the tension was reduced (by the reserve extraction). His main and reserve entangled, and he spun into a runway. He's lucky all he got was a pelvis fractured in 11 places and six months on a wheelchair. I'd say that's worse..what do you think? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Pilot chute size is better correlated to intended delay than object height. A 45" would be about right for 0-2 seconds of delay. I see that you are in Croatia. Do you know Robert? I'm sure that he can answer your questions better in person than we could in an internet discussion. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Don't worry. The fact that it has been removed doesn't mean I can't bring parts of it back later. Perhaps I'll repost some of the interesting discussion parts of the thread after things have cooled down. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I have removed the NPS thread by request of the original poster and the jumpers involved. Let's shelve that discussion for a little while, to give this incident a chance to be resolved. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I believe that's the "layman's translation" of this phrase: Congress shall make no law seems pretty clear to me. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com