TomAiello

??? Can you describe the ad? I've refreshed about (ok, exactly, I counted) 100 times, now and haven't seen anything pornographic at all. I keep hoping... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hmmm. Me too. I once saw a video of him being tarred and feathered by four other BASE jumpers because of his total disregard for BASE ethics. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

No. I don't know of any cases like that. But, if you are standing around talking, generally people talk about the cool things that happened (i.e. "dude, wait until you hear about this--my insurance paid"). I've got no idea. I know of a bunch more legal jumps where health insurance paid out. But I don't have any real data on insurance pay out and illegal jumps. In general, I think that US insurance companies are better about paying than most foreign insurance companies (particularly from those countries with socialized medicine). Since our insurance industry acts as our "social medicine safety net", they pay out on all kinds of stuff that you'd get health care from the government on in a European country. European insurance companies, on the other hand, operate differently, because they don't have the huge cash flow generated by "routine" health care (since European governments take that cash flow over). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Disclaimer: I haven't tested this out (by getting hurt). You might want to call Thrifty corporate headquarters before you rely on it. In December, I flew into Boise, where I rented a car from Thrifty. The salesman offered me the standard insurance options. The top level option was for coverage of "everything". I asked what "everything" included. He told me: "Well, three guys flew into here and rented a car for a skiing trip. One of them broke his leg skiing, and our insurance covered his medical care and transport home." I was intrigued, so I asked specifically about parachuting off a bridge. The salesman said that should be no problem. I then asked about breaking the law. He said he wasn't sure, but he had heard of cases where the coverage paid for drunk driving (hence illegal) accidents. Anyway, since I had health coverage that would kick in if I was injured, I didn't get their insurance (which would have cost more, per day, than the car rental). But you might want to look into it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I know of three cases in which US health insurance companies paid for injuries sustained on an illegal jump. In two of them, the jumpers did their best to characterize the accident as something else. In one, everything was up front, and the insurance paid without blinking. I think it's going to depend on your insurance company. The HMO's I've had tend to pay without too many questions (that said, all my BASE related injuries have been on legal jumps). I also think that they will take a different view if you are buying the insurance for a limited time (one trip) and happen to get injured on that trip. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I have jumped canopies as highly loaded as .92 and as lightly loaded as .58. Note that the .75 wingloading is a general guideline, which can be innaccurate at the high and low ends of the scale (because canopies do not scale precisely, hence neither does wingloading). The answer to this question will vary, depending on several things, such as: 1) What kind of object you are jumping On a solid object, it is more important to have (a) a docile canopy on opening (hence, a bigger canopy) and (b) a quicker, cleaner opening (hence a smaller canopy). When I have taken my wingloading below about .65 (no vents) or .6 (vents) I've found the openings become unacceptably unpredictable. In my experience, this is not a gradual progression. It's more of a bright line. At some point, as you drop your wingloading lower and lower, you hit a size where the canopy just doesn't open right. Adding some weights (or downsizing) pretty much fixes the problem immediately. I suspect that this point occurs at different places on different canopies, generally following the rule that canopies with cleaner openings experience it at lighter wingloadings (so, if you are jumping an unvented Troll or FOX, you will hit it sooner than on an Ace or Mojo, with the vented canopies--Blackjack, FOX and Flik Vtec, Troll MDV--allowing the lightest wingloadings of all). 2) What the landing area is like If your landing area is wide open, you don't need a giant canopy (especially on a wind-through object, where you won't need docility at opening either) and can get away with a smaller, lighter, cheaper canopy that performs just fine for wide open landing areas and non-solid object openings. (This may help explain why historically, Aussies have jumped the largest canopies and Floridians have jumped the smallest.) 3) How high the wind is With lots of wind, you'll need a higher wingloading to achieve penetration (cue Beavis). If you habitually jump in high winds, you'll want a smaller canopy (and you're probably jumping mostly towers or bridges). If you jump in light or zero winds, you can get away with a larger canopy (lighter wingloading), and hence you can take worse landing areas, and higher strike potential objects. 4) How high the object is On a very high object, you will have very little strike potential, so a relatively undocile canopy (i.e. higher wingloading) will be acceptable. If your object is lower, you will need a more docile (i.e. lighter wingloading) canopy on opening. If you are free falling ultra low objects (i.e. sub 200') you may consider downsizing again, as the difference in opening time between sizes becomes noticeable at these altitudes. 5) What your experience level is Obviously, your ability to control the canopy is the most important factor. If you can stand up a .9 wingloading on jagged talus, then you may be able to load higher. If you can maximize all your control inputs to fight a 20 knot wind at .6 wingloading, you may be able to load lighter. Your experience and skill are going to be the most important factors--far more important than your choice of canopy size or wingloading. Hope this helps. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I actually think your best bet is to go with Shotgun Ray's Rule of Thumb, which is explained by Dwain in this thread. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Definitely worth a read. Find it here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

FlyBirdMan. Try cpoxon. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

How's that work, exactly? Getting money back that is rightfully yours, but that the government has "held onto for you" for the past year isn't getting paid--it's getting screwed. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Well, it wasn't exactly secret. And I did it with two BASE rigs. Video here. You can hear the S&TA (or what counts for one there) saying "dirty high puller!" when I dump the second canopy at about 500'. At the very end you can also hear him say "I thought he would have smoked it a bit." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Let's try to keep the one liners in Talkback, guys. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

How are your ironing skills? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Is that clip available anywhere? I saw a still photo, taken just after exit. I'd wager that the video will make it's way onto an ABA tape at some point. The still has been posted to the BASE forum here, BLiNC, and the ABA board on a couple of occasions. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Dude. Anyone who thinks extreme ironing isn't extreme hasn't seen the photo of the guy pressing a shirt in freefall--from a 500' cliff. You gonna do that? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Who did you hear this from? That rumor has been circulating for years. I've got no idea as to the truth of it this time around. As far as I know the only other fatality there was a caver many years ago. There's a little memorial shrine set up at the bottom. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Um, I think that's the point. Not that serious, active BASE jumpers will get hurt by it--but that novices with little or no experience will do so. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Narcimund, I have edited your post just a bit for readability. Please read over the changes I have made and keep them in mind in your future postings. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It depends on the Dropzone policy, in most places. Some DZ's will make you do a tandem first, some won't. Ask at your DZ (or call around and ask all the local DZ's, then pick the one who's policy you like). Welcome to the forums! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Duh. Parachutes are next. I can't think of any decent, wholesome uses for a parachute--can you? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I definitely think it's helpful. However, the gear is so different that the application of the actual flights (i.e. canopy control, etc) is pretty limited. You would never launch a paraglider in conditions that are pretty acceptable for a BASE jump, largely due to the differences in canopies (radically high performance 50-some-odd cell ZP ellipticals v. 7 cell F-111 squares). I might rephrase that: My copy of "Understanding the Sky" is pretty dog eared, at this point. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Here is the one I was talking about. There were some "complications" with the reserve pull (gloves combined with handles getting sucked into an early prototype wingsuit). The reserve is deployed relatively low. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I actually know a guy who had that happen. He was fooling around with a high performance canopy at "high" altitude (around 2000'), and ended up winding it up into a ball of shit around 1100'. He chopped it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've moved the majority of the "high diving is/isn't BASE" posts into talk back. Please go there if you want to continue that discussion. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

General Purpose Warning to all everyone posting in this thread: I think that Laurengr has probably got the general point of needing more experience. Why don't we let that go for now. If you want to post on the topic of first gear, have at it. If you just want to post another "get more experience" post, please don't. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com