TomAiello

AFF and BASE are at two widely divergent parts of the learning curve. Fortunately for you, you could buy a big 7 cell F111 canopy straight away. That would make a good beginner skydiving canopy, as well as a good canopy for practicing BASE skills. Rather than write a bunch here, I am going to assume that you've wandered over to the BASE forum, and read the links in the upper right corner, which have both my advice on how to fill all that time between AFF and BASE, and my advice on what would be a good choice for BASE gear. Happy Trails! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

All right guys. Obviously Johnny and I have some disagreements about some relatively minor technical points that are really only going to be important on a small number of (fairly advanced) jumps. That doesn't mean that we think each other are ignorant, stupid or inexperienced. It just means that our respective experiences have led us to different conclusions. I'd be very interested in going out to the bridge with a video camera and some measuring devices and trying to figure out which of our approximations is closer to the far more complex reality. That way we can get some hard data that will be useful in keeping ourselves and others safe. All we're accomplishing here is burning up electrons (and perhaps amusing Tree ). It is.

Warning: One more one liner and I'll banish the second half of this thread to Talkback, where it belongs. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I don't really know what the optimum position is. I'm basing my observation on three things: 1) Jari taught a friend of mine to bend his knees slightly when flying the Skyflyer 1, just around the time of it's release. 2) Yuri commented to me that he had to fly his pre-S1 prototype with bent knees to maintain the optimum arm/leg balance, but that he didn't have to do that with his pre-S3 prototype (oddly, he commented that his next generation prototype seemed misbalanced and he thought it flew better with a slight knee bend--I guess that's why they call them prototypes). 3) If you watch the Tomb Raider stunt, you can see that the flyers are using a bent knee position. I know they are flying S3's, but I also think that they both had more S1 than S3 experience at the time the stunt was filmed. I realize that we're talking about a Hollywood stunt here, so there might be other considerations, but I do know that the two flyers are fairly competent. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think that answer may be different on the Skyflyer v. the S3. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I know a Kiwi BASE jumper who uses something like that in his exit count. The normal count is "3,2,1,C-Ya!", or sometimes "ready, set, go", but the Kiwi uses "Kill the Women, Rape the Sheep, Go!" -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Johnny, On a Direct Bag deployment, do you think that attaching the bridle attachment point of the canopy to something inside the D-bag will yield faster overall inflation? I think we're just at a point where we're disagreeing on theory here, and we'd be better served to go out and do some test jumps to see what the actual end result is. But if you're right on the theory, we ought to include a set-up like the one I'm asking about (D-Bag with attachment inside), as I'd think that would be one of the fastest possible systems. Another thought: What do you think of doing a static line quad/tard, where the free hanging canopy is attached to the exit by break cord (via the attachment point), and you jump past it, leaving it at the exit? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You might be interested in reading this old post of Dwain's. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Can you practice holding the gripper between thumb and forefinger, and try "docking" with the other three fingers? Disclaimer: I've never docked with anything, let alone a canopy. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Disclaimer: I think that secondary strike is probably the biggest issue after an object strike. So, if you're not thinking about avoiding it, you really ought to be. Vents or Valves? In theory, I guess vents might be marginally better. In practice, I'd guess there is no difference. The only good video I have available for study is of a vented (no valves) canopy, and from that all I can conclude is that the secondary inlets are a marvelous tool for promoting reinflation after object strike (the video shows an unconscious jumper nosing down about 600' of cliff, with the canopy remaining inflated the whole way, despite the nose being completely trapped--hence closed off--against the wall). Reinflation Techniques: Really, there aren't many. If you have collapsed end cells, pumping the toggles ought to help. But truthfully, if you've just had an object strike, you're most likely to be thinking about steering whatever you have around to point at a semi-landable area. If the canopy is reinflating (likely) you'll have something to work with. If it's not, grab whatever you can and hang on--you're better off clinging to those branches than falling the 60 feet to the ground with no canopy. Here's the best reinflation story I've ever heard (as told by Nick on BLiNC). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Honestly, if someone is willing to mentor you before you have made 200 skydives, I would strongly urge you to find a different mentor. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's interesting to note that the most experienced people responding to this thread (PerFlare, Outrager, Robibird) are pretty strongly in favor of going hand held on any jump from 400' or lower. edit: added Robi. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You can buy rechargeable credit cards (with a check) at a lot of places (check cashing places, western union, I've even seen tham at Walgreens). That way, you could write a check for just the amount you knew you wanted to spend (plus the fee, there's a fee for everything, it seems like) and get a credit card that you could use to buy the wingsuit. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Don't you mean billbooth invented the hand deploy pilot chute? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Where are Birdman suits made? Either my understanding is wrong, or there is some seriously weird transhipping going on here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I don't own any BR vented PC's, because CR was willing to make custom PC's with the old style attachment point for me. I do prefer the CR A/V style (i.e. the overlapping of the ZP) because I feel that the inflated profile itself (with or without vents) is more stable than the older (i.e. non-overlapping) profile. I'm not sure if the BR PC's use the older symmetric style, or use an overlapping cut. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In general, object strike is the primary danger for BASE jumpers. I'd say that you should use a vented PC for any object with strike potential (i.e. any solid object). The only time when I'd rethink that is under 200 feet. But, when you are ready to freefall under 200', you will also be ready to make decisions about the appropriate PC. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In theory, yes. I haven't done any real research into it, but I think the theory is pretty sound. I don't see a downside to the multi on a PCA, and I can see plenty of upside. Note for anyone reading this who doesn't know already: You should not use the multi sheath on a PCA jump, as per BR's owners manual section 4.4: -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Posting my interest... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Leaving aside improper application of the tailgate (i.e. too tight a rubber band, or girth hitching, or whatever), I really believe that a tailgated canopy will reach full pressurization sooner. I don't think I am alone in this belief. Reading Dwain's Nose First Inflation article, I see that he comments: "if the canopy inflates nose first it will surge less, reach full pressurisation quicker and stress the brake lines less." (emphasis added). Absolutely. I'd love to help out. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I really disagree with that. You might be open higher with more tension on the anchor. I still doubt that, but it sounds like Johnny is going to do some empirical testing and let us know. But using a higher tension anchor will certainly create more center cell strip, and hence degrade heading performance. If your goal is to get open and fly somewhere (as opposed to just getting open and landing), having good heading is going to be more important than having a (possibly) slightly higher opening. Any altitude you might gain from using an old school "grim death" PCA grip will, statistically, be lost in the riser and toggle corrections you need to make to fly in the correct direction. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I had a terminal reserve ride on a wingsuit jump. It went fine. I suspect that just bringing your hands in to pull the reserve handle reduces the burble significantly. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm not sure I'm following the question, but... There are two generally accepted ways to fold a hand held PC. The first is to fold the bridle into your hand, then keep only the bridle attachment of the PC in your hand. This allows the PC to pre-inflate while you free fall, so that releasing the PC is all that is necessary. With this method, you don't have to throw the PC at all, so orbiting is greatly reduced. The PC just goes straight up to bridle stretch. WARNING: Using this method for any significant delay (2+ seconds) can pull the jumper over from PC drag, yielding unstable deployment. This has caused several accidents, and at least one fatality. The second method is to S fold everything after the bridle just on top of the bridle. In other words, when you reach the PC, just keep folding it into your hand. This yields a nice, tight wad that is easier to throw to bridle extension. I prefer this method at ultra low altitudes, because on those jumps it becomes important to pitch the PC straight up to reach bridle extension as rapidly as possible. There are several variations on each of these methods, and at least one other method that is probably superior to either of these for ultra low exits (which I won't discuss here, since it requires gear modification, and if used incorrectly would present great accident risk). I'm not sure if that answers your question, but post again and let me know. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

No. Unvented ZP PC's spill air around the skirt (the air has to spill somewhere and the ZP does not allow airflow through the PC). Venting is intended to allow a ZP pilot chute to spill air in a more directed manner (so that it stays steady instead of oscillating). F111 PC's already spill air through the PC, evenly. In effect, they are 100% vented, at a very low rate. An F111 PC wouldn't need to have additional vents sewn into it. An interesting side note: It ought to be possible to build a ZP pilot chute that had "vents" made of F111. Using vents with a slower throughput might allow for a different configuration or sizing of the vents (possibly opening up new designs which might be superior to the present apex vent designs). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Although all vented PC's currently on the market have the vents located on the apex, this is not the only possible configuration. In fact, a thin vent located halfway from the apex to the skirt ought to vent far more efficiently (perhaps too efficiently, but that's another discussion). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com