TomAiello

Surely, you jest. Have I shown you my little door trick? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'd imagine the problems with the Skyray on a cliff would be about humping that big old wing up to the top. Now, if only we could find a 3000' cliff you could drive to the top of. Where would I find something like that? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Um, no. Worst case scenario some worker spots it, wonders what it is, keeps an eye on it, notices that it shifts position, hangs out and waits for you, and calls the police... You get the idea. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Close enough for public discussion. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Ah. Those systems appear to be intended to extract the PC prior to deployment. Theresa Tran (see #30) proved that this was a bad idea in the BASE environment. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Can you elaborate on "velcro PCA"? Are you creating a system with velcro used to attach the static line to the object? I've measured velcro container opening forces in the range of 15 pounds (as low as 11, as high as 19). That's a heck of a lot lower than the rating of most break cord. What kind of system are you envisioning? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

99% of the time, I eyeball the ground. This is an essential skill to learn, because sooner or later you're going to find yourself in freefall, getting low, racing toward the ground, and wanting to get stable, or out of traffic, and then you're going to need to know if you can afford the time it'll take, or if you need to pitch immediately. I just haven't seen any other method that approaches the safety of the good old Human Eyeball method. The best "scared" method is, reportedly, "wait until you get scared, then count to two (this should take around a quarter of a second), then pitch." Counting rarely works. Everyone counts at a different speed, and each person counts at different speeds under different circumstances. When comparing video to "counted" delay, almost no one gets it right even as much as half the time. I wouldn't trust an audible. The air pressure can change enough to alter the "ground level" on the audible, even if you are using a fast method (helicopter or elevator) to get to altitude. If you are doing a multi-hour hike, forget it. I've seen free fall computers fooled into thinking a BASE jumper had opened below ground level. If you rely on the audible in this situation, it would never go off--and you really would open underground. Put it this way, if you had an audible set for 500 feet, and it hadn't gone off, but your eyes were telling you "pitch now or die!", would you calmly wait for the audible? If not, I don't recommend trusting it to tell you when to pull (and say, taking your eyes off the ground). Remember that not looking at the ground has caused several relatively recent fatalities. Of course. When else would you decide? The night before? What if things looked really bad in free fall? Would you still stick to that pre-exit decision to go for it at all costs? Sounds like a good way to make your last jump, to me. In all seriousness, WHY? Why do you need to get used to it? You'll be a whole lot safer if you don't ever get used to being in freefall, at terminal velocity, within 100 feet of a solid object, or within a few hundred of the ground. There is no reason to ever get used to such a thing. You can easily live a long, happy life without ever putting it so senselessly at risk. The level of risk in BASE is vastly greater than that of skydiving. If skydiving risks are ok, that definitely does not mean that BASE risks are ok, too. If you really want to BASE jump, be sure to have a look at The List. Keep in mind what I wrote here (see Section 2, "Make the Decision"), and remember Crimpfiend's words: "We're all on Nick's List - we just don't know what order." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've moved this in from the "2 PC's" thread. ~Tom Aiello Im a newbie,counting seconds and whatching the ground to learn the visual.I think counting is good while you do slider off or low slider up.If you get enough alti you could use an audible,but havnt seen anny(they would then be inside the helmet rigth)so far. Im scared each time i jump.. thats what atracts me..sweading in my hands,nuervus the mental figth and so on.. about Tracking.. no idea,ive only been above 600ft once(looong climb)and there i want chiken on my first stowed and took aprox 3,5-migth 4 sek from 900ft.. so no tracking there.. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Frodo wrote: -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I do. Let's start a new thread. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The principles that have guided skydivers to put two canopies into their rigs are largely irrelevant to the BASE environment. A reserve canopy makes sense if (a) you have altitude to use it--we don't. (b) you pack the first one fast, and keep the careful pack job--we use the careful pack job on every jump. (c) you have a potentially squirrely high performance canopy as a main--we don't. Given the situation, the addition of a second canopy is, in my opinion, a needless complexity with very little return. The vast majority of BASE jumpers probably share this opinion, given the tiny market share afforded to the Sorcerer (the only two canopy BASE rig on the market). Imagine the possible problem scenarios, though. What if your PC's both orbit--in opposite directions? What if one is later than the other, and is still dancing around in the airspace the canopy inflates in--and wrapping it's bridle around your inflating pack job. Actually, I've experienced noticeable PC hesitation from below 200 feet. What I really can't afford is a needlessly complex system at 200 feet. I have a reputation for being too experimental with my gear. I have one friend who thinks that over-experimentation put me in the hospital at least once. This two PC's thing is such a bad idea that even I dismiss it after about thirty minutes of thinking about the possible problems. I really like seeing new jumpers thinking about the systems, and questioning the current gear--that's what makes it evolve and improve. But on this one, all I see happening is one of those "ebay jumper" fatalities. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm not sure if they'll build it for the general public or not, but I do know that Morpheus built a wingsuit specific rig (a modified Gargoyle), on request for Robert Pecnik (who basically told them what he wanted in terms of airflow considerations). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I stopped lark's heading the rubber bands onto my tailgate after witnessing a hangup on a PCA. Since both the jumper and PC holder were very (at that point they had something like 1500 jumps between them, now I'd bet they're over 2000 in combination) experienced, and I had around 200 jumps at the time, it scared me silly. I've also stopped using the black rubber bands. I really do think the black rubber bands are more likely to hang up, as is a lark's head. That said, you can reduce the chance of a hang up with a lark's head by putting the wraps on the 'outside' (away from the lines) of the knot. I believe that the hang-up potentially largely results from entanglement as the wraps try to slide over the knot. I am aware of four cases of tailgate hangup, two resulting in landings under bow-tied canopies. All four cases have been on PCA's. A while back I tried to induce tailgate hang-up on go and throws (over water) and was unable to do so. I pretty much think that if you use light rubber bands, with no knot, on the PCA's, you're safe to care for the environment on free fall deployments. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Can you give more explanation for what you mean? I've never even heard of such a system. The only rig I can think of that might match this description is Vertigo's Sorcerer (which has a second canopy and a PC for it), but you wouldn't exit with one in each hand. Is it possible that the video you saw was either: a) A "spoof" video: People have been known to jump with a detached hand-held PC, pitch it, flail and scream to freak out on-lookers, then pitch the (real) stowed PC. or b) A daisy chain: One jumper holds his own PC in his right hand, and his partner's in his left. He pitches his own,then holds onto his partner's, effectively PCAing his partner when his own canopy reaches bottom skin expansion. I think there is some video of Karin's Boyfriend and Mr. 500 doing a daisy chain jump (into water--as I recall it was the infamous "too extreme for the X-games demo") on Beyond Extreme. If you're thinking of trying to rig up a dual-PC system, be aware that you are a test jumper, and accept the risks that it entails. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I really think that a discussion/analysis of the incident is appropriate. I'd much rather see the discussion include likely causes of the accident, and helpful thoughts on how to avoid getting into such a situation. A simple statement of the facts that doesn't include some analysis of the situation, and hopefully some good opinions on how to deal with a similar problem will be far less useful. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What is the object? If it's something like a nice span that is open behind you, then I'd set the brakes a bit shallow for faster "pitch to flight" time. If it's something I could hit, I'd still go with deep brakes--I'd rather hit the ground with a nearly stalled canopy than hit the object (I've done both, and I know which I prefer--in the first case, you usually end up hitting the ground pretty hard anyway). Definitely. Pull the toggles all the way down, then ease them back up, flaring from wherever you have to. If you just dump the brakes, you can surge yourself into the ground. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I heard that some fellow in the Pacific Northwest U.S. was giving those out. I think they're called "BASE Dump" numbers, though. Nice job on the E! Let me guess, the S is the remaining letter? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

As a follow-up, have any of you SF3 jumpers found that it's easier to walk/run in the SF3? (Rather than the SF1)? Being able to run is quite important to me (for launching cliff flights, and occasionally landing low deployments), and this is one area in which the old Classic far outperformed my SF. I've heard that the SF3 has a larger leg wing, though, and I was wondering if anyone had found it easier to run in. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I always thought that "Risk Shifting" was the same as risk homeostasis theory, which basically says that people maintain the same level of risk in their lives--thus, as gear gets safer, we make more dangerous jumps, maintaining the same "overall" level of risk. More info on risk homeostasis theory can be found on the No Excuses Rigging web page (look under "articles"). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Jason Bell, BASE 428, is running the event. I know that he was only selected within the last week or so, so I'd bet he has lots of work to do just now. Try contacting him directly at jbell@vertical-visions.com. Official info can be found at the Bridge Day Web Site which does not appear to be updated yet. Here is my latest "grapevine" info on the current status: Personally, I've long thought that Jason was the right choice to be running things under the new rules from the Bridge Day Commission. He lives in West Virginia, so he's fairly close for attending the (mandatory) BDC meetings, he's been going to Bridge Day for years, he's extremely conscientious, and he has a good appreciation for the "spirit" of Bridge Day. Did I mention that he's West Virginia's most current and experienced local jumper? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Skill level for hand held jumps: Beginner. Many people (including myself) made their first jumps hand held. It's generally considered to be safer than going stowed for anything slider down. Skill level for unpacked (i.e. McConkey, TARD, etc) jumps: Expert. Be sure you're already comfortable with all the standard aspects of BASE, and have instruction from someone who has done them, before attempting unpacked jumps. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I had an older model, that wouldn't track BASE and often failed on wingsuit flights. There is a firmware update for those specific jump types. If you're not doing one of them, there's no real point, but since they are pretty much all I do... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I fly a Stiletto loaded at about 1.5 when I make Bird-man skydives. I had problems with line twists at first, but it all turned out to be in my body position. Once I got my technique sorted out, the canopy was fine (I've never had line twists on the canopy without the suit, so I've always been skeptical of the "spinetto" label). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

"Un-stowed" is generally referred to as "Hand Held" by BASE jumpers, because your PC is hand held. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In the U.S., and most other places, any canopy can be used as a main, so long as the reserve and harness/container (and reserve deployment system) are TSO'd (i.e. certified). So, you can skydive any BASE canopy (or any other canopy) pretty much anywhere, so long as you have an approved container and reserve (of the appropriate size). I personally own two skydiving containers sized for BASE canopies (they're old accuracy rigs) that I use to test jump (and practice) BASE canopies. Many older skydivers, DZO's and riggers will have a container like these that you can borrow to practice with. Making skydives on your BASE canopy prior to BASE jumping is absolutely essential. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com