TomAiello

I just sent my ProTrack back to them for the upgrade. I've never in my life experienced customer service that good. Virtually instant response, immediate replacement, international shipping. L&B is a phenomenal company. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think this may be a trans-atlantic miscommunication. As I understand it, there are several non-American parachuting jurisdictions that require a "TSO-like" certification for mains, as well as for reserves and harness-container systems. I believe that one of the German BASE jumpers took a harness system through the German TSO-like process, because the German USPA equivalent required it before they would co-sponsor BASE days held off some of the local towers. Sometimes, Europe seems so much more enlightened than the U.S.... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I believe the Mojo was TSO'd (or whatever the equivalent certification is) in Germany a few years ago. This is the only case I know of where BASE gear has actually gone through a certification process for general skydiving. You might try contacting CR for more info, as my memory of the details is fairly hazy. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Wow. Something bigger than the 90 days in the Federal Pen? What was it? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Most of the building escape rigs are using non-steerable PDA (pulled down apex) rounds. They inflate fast and land soft, and aren't meant to be steerable. In general, they're the same systems used as reserves by hang- and para-gliders. I know the HOPE system is a single riser set-up--very little steerability there. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Nope. I'd advise them to get gear built for the job, like BR's HOPE rig (the only one I've personally inspected). More broadly, I'd advise anyone who was really that nervous about it to find a different office or apartment. Parachutes as life saving devices in these situations are, in my opinion, a joke. You'd be much better off with 500 feet of static line and a rappel device--and it'd be cheaper too. Plus, everyone in the office could use the rope, instead of starting a "survivor's brawl" for the last parachute. I saw a company that had started offering emergency winches, with cable decelerator evacuation systems, for high rises. That makes about a thousand times more sense than using parachutes. Using parachutes is attention grabbing, could make headlines, and might make some money for some good folks. But in general, there are far more sensible ways to deal with this problem. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It totally depends on where you get busted. I've known it to range from "don't do that again, bad jumper" (I got this from the California Highway Patrol), to hand-cuffs (got that from a small town sheriff in Pennsylvania) to community service time (had a friend who got that at a popular span in Northern California) to a night in jail, gear confiscation, and a fine anywhere up to $10,000 (that's for the historic bridge by the Bay, the highest fine I know of), all the way up to Muff Brother #1's 90 days in the Federal Pen (that's the stiffest penalty that's yet been handed out). Depends on the mood of the good people of wherever you happen to get busted. I've seen Trespassing, Breaking and Entering, Reckless Endangerment, and Illegal Aerial Delivery. I'd bet that someone who was really pissy could throw down some of the new anti-terrorism stuff, strip you of citizenship, and deport you to Baghdad. Yes. Your best bet is to get a good lawyer and get off on the BASE stuff. It's better to spend a few more bucks on the lawyer every time then let stuff keep adding onto your rap sheet. In general, on a "per bust" basis, the minor priors (say DUI or some such) aren't that big a deal. But it does totally depend on where you are, and what the latest charges are (and the mood of the police, what the judge had for breakfast, etc.). Not in my experience. The most common result is that the jumpers throw down one or two grand for a lawyer, and end up getting off either totally, or with a minor punishment (I've seen $50 trespassing tickets). Check out BLiNC. At one point there was a whole "legal" archive there. If you're serious about the legal issues, contact a real lawyer, in the jurisdiction you might be busted in. For more general questions, try contacting Fred Morelli (the BASE defense lawyer from some high profile NPS cases). You might also look into the Colorado case a while back where the jumper beat the reckless endangerment charges. I believe that Marta at Vertigo was one of the expert witnesses called, so you might want to drop them a line. You're a braver soul than I, then. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

For those of us who are clueless, when is the Panama City thingy? And can anyone sign up? Basically, where do I get more info (I tried looking through the Events forum, but couldn't seem to find it). I was just there last weekend, and am in easy striking distance. It might be fun to roll down there and flock around a bit. Plus, I saw the most interesting crane... Edit: Ooops, just found it buried down there. Don't I look foolish? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You ought to find your own personal DBS by repeated test jumps. The old method of finding the stall point and backing off a tad hasn't worked very well for me with vented canopies. I've found that I actually have to go out to a good site (like that span in potato land) and do repeated test jumps to find the right setting. You can do this by putting in a whole bunch of settings, then testing up and down your brake lines until you find the right one (then remove the others--and adjust for the change in line length, and re-test). BR no longer recommends customizing a deep brake setting for your canopy. I strongly disagree with their policy on DBS ([inside joke]we won't mention how I feel about DBS.[/inside joke]) You ought to have two brake settings, one for slider up, and one for slider down jumping. You can use the same method for setting both of them (i.e. repeated test jumping off a relatively safe object). Note that if you are getting super-techy you might want to have three settings (one for terminal, one for sub-terminal, one for slider down), or even more (extra settings for head-winds, tail-winds, etc). For most of us, two settings (one super deep, for slider down, and one shallower for slider up) ought to suffice. I believe the Little Aussie posted a while back explaining why he thought you only needed one brake setting for all jumps on a vented canopy. While I don't necessarily agree with him, I do believe that he probably knows more about it than me (or pretty much anyone else, for that matter). Let me see if I can dig up his posting. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think that SkymonkeyONE was referring to the current BD prohibition on unpacked canopy jumps (so, no TARDs, WADs, McConkey's etc). Just for clarification, free packing is the standard BASE packing style (also used for some kinds of skydiving), where a canopy is packed without a deployment bag. This particular decision of the Bridge Day organizers (no unpacked canopies) was, in my opinion, non-sensical, and resulted in some very dangerous jumps being made. By not allowing people to WAD pack, and control the altitude at which they initiated deployment, the organizers ended up with a few very dangerous stunts, like the VX PCAed into a 20 mph headwind, with fifty feet of steel underneath the exit. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

[couldn't resist either]Actually, a RETARD is a Reverse Ejection Totally Awesome Rapid Deployment. It basically involves cutting away a TARDed canopy.[/couldn't resist either] ...must work harder to resist...must resist... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I believe he used a WAD (Wild Ass Deployment) for that jump, not a TARD (Totally Aweome Rapid Deployment). For a WAD, you pack the canopy down into a hand-holdable bundle. For a TARD, you have the canopy flaked out almost like a pro-pack. The WAD was first used at Bridge Day sometime in the Dark Ages (I think it might have even been the 80's). The TARD is relatively new on the scene. Before attempting either of these things, find someone who knows how to do them. I've seen some pretty scary footage of people trying to work them out on their own. If you don't have to be a test jumper, please don't. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Actually, the system he came up with (and used) last Bridge Day was far superior, in my opinion. Rather than WAD packing, he packed the swoop canopy into a regular skydiving rig, but used a reserve freebag and 42" PC to deploy it. It seemed to deploy far smoother. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Most of my advice on starting into BASE is here. It is done. It is also definitely recommended. I laughed when I read your idea of "incredibly big". I generally jump canopies in the 280-290 range, but I am considering upsizing to the 310-330 sizes. If BASE is really what you want to get into, you need to reverse your skydiving mindset. You seem to view downsizing as progress. Why? I bet it's because the guys at the DZ have told you something like "as you get better, you'll jump smaller canopies". In BASE, it's totally opposite. In general, the more experienced a BASE jumper is, the larger a canopy (and lighter a wingloading) they are jumping. If you are intent on BASE, immediately say to yourself "downsizing is not progress...downsizing is not progress." Repeat as necessary, until you really feel it. Yep. I once met a tiny little girl who jumped canopies in the 190 range. In general, BASE wingloading is around .75 pounds of exit weight per square foot of canopy. That's just a generalization, though. How much do you weigh? More heavily loaded canopies fly faster, land harder, and are more sensitive to minor changes in packing and body position in terms of opening heading. This is totally wrong. Accuracy jumpers use big, BASE-sizeish canopies. More square footage over your head is always useful in hitting smaller, or rougher, landing areas. BASE canopies should fly slow and land soft--in other words, they should be big. Certainly. If you buy a BASE canopy, and put it in a large skydiving rig, you can easily switch it over and use it for BASE. In fact, this is a very good idea. The extra practice you get on the canopy could be the difference between a broken leg and a landing you walk away from. If you really want to focus on BASE, make your first canopy a real BASE canopy (Ace, Mojo, FOX, Troll, Dagger or Flik), sized appropriately for you in the BASE environment. You'll be far, far better prepared to BASE jump if you start learning the canopy now. To re-iterate: in a BASE canopy, you want big, soft and slow. Downsizing is only progress at the dropzone. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

DZ.com Incident Forum posting -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Please read this thread before posting in this forum. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You ought to contact Stane at Atair. atair@k2.net He lives in Slovenia. Another good person to ask would be Robert at Bird-man, who lives in Croatia. robert@bird-man.com. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I just noticed that Per has just registered a username here at DZ.com. Maybe he can tell us more about the jumps, so we can all envy him. Rumor has it they made something like 80 jumps in the week of filming. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

DANGER! The original Prism, from Basic Research, was built this way. Unfortunately, that extra piece of velcro doesn't shrivel, so a head down deployment can lead to a pilot chute in tow. After the little Aussie reported this to BR, they offered to retrofit existing Prisms and changed the "standard". They still offer this configuration on request. I believe it is a very bad idea. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I know of one case (pre-9/11) where a jumper got hit with federal charges. He was busted on an air defense radar tower. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've only made two night wingsuit skydives. But, I have made about 40 night wingsuit flights from objects. My biggest issue has been ground awareness. It's hard to tell where you are, since your depth perception is poor. I'd imagine that an audible altimeter is a must. Also, you quickly outrun your "standard" ground references, so you have to be pretty aware of what's out in front of you. I do enjoy it, though. Have fun! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I only have a few (around 10) GTi jumps, so take this with a grain of salt. I think there is. The GTi seems to fly far better than my Classic II. I'd say that it's more than halfway from my Classic to my Skyflyer. I think you made the right choice. The Skyflyer is fairly difficult to handle at first, and I think that makes it a poor choice for a first suit. When I started jumping mine (with around 150 jumps on my Classic II), I found it difficult to stay stable. Dude, it's all good. I wouldn't get too fixated on numbers. Just have fun playing in the sky--that's what it's all about anyway. In terms of evaluating your performances, I'd recommend looking at distance of forward travel, rather than hang time. You can get lots of hang time with a big ole camera suit--but you can really fly (forward) with a wingsuit. Focus on having fun. That's the only real way to improve the time you spend in the air. Me too! It's awesome! Congratulations on your first flights! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's definitely true that the Lemmings videos have pretty low glitz value. The editing isn't very neat, and there's no cool soundtrack or nifty titles. However, I've found that for instructional value there are no other BASE videos that even compare. Every Lemmings tape has dozens of examples of all the most common beginner mistakes. Some of them also have graphic "warning" examples. If you're looking for cutting edge BASE or high end video, Lemmings isn't it. If you're looking for educational or training material, Lemmings is pretty much the best source available. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I just received an email from Robert on this subject. To paraphrase: Thanks to Robert for the clarification. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The full spreadsheet is too large to attach to a DZ.com posting. Email me if you want to see the data. Total Fatalities: 70 Building: 7 Antenna: 7 Span: 8 Earth: 48 Other: 1 The only sample that is really large enough to be "statistically relevant" is probably the Earth fatalities. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com