TomAiello

That was a one time demonstration. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Please see this thread on site naming. This is the second thread about this object I have edited. Please refrain from naming any sites in public discussion. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Bump. Everyone please read this! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Does anyone have any statistics on the frequency of reserve line overs? I've long thought that line overs on BASE gear (like reserves) were simply a result of bad packing. However, this year I have seen two experienced BASE jumpers with careful pack jobs have line overs, as well as experiencing one myself. Since we each had to rack up in excess of 500 jumps before it happened, I wonder if we might simply be creating a more statistically valid sample than was previously available (I don't know if anyone has 500 reserve deployments to base statistics on). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This is a good example of the feelings of BASE jumpers about site naming (and some other things). I'd highly recommend that any BASE-curious folks here wander over and have a look. I'd especially recommend it to Americans who are considering overseas BASE expeditions. We (Americans) have a pretty bad reputation in the international BASE community. While most non-Americans are too tactful to make a public complaint, we really do need to be more considerate when playing in other people's back yards. I've heard several complaints about American BASE jumper's conduct abroad this year. Just because this is the only incident being discussed on the internet doesn't mean that it's the only incident hurting our reputations (and hence our ability to meet and jump with non-Americans on their home turf). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What he's not telling you is that he is one of the lucky people--he gets paid by the government to skydive all day. Combine skydivers, military, college, and an otter. Stir... I bet that people wandering abround in wingsuits is the least of the things that go on at his work. Hey bps, bring the suit to AZ for Christmas. It's looking more likely I'll be out there every day (damn Malaysian Airlines! $2300 to KL?!). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Does anyone know if this would meet all the skydiving rules? Does a reserve have to come with specific toggles (or lines, or risers)? It really does sound like a good idea, if it's allowable to modify a reserve like that. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Of course not. That's why I had asked what your (subjective) impressions were. I wanted to match them up against mine, and add to my (still very subjective) data set. OK, so it sounds like you are saying that of your friends who BASE jump, one women was injured and one man was killed. To (over)simplify, that's a 50-50 incident ratio. At a rough guess, what percentage of your friends who BASE jump are men, and what percentage are women? If it's about 50-50 men and women, then you are seeing an incident rate that approximates the participation rate. If the majority of your BASE jumping friends are female, then your male friends are more likely than your female friends to be involved in a BASE accident. If the majority of your BASE friends are male, then the females are having a disproportionately high number of incidents. All of this is nowhere near generating meaningful statistics. It's just on the order of "feeling", "guesswork" and "approximation." For example, if your male BASE friends jump more often than your female friends, then the incidents per jump ratio would again skew toward the women (you get the idea). I guess what I'm saying is that my "feeling" based on personal observation (what I've seen, heard about, or talked to other jumpers about) is that female student BASE jumpers are suffering from a higher incident per jump ratio than similarly situated males. Now that sounds like an interesting discussion. Perhaps we ought to start another thread on it. Whoa. Apologies aren't necessary. This is a discussion, not an argument. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

One of my friends regularly sends me email, cursing me/himself. The issue? I finished school, and was able to make enough money to travel to all of the cool jumping spots he wants to go to. He's stuck on the DZ, wishing he could scrounge up the cash to go to Switzerland/Norway/Mexico/Malaysia and jump with us. My advice: Major in whatever will make you the most money. Work your butt off. Stack up some cash. Then, you can be one of those people everyone loves to hate, who just seem to wander around jumping, or who show up every weekend with two rigs, hire a packer, and make every load. You've got to pay to play, and the more you can pay, the more you can play. I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but I've talked it over with several professional skydivers who wished they had had the foresight to work the job/career/money angle. Regardless, I'm sure you'll sort it out. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I just sent in my USPA dues. I attached a copy of your letter to the board. I think it's lame to take advantage of the group of skydivers who (a) are least able to stand up for themselves, and (b) are most important to the future of the sport. Good luck with that. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That about says it all. Deployment Bags haven't been used in BASE for more than 10 years. I'd bet that the guy who made those jumps watches those videos now, shakes his head and says "I can't believe I lived through that." In BASE, D-Bag means "Direct Bag" an entirely different piece of gear (a direct bag is held by someone standing at the exit--it never leaves the object). Don't even consider making a BASE jump with a deployment bag. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm pretty sure this is not correct. I believe there was a wall strike resulting in injury due to canopy backsurge during inflation. If memory serves, it happened in the pre-BASE canopy days, on an old skydiving canopy. While that may have no bearing on the vented/unvented discussion, it does illustrate that backsurge can be a dangerous phenomenon, and has injured jumpers in the past. I'll dig around and try to locate more details on the incident. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'll second that. I have been, and will continue, editing posts to remove site names. I will remove names of any but the most common, and widely known sites (like the legal span in the western U.S. or the popular big wall in southern Norway). Please refrain from naming any sites (even those I don't edit out) in this, or any other public forum. If you see a site named in this forum, please PM or email me, and I'll edit the posting, and contact the poster. This is not only a good idea for site security reasons. It is also an important safety consideration. I can think of at least three accidents, including one fatality, that resulted from an unqualified jumper learning a site location (or just getting close--and actually jumping the wrong site) from an internet discussion. Preventing accidents is the most important reason to avoid naming sites. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Keely, What is your feeling on injuries per jump? In other words, if you could draw a gender average per swoop, or per BASE jump? Do you think that women have a lower chance of injury per jump of the same kind? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Run Away! I bought an IP-5 and sold it immediately. It's incompatible with the mini-DV cams (everything else), and also doesn't work with computer editing systems. For the same reasons (mpeg-2 encoding), the quality isn't as high if you start tweaking the video (slow motion, effects, etc). Two big thumbs down from me. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I have no idea. I'm 1 for 3 on your criteria, so I'm not qualified to answer. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I had to laugh at myself. I clicked on it to see what you were talking about, saw "Blackjack Systems" and started thinking about PAC valves and composite topskins. Ah, the mind plays the most wondrous tricks on us... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Mick is totally right here. You are far more likely to get a variety of good answers to technical questions at BLiNC. There are as many different ways of dressing the nose as there are BASE jumpers. In my opinion, it really doesn't make that much difference. the only time I change my nose is "death terminal" (terminal velocity, and no worries about low pulls or object strike, so I can tuck the center cell in) and super-low (sub 200'--where I flake the nose cells individually rather than rolling the two sides). Even then, I'm not convinced it matters that much--it just makes a difference in my head. I pretty much always (exceptions above) just roll the outside 3 cells on each side (so cells 1,2 and 3, and cells 5, 6 and 7) into the middle, then wrap the center cell around the entire pack job. In my head, I believe that this will yield the best heading (because the outside cells inflate through the crossports...[insert long, rambling, boring technical discussion on canopy inflation]). But really, it probably does just about the same as anyone else's pet technique. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Mac266, cpoxon? Can I come and jump your legal sites? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Whether a low object is jumpable is largely going to depend on the landing area. Assuming ideal landings (straight flight into an unobstructed area), I'd say that something around 20 stories should begin to approach a jumpable altitude. The stories on buildings vary in height. In the U.S., I generally approximate 10 feet (3m or so) per floor. However, the floor heights are different for office, residential and industrial buildings, so this is only an approximation. I know one 33 story building that lasers 491 ft, and one 23 story building that lasered just under 200 ft. In the U.S. (it's probably different where you are), a good rule of thumb is "if it has lights, it's worth a look". If you see aircraft anti-collision warning lights (here they are red, either solid or blinking), then it's probably worth checking out. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm hoping Outrager will chime in here. He's the best BASE tracker I know. Let's bump this up to the top... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

BASE jumpers used to widely use a similar mod (bight of lines in a stow band on the slider). It's fallen out of favor because of it's effect on opening heading. There are some interesting replacements, but nothing that's really tested enough to recommend it for wide spread use. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Sounds like good news to me (and I live in California--and own an arsenal). The Supreme's are going to be forced to take up the issue, since the Circuits are disagreeing. One of the roles of the Supremes is to create nationwide consistency on constitutional issues. I doubt the Supremes will agree with the 9th Circuit. Plus, this will be the first time in at least 50 years (possibly ever) that the Supremes will have to rule on substantive 2nd Amendment issues. If I was the NRA, I'd be rejoicing--and prepping my appeal. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Not really. Skydiving is much nicer to your gear, and BASE canopies are built much beefier than skydiving canopies. The only real issue is UV exposure (canopies spend a lot of time flying around in direct sunlight while skydiving). I once bought a used Mojo with a few hundred skydives on it, and it was in fine shape (certainly nothing like a canopy with a few hundred BASE jumps). I really think that the added benefit of one skydiving canopy flight is going to be greater than the negatives associated with canopy wear. If you can handle having that huge load on your back, it's great skydiving a BASE canopy every time--even if it's your only one. I know that Mick bought a separate Raven to skydive with, and that seems like a pretty good idea too. As Faber notes, it's probably a good idea to switch to a sail slider (and use your bag, etc) for skydives--it'll just be kinder to your body that way. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The Shovels video is almost entirely re-played (the BASE parts, anyway) on the other ABA videos. Check out the upcoming video (I think it's called "For a Few Jumps More") and you'll see what I mean. Marah, Mike's niece, has all the original footage. She's shooting new BASE stuff, too, and trying to do a sort of retrospective. Lot's of "where are they now" stuff with RP and the RH's. If you email me, I can give you her contact info. I've got an old VHS copy of that, plus some other stuff, but I haven't seen any new ones for sale anywhere. Gotta love that breath freshener... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com