peek

Well, I certainly don't think I did anything negative to the BASE community (unless a large percentage are jumping out of aircraft). This jumper denied any problem at all with what he planned to do so I looked for other people to help me try to use peer pressure to convince him it was not a good idea. My previous posts explain my idea.

Yes I do, but then like I said in another reply, perhaps I should change it to "it's about safety and the future of our sport"

You are correct! I don't want skydiving, the WFFC, or balloons at the WFFC placed in jepardy. Actually I didn't mention safety in my original post other than my signature line. I guess I need to turn that off for some posts, or change it to "it's about safety and the future of our sport"

You are cracking me up man! The personal attacks are so good that I hope the moderators leave them in, because I'm having a good time with them. :) I asked the FAA rep for her help simply because she was there and available in a timely manner. It could have been another skydiver, the S&TA, etc. It wasn't a "law" thing, the jump never happened.

That's not surprising. Exceptions happen all the time. Never said I did. Continue reading the thread for more detail on that.

Well put.

One jump from the NRG bridge 1990 with a skydiving rig, mesh slider. Not too much. I know it can be made to be very reliable. That one. If you jump off a fixed object you have a fixed altitude to work with. So you work with what you have. But if you jump from aircraft you can usually get enough altitude to make the jump quite a bit safer utilizing a second parachute. At the risk of applying a personal attack to a number of jumpers, I would have to say that choosing a low altitude and one parachute from an aircraft would be stupid. I'm guessing a large number of people would feel the same way.

Well, sometimes timely action can make a point rather well, so I just went for it. The S&TA will back me up of course, since we think very much alike in this respect. I would much rather use peer pressure and education than punitive measures, but that's just me. ...educate skydivers, since 2 balloon loads of skydivers missed the BASE rig. The jump did not occur. Neither the pilot nor jumper were at risk.

Yuri, easy dude! The guy isn't in trouble. FAA reps at the WFFC are some of the most open minded people I have met, and very knowledgable about skydiving, not just in the letter of the law. I don't even think they would take action against a jumper or balloon pilot if such a jump actually happened, unless it was repeated or they saw an attempt at deceit of the FAA.

Because there was no violation. He didn't make the load. The FAA cannot pursue an attempt to violate a regulation. I just wanted him to hear from as many people as possible why that was a bad idea. It was 5:45 AM I believe, and there weren't too many choices for others to help me admonish him. One FAA rep is probably equal to a number of skydivers in this respect I would think.

The balloon was inflated and ready to take off by the time I found out he had a BASE rig. If it had not been the last day of the Convention I would have made it a point to find the pilot later and educate him.

Attention Skydivers: Jumping a BASE rig from aircraft in the US is not just illegal, but stupid, and harms our sport. I'm putting this in General Skydiving for a reason, and that is to educate skydivers who may not know this important fact. Sunday morning I woke up early at the WFFC and found friends getting ready for a balloon jump. When the ballons were almost inflated some of the jumpers were calling to a guy over on the ramp who was packing a BASE rig and who was not ready. It turns out he missed the load, which is the only good thing that I can say about this incident. A BASE rig ??? I walked over and asked him why he planned to do that, and he said something to the effect of "getting his blood pumping" or something like that. I asked if he had informed the balloon pilot that what he was attempting to do was illegal and he said that the pilot "seemed to be OK with it". (Somehow I doubt that.) I asked to never again consider doing something like that. He never did acknowledge his stupidity, but I could tell he knew better. As I was walking away in disgust I saw Dixie Norton from the FAA who frequents the Convention. I told her, "Dixie, I have a little job for you!" She gave me a slightly suspicious smile, wondering what on earth could be going on that early. I told her about the guy and she went over and admonished him for a few minutes. She said he didn't really look up at her. (No surprise there). Maybe he didn't want to see at the "FAA" on her shirt. She said that he told her that what he planned to do was safer than swooping the pond! Now, the point I want to make to skydivers is that if you see someone planning to jump a BASE rig from a balloon you need to do something! No one on that load did. Is it because they didn't know better, or because they didn't care? For some reason people seem to think of ballons as one of the BASE objects, but I assure you they are not! They are an aircraft and must be treated like one. The other point I would like to make, (in particular to the WFFC bashers), is that if a person wants to lie and cheat enough, they can probably get away with something like that at the WFFC (and perhaps other events), because there aren't enough people to notice everything that goes on. This is our sport, folks. We need to educate ourselves and keep each other from doing stupid things.

Sir, Your recognition of that possibility will probably insure that you will retain the "soul" of skydiving. May I welcome you to the sport when the time comes.

Damn good point, and I think the wording can just be left alone and let people qualify for the license as their S&TA (or whoever else signs off on the skill requirements) sees fit. It's only to demonstrate a certain skill level, which is arbitrary anyway.

Most motorcyclists can relate to this one. I was doing my usual hook turn and swoop landing with my small canopy, and had just planed out, going quite fast, and this large bug smacks me in the chest! Well, the natural reaction when something like that happens is to rub your chest and go "ouch", but that wasn't an option. Sometimes you just have to tough it out on landing. Don't let yourself be distracted top the point of crashing.

Jimmy, you're the man! I was just about to post the same advice. My further advice: Keep your knee on the center of the canopy while you do this and don't remove it until you absolutely must in order to push the final bit of canopy into it.

I am giving away the whole clip art package I used to sell, which contains something you might be able to use, although in a relatively low resolution compared to what people are used to now. But hey, these images were used on many boogie T-shirts over the years. I even saw one as somebody's dz.com avatar. http://www.skydivestlouisarea.com/peeksa.htm

Yesterday I broke a line at the link on my Stiletto loaded at 1.8. It went to the C and D lines to the left of the center cell. Even though I had to look up to stow the slider I didn't even notice it. I did multiple spiral turns for fun up high, a 90 degree turn to landing, a normal fast swoop, and did not notice any difference. Although I am not suggesting what anyone else might do in response to a broken line, this might demonstrate that lines broken in certain areas will not require a reserve ride. The ol' controlability check thing. (Not that I did one.)

I recall reading or hearing a while back about women pregnant (at any stage I think) avoiding noisy environments. Even the vacuum cleaner. (I have no idea why I remembered this.) Searching for: pregnant women noise without quotation marks results in a lot of hits.

From what I recall, the Pilot has a fairly large slider which might account for it completely, but there may be some design issues that help too. Most newer design canopies seem to have larger sliders, but this is a very general statement.

udder: I have read about using a tandem slider http://www.pcprg.com/hardop.htm but I have also read about too large a slider speeding up openings. peek: Every canopy is different. I found that this solution worked for the Sabre, but it may not work for some canopies. Note: The final design is a slider of a specific size, not a "Tandem slider"! udder: How come this comparatively massive slider hasn't speeded up openings? peek: It can possibly speed up openings on some canopies but it does not with the Sabre. Note: The slider design specified is much larger from front to rear, but only 2 inches larger side to side. This is an important fact to remember. Sliders are usually designed so that the side to side size is slightly smaller than the cell size, and going larger than that might cause trouble. udder: And can it be fitted to sabre that open ok most of the time? Just looking to see if anyone has long term experience with these mods and what the most effective one is? peek: The author of that article has very long term experience with the prescribed mod! ... and is extremely confident that it will work. :) (Keep in mind that if a canopy deploys in a way that allows the slider to move down the lines before inflation, that it can cause a very hard opening no matter what the slider. A large slider does not "guarantee" a good opening.) Note that I have hundreds of jumps on a Stiletto with a larger slider and this slows down the opening on this design too. I am now working with some large slider configurations with "medium performance" non zero-porosity canopies. Stay tuned.

I can say whatever I want to, but I don't argue with anonymous posters, no matter how many "points" they may seem to score with those who have a beef with the Convention.

and "nomar" is who?

I wish you would. And when you get through whippin' on him/her, then we will need to send you out on a long trip to find the rest of them, because I know there will be a lot of them left. Thank you in advance for admonishing even one of them if you find them.

I'm responding to everyone in general with this message. I continue to be amazed at the assumptions skydivers have about not only the WFFC, but about skydiving in general. Folks, the 1990's and "Point Break" are over! Skydiving is in a decline, and if you are not seeing this, either you are fortunate enough to be in one of the few areas where things are going fairly well, or you haven't been paying attention. (You may also not be seeing it right now, it is June after all.) Except at large drop zones where the volume of experienced jumpers is high, these turbine airplanes are being subsidized by your Tandem students. They are not there because "skydiving is growing." Many drop zones are losing their asses. Perhaps that is why I have witnessed DZO's discouraging their jumpers to not attend the WFFC, "because they have everything they need at the home DZ." As far as "What the WFFC is doing is not working.", well, it continues to happen despite the downturn in skydiving, and that is no insignifigant feat considering there are minimum fixed costs just to have it happen at any size. (At some point it may not be affordable.) The WFFC attendance is reflecting skydiving in general. I don't know how many people I have told this, but it just doesn't seem to be sinking in, because the 1990's was such a boom in skydiving. It's time (for skydiving in general) to downsize if it is to survive. The WFFC is doing that to some degree, yet so many of you do not seem to understand what is going on in skydiving that you complain about this. The fact that the WFFC continues is a testament to its strength and the commitment of the staff and volunteers.