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14 février 2013

Felix Baumgartner Sets Skydiving Record

Submitted by on Sun Oct 14 2012 | Last Modified on Tue Nov 06 2012

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Red Bull Stratos

 

All eyes were fixed on Roswell, New Mexico on Sunday, where skydiver and BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner took part in one of the largest skydiving record attempts in history. The mission, named ‘Red Bull Stratos’ saw Baumgartner raised to heights in excess of 120 000 feet via the use of a helium inflated balloon which was towing a 1400kg capsule. The mission, which was originally announced in 2010 had seen its fair share of ups and downs, the initial launch schedule was for 9 October 2012, but due to weather and communication issues it was postponed until the 11th of October. Things didn’t go as planned on the 11th either, when despite ideal ground level winds, the winds between 700 and 800 feet were gusting too strong for a launch, which resulted in the helium balloon being blown over during the inflation process. The event was then rescheduled for 14 October, where a window in the weather conditions were seen, and the team of Red Bull Stratos were remaining positive for a launch.

Baumgartner has been a controversial figure in BASE jumping, where he has been accused of going against the general BASE ethics involved, and seeking media attention as opposed to keeping objects off the presses.

During the morning hours conditions were marginal, with the 700 ft winds remaining the area of concern. The mission was put on hold once again for several hours, but winds co-operated and at 15:25 GMT and the broadcast began to stream live. The team looked to take advantage of the weather conditions and aimed for a quick launch, which occurred successfully shortly after the broadcast began. As the balloon and capsule ascended some concern was raised when it approached the 30 000 ft mark, when Felix was being taken further east than expected due to the winds at higher altitude, though these concerns were alleviated somewhat later on after he had passed the jet stream and winds began to swing back towards the west as he ascended.

Some Quirks on the Way Up

Skydiving Article Image3_large

Further concern were raised as he passed the 100 000 ft mark, when the visor of his helmet was having issues in regulating temperature. This caused enough concern for the team to consider alternative options with regards to the mission, with the option of Baumgartner descending with the capsule as opposed to performing the jump, not sure whether jumping with the error would cause a significant safety hazard. The decision was that due to the possible hard landing that could be experienced in the capsule, despite the capsule being lead down by a parachute, the best option would be for the jump to progress as planned.

On the ascent, the landmark numbers were that of Joe’s 1960 record jump as well as the record for the highest ever manned balloon flight. At the height of 112 000 ft, the Redbull Stratos youtube channel was reporting over 4 500 000 users live streaming the video, with the event going viral over social networks.

The capsule began to slow down in ascent speed at around 123,000 ft as expected, but soon the ascent speed began to rise rapidly, going to a speed of 10 meters per second. This was cause for some concern and the balloon had to be vented, as Felix approached a height of 128,000 ft, 8000 ft higher than the desired exit altitude. The balloon then slowed down in the range of 127 500 ft and the checks began.

Col. Joe Kittinger at Ground Control

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At the request of Felix, Joe Kittinger would be handling all the ground control communication with Felix during the mission. Joe, now 84 years of age was a career military officer and a former Colonel in the United States Air Force. Prior to this mission Kittinger held the world records for the highest skydive, fastest and the longest skydive. In the year 1960 Kittinger performed a skydive from the height of 102 000 ft, an amazing accomplishment, especially for the time. This record held strong for over 50 years, until Sunday 14 October 2012. Kittinger’s flight was not without it’s own set of hiccups too, during his record setting skydive, a tear in his glove caused his hand to swell up to twice the size, due to the amount of pressure at those heights.

The checks began as the balloon’s ascent slowed down considerably and by the 21st check, Felix began to depressurize the cabin to 40 000 ft and confirm a suit inflation, this check was successful and moved them onto the next item, which was depressurizing the capsule to ambient pressure at a height of 128 000 feet. The world at this stage was hanging on the edge of their seats, as Felix depressurized further and the balloon began to descend. At 127 500 ft the door was opened and Felix began to move towards the front of the capsule, the earth’s curve clearly visible on the cameras. The balloon ascended again a bit to a height of 128 000 ft, when his chute was confirmed as okay to jump… Then after a couple more checks – he was off!

Controlling the Spin

Skydiving Article Image5_large

The exit was un-dramatic, flat and stable, exactly as planned. With so little air up there any instability on exit could lead to an uncontrollable spin or tumbling descent. After reaching speeds beyond 690mph Felix suddenly started spinning and you could almost hear the world hold its collective breath until he brought it under control what felt like too many seconds later. Maximum speeds quickly reached over 720mph, but were also quick to decelerate as the air thickened. During the freefall stage Baumgartner went on the radio saying that his visor was starting to fog up, but this was shortly before he had to open his chute, was ended up not being an issue. Felix Baumgartner had hoped to reach super sonic speeds, to gain the record for the longest freefall time and to break the speed of sound. Unfortunately for Felix, his freefall time did not exceed that of Kittinger’s, but he now holds the confirmed record for the highest ever skydive, and while not yet official, his top speeds are also estimated to have set records. Given Kittinger’s large role in this mission, one may say that it is only fair that his record remains at least partially intact.

The day was without a doubt one of excitement, expectation, success, but also quite possibly disappointment for some. There is no arguing that this was by far the most watched live skydiving event in history, drawing more than 7,000,000 viewers from around the world live to YouTube alone, while millions more watched the event live on television.

Our congratulations go out to Felix Baumgartner on his accomplishment, as well as to Kittinger for his work at ground control, not to mention all those involved with the Red Bull Stratos mission in one way or another.

Update: The post-jump press conference has released the official record statistics from the jump. Felix jumped from a height of 128 100 feet and had an official freefall time of 4 minutes and 20 seconds. The real surprise was the official records for the maximum velocity achieved, while original estimates were indicating that Felix reached a maximum velocity of 729 mph, this ended up being very conservative with the official finding concluding that in fact, his maximum velocity was an outstanding 833.9 mph, or 373 m/s, meaning that Baumgartner reached Mach 1.24 during his jump. This means that Felix has become the first human to go supersonic during freefall.

 

All eyes were fixed on Roswell, New Mexico on Sunday, where skydiver and BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner took part in one of the largest skydiving record attempts in history. The mission, named ‘Red Bull Stratos’ saw Baumgartner raised to heights in excess of 120 000 feet via the use of a helium inflated balloon which was towing a 1400kg capsule. The mission, which was originally announced in 2010 had seen its fair share of ups and downs, the initial launch schedule was for 9 October 2012, but due to weather and communication issues it was postponed until the 11th of October. Things didn’t go as planned on the 11th either, when despite ideal ground level winds, the winds between 700 and 800 feet were gusting too strong for a launch, which resulted in the helium balloon being blown over during the inflation process. The event was then rescheduled for 14 October, where a window in the weather conditions were seen, and the team of Red Bull Stratos were remaining positive for a launch.

Baumgartner has been a controversial figure in BASE jumping, where he has been accused of going against the general BASE ethics involved, and seeking media attention as opposed to keeping objects off the presses.

During the morning hours conditions were marginal, with the 700 ft winds remaining the area of concern. The mission was put on hold once again for several hours, but winds co-operated and at 15:25 GMT and the broadcast began to stream live. The team looked to take advantage of the weather conditions and aimed for a quick launch, which occurred successfully shortly after the broadcast began. As the balloon and capsule ascended some concern was raised when it approached the 30 000 ft mark, when Felix was being taken further east than expected due to the winds at higher altitude, though these concerns were alleviated somewhat later on after he had passed the jet stream and winds began to swing back towards the west as he ascended.

Some Quirks on the Way Up

Skydiving Article Image3_large

Further concern were raised as he passed the 100 000 ft mark, when the visor of his helmet was having issues in regulating temperature. This caused enough concern for the team to consider alternative options with regards to the mission, with the option of Baumgartner descending with the capsule as opposed to performing the jump, not sure whether jumping with the error would cause a significant safety hazard. The decision was that due to the possible hard landing that could be experienced in the capsule, despite the capsule being lead down by a parachute, the best option would be for the jump to progress as planned.

On the ascent, the landmark numbers were that of Joe’s 1960 record jump as well as the record for the highest ever manned balloon flight. At the height of 112 000 ft, the Redbull Stratos youtube channel was reporting over 4 500 000 users live streaming the video, with the event going viral over social networks.

The capsule began to slow down in ascent speed at around 123,000 ft as expected, but soon the ascent speed began to rise rapidly, going to a speed of 10 meters per second. This was cause for some concern and the balloon had to be vented, as Felix approached a height of 128,000 ft, 8000 ft higher than the desired exit altitude. The balloon then slowed down in the range of 127 500 ft and the checks began.

Col. Joe Kittinger at Ground Control

Skydiving Article Image4_large

At the request of Felix, Joe Kittinger would be handling all the ground control communication with Felix during the mission. Joe, now 84 years of age was a career military officer and a former Colonel in the United States Air Force. Prior to this mission Kittinger held the world records for the highest skydive, fastest and the longest skydive. In the year 1960 Kittinger performed a skydive from the height of 102 000 ft, an amazing accomplishment, especially for the time. This record held strong for over 50 years, until Sunday 14 October 2012. Kittinger’s flight was not without it’s own set of hiccups too, during his record setting skydive, a tear in his glove caused his hand to swell up to twice the size, due to the amount of pressure at those heights.

The checks began as the balloon’s ascent slowed down considerably and by the 21st check, Felix began to depressurize the cabin to 40 000 ft and confirm a suit inflation, this check was successful and moved them onto the next item, which was depressurizing the capsule to ambient pressure at a height of 128 000 feet. The world at this stage was hanging on the edge of their seats, as Felix depressurized further and the balloon began to descend. At 127 500 ft the door was opened and Felix began to move towards the front of the capsule, the earth’s curve clearly visible on the cameras. The balloon ascended again a bit to a height of 128 000 ft, when his chute was confirmed as okay to jump… Then after a couple more checks – he was off!

Controlling the Spin

Skydiving Article Image5_large

The exit was un-dramatic, flat and stable, exactly as planned. With so little air up there any instability on exit could lead to an uncontrollable spin or tumbling descent. After reaching speeds beyond 690mph Felix suddenly started spinning and you could almost hear the world hold its collective breath until he brought it under control what felt like too many seconds later. Maximum speeds quickly reached over 720mph, but were also quick to decelerate as the air thickened. During the freefall stage Baumgartner went on the radio saying that his visor was starting to fog up, but this was shortly before he had to open his chute, was ended up not being an issue. Felix Baumgartner had hoped to reach super sonic speeds, to gain the record for the longest freefall time and to break the speed of sound. Unfortunately for Felix, his freefall time did not exceed that of Kittinger’s, but he now holds the confirmed record for the highest ever skydive, and while not yet official, his top speeds are also estimated to have set records. Given Kittinger’s large role in this mission, one may say that it is only fair that his record remains at least partially intact.

The day was without a doubt one of excitement, expectation, success, but also quite possibly disappointment for some. There is no arguing that this was by far the most watched live skydiving event in history, drawing more than 7,000,000 viewers from around the world live to YouTube alone, while millions more watched the event live on television.

Our congratulations go out to Felix Baumgartner on his accomplishment, as well as to Kittinger for his work at ground control, not to mention all those involved with the Red Bull Stratos mission in one way or another.

Update: The post-jump press conference has released the official record statistics from the jump. Felix jumped from a height of 128 100 feet and had an official freefall time of 4 minutes and 20 seconds. The real surprise was the official records for the maximum velocity achieved, while original estimates were indicating that Felix reached a maximum velocity of 729 mph, this ended up being very conservative with the official finding concluding that in fact, his maximum velocity was an outstanding 833.9 mph, or 373 m/s, meaning that Baumgartner reached Mach 1.24 during his jump. This means that Felix has become the first human to go supersonic during freefall.

 

Operation Toy Drop: Airborne Tradition Set to Explode in 13th Year

Submitted by on Tue Nov 02 2010 | Last Modified on Tue Dec 21 2010

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Operation Toy Drop: Airborne Tradition  Set to Explode in 13th Year - Click to Enlarge!

Thousands of toys and paratroopers, hundreds of volunteers, and more than a dozen aircraft come together December 10th and 11th at Fort Bragg in order to give back to the surrounding community.

WHEN: Friday, December 10, 2010 for Toy Collection and Lottery [ 9:00am – 10:30am ]

Saturday, December 11, 2010 for the Airborne Operation [ 7:00am – 3:00pm ]

WHERE: Green Ramp, Pope Air Force Base (Friday)

Sicily Drop Zone, Fort Bragg (Saturday)

What makes this year’s Toy Drop different?

The addition of the 437th Air Wing out of Charleston Air Force Base and their unofficial challenge to “out-toy” Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base by collecting more toys for underprivileged families throughout the region. This year’s operation will also include double the amount of jump masters from allied militaries – greatly expanding the number of foreign jump wings awarded to U.S. paratroopers who participate.

Operation Toy Drop’s goal is to collect more than 6,000 new toys for children and families throughout the region who may not otherwise receive gifts this holiday season. America’s paratroopers don’t hold back – donations last year included numerous high-end game consoles, countless bicycles, and more otherwise unattainable toys for children of underprivileged families.

Media opportunities include: hundreds of Paratroopers lined up to donate toys for their chance to join the jump; the jump itself; paratroopers delivering toys, and more. Live interviews via satellite uplink will be available Friday during toy collection and airborne refresher training and Saturday morning from the drop zone during the jump.

Dozens of parachute silhouettes raining down against the North Carolina sky are nothing out of the ordinary around Fort Bragg, but each December since 1998, Airborne operations have taken on a different meaning to America’s men and women in uniform with the Randy Oler Memorial Operation Toy Drop. An annual opportunity for Fort Bragg’s military community to help families in need over the holidays, Operation Toy Drop combines the efforts of Army, Air Force and civilian service organizations in a truly unique event.

Operation Toy Drop is a week-long, philanthropic project where Fort Bragg’s paratroopers (or visiting paratroopers from across the nation) individually contribute new, unwrapped toys to be distributed to local children’s homes and social service agencies. Despite the project’s name, these toys are not « dropped » anywhere except into the arms of deserving children throughout Cumberland County and North Carolina. The drop is actually a daytime, non-tactical airborne operation supervised by foreign military jumpmasters – a rare treat for participating Soldiers who relish the opportunity to earn a foreign nation’s « jump wings ».

Masterminded by then-Staff Sgt. Randy Oler in 1998, Operation Toy Drop started as a relatively small-time success backed by some big-time coordination. Oler’s dream of incorporating Airborne operations, foreign military jumpmasters and local charities was a tall order, but Oler was never one to shy away from a challenge. He approached his commanding general within the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command with the idea and was given the green light to spearhead the project.

That December, after eight months of planning, USACAPOC(A)’s first annual Operation Toy Drop had been completed on a wing, a prayer, and Oler’s handshakes across several organizations. It was small, and very few toys had actually been raised – but it was a start, and from that point on Oler had a foundation to build on.

Over the following years, Operation Toy Drop expanded to include aircraft support from Pope Air Force Base’s 43rd Airlift Wing, and welcomed the participation of Soldiers from Fort Bragg’s XVIII Airborne Corps and 82nd Airborne Division. These Soldiers’ enthusiasm to participate in the budding holiday tradition greatly outweighed the number of jump slots available. With limited space on the planes, the project’s organizers arranged to draw names of participating Soldiers at random to fill the slots. The name drawing has become one of the main spectacles of Operation Toy Drop, where hundreds of Soldiers crowd together for the chance to hear their ticket number called, no matter how long the wait.

Each iteration of Operation Toy Drop has brought in more toys for children in need. Even as USACAPOC(A) Soldiers mobilized with the rest of the military community in support of the Global War on Terrorism, those who remained stateside continued the tradition. In 2001, each child who lost a family member in the Sept. 11 attacks received a toy raised in the following December’s Operation Toy Drop.

As the war broke out, Oler remained at the helm of the operation. By April of 2004, he’d been promoted to Sgt. 1st Class and was finishing up an assignment at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. Even as the USACAPOC(A) commanding general was fighting Oler’s relocation orders, which would take him away from Fort Bragg, Oler was starting to get the ball rolling for Operation Toy Drop, 2004, which was less than eight months away.

Oler had warned his colleagues that he might not be around for what would have been his seventh year running Operation Toy Drop. Sadly, he was right, but not due to any relocation orders. On April 20th, 2004, Sgt. 1st Class Randall R. Oler suffered a heart attack while performing jumpmaster duties aboard a C-130 aircraft. At 43 years old, Oler was pronounced dead at Womack Army Medical Center. The Tennessee native had joined the Army in 1979 as an Infantryman, spending time in Ranger and Special Forces battalions throughout his career, and had deployed in support of Operations Desert Storm, Provide Comfort and Joint Endeavor. In 1995, he joined USACAPOC(A) to become a Civil Affairs specialist.

Oler’s humanitarian spirit built Operation Toy Drop from the ground up, and it’s only appropriate that the following December, his dream-turned-reality was dubbed the Randy Oler Memorial Operation Toy Drop by those who had worked so closely with him over the years. The void left by Oler’s death was a difficult one to fill – Oler had run the operation from memory for six years. With no written notes to work from, key players scrambled to make the connections that Oler had worked from his head over the previous years.

To this date, Operation Toy Drop has collected and distributed over 35,000 toys – from bikes, to dolls, to video game systems – for local families and children in need. In 2007, Operation Toy Drop’s 10-year anniversary, over 3,000 participants brought in approximately $55,000 worth of toys.

USACAPOC(A), a subordinate of the Army Reserve Command, has had control over Operation Toy Drop since Oler, a USACAPOC(A) Soldier, initiated the event in 1998. Oler’s passion for helping those in need is echoed again and again among USACAPOC(A)’s nearly 10,000 Army Reservists, whose civilian experiences play important roles in their units’ missions overseas. By conducting civil-military projects and humanitarian assistance efforts, USACAPOC(A) Soldiers are making non-lethal contributions to global peace and stability across the world. Located at Fort Bragg, USACAPOC(A) is headquarters to the 69 Army Reserve Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations units across the nation.

Civil Affairs and PSYOP Soldiers account for only five percent of the U.S. Army Reserve force, but comprise 20 percent of Army Reserve deployments.

In-Flight HUD to Assist Wingsuit Pilots

Submitted by on Fri Oct 19 2012 | Last Modified on Tue Oct 23 2012

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Vancouver, Canada – 18th October, 2012 – Recon Instruments, award winning innovator of Heads-up Display (HUD) technology for action sports, is excited to announce the limited release of an innovative HUD designed specifically for precision human flight. Flight HUD is available to pre-order from Recon Labs.Recon’s HUDs have already revolutionized the way wingsuit pilots Jeb Corliss and supermodel-adventurer Roberta Mancino fly by delivering flight-critical data, direct-to-eye. Via the suite of onboard sensors the HUD, originally designed for snow sports, has been customized to display glide ratio, speed and altitude via a micro LCD screen sitting unobtrusively inside the pilot’s goggle.

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To guarantee production, Recon Instruments has set a requirement of 250 pre-orders of the bespoke HUD, available on Recon’s special projects website, Recon Labs. The website has been launched especially for such projects, allowing Recon to respond to demand for special case HUDs from different sports communities.

Click here to hear what Jeb Corliss has to say about how Flight HUD has made him a better pilot.

Tom Fowler, Chief Marketing Officer of Recon Instruments added, “We are inundated with requests from athletes and participants from a wide variety of sports to create bespoke HUDs for their specific use. Flight HUD is Recon’s first special project whereby a certain number of pre-orders will unlock a special production. We are really excited to be able to offer human flight athletes the same information traditional pilots have been using for decades and know this breakthrough will re-define their flying experience.”

Flight HUD is available from labs.reconinstruments.com for $299USD for the first 250 pre-orders and $349USD thereafter. Price includes Recon Ready goggles.

Skydive Dubai Go Big with Go Fast

Submitted by on Tue Jun 12 2012 | Last Modified on Fri Sep 07 2012

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Estimated to cost USD 1.3 Billion for a month, the billboard features a Jet Pack Man flying around the billboard in a seconds-long promotion for Skydive Dubai and Go Fast

Skydive Dubai, the world’s premiere skydiving center, in association with Go Fast, a global energy brand, showcased the world’s most expensive billboard located in Downtown Dubai, yesterday, at 6pm. In what is deemed to be the most expensive billboard, Skydive Dubai and Go Fast have utilized a Jet Pack to create the interactive billboard.

The billboard involves a man with a Jet Pack, initially hidden within the billboard, to emerge from the billboard and fly around it for approximately 20-30 seconds, before landing back on the billboard. If the Jet Pack act for the billboard were to continue for a month, it would cost approximately USD 1.3 Billion.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ptr5gyLwq8

The billboard is strategically positioned at the entrance of the stunning Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Located in one of the most premier destinations in the world, Downtown Dubai, billed as ‘The Centre of Now,’ the Go Fast billboard by Skydive Dubai has created a new landmark for Dubai.

Commenting on the Skydive Dubai’s association with Go Fast for the billboard, Mr. Nasser Al Neyadi, Chairman of Skydive Dubai, said: « This is an epic moment, and we are very proud to be part of it. This initiative is another example showcasing Dubai as a world leader in innovation and technology. The billboard came into being with a simple idea that has transformed into an exceptional event to attract a global audience. Our gratitude to our partners, Go Fast and Emaar Properties, without whose support, this would not have been possible. »

« Skydive Dubai would like to acknowledge that the creation of such a monumental dropzone would not be possible without the support and extraordinary vision of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council and President of the Dubai Sports Council. »

Skydive Dubai is supported by Emaar Properties PJSC, the global property developer of iconic projects, and the provider of premier lifestyles. Emaar has been shaping landscapes and lives in the Emirate since its inception in 1997, creating value-added, master-planned communities that meet the full spectrum of lifestyle needs. Downtown Dubai is the flagship mega-development of Emaar, and features iconic developments including Burj Khalifa, The Dubai Mall and The Dubai Fountain, in addition to homes, commercial offices and leisure attractions.

Mr. Troy Widgery, CEO of Go Fast, commented on the event, saying, « We are very happy to be in Dubai. During our first visit two years ago, the city left us mesmerized. Its people and the culture here is amazing. We were immediately convinced to bring Go Fast to the UAE and have introduced the Go Fast Halal Energy Formula, the first of its kind in the world, developed especially for this region. We are certain that the brand will be received very well here. We are grateful for the support of Skydive Dubai for our venture in this part of the world. With this billboard, we want the people to know that we will be here soon. »

The seconds of flight time for the billboard in Downtown Dubai would cost a minimum of USD 500 per second. If the number of seconds in a month (60 seconds x 60 minutes x 24hours x 30 days = 2,592,000 seconds) is multiplied by USD 500, the total amounts to approximately USD 1.3 Billion for the month long fly time for the billboard.

Skydive Dubai is an all-turbine drop zone, offering safe, professional and fun skydiving experience over the breathtaking Dubai skylines. Skydive Dubai caters to skydivers of all experience levels from the first time tandem jumpers to fun jumpers and experienced skydivers.

Go Fast is an independent, authentic, lifestyle brand. Based out of Denver, Colorado, Go Fast was established in 1996 to support the lifestyle of extreme sports enthusiasts. The world-recognized brand is known for the Go Fast Energy Drinks, Go Fast Energy Gum, Go Fast Gear, & and everything that Goes Fast!

For Further information, please contact: Mr. Firas Al Jabi Skydive Dubai
Tel: + 971-50-348-8802
Email: skydive.dubai7@gmail.com

Do skydivers care about safety

Submitted by Bill Booth on Sun Aug 17 2003 | Last Modified on Wed Nov 21 2012

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If I’ve learned one thing in my 35 years in the sport, it’s that it is very difficult to get most skydivers interested in safety. Years ago, when it became obvious that my hand deploy pilot chute and 3-ring release made it possible to deploy a malfunction, and then breakaway from it, 500 feet faster than the existing internal pilot chutes and Capewell canopy releases allowed, a lot of jumpers simply started deploying their mains 500 feet lower. Utterly negating the increase in safety these systems offered.

Even today, most jumpers think that because all gear has a TSO tag on it, one piece of gear is as safe as another. Unfortunately, that is not true, and most jumpers will choose « fashion » over safety every time. Here are just a few examples of what I mean, starting in the ’60’s, right up to the present day.

  • The army found out that if you put 2 foot band of fine netting around the skirt of a round parachute, you eliminate the most common deployment malfunction, the partial inversion. The trick worked so well that airborne troop static line malfunctions went from 1 in 250 to 1 in 250,000. WOW! So, a company that made round sport reserves (there were no square reserves yet) came out with an « anti-inversion netted » reserve. NO ONE bought it. You know why, of course…It packed up 10% bigger. Jumpers past up a proven 1,000 times increase in safety for smaller pack volume.
  • Believe it or not, there is a similar, thought not nearly as drastic, choice jumpers are making when they buy a square reserve today. Let me explain. The first square canopies came without sliders, so they had to be built tough. This meant, among other things, that there was tape running spanwise (from right to left) between the line attachment points. With the advent of the slider and softer opening canopies, some companies began leaving the spanwise reinforcing tapes out of their square reserves. Why? Because they cost less to build, and (you guessed it) they packed smaller. This proved to be a wise choice, (at least in the marketing department) because although jumpers very often choose their mains for performance and durability, the almost always always choose their reserves base only on price and pack volume. While reserves without spandwise tapes are fine in most situations, as we have seen recently, they tend to fall apart when skydivers push the envelope. (ie. big people on tiny canopies, going head down at high altitudes.) Safety doesn’t seem to be any larger a consideration than it was when they passed up anti-inversion netted round reserves in the ’60’s.
  • Standard size (large) 3-ring release systems have never given a solo jumper any problem. They ALWAYS release easily and NEVER break. However, mini 3-rings look neater, so that’s all people will buy. No matter all the reports of hard or impossible breakaways or broken risers. Don’t get me wrong, Properly made, and maintained, mini 3-ring release systems will handle anything even the newest ZP canopy with microlines can dish out. Unfortunately, because they are now being pushed right to their design limit, they must be made EXACTLY right. And a lot of manufacturers either can’t or won’t. On the other hand, a large 3-ring system has so much mechanical advantage, that even a poorly made system will still work just fine. But then fashion is much more important than safety, isn’t it?
  • Spectra (or micro-line) is strong and tiny, so it reduces both pack volume and drag , which means you get a smaller rig and a faster canopy. Unfortunately, It has a couple of « design characteristics » (this is manufacturer talk for « problems ») It is very slippery (less friction to slow the slider), and stretches less than stainless steel. This is why it hurt people and broke so many mini risers when it was first introduced. Now, I must say that the canopy manufacturers did a wonderful job handling these « characteristics » by designing new canopies that opened much slower than their predecessors. However, the fact still remains, that if you do have a rare fast opening on a microlined canopy, Spectra (or Vectran) will transmit that force to you (and your rig) much, much faster, resulting in an opening shock up to 300% higher than if you have Dacron lines. (It’s sort of like doing a bungee jump with a stainless steel cable. At the bottom of your fall, your body applies the same force to the steel cable as it would to a rubber bungee cord, but because steel doesn’t stretch, your legs tears off.)

So why would I have a fast opening? Well for one thing, you, or your packer might forget to « uncollapse » your collapsible slider. BAM! Or perhaps you’re zipping along head down at 160 mph with a rig that wasn’t designed for it, and you experience an accidental container opening. BAM again. The point is this: If you want to push the envelope, and get all the enjoyment this sport has to offer, and do it « safely », you need to make careful choices in the gear you jump. If you weigh 200 lbs. and do a lot of head down, perhaps you really shouldn’t be using a reserve without spanwise reinforcement, mini 3-rings, or a canopy with micro lines.

No matter how much you weigh, you should educate yourself about gear, and then only jump gear that is designed for how you jump. So many fatalities occur because of decisions jumpers make BEFORE even getting in the airplane. Don’t join that group. Be smarter than that. Fashion, at least in skydiving, can get you killed.

~ Bill Booth

 

Wingsuit Gear Check

Submitted by justin shorb/Flock University on Wed Mar 11 2009 | Last Modified on Fri Sep 14 2012

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Whether you jump at a large dropzone or a small one, you’ve probably shared a ride to altitude with a wingsuiter. Like all skydivers, wingsuiters should receive a thorough gear check, but a wingsuit also creates unique concerns that a watchful eye can catch.  Regardless of experience level, it’s possible to make a mistake while gearing up with a wingsuit – in the same way that its possible for any of us to make a mistake while gearing up for a traditional skydive. This is a situation where your vigilance can save a fellow skydiver’s life. Here are a few recommendations that Flock U has for gear checks:

A wingsuit skydiver is a skydiver first and a wingsuiter second – you will need to check his or her rig, chest strap, altimeter, goggles, etc. in the same way that you would with any other skydiver. Make sure that the jumper’s AAD is on (if he or she is jumping with one). Pay particular attention to the jumper’s cutaway and reserve handles. While a wingsuiter’s emergency procedures aren’t any different than a traditional skydiver’s, in some suits, handles can become pulled into or obstructed by the fabric of the suit. That can result in a dangerous surprise if a cutaway or reserve pull becomes necessary.

 

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Reserve and cutaway handles should be visible and clear, no different than any other skydiving configuration.
Jeff Donahue/Skwrl shows his bright-green-against-red handle.

After inspecting the rig, examine the wingsuiter’s arm wings – and in particular, examine the connection between the wing and the jumper’s torso. There’s unfortunately no “one size fits all” rule for arm wing inspection, as different wingsuit designs have different wing configurations.  That being the case, there are several general categories of wing/torso connections that each raise their own concerns:

 

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This is a PhoenixFly Phantom; it has a cable-thread wing system

Cable Thread Systems. Cable Thread Systems consist of a cutaway-style cable that runs through alternating torso and wing tabs, which keep the wing attached to the torso.  By pulling on the cutaway cables, the wingsuiter can release the arms of the suit in an emergency. This design can generally be found in BirdMan brand suits, among others. For a Cable Thread Systesm, look to see if the cables are threaded correctly through the tabs, all the way up. In some cases, they will alternate evenly between wing and torso, but often the cable will intentionally be threaded to skip one or more tabs. Don’t hesitate to ask the wingsuiter if you’re not sure – even experienced wingsuiters may not know the proper configuration for suits that they haven’t flown before, and some wingsuiters have preferences for arranging these tabs that differ from the standard. Make sure the wing cutaway handles are properly secured in a Velcro or tuck-tab housing. Note that there’s often both a front and a rear cable on these systems – so check both, on both wings.

 

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Some wingsuiters prefer to leave the top of their cable exposed, thus allowing them to be certain that the cable is threaded all the way to the top, and tight in the cable tabs.

Zipper Attachment Systems. Zipper Attachment Systems are found primarily on Tonysuit, Phoenix Fly and S-fly brand suits, though there are many different suit designs on the market that use one form or another of the Zipper Attachment System. These systems generally come in two types: “over the shoulder zippers” and “bottom of wing” zipper attachments.

 

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This Tonysuit Mach 1 wingsuit uses a zipper to attach armwings to the body of the suit. In *most* cases, this zipper should be all the way to the bottom of the zipper track. As seen in the photo below, some wingsuiters prefer a small amount of unzipped

“Over the shoulder zippers” are what their name implies – a zipper that runs over the wingsuiter’s shoulder, which connects the wing to the torso. Generally, in this design, the wing isn’t detached from the torso even in an emergency, and the “over the shoulder” zipper is usually only unzipped if the wingsuiter is removing the suit from his or her rig while on the ground. In these models, there’s generally a Velcro breakaway or other cutaway system or a safety sleeve (described below). Look to see if the zipper is attached properly and zipped all the way down. Some wingsuiters will intentionally leave several inches of the zipper unzipped in the back, so ask before correcting a slightly unzipped wing! If the over the shoulder zipper design includes a Velcro breakaway system, check to make sure the Velcro “sandwich” is holding the top and bottom of the wing together and that the Velcro isn’t bunched or pinched – these gaps can widen when the wing encounters the relative wind.

 

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Most of the older Tonysuit brand wingsuits have a “bottom of wing” zipper attachment.  These include a Velcro mesh cutaway with an RSL-style latch at the bottom, which is used to release the wing.  When looking at this system, check to see if

Newer Tonysuits brand model have a “safety sleeve” – a ZP liner – that allows the armwing to silde up the jumper’s arm, permitting the wingsuiter to reach canopy controls in an emergency. As a result, there’s no arm wing cutaway system to inspect. When looking at these suits, make sure that the arm zipper – the zipper that runs from the jumper’s shoulder to his or her wrist – is fully zipped. There will generally be a snap or tuck tab on the bottom of the wing; check to see if they are properly stowed.

While inspecting the arm wing, check the wingsuiter’s wrist-mount altimeter (if he or she is jumping with one). Make sure that the jumper can release his or her wings without undoing the wrist-mount (which can happen, for example, if the wrist-mount is put on after the arm wing is zipped up in wingsuit designs with a thumb loop). This is a dangerous and easily avoidable method of losing a wrist-mount altimeter!

Check to make sure the wingsuiter’s legstraps are on. Leg straps can be missed by wingsuiters while gearing up, as the suits tends to restrict motion and prevent the jumper from seeing his or her legstraps. Even highly experienced wingsuiters have admitted to momentarily forgetting leg straps while gearing up. When using a wingsuit, visual inspection is insufficient to make sure that the leg straps are on – the wingsuit can deceptively pull the strap against the leg, making it appear that the strap is on. Ask the wingsuiter to shrug – the jumper should feel the resistance in the harness created by tightly worn leg straps. Alternately, you can lift the bottom of the wingsuiter’s rig (in other words, under the pilot chute). If the rig moves more than a couple of inches, it’s not secure enough.

Each leg of a Tonysuits brand wingsuits also has a leg zipper pull up system, which is basically a bridle that connects to the leg wing zipper. The bridle is stowed against the leg by Velcro or tuck tabs. Also incorporated in this design is a pair of magnets that keep the bottom of the wing together. These magnets must go over the zip pull ups. If they are under the zip pull up, they may jam under canopy.

 

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Tonysuit wingsuits often have a « ladder tuck tab » zipper system. All tuck tabs should be in their slots.
It’s fairly obvious when they’re not.

Are the wingsuiter’s booties on? Particularly when the wingsuiter is using a borrowed or rental suit, booties may be ill-fitting. Badly fitted and poorly positioned booties can result in a lost bootie, which can make for an incredibly difficult flight and dangerous canopy deployment. Check to make sure the bootie is on, and straight.

 

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This is how properly secured tuck tabs should appear.

Help to make this year a safer year for skydiving by looking out for your fellow jumpers. Making it a habit to look at others’ gear can only result in positive results. Save someone’s life this year – it could be yours!

A free, downloadable wingsuit pincheck file can be found on our site at www.flockuniversity.org. This pincheck guide is perfect for printing for Safety Day or for putting on the wall near manifest.

 

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This is the 71-Way World Record Event at Lake Elsinore, CA, on November 11, 2008.

Thanks to Jeff Donahue and Andreea Olea for their help in this article. All photos courtesy DSE.

Learning To Fly A Wingsuit

Submitted by dse on Sun Nov 21 2010 | Last Modified on Thu Nov 08 2012

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Wingsuiting is a fast-growing discipline in the skydiving and BASE-jumping world, and like all new disciplines in the sport, there are some potential pitfalls that this article might help you to avoid.

Wingsuits can convert downward speed into forward speed/lift, much like a canopy can, up to a certain point. This allows the wingsuit skydiver to travel much farther over the ground than even the best tracker can travel. Like a canopy, there is a balance between weight and performance. Wingsuits come in a wide variety of sizes, but all are of a similar shape. It is a common misconception that size is related to skill, freefall time, and distance traveled. New wingsuiters would be well-advised to not be concerned about which suit they’ll eventually be jumping; suit styles, features, and sizes are constantly evolving. In other words, use the introductory suit provided by your coach and plan on a world of discovery after that first experience.

 

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Chris Warnock in his home-made wingsuit

 

How Should I Prepare For Wingsuiting?

First and foremost, you’ll need a minimum of 200 jumps in the past 18 months if you’ll be jumping at a USPA dropzone. This is a BSR, or Basic Safety Requirement. It is highly recommended by both USPA and all manufacturers that you take a First Flight Course/FFC from a qualified wingsuit coach. There is no USPA “instructor” rating for wingsuiting, only manufacturer-issued ratings. Be sure the person providing FFC coaching is current and it is recommended that you seek someone with additional USPA instructional ratings. There is no difference between a wingsuit “instructor” and a wingsuit “coach.” Some manufacturers have elected to not confuse the USPA Instructional ratings with being one who teaches wingsuiting, ergo; “coach.”

 

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Tracking jumps with a focus on navigation will go a long way to achieving a good sense of navigation. Navigation is a critical component of a wingsuiting since we’ll be adding the potential ability to fly several miles from 13K. Concentrating on flying “quiet” (without a lot of body/limb movement and relaxed) is a benefit to preparing for a wingsuit skydive. Your coach may even require that you’ll do a tracking dive prior to the first wingsuit flight.

There are some equipment recommendations to consider prior to making a first wingsuit skydive. For example, lighter canopy wingloadings are preferable. A good wingsuit coach will recommend or require a non-elliptical canopy for the FFC It’s a good idea to avoid ellipticals for wingsuiting in general, and most coaches will highly recommend (if not require) an AAD. Losing altitude awareness should not occur in a wingsuit skydive, but your body clock will feel “off” in most first wingsuit jumps.

A hard helmet is recommended; wingsuits restrict movement. If there is going to be an impact of any kind in a wingsuit, it generally will occur at the front of the fuselage (your head) and your arms cannot be used to protect the head/face. Full-face or open face helmets both work. I personally wear an open face helmet, but many wear full face helmets. There is little doubt the wind can be heard more clearly in a full-face helmet. The sound of the wind is often used to gauge fall rate.

An audible may promote awareness due to the potentially elongated skydive. First flights, like AFF, generally terminate at 5.5k, and most skydivers have a lower deployment point. The audible may help with the change in body clock and new sight picture at deployment time.

Mudflap or chest mount altimeters are highly recommended; looking at your wrist may cause a turn or instability in the first wingsuit skydive. A good coach should be able to provide these things in the event you don’t have them. I personally prefer chest mounts for FFC’s as they keep the student’s head aligned with the body when looking at the altimeter.

Get Taught The Specifics Of Wingsuiting

Look for a coach that provides appropriate time to teach specifics relating to:

  • Exits (Exits are the most dangerous part of any wingsuit skydive)
  • Stable flight
  • Navigation
  • Deployment
  • Emergency procedures/recovery from instability

 

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You should be doing at least two practice touches in the air as well. Your coach should make sure you not only know all of the above procedures, but assure you feel comfortable in all aspects of the process. The training process should be specific to the aircraft from which you’ll be jumping. Otters and Skyvans have a slightly different exit method than say…a King Air or Cessna 182.

 

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Wingsuiting is becoming more common across the world, and suit designs are available for the newcomer to the discipline. A good coach should have an abundance of suits so that the suit fits properly. Wingsuits for introductory skydives/FFC’s include Phoenix-Fly Prodigy, Shadow, and Phantom 2. Tonysuit offers the Intro model, while FYB offers the Access and Indy. All of these wingsuits are designed with beginning wingsuit pilots in mind. Some of them can carry well into a wingsuit pilot’s jumping career, while others will most likely be used for a couple of dozen jumps at best.

 

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Linetwists were caused by the student keeping his legs open on deployment.

Linetwists were caused by the student keeping his legs open on deployment.Be cautious about planning for larger suit sizes. There is a balance between wingloading and hang-time. A lightweight person in a very large wingsuit will be more like a “leaf” as opposed to a rocket, where a heavier person in a small suit can generate ridiculous forward speeds. Once you’ve determined that you want to continue down the wingsuit piloting path, you’ll likely figure out whether acrobatics, relative work, flocking, distance flights, or hang-time (time aloft) is the goal. There are suits that can meet most of these goals, while some suits are better designed than others for specific tasks.

Performance should not be an objective in initial flights. There are three goals/TLO’s in the FFC that I teach:

  • Safe/clean exit (Avoiding the stabilizer and being stable)
  • Navigation back to the DZ
  • Clean deployment free of malfunctions

Other coaches may provide other emphasis, but at the end of the day, the goal of the first wingsuit flight is that it is a fun skydive with a heavy emphasis on safety. You’ll experience a different ground rush, feel the sensation of true flight, and find the wingsuit a very different experience from other skydives.

A list of wingsuiting coaches may be found on the websites of various manufacturers.

We’re looking forward to seeing you in the flock!

 

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DSE is a USPA Coach Examiner, AFFI, Sr. Phoenix-Fly Examiner (North America) and a staff instructor at Skydive Elsinore.

Inside Squirrel Wingsuits updated

Submitted by on Mon Jan 21 2013 | Last Modified on Tue Feb 05 2013

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There are constant advancements in the development of human flight and over the past decade in particular we’ve seen some pretty ground breaking achievements, thanks both to the pilots who push the envelopes and the gear manufacturers that are constantly coming up with new products, and researching the way forward with regards to these items.We had a chat with Matt from Squirrel Wingsuits, one of the new wingsuit manufacturer on the block.On your facebook group you mention that this venture is one of a collaborative nature and that there are some ‘elite wingsuiters’ involved in the project. Are you able to provide names of those who are involved?Squirrel was originally founded by Matt Gerdes, Luc Armant, and Dave Barlia. After a year of intensive work, Dave was not able to reconcile the inherent workload with his family life and returned to fun jumping. Currently the day-to-day operation is Matt Gerdes and Mike Steen, with testing and development the responsibility of us plus a list of team pilots that will be released on the website soon.You mention on the Squirrel website that « If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself ». That philosophy seems to be the primary reasoning behind the development of Squirrel. It is clear that you guys felt as though something was not being done correctly by other modern wingsuit manufacturers; is there something in specific that you felt was lacking in the current market and that there was a dire need for that had to be developed?

In 2009 there weren’t a lot of people jumping “big” wingsuits in the BASE environment. Jade Tatom was the only person I had met who had ever BASE jumped a Tony suit. At that time (summer 2009) I felt that I had outgrown the suit I was flying and I was looking for something new but I didn’t want a Vampire because everyone else had a Vampire. I decided to get a “big” suit and immediately realized that it was awesome in the BASE environment. For 2009 and most of 2010, lots of people sneered at me and the other guys who were jumping these new big suits… there was an incredible amount of poop-talking that went on here at the Dropzone forum, in hindsight it’s really sad but it’s funny seeing so many of the people who were adamantly against big suits flying them now. I have to give Andy West and Dean Potter credit for being smarter than I was and basically enjoying their suits in private. I was a loud proponent of big suits and convinced as many people as I could (which turned out to be a lot) that wingsuit BASE was more fun with bigger wings… and by the end of 2011, a lot of people had figured out that more surface area is potentially advantageous in many ways. Anyone familiar with the evolution of wingsuit design in the past 3 years knows the rest of the story. I have liked every suit I’ve owned, for the most part. Tony makes great wingsuits and his and Jeff’s designs have (in my opinion) revolutionized the sport. But in 2011 I almost died twice and decided that I either had to quit jumping, or figure out a solution to the issue. In the end, Squirrel was the solution. If I die BASE jumping, now at least it will be in my own suit 😉

 

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What is different about Squirrel wingsuits that sets them apart from the competition? Why would one be making a better choice by going for Squirrel as opposed to one of the other guys?

If you look at the suit and fly it and can see and feel the difference, then you will know if the suit is for you or not for you. Deciding which suit to fly is (and should be) a very personal choice. I’ve tried my best to describe some of the details that are unique to our suits on our website, but I would never claim that our suit is better than another. It’s something that each jumper needs to experience and decide for themselves.

The company is quite new, as are the products that have been released. How has reception been thus far?

The feedback has been even better than we hoped. Our main concern is delivery times at this point.

 

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How many products do you currently have for sale, and how many are in development, with any possible release periods for upcoming products?

The Colugo will be on general sale in late February. The Aura, a slightly larger suit, will follow. The Swift, our entry-level suit, will come this summer.

How much time or effort has been spent into the research, specifically aerodynamic research for these suits. Are they going to be offering anything special with the way they fly? Anything you can tell us about the procedure that has lead up to the production.

We are very lucky to have Luc Armant on board. He and Fred Pieri were instrumental in establishing the planform and profiles. Luc and Fred work for Ozone Paragliders, which for the past few years has been widely recognized as the world leader in high performance paraglider designs (currently about 80% of the top competition pilots are flying Ozone, which is insane in a sport with almost 50 brands).

Luc and Fred are both complete and total geniuses, and their understanding of flexible airfoils is unparalleled. They have had some wild and awesome ideas, but there are major restrictions for wingsuits because we need them to be comfortable and safe (in my opinion safety and comfort come before performance) before we need them to be fast and efficient. Some of our early prototypes had massively stiff arms with reinforced tri-laminate surfaces and mostly-rigid profiles. The performance was amazing but you couldn’t even sit comfortably in the airplane. We remedied some of that with complex arm-release systems using magnets and Lycra and other things, but in the end it was all just too much going on when you’re standing on the exit point.

 

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Simplicity is so incredibly important in our sport. The first phase of development really made clear that comfort and confidence are the main priorities. A natural flying position, very clean and easy access to the BOC and brakes, and fast start-arc* in the BASE environment are our first priorities. When you start pushing speed and glide performance too much, inevitably there are sacrifices. We’re very happy with the performance but for me the most important thing is having the maximum amount of confidence that I’m going to get a fast, balanced, and predictable start, and then be able to reach my BOC clean and clear on every jump. I think that this is what pilots will appreciate on every jump.

It’s human nature to be obsessed with performance, and I am not against that obsession, but I think that choosing suits based on their theoretical glide and losing sight of things like a fast start-arc and a really clean pull is a mistake. Nothing else matters when you can’t get your PC. In the past year we’ve seen more and more jumpers ordering the biggest suit possible – and while I agree that big is fun, I also think that we have to stay focused on ease of use and agility, especially for BASE jumping. And a lot of jumpers are not getting this point. The phenomena is like the opposite of skydive canopies, where jumpers feel cooler when they are flying something smaller; it seems like a lot of BASE jumpers want to be wearing the biggest suit they can, even though they would be able to fly much better lines in a more moderate design.

*We define the “start-arc” as the vertical distance consumed at the point at which the jumper crosses an imaginary line extended at a 45 degree angle from the cliff edge.

Your primary focus at the moment seems to be on attracting BASE jumpers, do you ever plan on expanding focus to skydivers as well?

Every BASE jumper is a skydiver, too. Or at least they should be. In my opinion, skydiving is the single most important thing that you can do to improve your wingsuit BASE jumping. One of the most important features on our suits is the Innie-Outie zip system, which allows you to zip your BASE harness inside the suit and profit from the increased wing area and reduced drag which results, or you can zip your skydive harness onto the outside of the suit which allows you to access your handles safely and easily with no funny-business. Our focus will always be on wingsuit BASE jumping, that’s just who we are, but we all love to skydive and all of our suits are designed to be skydived safely and easily.

Are there any professionals, whose names one may know busy flying Squirrel suits at the moment, and if so, who are they?

Stay tuned for the list.

How To Be A Good Passenger in a Jump Plane (Visit this link)

Submitted by Gary Peek on Thu Aug 21 2003 | Last Modified on Mon Oct 22 2012

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How To Be A Good Passenger in a Jump Plane - Click to Enlarge!
Photo: Robert Feuille

How to be a Good Passenger in a Jump Plane

Note: Original text from an article written for April 1992 Parachutist. Since 1992 our fleet of jump airplanes has changed signifigantly. There are few planes like DC3’s in use now which often have « loaders », and many pilots are now spotting airplanes with the help of the navigation equipment that is now more advanced. Please make adjustments for the changing technology. G.P. 2003

This article is written in two parts covering some of the most typical jump plane situations you will experience. The first part will be of interest to new jumpers who are learning to spot and to jumpmaster themselves and who are jumping from small airplanes. The second part is for intermediate jumpers from a small drop zone who may soon consider visiting another drop zone or going to a skydiving event that has larger airplanes. It will also be good review for experienced jumpers who do not jump large airplanes very often and forget how to be a good passenger.

Small Airplanes:

Loading-

Loading a small airplane will become different as you gain more experience in skydiving. You will be doing different exits than you did as a student and will need to be arranged differently in the airplane. First of all, take the advice of more experienced jumpers as to the most efficient place to be for your skydive. If you are in an airplane with students, follow the seating arrangement that the instructor specifies. Be careful as you get near the airplane if the engine is still running. The door of small airplanes is always near the prop and the airplane owner will not appreciate you bending the prop by backing into it. 🙂 The least noisy time during your flight is during loading and is the best time to tell the pilot how high you are going and in what direction you want the jump run. The pilot needs to tell Air Traffic Control how high the plane is going and hopes you won’t change your mind too many times on the way up. Tell the pilot if you will being doing Canopy Relative Work or will be opening high for some reason. Pilots don’t want to do surprise CRW with canopies they don’t know are up that high. The position of the seat belts in the airplane will usually dictate exactly where you will be sitting. If this position is uncomfortable just remember that the Federal Aviation Regulations state only that you must wear them only while the aircraft is in motion on the ground and during takeoff and landing. Make sure that everyone doesn’t sit too far to the rear and make the plane out of balance. The pilot would not have much fun flying it in this condition. Ask the pilot for advice on loading if you do not know.

Jump Run-

When you know it is almost time to jump you will usually be getting to your knees and making final adjustments to your gear. In getting up, try not to pull yourself up by the pilot’s rig or pull any important items off the plane in doing so. Check for any part of your gear that may have been moved while getting up in a crowded airplane, especially your hand deploy pilot chute. There should be no need to say very much to a pilot at this point if they were sufficiently briefed on the ground, but be alert and understanding about anything the pilot may say to you. Your jump may be delayed while waiting for another jump plane or from instructions from Air Traffic Control, and those instructions will be hard to hear if you are yelling about why you aren’t on jump run yet.

Spotting-

You will always need to wait for a signal from the pilot before opening the door. If the airspeed is too high the door will receive excessive stress and might even come off. The airplane’s owner would be very unhappy with you as well as the home owner whose roof the door lands on. Giving corrections to the pilot on direction of flight can be verbal by saying « 5 RIGHT » or « 5 LEFT », or by simply pointing in the direction to turn. Most pilots will correct about 5 degrees in the direction you indicate and then level out and wait for further corrections. If you point, make sure your hand is up where the pilot can see it. Try to keep the corrections to a minimum because the pilot probably lined you up on jump run pretty close anyway. If you correct back and forth too many times even the pilot will get lost. 🙂 Most pilots will cut back on the power when you get out, but it is a good idea to call for a « CUT » anyway before exiting.

Exiting-

Try to exit the airplane and get into your position as quickly as possible so the pilot doesn’t have to struggle to keep the airplane right side up. However, be careful not to bump things on the way out like your pilot chute. It is also not wise to lean on the pilot too much just to get that perfect exit position. If you push too hard on the pilot or lean on the yoke of the airplane you will have a very interesting sideways exit.

Large Airplanes:

Loading-

Loading a large plane at a new drop zone or at a large skydiving event will likely be an exciting event for you. There may be several large groups on the plane and you may get the feeling of being herded into the airplane. This is just a sense of urgency on the part of the crew, after all, these larger airplanes are more expensive to operate and must be kept busy in order to make money. Try to do your share by paying attention and helping move things along.

Although the props on larger planes are further from the door than on smaller planes there may be more of them and they may be on the sides on the plane where you are not used to avoiding them, so be careful. Many of the largest airplanes will have a crewmember called a « Loader » that is in charge of loading the airplane and determining the exit order of all the groups getting into the plane. The loader is a buffer between the jumpers and the pilot and has to keep the jumpers in line so the pilot can concentrate on more important things like flying. Pay attention to the loader because they will be able to load you as quickly and efficiently as possible. When seating yourself in the airplane you can note how the people ahead of you are seated and follow suit. Seating is usually very cozy in these airplanes even though it looks roomy when you first get in, so sit close. Somes planes have loading lines painted or taped across a rearward section of the airplane and all of the jumpers must be forward of this line. If you see that not everyone is going to fit in this area, you might as well scoot back and tighten it up before you get too comfortable because the loader is going to be mean and make you crowd together anyway. Seat belts will be available and you might have to look carefully to determine which one you should be using.

After everyone is seated and you are taxiing out to the runway, take a look around the airplane. There may be a sign somewhere describing the plane’s emergency procedures in case of engine failure. You will want to be familiar with these procedures and really follow them if the real thing happens rather than just getting up and running around all excited. Some planes might also have posted a diagram of the drop zone and the jump run for the day. This is important information for the person spotting and helpful to anyone jumping at an unfamiliar airport.

Jump Run-

When it is time to jump you will be getting up to make final adjustments to your gear. Check for any part of your gear that may have been moved while getting up in a crowded airplane. There may be room in a large airplane to have someone give you a pin check. Even if it is possible to completely stand up in the airplane, don’t feel like you must do this until time for your group to line up and exit. This will help reduce crowding in the plane. All adjustments to your gear can be made while kneeling anyway. Try to continue to keep forward of the loading line by not spreading out too much. The airplane may climb better like this and you might just get some extra altitude. Try keeping the noise to a minimum in case you get instructions from the loader or spotter.

Spotting-

On the larger planes the loader may also do the spotting for the whole load. This is another reason you should pay attention to and be nice to the loader, so you will make it back to the airport. Another possibility is that the pilot may be spotting from up front by using instruments and giving the exit command directly or by relaying the command to the loader. If the load is being spotted by looking out the door, the corrections must be relayed to the pilot who possibly cannot see the spotter. Some airplanes have pushbutton switches on a panel that turn on lights that the pilot can see, or the loader may have a headset to talk to the pilot. If you are spotting you will need to learn how these work ahead of time. If the plane does not use one of these methods, the corrections must be relayed to the pilot by someone sitting near the pilot that can see the spotter. For this to work there must be a clear line of sight up to the cockpit. Do your part by keeping the isle clear.

Exiting-

Wait until the loader or spotter indicates that it is time for your group to line up and then do it quickly. If you are not in the first group, continue to stay forward until it is time for you to line up. Give the group ahead of you 5 to 10 seconds before your group exits, depending on the winds aloft, but don’t be slower than that. The group behind you is using the same spot as you and larger airplanes are flying faster on jump run than smaller ones. You will know when you are taking too long to exit because the group behind you will begin objecting to your excessive delay. Everyone wants to make it back to the airport.

Summary:

This article has outlined the most common procedures that you will be following when jumping out of most airplanes. Hopefully it has given you some basics on how to be a good passenger on any aircraft whether it be an airplane, a helicopter, or a hot air balloon. If you ever have any questions about the procedures for a particular aircraft, just ask the pilot. They will be glad to help.

Advice for Starting Wingsuit BASE jumping popular

Submitted by James Boole and others on Mon Sep 20 2004 | Last Modified on Wed Aug 15 2007

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1. Introduction:

We have all seen the amazing videos of people like Robert, Yuri and Loic flying their wingsuits. It is natural to want to follow in their slipstreams but let us make sure we do so safely and with adequate preparation.

This document is intended as an initial information source for BASE jumpers interested in starting wingsuit BASE.

This document is not an instruction manual. It does not contain rules, only advice.

Wingsuit BASE is more dangerous than normal BASE jumping if the jumper does not conduct adequate preparation.

If you choose to pursue wingsuit BASE you are strongly recommended to seek instructionfrom an experienced wingsuit BASE jumper. There is no substitute for one to one coaching.

A wingsuit allows for incredible freefall delays and horizontal distances to be achieved, almost eliminating the chance of striking the object you jumped off, the number one cause of BASE jumping fatalities.

But jumping a wingsuit also has some serious drawbacks:

  • The wingsuit restricts your physical movement making exits harder to perform i.e. difficult to climb down to the exit point, easier to go unstable and then harder to recover.
  • The wingsuit complicates deployment and prevents you from controlling your canopy immediately after opening.
  • The wingsuit jumper must carefully assess the terrain he intends to fly over as the eventual opening point and landing area will be different than for a normal BASE jump and will also depend on flight performance.
  • Experienced BASE jumpers who use ground rush as an altitude indicator must exercise caution during their initial jumps. The low fall rate and high horizontal speeds can fool the jumper that they are higher than they actually are. The wingsuit ground rush for a minimal canopy ride is a lot less intense than for normal freefall.
  • The wingsuit jumper must also pay attention to his altitude when flying down a talus or over sloping terrain. The jumper often focuses on the airspace they are flying towards, giving the illusion they have lots of altitude available (e.g. looking at the valley floor in front of them).
    In this situation the jumper must remember that the critical altitude is the immediate vertical elevation they have over the talus or slope. The wingsuit jumper must always ensure sufficient altitude for a safe deployment – bear in mind that as soon as the PC is released the wingsuit jumper will stop flying and drop vertically approx. 200’+ as the canopy deploys.
  • Experienced wingsuit BASE jumpers may attempt to make jumps that would be otherwise impossible without a wingsuit. The jumper must be absolutely sure of his own capabilities and those of his equipment when undertaking jumps that allow little margin for error.


2. Before even considering doing a wingsuit BASE jump you should be:

An intermediate BASE jumper:

  • With minimum 50 BASE jumps (but more jumps are strongly recommended!)
  • Cool under pressure, very comfortable in the BASE environment
  • Always performing solid exits, also when exiting with arms by your side
  • Have good sub & terminal tracking skills
  • Have excellent canopy flying skills and landing accuracy
  • Have consistent record of stable deployments and on-heading openings

An intermediate wingsuit skydiver:

  • With minimum 50 wingsuit skydives (but more jumps are strongly recommended!)
  • Who wears a wingsuit as if it were pyjamas, not feeling physically restricted by the fabric
  • Always able to find the PC quickly and cleanly, with good on heading openings
  • Well practiced at recovering from instability
  • Able to unzip arm wings instantly after deployment – like 2nd nature
  • Familiar using arm and leg cutaways in freefall and under canopy immediately after opening
  • Able to fly the suit comfortably without “potato chipping” achieving reasonable fall rate and forward speed
  • Ideally have performed some wingsuit balloon jumps to simulate the exit & sub terminal flight
  • See Appendix B for specific flight drills to practice whilst jumping the wingsuit from the plane.

A person who has read all the incident reports, analysed the contributing factors and accepted that wingsuit / BASE jumping is worth the risk of serious injury & death.


3. So you still want to wingsuit BASE? Let’s talk about specific preparation:

Equipment:

First thing, it is strongly recommended to start wingsuit BASE using a low performance wingsuit i.e. Birdman Classic, GTi or similar. Once you have 10+ good wingsuit BASE jumps you could consider jumping with a higher performance suit.

The following items are strongly recommended:

  • 1 or 2 pin BASE container for wingsuit BASE. The high speed airflow over the container and high deployment angle excludes the use of a Velcro rig.
  • A normal terminal pack job i.e. symmetrical, mesh slider packed “up” (large or fine mesh depending on personal preference).
  • ZP pilot chutes, the size depends on your canopy, between 34” – 38”. The PC should NOT have a hackey handle (or heavy handle). With a hackey PC handle there is the possibility of the bridle wrapping around the base of the handle. A heavy PC handle could contribute to PC hesitation.

The following items are recommended:

  • A container with “dynamic corners” or open corners.
  • A suitable helmet, goggles and low profile protective pads.

Back to the dropzone:

  • Perform 20 hop-n-pops using your low performance wingsuit and a sensibly sized 7 cell main, or even better your BASE canopy in a skydiving rig. (The 20 jumps can count towards the 50)
  • Work your deployment altitude gradually down to USPA minimum of 2200’, open by 2000’ (Discuss this with your CCI / DZO first, some dropzones may enforce a higher pull altitude)
  • If you have any instability, deployment or opening problems go back to full altitude jumps until they are rectified, use a BMI if necessary.

During these 20 hop-n-pops think about your emergency drills for the following situations, bearing in mind the reduced altitude and time under canopy:

  • Unstable exit
  • Handle inside of pouch /BOC
  • Hard pull
  • Floating handle
  • PC in tow
  • Premature deployment
  • Horseshoe malfunction
  • Line twists
  • Line over
  • Water landing
  • Jammed zip

Now to a far away land:

It is strongly recommended to go to one of the following well known “high” locations for your first wingsuit BASE jumps. Become familiar with the object performing normal BASE jumps, getting to know landing areas and outs, obstacles, rock drop, winds, talus / ledges etc.

Site Pro Con
Carl’s Huge wall in Northern Norway: Good vertical rock drop
Huge LZ
Good access
Not many sheep and it rains a lot
Norwegian Fjord in Southern Norway: Good vertical rock drop
Medium sized LZ
Good access
Very expensive beer
Italian Terminal wall: OK vertical rock drop
Small LZ (assume Heli LZ)
Good access
Wind / turbulence can be a problem
Swiss Fungus: Good vertical rock drop
Large landing area
Access is difficult, requiring high fitness level and basic climbing skills

Once you are comfortable with the site, pick a day when you are feeling 100% and the weather conditions are perfect to make your first wingsuit BASE jump.

Advice for your first wingsuit BASE jump. What to focus on?

  • Being current! Make sure you get current at wingsuit skydiving and BASE jumping in the weeks running up to your first jump.
  • Pack yourself a nice terminal opening, attach the wingsuit correctly with the PC packed in the BOC with the correct tension (not too loose or too tight). Perform a full gear check before the hike, avoid “exit gear fear” syndrome, as you will already be under pressure.
  • Exit in a nice head high position, student style, with you arm wings open and your leg wing closed, your arm wings will help you balance and remain head high. 1-2 sec after exit slowly extend your leg wing and start to trim the suit as you feel the air speed picking up. Premature exposure of the leg wing can cause you to go head low – be warned! Better to be head high.
  • If you should go head low, stay calm! Bring your head up and if the object allows it, try to stay parallel with the surface and build up some speed to allow you to pull up out of the dive more easily. You may wish to consider this possibility when selecting the site of your first few wingsuit jumps.
  • After you have extended the leg wing focus on flying the suit efficiently away from the object pulling nice and high – don’t rush, take time to reach, grip and throw the PC. The PC throw should be vigorous to clear the burble the suit makes behind you. Remember to keep your body symmetrical at all times during deployment to help maintain on heading performance.
  • It is recommended to learn to deploy from full flight as the BASE environment rarely allows enough altitude to collapse your wings and fall vertically prior to deploying. This also has the advantage of keeping the airflow over your body fast & clean reducing the chance of pilot chute hesitation. Deploying from full flight implies keeping your leg wing inflated and only collapsing your arm wings for the moment required to locate the PC. As your canopy reaches line stretch it is better to close your leg wing as it can catch air causing your body to twist.

Your first 5 – 10 jumps should focus on a stable exit, flight and deployment, once you have these survival skills you can start to think about flight time and distance.


4. You now have some wingsuit BASE experience, what’s next?

Once you have become a competent wingsuit BASE jumper you could consider:

  • Jumping a higher performance suit
  • Jumping from lower objects, for example the higher exit points in the legal Swiss valley.
  • Jumping camera
  • Performing 2 ways +
  • Opening up new objects
  • Aerials
  • Your imagination is the limit! Make sure there is video!

Note: Trying to land any of the current wingsuit designs is only recommended for the terminally ill.

You want to jump a higher performance wingsuit:

So you have done approx. 10+ good wingsuit BASE jumps with a low performance suit and you now intend to jump a higher performance suit.

Assuming you have trouble free experience flying the higher performance suit from the plane you can go ahead and use it for BASE.

Treat your first wingsuit BASE jump using the higher performance wingsuit the same as your first wingsuit BASE jump.

You want to jump a wingsuit that has a leg pouch PC:

If you intend to use the leg pouch PC (e.g. S3 or Phoenix Fly wingsuit) – it is strongly recommended to perform the following ground and skydiving preparation.

Prior to jumping the leg pouch PC perform a couple of thousand practice pulls on the ground. Be able to find the handle, regardless of body position with your eyes closed. Do 300 practice pulls a night for a week or so, simulating full flight then deployment.

When packing the PC into the leg pouch assure that the Birdman or Phoenix Fly guide lines are followed. The PC should not be too loose or too tight. It is strongly recommended to bar tack the Velcro sleeve to the bridle – check that you leave enough free bridle between the bar tack and pin to ensure the Velcro is completely peeled before any tension is applied to the pin. Failure to do so can cause PC hesitation.

Don’t mate the male-female Velcro over each other 100% when the suit is brand new, let the them overlap 50% to the side for the first few dozen jumps until the Velcro is slightly worn. For more details on assembling and packing the leg pouch PC system please refer tohttp://www.interone.net/learn/basepc.html.

Perform at least 10 skydives with the system, using a wingsuit or BASE bridle, start with normal altitude jumps, performing dummy pulls in flight and then pulling high to give yourself extra time. Assuming you have no opening problems or issues finding the PC handle quickly & easily you can work down to lower altitude deployments.

Treat your first wingsuit BASE jump using the leg pouch the same as your first wingsuit BASE jump.


5. Conclusion

Following these guidelines does not make wingsuit BASE jumping a safe activity.

Wingsuit BASE is still a relatively new discipline. It requires jumpers to develop new skills, new muscle memory, new judgement and new understanding. Respect it.

This document is by no means the final word on wingsuit BASE jumping, always seek advice and guidance from other experienced wingsuit jumpers and share what you discover.

By taking part in this activity you are in effect a “test jumper”, we all still have a lot to learn….

Let’s be careful out there

Long Flights

Contributors:

James Boole
Craig Poxon
Robert Pecnik
Simon Brentford
Gray Fowler
Yuri Kuznetsov
Steve Schieberl
Per Eriksson

Disclaimer:

The authors of this document accept no responsibility, financially or otherwise for any loss, serious injury or death that occurs as a result of any persons following the advice contained within this document.

BASE jumping and wingsuit BASE jumping are extremely dangerous activities carrying risk of serious injury or death. Performing the activities described in this document with out becoming an expert skydiver and completing dedicated BASE / wingsuit training will likely result in a demonstration of natural selection.


Appendix A

Specific wingsuit drills to perform whilst jumping from the plane:

  • Barrel rolls
  • Front flips
  • Back flying
  • Flying and pulling with left arm wing closed (i.e. to simulate blown wing)
  • Pulling out of steep dives quickly (i.e. bad exit)
  • Dropping knees
  • Turning with minimal altitude loss
  • Carving turns
  • Arching, de-arching
  • Deploying from full flight
  • Flying with one bootie off
  • Turning only with legs
  • Turning only with arms


Appendix B – Wingsuit fatalities

#67 Kirill Kiselev, September, 2002

Age: 27, from Ekaterininburg, Russia.
Cliff Jump (Wing Suit)
Vikesaxa (Eiksdalen Valley) Norway
Impact

I received this report from a close friend of Kirill who witnessed or heard most of the jump. Kirill has 500 skydives with 20 being with a wing suit, and 30 BASE jumps, with 2 being with a wing suit. This fatality began with an inadvertent low pull from a man who didn’t do low pulls. His friend believes Kirill encountered a stability problem late in the flight. The friend, along with authorities, inspected Kirill’s body and gear at the hospital. Kirill had opened his canopy, the slider is at the links. Both toggles are still stowed. The wing zippers are closed and the swoop cords are still over his fingers. The wing fabric between his legs is torn. His broken neck and one broken leg suggest opening and impact occurred at about the same time. The report intimates failure of the wingsuit material between Kirill’s legs caused a stability problem at pull time. By the time Kirill stopped trying to overcome the situation and deploy, it is too late. Kirill is the first BASE jumper to die flying a wingsuit on a BASE jump.

#68 Rob Tompkins, September 12, 2002

Lysbotn, Norway
Cliff Jump (Wing Suit)
Kjerag
Impact

This is the second wing suit BASE fatality. Rob has 247 BASE jumps with 92 being with a wing suit on the day he died. A report states: « For the last month, Rob had his eye on a particular jump between launch points 4 and 5. We looked at it, doing rock jumps and basically studying the jump. There are two launch points next to this particular jump, one with a 7-second drop and the other with an 8-second drop. Rob jumped the 7-second launch point 10 times always doing a reverse gainer. The place he’s looking at now, he dubbed the, « RT Hjørner, » and has a rock drop time of 5-seconds. We analyzed this site on video and with other wing suit  pilots. In my opinion, the jump is not achievable – and I repeated this to Rob. Other wing suit pilots said the same thing. Rob is convinced he can do it including a reverse gainer. After 7 seconds of freefall Rob impacted the talus ledge. He never tried to deploy his pilot chute, knowing that this would not save him. Rob believed he could out fly the ledge right up until he died. Rob is remembered as a good man, full of respect, and kind to everyone. »

#69 Lukas Knutsson, October 11, 2002

Cliff Jump (Wing Suit)
Engelberg, Switzerland (Cold Steel)
Impact

Lukas has a good launch and good flight with his wingsuit and pulled high over the landing area. This is the third BASE wing suit fatality. Despite a powerful pull the pilot chute ended up in the turbulence behind him. In the burble the pilot chute spun around very fast. Lukas notices the deployment is hesitating and collapsed his wings and rolled to one side to clear the pilot chute. At this point the pilot chute achieved bridle stretch but the bridle had entangled with the pilot chute so badly the pilot chute is almost totally collapsed. Lukas did rollover to the other side and struggled hard to get the canopy out of the container. However, the container remained closed to impact. Lukas is a very experienced long time BASE jumper (this site is now called « Cold Steel » in his honour) and he will be missed by the entire BASE community.

#75 Gabi Dematte, August 13, 2003

Cliff Jump (Wing Suit)
Gasterntal, Switzerland
Cliff Strike & Impact

The following report is from one of Gabi’s many friends. « Gabi went to jump alone, like she did very often. Getting away from the crowds in Lauterbrunnen she went to another valley known by only a very few jumpers. She couldn’t out fly a ledge with her wings. Which is awkward, because she kicked ass with those wings. She did not attempt to pull. Gabi was a very good jumper, and a super nice person. I was lucky to get to know her and I will treasure her contribution to my existence. For me, it was nice to jump with another woman. It was special and it did not last long enough. Lauterbrunnen valley is empty and quiet now. » Gabi is the fourth BASE wing suit fatality. »

#80 Jeff Barker, July 5, 2004

Age: 32
Cliff Jump
Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
Impact

Jeff is jumping with a wingsuit and he failed to clear a outcropping in freefall.

#81 Duane Thomas, August 21, 2004

Age: 35
Cliff Jump
Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

Duane, a Kiwi with a quick smile, is a well known and experienced BASE jumper. The following is from an eye witness. « The jump is witnessed by two British jumpers and two Swiss jumpers. One Brit watching, and videoing, from the exit point, the other three watching from the LZ. This is Duane’s first wingsuit BASE jump, and his first jump ever with a leg mounted pilot chute pouch. Prior to this jump Duane prepared by making 50 aircraft and 2 hot air balloon wingsuit skydives. Duane had a good exit and a good flight. Everybody saw him reach for and locate the pilot chute at what the witnesses said is a reasonable altitude. He then kept his hand there and continued in freefall. The speculation is the lack of normal ground rush (like the type he is used to when not wearing a wingsuit) might have fooled him. The Swiss are yelling at him to pull and he finally did so, at what they said is about 30-feet above the ground. The canopy lifted out of the pack tray but is no where near line stretch when he impacted in a full flight position. According to the Swiss there is no fumbling around, or looking for the pilot chute handle – all the witnesses agree on this. He reached and located the pilot chute, but just took to long to deploy it. A hard pull cannot be fully discounted at this time, but all the witnesses believe he just waited too long. » This is the sixth BASE wingsuit fatality since the first one occurred in September of 2002.

Reproduced with the kind permission of Nick Di Giovanni #194. The complete list can be viewed at:
http://www.basefatalities.info orhttp://hometown.aol.com/base194/myhomepage/base_fatality_list

Other wingsuit incidents:

Patrick de Gayardon
Geoff Peggs or
Dwain Weston


Appendix C – Wingsuit site selection

You want to open up a new object jumping a wingsuit:

So you have become a very competent wingsuit BASE jumper and you intend to open up an object that has never been jumped with wingsuit. Here are some factors to bear in mind.

  • Make sure the vertical rock drop gives you enough altitude to launch the suit and get flying with a little extra in case you have a poor exit.
  • The altitude profile of the object will also affect your decision. Use tools like rock drop, laser range finder and GPS to accurately measure the object.
  • When estimating the horizontal distance that can be achieved from an object remember to factor in the altitude loss from exit and deployment.
  • You may also wish to consider the conditions at the exit point and whether it is practical to put on the wingsuit there.
  • Booties offer little traction when wet or muddy, be careful that you have good ground to stand on for your exit
  • A wingsuit takes several seconds to start generating significant lift and forward speed. Therefore jumping a wingsuit from below 1500’ offers very little benefit in terms of freefall time and object separation (but it adds some colour to the jump).
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