NIGHT JUMPS

[LouDiamond 1]

Has anyone made a night birdman jump before? Just curious as to how many have done it already and what your experience was like. I will be making one here in the next few weeks and think it will be a pretty cool flight.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[TomAiello 26]

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

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[vesatoro 0]

I've done few nightflights, and I love them. Especially flying over a city full of lights down there. Ok, it's not completely dark then...but.
As Tom said, you really have to know the place you are jumping, as otherwice it can be hard to know your position relative to ground while flying. Also you need to be more altitude aware, as you can't use horizont and ground details as reference. So audible is a good choice. As well a more docile main should be concidered if you are normally jumping a small elliptical. I've jumped my night flights with Spectre120 (normally FX79). You might also want to open a bit higher than normally, giving some extra time if needed.

have fun

Vesa

"Fear is the path to the Dark side"
(Master Yoda)

[Kopko 0]

I have only done one, and I truly enjoyed it . I have to agree; enjoy the flight from above but be aware of where you are in relation to the ground. It is easy to get fixated on the new experiance (lights ect). Know the area before you jump. Pick out some good area indicator lights on the ride up to altitude to use during the flight.

And Enjoy

[Tonto 1]

EEEEE!

Leaving in 40 min for the DZ to do night Birdman 2 ways with my SO! Take off in... 3.5 hours...

I've done one before, but this will be different. I have 10 Cylumes... I'm going to be a bright spark!

Then tomorrow it's Chopper jumps....

Ahh..

and next month is Eloy...

Life is good!

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[piisfish 140]

enjoy the jumps, say Hi to Taya and keep her safe in the air.

Give a big hug and kisses to Sheri

Say hi to everyone at the DZ for me.

And most of all, go really high, I want to see you illuminating the sky.

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Tonto 1]

Hugs to Sheri, no problem.

Hi to Taya, no problem. Keeping her safe? She's real good at looking after herself.

I'll say "Hi" to all for you. Look South, for the red glow on the horizon. That's me!

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[kevin922 0]

Wow this is pulling up an old thread :)

[Tonto 1]

Old thread, yes.. but new night jumps, and I thought it better to put more info in the same place to reward those who use the search function!

The dives went well. I put cylumes in my wings (The newer Birdman suits are modded in such a way that this is a 1 min job) and one on top of my helmet.

T's wings are aluminiumised silver - so cylumes went on the helmet and were taped to the suit cutaway handles. (With different colours for arm and leg quick release.)

We did 2 dives together. Speeds were higher than daylight, in the high 70's. Plan was that I would fly the pattern and she would fly on me. All in all, it worked great. I'm always keen to do night jumps, but this new perspective on them has me very enthusiastic!

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[pa2themd 0]

Quote

enjoy the jumps, say Hi to Taya and keep her safe in the air.

Give a big hug and kisses to Sheri

Say hi to everyone at the DZ for me.

And most of all, go really high, I want to see you illuminating the sky.

**got the hugs and kisses, thanks hunni, blew one right back at you from a beautiful night sky**

"Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's
addressed to someone else!" Ivern Ball

[cynci 0]

Night Bird Jumps

How is it over there? Glad to hear you are getting a chance to jump.

~ Cyn
--going nowhere at lightening speed!--

[Tonto 1]

Eeeeee!

Taya and I are doing night jumps again! We have a 2 way and then a 5 way planned for later tonight. We've come a long way since I last revived this thread and have gone electrical with PLENTY lights in wings, back of front risers (in the event of a cut away, makes main recovery more possible.) red bike lights on rear of heels, flashing lights for wing tips etc.

I like night dives, but I LOVE night wingsuit dives even more!

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[tso-d_chris 0]

Quote

flashing lights for wing tips etc.

Remember, red is port, green is starboard.

For Great Deals on Gear

[Tonto 1]

Yeah, I know... but I couldn't get any green flashing LED's. I'll work on it for our next adventure. We only got one dive in ahead of an aproaching thunderstorm, but there's something about seeing your wingman sillouetted by lightening with the white light reflected off the top skin of their silver wings that's kinda unforgetable..

Can't wait for the next one...

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[lurch 0]

...wow.
Unforgettable. Yeah.

Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

[Taz 0]

I had never seen an electrical storm from the air before, and it was just beautiful. The moon wasn't up yet so the sky was dark, the lightning was crackling on the horizon, and the town below was glowing. A lit-up train went by during our flight. Tonto looked like a cross between a flying Christmas tree and a UFO. We had a good run-in to fly back to the DZ without a pattern. Silver wings like the ones I was flying don't lend well to being lit from within, but apparently they reflect lightning quite nicely! It was one of those jumps that will stay with me forever.

When we were at Perris last year and got rained out, then we got really sore in the tunnel, we did a great shopping spree. I think it was at Walmart that we found reusable battery-powered light sticks just the right size for night jumps (like the normal size lumi sticks) for around a dollar each. We also bought the bicycle lights for our ankles and these cheap blinking kids' magnetic earring things. All went into the night jump kit, ready for glowing at a moment's notice. The effort of building and maintaining our "night jump kit" has definitely paid off!

-T

It's the Year of the Dragon.