meekerboy

This might be of some help, its CR's canopy drills: www.crmojo.com/adobepdf/fjccanopy.pdf Good luck, Meeker

Bingo, my sentiments exactly. I bet you he has some Inspector Gadget powers such as go go gadet extendible feet or go go gadget helicopter in a hat. Or maybe this is not a stunt and he is simply going to cane as much tequilla as he can and hope it doesn't hurt too much. :-)

I think as he is an illusionist he will have a backup plan. Think about it this way... if he hits the water wrong and is twisted up with limbs everywhere, that will be on live TV. You can guarantee the complaints of seeing a live death / mutilation will flow thick and fast.

Just seen this also on http://www.truthsearcher.com/AbnFacts.htm?o=0: What is the Highest Jump WITHOUT a Parachute? 1. "Lieutenant I. M. Chisov of the former Soviet Union was flying his Ilyushin 4 on a bitter cold day in January 1942, when it was attacked by 12 German Messerschmitts. Convinced that he had no chance of surviving if he staged with his badly battered plane, Chisov bailed out at 21,980 feet. With the fighters still buzzing around, Chisov cleverly decided to fall freely out of the arena. It was his plan not to open his chute until he was down to only 1000 ft above the ground. Unfortunately, he lost consciousness en route. As luck would have it, he crashed at the edge of a steep ravine covered with 3 ft of snow. Hitting at about 120 mi/h, he plowed along its slope until he came to rest at the bottom. Chisov awoke 20 min later, bruised and sore, but miraclously he had suffered only a concussion of the spine and a fractured pelvis. Three and one-half months later he was back at work as a flight instructor." Hecht, Eugene. Physics: Calculus. 2nd ed. United States: Brooks/Cole, 2000. p 85 2. Flight Sergeant Nicholas Steven Alkemade was on a bombing mission over Germany on 23 March 1944 when his Lancaster bomber flying at 18,000 feet was blazed apart and in flames when he was forced to jump, without a parachute or be burn to death. He dove out of his destroyed aircraft hoping on a quick death. His speed accelerated to over 120 miles per hour and he impacted on a snow covered sloping forest. He was completely uninjured and later captured by the Germans who refused to believe his story. (www.urbanlegends.com/death) 3. The longest survivable fall, 26 January 1972, was Vesna Vulovic a stewardess in a DC-9 which blew up at 33,330 feet. She was in the tail section of the aircraft and though injured survived the fall.

I watched this programe called Extremists on Channel 4 in the UK and it showed high cliff divers doing jumps from 30 meters. One chap landed in the water and the energy wave bounced off the bottom and broke his pelvis. I have also heard that 50 meters is the maximum anyone can survive a jump without speeding up too much to enter the water safely. On oil rigs, if they need to be evacuated, you cannot jump off the edge as it is too high. Sounds to me like Blaine will either be dead or walking like John Wayne. Meeker

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3246287.stm Illusionist David Blaine has announced his next stunt - jumping hundreds of feet from a helicopter into a river. The US magician is already planning his next adventure, which will take place on his birthday - 4 April, 2004. The announcement comes just weeks after he ended his enforced 44-day stay in a plastic box in London. Blaine has not said where the helicopter plunge will take place, but added only a few had survived the jump - dubbed the "dive of death". Speaking on CNN, he said: "If you go in (to the water) a little bit off if your body is not perfectly straight - you do not pierce the water right, you rip your ligaments off, you're paralysed, anything can go wrong," he said. He also gave assurances that he would be doing the jump with no parachute and "no dummy either - it will actually be me".

Being ready to do your first base jump is a combination of feeling ready and having some good skydiving/canopy skills. Most people recommend a minimum of 200 skydives before your first jump and the trend is showing an increase of jump numbers. If you really want to get into base, do a First Jump Course. I did mine in 2001 at Kjerag with Chris and JJ and it was worth every penny. Kjerag opens up again at the Helicopter boogie (this year it was early June). If you want to do it sooner, then the USA is the place. Good luck, Meeker

In the event of a lineover, there are 2 choices - a hook knife or a toggle cutaway system such as the WLO. Does anyone have any experience with them. Are they easy to use or missuse, has anyone actually needed them? Who makes them other than Vertigo? Lastly, I like the idea of big-grab toggles, do any of these systems work with them. Other than Tom, I have never heard of anyone use a knife or a toggle cutaway system. Cheers, Meeker

Its needs to be considered that: i) The more experienced wingsuit flyer will probably fly slower than you. ii) The slower suit (e.g. GTI over a S3) needs to leave second and pull higher. In your cases I would recommend you pulling at 4500ft and 5500ft. If I were jumping, I would not want the risk of flying high speed into the more experience flyer who got before me. Meeker

Take a look at these postings: http://www.interone.net/gallery/view_photo.php?full=1&set_albumName=Skydiving-Adventures&id=abm http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=642107;search_string=night%20wingsuit;#642107 http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=252207;search_string=night%20wingsuit;#252207 I would not recommend more than 2 wingsuit flyers on a load (and both doing solos). I would also put the bigger wingsuits out second and get them to pull a 1000ft higher than the first flyer. This should help the vertical separation. If there is a big-way planned (8-way +) then I would not put wingsuits on at all as there will be canopies all over the place and people tracking off over a much larger area. Lastly, I would definately recommend audibles and a chest-mounted lit alti. Meeker

Thanks for the reply Tom, clears quite a bit up. I will try that first method out as this is a 1 second delay. Meeker

Tom, I am interested in knowing if there is any special way you hold the PC. I know about the correct routing of the bridle above the elbow and about concetenering the bridle into the mesh. But do you wrap the mesh around and the the PC fabric also? I did a jump recently and threw the to the right and up. I remember letting go of it and watching as it took a while for the bridle to come out and the PC to take hold of the air. Of course this was in slo-mo, but it would have been nicer to see this happen quicker. It was a 45ZP 1 second by the way. Cheers, Meeker

I travelled quite a bit qith Team Crank also. Some memorable parts of the vid: - Team Crank getting busted in Belgium - Craig going unstable on a 5-way in Norway - sorry mate! - Trev (Magoo) doing an Elvis landing in Norway Meeker

I never met Dwain, but I met many of his friends and read many of his articles. I printed out a load of his articles on safety for a friend I am mentoring to find out yesterday he had died. Such a sad loss. Meeker

I don't like the bit in the article where it starts that base jumpers have been creeping in; and then it states that things have been going missing. Like its a good idea to grab loads of stash and stuff it down your jacket before a jump. Its probably the no.1 ethos of base jumping - leave no evidence you've been there. There is no reason to steel, unless someone has left a nice thermos of coffee at the top for those freezing nights :-)

I'm happy to send my $10, but I want them to acknowledge my email first and ask for it. PS, quick bit of Friday afternoon entertainment goto: 1. www.b3ta.com/namethatbeard 2. www.worldbeardchampionships heheh Meeker

I sent an emaik to Rick and Joy on Monday for the completion of my Base, but have not had a reply back yet. Did I send it to the correct emaill addresses? - cliffleaper@aol.com , joyhgcl@aol.com Meeker

Maybe it would be a good idea to make the distinction between a 'safe' base jumper and a 'good' base jumper. I have had the priveledge to meet the worlds best around the world and those with notoriety are often good at all aspects of the sport and have a wide variety of jumps. However, I also know jumpers who do not travel so much and stick to their locals. They only know their local objects but are consistently safe. I've only completed my BASE this morning, but I can say through the people I've met and known that some have died whilst doing their best to be safe (and had a reputation for being safe). Others continue to live but are constantly pushing the boundaries and being hardcore (The Aussies for a start!). Being safe only goes so far. You can do everything right and still die. Meeker

Yep, I just wanted to say thanks to Andy and Bev for a top weekend. Saturday was unfortunate due to the Herc doing military drops, but all was made up by Sundays big-ways. I think we did some 13 ways. Fordy - are you going to put any of ur digital stills online? And, does anyone know how many newbies joined the flock. I counted 3 (Craig and Chris from UBI, and a chick). I hope there will be another weekend organised sometime. Meeker

Does anyone know if there is a windsuit weekend planned at Weston this weekend. I have heard rumours but not advertisements. Meeker.

The other jumper looks like Vibeke??? She was jumping with Kim not Atle. Meeker

I had a chat with my brother who is a lawyer and he says that even though it was not in the website, it is good grounds for Misrepresentation. Further, he is a lawyer for the Office of Fair Trading and deals with organisations trying using unfair competitive practices such as this.

I just got phoned back again by Tasha stating that discussions have been held with higher management and all people except myself and Gus are no longer insured for Base jumping. I think the policies are not void, but they have changed the terms and conditions. Further, they are changing the websites quickly to reflect this. To my knowledge this is illegal because if they have advertised this on any online documents / websites and then not included this in the policy document, then this is Misrepresentation and inducing a person to enter into a contract falsely. Anyway, Tasha asks not to be requested specifcally for this issue but to speak to any of her team at AXA on 08703662100. Lastly, to protect those of you not covered, try getting a copy of the terms and conditions stating you were covered.

I just phoned AXA and they have said that their underwriters will cover me also for the duration of this policy and then it will expire. Tasha who works there is the person to speak to. She asked how many others there are with policies!. I think she is worried. Also, she said she would send out a letter confirming that I was covered. I would suggest everyone else with a policy phones her up. Meeker

Thats interesting. I also have AXA Travel Insurance and I took the precaution of phoning them also and they said I was covered. This was back in March. I will phone again and ask them to clariffy and to explain why there is a difference. Meeker