moonglo

Not a big deal really. If we're too far out we just ask for a 180, take a downwind exit and fly home

Super Twin Otter Exits last weekend were 13.5k' to 14k'

UPDATE: Skydive Houston is under new management! The S&TA will be publishing a new rule: wingsuits exit last with a minimum delay of 30 seconds after the last tandem or student leaves and an opening altitude of 3K or higher. Great job last weekend by the new manager, Joe!

I jump a Vector3 with pocketed corners (great for freefly), and had problems with lots of line twists before having the corner seam unstitched 2/3 of the way down and switching to a 9' bridle. No problems now! Maybe if you experience this problem you can get your rigger or the factory to make a similar modification.

Cool! Just remember to use "y'all" when you're talking about more than 1 person. It's pronounced "yawl." "Y'all" is singular, "all y'all" is plural

I'll take a break from wingsuiting for this! I love 20way

Voodew likes to fly up other bird's tailwings but no issues, and he has a V-2 now! Seriously, I wouldn't expect any modern gear to be a problem with a wingsuit. (someone please let me know if I'm wrong about this)

I have tried some of these experiments myself. With my old Classic I got the best times and covered more distance in big shoes, thick shirts and jeans, the suit was a bit wide for me! Filling out the suit gave me much better flights, but I got my custom GTi (tight fit) at about 40 wingsuit flights and like you, stopped trying these clothing experiments and learned to fly.

Agreed! As a wingsuit instructor I've had students with less than 200 jumps do very well, and some with 1000+ who barely managed to pull! (of course, of those few "bad" students, most of them were in the 200-500 jump range with very little bellyflying experience) Its all about knowing when you are ready to take on the added complications of a wingsuit, the same as anything else new you want to learn.

MIG with a spool gun, easy as pie

I've never heard of that method, but I also cutaway from line twists with a wingsuit early on. I will have to induce some linetwists and try it Thanks Sam!

Thanks to everyone who helped make last weekend a success! Special thanks to Todd and Kathy at Aggieland for having us and to Phoenix-Fly for sending the demo suits! The Phantoms and Acro were a huge hit!!

Thanks for not dying fucker! I have to admit I tell you these things for mostly selfish reasons- I want to keep flying with you!

See ya'll this weekend!

Great thread! We were just discussing our stupid but lucky things at the DZ this past weekend after a freefall collision (both guys are ok) on a Tandem SCR 9way.... Stupid shit I've done: Jump 30 - first trip to a new DZ, new rental gear, new A license....The wind pushed me back after opening to where I had to land off, lucky there was a nice big rectangular field under me. I'd always been told "no low turns" and "land into the wind" so I did, the short way in the field. Got below the tree line, my canopy surged, and I swooped/ran into a tree to avoid the barbed wire fence. Ended with a broken face and a trip to the ER, missed my last week of work, no jumping for a month+. **A crosswind landing would have given me a much longer landing area. 70-ish jumps I saw I wasn't going make it past the big pond and cranked a toggle at less than 50'. My canopy snagged a tree and saved my life, then let go as I swung out under it. Ended up just chipping my fullface helmet a little in front. **A flat turn or a pond landing would have been a much better choice. Jump 221 - first cutaway. I packed in a hurry to make the load. Fast spinning mal, cutaway around 2.5k, no reserve handle! My d-ring had fallen out of the velcro and was trapped behind my back under my rig. I managed to pull the cable at about 800' all the while chanting "my cypres will fire at 750', my cypres will fire..." Landed, my cypres was not turned on!! **Don't rush to make the load, maintain all velcro, get a gear check, remember to turn on the AAD! 350-ish jumps, wingsuit jump 37 - I depolyed with line twists and undid my arm zippers to help get me out of them. I didn't know at the time that my left side main lift web was starting to fail and I was leaning in the harness, so for every twist i kicked out of it twisted right back up. Cutaway at just under 2K and one of my unzipped armwings inflated and made me barrell roll. At this point I got smart and deployed my reserve on my back, leaving line burns on my right arm wing. I spent too much time getting the rest of the way out of my wingsuit and didn't do any practice flares. I flared too hard (no wind) and bowtied my reserve, my head hit the ground the same time as my heels **Don't unzip a wingsuit until you have a good canopy, cutaway the wings if need be so you maintain control over them in the event of a cutaway. Practice with a new canopy if altitude allows! I now plan to PLF every reserve ride with a 1/2 flare (unless wind conditions allow me to stand it up like my third one). 600+ jumps - My friend and I were doing RW with our friend on his first tandem (my skydiver friend's first time jumping with a tandem). Weather was moving in, green light was turned on at 11k (normally 13k+) and there was a cloud layer under us. The tandem had an unstable exit and flipped a few times before getting the drogue out. We dove but didn't get there before they disappeared in the cloud. We came out of it at 6K+ in the cone of death as the TM was reaching to pull. Camera guy saw us and waved for us to get outa there. Saw the tandem canopy go up about 20' away between my legs as we were tracking for our lives. ** I should have stayed in the plane since I couldn't see the ground, never get above a deploying tandem or anywhere in the "cone of death"! I'm sure I've done many other stupid things, and I know I got really lucky surviving some of these. These are just the ones that stick out in my mind as being obviously stupid on my part and reminded me of the safety rules I overlooked at the time.

Catfish is in Colorado now, or he will be when he gets back from his honeymoon I remember him saying he'd "never jump that POS Russian thing again", but it might have been a different Russian thing, he had so many odd canopies.....

I have a V343 with a 150 Sabre2 and it's tight! If you don't want to fight every pack job and have to use a power tool and both feet to close it, don't get the Vector. I love my VectorIII

If you mean the PF demos, the tracking # says they'll be here tomorrow

Phantom with backfly inlets = part Phantom part Acro

You can get the Phantom with backfly inlets - ala "Phacro"!

Yeah, what LukeH said

I tried packing grommet to pin, then cut corners, then the larger p/c and longer bridal. I was jumping a GTi back then, a Vampire 1 now. Packing grommet to pin helped a bit with line twists. The cut corners made deployments much quicker and less line twists. The new p/c made everything go smoothly and just felt better. I use the same set up for freefall and it works fine. The p/c is the biggest size recommended for my canopy (Sabre2 150). Be sure to slow down before pulling no mater what the discipline! I found that I did not need to pack grommet to pin as I did with my Vector 2, and it was also very hard to close the rig that way as the dbag didn't fit in the pack tray well.

I had my rigger open up the bottom inside corner seams of my Vector 3 down to about 1" above the end of that seam, so the pack tray opens almost fully while still providing bridle protection when sitflying. (my rig is slightly overstuffed- it was built for a 150/143, I have a 150/150/cypres and the reserve is a brick) It's a bit more work to make it look good and close right with all the flaps tucked in, but not at all hard to do. I also use a 9' bridle and 32" ZP p/c with a lightweight monkeyfist that I ordered from RWS. Worked great for 200+ wingsuit jumps so far!

or that might be just one Phantom, depending on how the other one fits me. . Hey now, there might not be as many jumpers fighting over them as there were at Flock-n-Dock, but you still have to play nice and share or you're walking home! *making note to bring MY truck to Aggieland*

Ah, I know Dave! Didn't know he was the one who bought Voodew's GTi, but nice to know it stayed in TX. Have fun in Norway, and think of us in our wingsuits in Texas weather next weekend Chirp!