twatterpilot

Yeah, I'm with you on this Chris...I have my reservations about how/why some of these questions are being asked... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVfBPMzlLSU Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

So TJP completely blew it for the entire airport. Great job. I am all about keeping legal, safe, operators at airports that have gotten Fed money. I contribute to the AOPA Airport Defense fund every year. But this time, TJP has to go. I am afraid I will side with the Navy and our National Security on this one. Find somewhere else to jump, stop the childish BS and think about others before yourselves. What TJP is trying to pull is reflecting VERY badly on the skydiving industry and aviation in general. These are EXACTLY the type of events that cause the Government and the FAA to re-think GA security measures. Time to KIO. Apologize and GTFO. Oh and for the record, I have never had the honor to serve in our beloved military, however, I feel that the Navy Security forces SHOULD blow away anyone that they determine a threat to our national security. For F*&K sakes they store nuclear weapons there...common sense people... Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

They kinda do Chris. If a pilot crashed due to a fuel exhaustion event, I'm pretty sure they lose their privileges, and they have to take a 609 ride to get them back. *edit* They call it a 709 ride now. LOL But you are totally right, 100% inexcusable. Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

Is he the gentleman that jumped in the bright orange jumpsuit? He was traveling around jumping all the different aircraft types he could? Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

Good luck with that, we have been trying for awhile. Facebook, diver drivers page is what we use now. Drop a PM to diverdriver, he will be able to provide better guidance. Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

These things are always frustrating and immensely time consuming. Keep the faith, it will get done, and when it does....hold on to your hat! She is gonna be one climbing machine! Might even keep up with our King Air 200 and Taurus 90's! Keep up the good work Van! Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

Yup. It is a rough estimate, but yeah. The reason I picked those numbers is that you will lose wind speed at mountain top do to the air being deflected up, surface drag etc. If you get 100 mph horizontal, you will probably only get 60 mph in the UP vector. (Wild ass rough guesses BTW). There are certain places on earth that the wind will venturi effect and accelerate it through a mountain pass and blow against a secondary ridge. Also, places where the wind will blow 150+ mph at ridge top when the trades or Jet streams dip low in the atmosphere. Check out some of the record wind speeds at Mt. Washington in NH. I think if we can get the vertical descent rates under 20 mph, we could pull it off. Torre Pines (sp?) CA has some amazing ridge soaring certain times of the year that enable Radio Control Combat & Pylon gliders to fly...they have got to have high vert rates to get 160+ mph airspeeds... I have seen climb rates in mountain wave in excess of 2500 FPM...and over 2000+ FPM down on the ridge...It's fun to load the wings up with water ballast and run the ridge at 150 mph... How low a sink rate can Jeb or Jeff get with those big ass suits they have? Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

First of all, I don't see why people would be "pissed off" at you for posting this. You'll notice that we tend to get annoyed only when ignorant people post and are insulting as they do so. A lot of what you wrote was interesting, but I think your definition of wingsuit leaves out (or perhaps includes) too much. The first sentence describes how a wingsuit is sometimes used (you forgot BASE, but no worries), not what a wingsuit is. Yes that my bad...I dumbassed and forgot about BASE... That would be a ground launch wouldn't it? LOL I was thinking about that too after the fact...LOL So then you're left with a wingsuit is a type of unpowered aircraft for which "Directional control is maintained by the movement of the arms and legs by the pilot". But I don't think sums up what it really is, though, if we're trying to come up with a classification... You are right on that point. I wasn't really trying to classify it as much as use it for comparison purposes. Eg. Weight shift vs. risers/steering lines vs. body position etc. I have not had the privilege to jump ye 'ole nylon crack (yet) Not enough skydiving experience (#1) and (#2) not enough $$ to feed what I know will become an addiction... :D To me, the thing that makes a wingsuit a wingsuit is that the airframe of the wingsuit is shaped by the pilot's body, not by an external (or internal) frame like Yves' rocket wing or a hang glider or paraglider. The "body is the airframe" is why it's a called a "suit". Right on the money. (A Paraglider is just a huge parachute, it has no framework of any kind) Once you start adding a frame that principally holds the shape, I'd argue that it's no longer a wingsuit - it's something else. The tiny spars, struts, grippers and doodads that we've seen pop up on some of the larger suits and some of the newer suit manufacturers don't change that, as the airframe is still principally shaped by the body of the suit. I agree. I think adding a couple support braces would still be within the spirit of the wingsuit. It would still be body shape dependent. After all, a sailboat sail has battens, yet it is still a sail right? Notice I didn't call the wing suit an aircraft. I don't consider it an aircraft unless it has a seat and seat belts. LOL Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

I'm gonna hop in on this a little to help clarify some misinformation, and throw a little fuel on the fire. (just cause it's kinda fun) Disclaimer: I have not jumped a wing suit. I do skydive. I have flown all the others listed below, including helicopters, hot air balloons, land and sea planes. Single and multi engine. (I have not flown jets, only turbo-props) Definitions of types of flying craft: Wing suit: Primarily a skydiving craft, currently incapable of self launch or landing. Directional control is maintained with the movement of arms and legs by the pilot. Parachute: Skydiving. Normally incapable of self launch, however, ground launching can be done with a steep enough slope and the right conditions and right canopy. Control is through the manipulation of the risers or steering lines. (Oh yeah, shifting in your harness to turn is not weight shift, you are changing the length of the risers and lines) Para-glider: Soaring sport intended to be ground launched and landed. Control is through the manipulation of the risers or steering lines. Hang Glider: Soaring sport intended to be ground launched or towed, and landed. Pilot is the landing gear. Control is maintained with Pilot weight shift only. No movable control surfaces. Rigid tubular airframe. Glider: Unpowered aircraft intended to be towed aloft by an auto, winch or powered aircraft. Pilot is seated within the aircraft secured with safety belts. Aircraft control is maintained with full movable control surfaces. Aircraft is equipped with landing gear or skid. Generally, un-powered aircraft with glide ratios BELOW 20:1 or so are considered GLIDERS. Sailplane: High aspect ratio wing, soaring aircraft intended to be towed aloft by auto, winch or aircraft. Some sailplanes are equipped with power plants for self launching or sustaining. Aircraft control is maintained with fully moving control surfaces, dive brakes/spoilers, flaps and possibly retractable landing gear. Generally un-powered aircraft with glide ratios exceeding 20:1 are considered sailplanes. Modern sailplanes often have glide ratios that exceed 45:1. Cessna 182 with prop stopped. Oh Shit. OR about 12:1 glide ratio. So, I hope this clears up some questions as to what is what and how they are controlled. OR, I'm just gonna piss people off, which is kinda fun too. LOL (jk) Paragliders are high aspect ratio parachutes. The correlation can be parachutes to gliders, and paragliders to sailplanes. Maybe this will throw a little Jet A on the fire! LOL ;) We have gone from round silk parachutes doing accuracy, to 300+ foot long pond swooping... I have no doubts that wing suits will evolve too. I can envision a carbon fiber tube "spar" with an inner and outer tubes that will allow independent rotation of the higher aspect ratio "wings" that can be unplugged for landing. This would control the roll axis, with the leg web controlling pitch and yaw. While this may not give the dream performance that everyone hopes for...I see 7-10 minute glides from a 13,500 exit....maybe-someday... I also think Yves Rossi will take off and land his rigid wing "suit" within the next couple years. I probably am going to aggravate some folks by saying this... We only achieved powered heavier than air flight in 1903, that is only 109 years ago. When did we start sport skydiving? Look how far we have come in the last 50-60-70 years? The guys that did the FIRST baton pass are in our generation. When the Wright Brothers flew in 1903 at Kill Devil Hills, no one could imagine that we would travel faster than sound 44 years later, and land on the moon 19 years after that. I would be careful doubting the capability and imagination of skydivers today. We are a very diverse group and have an endless pool of resources available to us. Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

There are actually quite a few places where you will be able to find areas of high winds at or near ridge top, with calmer winds in the valley. However... Those days the ride on the ridge is quite rough, and often dangerous. It is do-able though. It will be an uncommon event to see weather that will be conducive to wing suit soaring. Thermal soaring and wave soaring will not be possible, as I doubt a wing suiter's ability to do continuous turns with radius under 200-300 feet while keeping forward speed under 70 mph and descent rates low. This is often why the ultra-high performance sailplanes have wing spans OVER 25 meters and cost 250 grand an up. There are some sailplanes with wingspans over 32 meters. Talk about aspect ratio! These birds have a minimum sink rate of about .42 meters/second. Or 82 Feet per minute. To put that in perspective, An ASH-25 with 25 meter wingspan, if it were towed to 13,500 feet in still air, it would stay aloft for 162 minutes at min sink airspeed of about 45 knots. That is 2 hours and 42 minutes. The ASH-25 has a glide ratio in excess of 50-1. The average training glider is around 20-1. Sink rate of a SGS 2-33 is probably around 200 feet per minute. It would still take 1 hour and 7 minutes for that 2-33 to land after a 13,500 foot tow. Just throwing this data out there. Not trying to shoot down anyone's ideas. I still am confident that soaring with a VERY advanced wing suit is possible with the right conditions. Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

As a sailplane pilot, the act of "Soaring" with a wing suit ain't quite there YET. But damn impressive folks! I predict a RAPID evolution of this aspect of wing suit results. While it will probably be impossible to match the performance of true sailplanes, you guys will probably get close enough that a real strong ridge day will yield some very impressive flying! Some of the new sailplanes can climb with as little as 200 feet per minute of rising air, and yield best L/D glide ratios exceeding 60 to 1. But that is an amazing step in the right direction! Good Job! It's actually quite simple to do the math on how strong a ridge day it would require to maintain altitude on a wing suit. What is the SLOWEST vertical descent speed you can obtain with the best wingsuit on the planet? Take that speed, change it to miles per hour and multiply it by 5-7. (Over simplification, but it works as a general rule for safety margin) That number will be the wind speed required blowing into the face of the ridge at a 90 degree angle. Any angle off 90 to the ridge will require proportionally higher wind speed. We in sailplanes with a roughly 40-1 glide ratio (about 200 Feet per minute descent rate) usually need around 10 kts of wind to maintain altitude at ridge top. we normally fly 50-100 feet or so from the trees laterally, at tree top height at the top of the ridge. It's alot of fun to fly the ridge at 130 kts watching trees zip by! My guess is you will need 30+ kts of wind to hold altitude, more if you are looking to climb. What kind of descent rates are y'all getting? Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

Dunno...expensive...it over 75 bucks to get in... I think I'll wait a bit Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

Yeah, bout 4 or 5 sets I think Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

Nope...got the older Pneumatic one...8464 and the backhoe that matched 8455 I think the next one will be that crane 8288 Very cool! Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

Me too +1 My Christmas present to myself was the excavator #8043. Goes with my Dozer, dump truck, front end loader and backhoe...and the other 60,000+ pieces I have too! LOL 36 and can't stop. I will do a King Air and Twin Otter models one of these days... Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

I feel that it would be an invaluable resource. Sometimes wild speculation and half truths run rampant. It would be a great place for non-pilots to go to solicit opinions and information from professional pilots. Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

With insurance requirements to fly twin turboprop aircraft at 1000 hours minimum, and the airlines were hiring with less than 300. This isn't the case anymore. (Not really in the context of the thread, so I'll save it for another time) Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

I guarantee that no one from the FAA will ever allow an intentional jump from any aircraft (reguardless of type, eg. helicopter, balloon, glider, airplane etc.) without a fully certified and tested harness/container/reserve parachute system. I will tell you though, if you got in any aircraft I was flying with a BASE rig on, You would be lucky to just get kicked off the airplane, more than likely you (or I) would get arrested. I have an easy solution, PUT YOUR BASE CANOPY IN A RENTAL STUDENT RIG OR YOUR OWN SPORT RIG!!!!!! If you want to learn how the main flies, go jump it, in a certified rig. Grow Up, stop being an ass. The FAR's may not say anything about prohibiting it, but they also don't say it is approved either. Because of the potential liability involved with flying people with illegal gear/booze/drugs etc., pilots like me are going to start demanding significantly more pay to do the job. The other option is for pilots is to shut down every load, personally put everyone on a scale, check everyones repack card and do a gear inspection with a rigger present, give everyone a breath and piss test to ensure sobriety, do a weight and balance, preflight, check with flight service for a weather brief, then we can go. How long do you think that would last? Pilots won't want to fly jumpers anymore with the threat of losing their tickets because some childish ass want's to break the regs just because they feel like being rebellious. Knock off the BS, try putting this much energy into doing it right instead of fighting for a way to do it wrong just for the sake of doing it wrong. Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

Thanks riggerrob for doing that with your customers. After knowing folks who have gotten out of aerobatic aircraft and gliders without thier rigs on, the thought alone is scary. We used to go through the bailout drills at the pilot saftey meeting before every glider contest. Before a pilot was permitted to fly the race, they had to successfully pass the drills within a certain period of time. This wound up being the same drills I would put my acro students through before EVERY flight, as a result it kept me current and very aware of the dangers of complancency. Thanks again for the care you take with your pilot customers, it means alot to me and I'm sure many others in the community. I hope that other riggers that service PEP's take the same time and care that you do.

Oh yeah, I forgot, My preferance is Strong gear. I have had chair, back and seat packs. By far my favorite. I do like softie as well, but not as comfy for me. Just my opinion. Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

No the Aeronca Champ is not "certified" aerobatic. Those certifications didn't extist when the aircraft was certified in 1945. Under type certificate data sheet A-759, the champ is only one of the types listed. It covers all the way up to the Super Decathalon aerobatic trainer. Some Champs can be modified for light aerobatics. I know, I own one. And doing aerobatics in a 50 year old airplane? I've done them in 75 year old airplanes. Not a problem when proplerly maintained and restored. I have almost 80,000 bucks in my champ. Only 43 original parts remain. The guy might want to wear a PEP because he is scared of a midair? On another thought. Please tell your customers not to get out of thier aircraft without the PEP on. I know of 4 cases where pilots got into the habit of doing that, and after the midair collision unbuckled the seat belt and the harness as habit and jumped from the aircraft. Get out of the plane, undo the harness, place PEP back on seat, and cover with a double layer of white towel to keep UV and dirt from harming the rig. Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

23 minute turns with a -34 powered airplane with only 12 jumpers? I am quite honestly not that impressed with the performance. I would rather have a -20 powered Twin Otter, at least then you would have the saftey of two engines too. I can do 18 minute turns with 12-14 jumpers on an -20 otter with only 20-22 gallons of fuel burned. I'm curious what the fuel burn is on the Kodiak. I gotta tell ya though, it is a beautiful airplane. I looks rugged as hell! I would love to fly one to see how she handles. Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider

I find it very dishearting that a portion of my post was deleted billvon. I feel that the definition of what a wing over is is very much pertinant to the discussions in this thread. I feel the need to continue on a rant, however I will refrain... And 60 degress of bank, and 30 degrees nose down is certified in the otter, It is NOT a wing over... Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-Engine Land, DHC-8 Commercial Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Land Private Glider