TomAiello

Gardner was base 311.

If I was in the area, I'd jump with you. :)

Gardner gave me the video, to show in classes. I have showed it during the BASE Ethics lecture in every course for the past 20 years or so. He did not give me permission to copy it, so I have only used it for courses, and have never given anyone a copy.

The only way to get something that large into that tray is going to be buying an ultra lite (PN-9) canopy. I'd guess that you can fit an OSP2 285 light in there. I am a dealer and actually have one here you could try to test fit, if you happen to have the rig in Twin Falls. Are you using it for skydiving or BASE? The very light slider up only canopies (with spectra lines) are a bit smaller, so you might have an easier time with one of those if you are just skydiving it. The largest size in those is Atair's 285 (which is PIA measured at 305). Also, are you free packing? Or do you have a deployment bag on the system?

I find that I get the most consistently stable track in a position somewhere between the slick body positions for 'delta' and 'fully pinned max track'. My PTS is more forgiving than the old classic I used to jump (which I no longer own). In general, I have found the PTS (I have the original model) to be substantially easier to fly at max track. My best glide ratio in the PTS is usually more 'pinned max track' (arms in, legs perhaps shoulder width apart). When I fly my Tube 5 or Sumo 2 I have to hold a wider leg stance to stay stable. Are you tracking cross wind on those skydives (so that wind isn't changing the overall measured glide)? Also, are you tracking palms down or palms up? I think that the ideal body position varies _a lot_ with the jumpers body type, but for me the PTS (and the PF Classic) do better with a palms down track, where the Tube and Sumo do better with a palms up track.

The river is dam controlled in Twin Falls. The nearest dam is just upstream from the bridge. The river flow was completely shut down this fall for invasive species management. The river has also been intentionally dropped in the past in search and recovery operations for missing persons (both jumpers and non jumpers).

It was manufactured by Precision Aerodynamics, under contract for Vertigo BASE Outfitters. The canopy was designed by Chris Martin (designer of the Xaos canopy among others), shortly after he began BASE jumping, in consultation with Marta Empinotti and Jimmy Pouchert. I have owned several, and still have two (a 303 and a 288). The pressurization is fairly good. The glide isn't fantastic (especially by more modern standards) as the canopy was designed for tight accuracy approaches. The flare is on par with the Mojo or Troll, but not nearly as strong as other offerings of the time (like the Flik), and certainly falls short when compared to more modern canopies. The low airspeed slider up openings are, frankly, terrifying. I wouldn't use it slider up at any delay under about 8 seconds. Chris died in 2005, skydiving, when the tiny (21 square foot) canopy he was doing XRW with spun up. I haven't thought about Chris (who I did some jumping with in rural Alabama and Tennessee back around that time period), in a good long while. I'm sure I'm not the only one who misses him. I have a photo somewhere of my (then toddler) daughter pretending to fly the 19 square foot Rock Dragon model that Chris brought out to the Perrine.

That's really a speed wing question, not a BASE jumping one. :) Personally, I'd probably fly it on a paraglider first if I wasn't sure I could make the flight on a speed wing.

If you are looking for feedback from students who have taken the course, you might consider posting in the alumni Facebook group.

I can give you all of my thoughts on it, but they're pretty much already on our website: https://www.snakeriverbase.com/courses https://www.snakeriverbase.com/object-avoidance https://www.snakeriverbase.com/object-avoidance-course-outline Do you have any specific questions about the course that I can answer for you?

Sliders are specific to the canopy. If you are mixing and matching sliders, you are a test jumper. If you're going to do that, you should definitely make a substantial number of test jumps from an aircraft to verify the function of the slider. If you can find the dimensions of the fine mesh slider, you can probably just have one made by your local rigger.

For the USA, it's generally enough to show that you are paying a USA business for a service (BASE training). What country in Europe are you going to? If you are going to several Schengen area countries it might be worth researching which one is the easiest to get a visa for. Once you're inside the Schengen area, there is no internal passport control, so you could potentially get a visa for an 'easy' country, fly in there, and then travel to the places you want to visit.

Separately, I'd recommend paying your coach with something other than cash. I have (twice) had to do phone interviews with US customs when a student came through with enough cash to pay for both training and equipment (i.e. they were buying a new rig) and the customs people didn't believe them about the reason for bringing cash. If that's you, definitely try to get an itemized invoice showing the cost of everything you bring cash for.

Yes. But those are visas for the USA, not for Europe.

Are you getting any coaching while you are there? I've written letters (and done interviews by phone) for students who needed a visa. They never asked me "how long is this course" so people would come for a 4 day course but have a visa for the following several weeks to stay and jump more.