Maggie’s Proximity Flying
- Thread starter Slapchop
- Start date
If only it were that easy bro, I'd take you up on that. For now, I'm going to have to live vicariously through these videos.
I was watching this wondering what are those things hanging from underneath?....then I realized....BALLS. These guys have them. Like the other dude said...maybe in my 20's I woulda tried this. I'm 44 now, and this bothers me.
Them wing-suits are really something, but I guess I gotta wait for them to bring out the spinnaker-suits!
Better them than me. I have no knees from jumping as a young'un. In a wing suit I'd hit a pine tree for sure or auger in like a Mars Lander programmed in Metric.
That said... I watch these dudes and just am in awe. There's a couple of them that I must have watched 20 times (one Jeff Corliss set to ADD music that I love). Thanks for posting, Slappy! Made my day!
Cheers,
Sirhr
That said... I watch these dudes and just am in awe. There's a couple of them that I must have watched 20 times (one Jeff Corliss set to ADD music that I love). Thanks for posting, Slappy! Made my day!
Cheers,
Sirhr
I watched the Weston video a few years back, attached is a copy of it. I also watched a base jumper hit the rocks at the bottom of the Snake River Canyon due to a bad miscalculation when jumping from the bridge in Twin Falls Idaho. I stopped at the McDonalds at the south end of the bridge and was in my truck eating lunch when a bunch of base jumpers ran out on the bridge and jumped. One of them jumped and was doing end over end flips, by the time he got his parachute open it was too late. I would rather hunt in grizzly country with a backpack full of bacon than base jump.
Death of BASE Jumper Dwain Weston -- Slammed Full Speed Into a Bridge - YouTube
If you think you're too old to jump - you're not. Just be careful. If you go, you might be forced into another really expensive hobby by by your serotonin.
Lots of basic parachute jumps to start out. Static line, then free fall. then suit jumps from an aircraft. Base jumping much, MUCH later. Of course, you could just buy a 'chute and give it a go without any training. Let us know how jumping without training works....oh wait, let us know when you plan on jumping without training because it is doubtful we will get an after action report.
In Europe, to fly a wingsuit the BPA states that a skydiver must be an FAI ‘C’ Certificate parachutist with at least 500 descents, or has at least 200 freefall descents within the previous 18 months and must demonstrate (in a belly to earth position), the ability to:
Control fall rate.
Control horizontal movement (forwards, backwards and sideways).
Achieve ‘docking’ techniques.
Turn in place.
Dive to approach a target.
If the jumper has less than 500 jumps he trains with a coach.
The Australians have the same 500 jump requirement:
http://www.apf.asn.au/default.aspx?ArticleID=249#Qualifications_and_preparation
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D
Deleted member 10043
Guest
These standards are for skydiving from an airplane, not BASE jumping, which is what is being done in the video above. There is no governing organization and or body for BASE jumping. With that said, most BASE jumpers learn by being mentored by a friend or by a known person in the BASE community and or taking a course from an experienced BASE jumper (there are a few people that run courses in the US and abroad). Most people in BASE progress from simply jumping from objects of differing heights and become proficient at it before learning how to fly a wingsuit and then they become proficient jumping a wingsuit from objects before attempting proximity flying in a wingsuit. Since there are no rules or governing body, there are exceptions to how people progress but typically speaking those who take shortcuts before developing the requisite skills end up hurting and or killing themselves early on. Even having the required skills is no guarantee in BASE as lots of very experienced people have also seriously injured and or killed themselves while BASE jumping.
Most of the BASE jumpers I know are skydivers. You don't simply jump off objects of increasing height. You have to know how to do basic RW: To track, and to right yourself, and to throw a pilot chute. One needs altitude to learn the basics.
Some, but not all, are skydivers first. I know plenty of people who learned to BASE jump but never skydived. While it is not as common these days as most progress from skydiving to BASE, there are those who go right into BASE jumping via one of the courses I mentioned earlier. The portion of my previous statement that you quoted was meant to show the progression that BASE jumpers typically go through BEFORE moving into a wingsuit BASE environment and then a wingsuit BASE proximity environment. The point being that there are no "rules" in BASE , like in skydiving, that require a person to have achieved a specific number of jumps prior to donning a wingsuit in a BASE environment and or to even have done a skydive from an airplane or even had any formal type of training.
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I would be interested in wingsuit jumps from aircraft, but not so much in base, or proximity flying. Maybe it is because I have seen too many people pay some rather severe dues while trying to learn a skill via all the shortcuts, but I would want to spend the time and money on some quality coaching.
As the wise man said: "Life is tough, it is a lot tougher if you are stupid."
As the wise man said: "Life is tough, it is a lot tougher if you are stupid."
I made a few hundred sport jumps back in the mid 80s & stopped for 21 years, I got back into skydiving about a year and a half ago and have made ~250 jumps since then. F-ing love being back in the sky. Surprised to see a bunch of guys my age jumping, instant friends, and after ~50 more jumps I'm going to give the wingsuit a try (skydiving only for me, no base).
How Wingsuiting Works - Dropzone.com
95% of base jumps involve sub-terminal openings, 12 seconds(1500' to opening).
A wingsuit needs terminal velocity to operate correctly.
95% of base jumps involve sub-terminal openings, 12 seconds(1500' to opening).
A wingsuit needs terminal velocity to operate correctly.
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Very excited to be getting my first rig soon. Vector 3 with a Pulse 210 main. I want to be up in the air for a while, doing high pulls on the sunset loads. Best view in the house. It's been a few months since my last jump - always pretty nervous when I've been away for a while.
Don't think I'll get into wingsuiting unless I am much more dedicated to staying current.
Don't think I'll get into wingsuiting unless I am much more dedicated to staying current.
Jumping off a perfectly good bridge is the next best thing to jumping out of a perfectly good airplane,..., not!
Jus' sayin', Dude...
Jus' sayin', Dude...
No such thing as either one of those.
Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge on the 7th November, 1940 - YouTube
Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge on the 7th November, 1940 - YouTube
