The Royal British Legion Extreme Human Flight Team, Jump4Heroes, had a little encounter – entirely amicable – with the German Police last weekend.

Team members were training at the Joint Service Parachute Centre in Bad Lippspringe, Germany, in preparation for the forthcoming Canopy Piloting National Championships and the subsequent World Championships. After a long day flying their Competition Velocities across the impressive swoop pond, they decided to break out their new Poppy-branded Vampire 3 wingsuits for a quick jump.

From 16,000 feet up, Major Alastair Macartney and Warrant Officer Class One Spencer Hogg, with Corporal Stuart Storey flying on camera, flew out over the ranges of Sennelager training area.  They were carving around the cloud formations, creating an amazing show for those watching below, really putting the new suits through their paces on their maiden voyage.

After swooping down to a safe landing on their Competition Velocities, they gathered up their gear and headed inside to pack up their kit. As they did so, two German police cars screeched on to the scene to apprehend the Jump4Heroes daredevils.

It turned out that the people in the local town had never before seen high speed wingsuit flying in this style. Unsure of what it was and how to react, they had reported the “UFOs” to the local police.

It all ended amicably with the team members showing the police their equipment and demonstrating the flight modes.

They invited the police to come up on a jump but their offer was politely declined, strangely…

Jump4Heroes are just back from BASE jumping in Switzerland. Supporting The Soldiers’ Charity they did some proximity flying and some extreme curry eating. Similar to the extreme ironing board concept where people take an ironing board to all kind of weird and extreme places, the gauntlet has been laid down for extreme curry eating.  The Charity is looking for people to do better so, if you think you’re up for the challenge, then send them your pictures or video.

See the TV interview below and a short edit of the jumps below that.

It would be a shame to go all the way out to South Africa and not experience the place. So, with the World Cup nonsense out of the way, Jump4Heroes teamed up with some of the PD Factory Team to venture around the country and jump from anything survivable that was in sight.

Starting out at Cape Town, the weather was against us, so we put our foot down and headed for a jump in the rain at the 200′ Gouritz Bridge. Touring the Garden Route we spent the next few days having a boogie at Bloukrans Bridge, home of the highest commercial bungie jump operation. For anyone planning to go BASE jumping in South Africa, be warned—the landing areas can be pretty tight; landing at Bloukrans was either in the water or on a small patch of rocks, the trek out either involved swimming or rock climbing with no equipment- definitely scarier than the actual BASE jump!

Moving on, and having taken a 14-hour drive, we all jumped from the pool deck of a prominent hotel in Durban. The crack of the slider-down canopy openings may have slightly disturbed the guest out for an early morning swim and those breakfasting in their rooms admiring the view of the the sun rising over the sea.

The PD Team members called it a day at this point. They kept citing work as the reason they had to leave the trip but the rest of us firmly believed that they were just too scared; maybe they’d just had too much fun for 2009 though. It was then time to head north to the Drakensburg mountains, the largest mountains in South Africa, for a few jumps. The weather then turned and the remaining jumps didn’t happen.

In all it was a great trip. The Jump4Heroes crew got to raise some great awareness for The Royal British Legion, a charity that supports our troops- members of the Armed Forces, past and present. There’s a short clip of video, including BASE jumping from the roof of a moving car at Bloukrans Bridge, here:

Thanks to all those that made it possible, particularly our guide and photographer Dawie du Plessis.

The Canopy Piloting World Cup started in South Africa on Wednesday and is due to conclude on Sunday.  So far 2 rounds of Speed have been completed and, with the exception of 4 re-jumps, 2 rounds of Distance have also been completed.  This included Canadian competitor and PD Factory Team member Jay ‘Sexy Pony Tail’ Moledzki smashing the World Record with an impressive 175.92m on round 2 on his Comp Velo 79.   This currently leaves him in first position with almost a 40 point lead ahead of some strong competition.  The 5,000′ elevation and changing wind conditions have resulted in a large number of zero scores.

For skydivers, weather holds can be the most dangerous time, particularly at a Canopy Piloting World Cup.  For some, there was time to kill, and the Australian delegation challenged some of the other nations to an improvised game of indoor (well, in-tent) cricket.  Others took the time to get some much needed rest, particularly following the early starts we’ve been having with 0530 take-offs.  Here are a few pictures of competitors resting while they wait for the winds to drop.