Freeflyers w/Cameras Question

[airann 1]

Let me see if I can explain this problem........
It has to do with my camera on top of my head and headdown.
See.......... I started hd with no camera on top. (no camera at all) ......Hd was great for a while! Then its camera time.... On my very first camera jump I broke 5 bones, one in tibia & 4 in the foot. (canopy collapsed) I was out all together for about 4 weeks. I had to start over. First to get over the mental thing after a big accident... and I did that. But -I have a camera on my head when I return to skydiving.
So, I go back to my skydiving after having been off for a while- and this time I have the big rudder on my head. I am flying different and adjusting different and it aint working. To return to skydiving after the injury was one mental thing I had to over come. THEN, back head down with the muscle memory not helping me at all, (new variable) well.....
How I learned to become head down stable-BC- before camera, isnt working with the camera on top. The only way my head down is good and stable is if I hold my head with my hands. (As seen in my first video minutes before I broke stuff. I held my head.)
I could switch to my other helmet with the PC7 on the side, .........However, the TRV11 is a much better camera ...... BUT its on TOP. Thus - the rudder effect and Ms. bobble head.
If I learn with the side mount, same thing when I switch back to top mount. If I relearn without a camera at all, then what?
So, If I am going to relearn headdown at all it might as well be with the nice camera top mounted. (the only way to mount Sony TRV11)
Now what? ...... hold my head till I am straight?
I told my trusted S. African friend Yohan, that I had to hold my head and he says.. "NO, Dont do that!"
Thing is, at all costs- do not want to form any bad habits and I think that is what Yohan is leading to.
Holding my helmet straight wouldnt work out in a flower, now would it?
Hummmm....... Could be I get my friend to take me out and relearn that way with my TRV on. ??
Ya see this -picture here? mounted on top -no box. (Rook)
This is my helmet with straight out Bonehead Mindwarp with Bonehead box for TRV11. Now if you put these 2 pictures side by side. My camera is higher profile. Rook has no box. Makes a difference of about an inch.
But for safety reasons (325 +/- jumps) I think I gotta have the box.
"I've had a wonderful time, but this wasn't it." Groucho Marx

[jtval 0]

well, i wsh i could help ya here. did you try posting this in the photo/video forum? i always wondered how hard it would be to learn with a camera. im thinking about buying one while im sitting here growing roots. i'm glad you posted this maybe ill be able to formulate some questions from the replies here.
Have fun, LIVE FREE, Skydive
JT

[airann 1]

Actually, I have received emails regarding this.
Also, my friend and camera dude Tom from Elsinor and I spoke via messenger about the whole problem and I was totally braced for the brilliant scientific answer and it was -patience-... Ratz.
I thought there might be some majic fairy dust or a triple top secret way I could majically go back to the way I was BC, Before Camera, Before Crash.
Oh, Hell No. I gotta be patient.... (tapping my foot) that is the last thing I am good at.
But still, I dont fully understand how to get my rudder head under control. It isnt wildly out of control but its definately different. I will try the patience thing. But I think I will check and see if there are any other ideas at the same time.
"If you are going through hell, keep going."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

[jtval 0]

if i wanted patience i wouldve become a doctor not a skydiver. lemme jump NOW!!!
Have fun, LIVE FREE, Skydive
JT

[airann 1]

Scary, we are alike on this.
Gimme the -smart skydiver injection-
-the quick fix pill to the low number jump idiotizms
-dust me with the fairy stuff so I can just go do it
- I listend to the wise old skydiver... why cant I do it???
Relax and Patience
the answer to my most frequently asked questions.
All too often in this sport it is something you just have to know. Something you have to feel or to experience.
Here is facinating tip- I have studied freeflying since my conception as a fledgling skygirl. I have been coached by several superior freeflyers -all men. They all tell me the same thing.. this is -the position- you have to be in. So, Pelvis here, legs here, arms here, back here, head looking at the horizon, and so forth.
As it turns out.................. A woman freeflyer has to put her body in a different position -ever so slightly- than a man.
Freakin trial and error... Patience and Relax Ill be damned if that wasnt the answer. Heh, who knew?
..come here Grasshopper.. ya see this stone in my hand?...

AirAnn
You've got bad eating habits if you use a grocery cart in 7-Eleven okay?
--Dennis Miller

[lewmonst 0]

hey ann,
i fly with a bonehead mindwarp with a dbox and pc5. I tried my first few headdown dives with my other helmet, an oxygn a3, and i flailed, but felt that the angle of the full face was inhibiting, so with about 5 attemps headdown, i just started jumping with my camera. it took me a while to fall straight down, not becuase of the camera but just becuase it's a hard sweet spot to find, expecially as a girl. i'm not that well endowed, but it does get in the way. and i've gotten a few pointers in the last 6 months or so, as i've occasionally backslid. and i figured out that my relaxed body position has a natural arc becuase of well, the girl thing... so i have to consciously de-arch, roll my shoulders a little forward to try to minimize that. i can fly headdown, but not good enough to dock yet... patience, practice, airtime...
I have heard from others that a topmount camera is like a rutter, but not impossible to fly, i know several guys who fly headdown very well with a topmount. it's all jsut a matter of practice.
now, if we could only find a way to jump more for less $...
peace
lew

[airann 1]

Thank you VERY much. I finally get some confirmation on the girl angle. I should be aerodynamic (I am not exactly a Hooter girl myself) so, there is a difference in the posture. I was damn near certain of it. After about 50 times, you get the idea somethings gotta be wrong! I finally figured out to tuck my pelvis in slightly.
I had an Oxygn as well, but I never wore it once. Seemed like I was too cozy in there. And I would tend to like to hear myself talk in there too. BWAAHHH!! ..I might one day have bad breath and pass out in freefall. -That wouldnt be good.
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot.
--Michael Althsuler

[skymedic 0]

I will tell you one guy that flys shit hot with a top mount....
ROOK.....he says he cant stand side mounts...
Marc
Res Firma Mitescere Nescite

[airann 1]

Dude, you didnt recognise Rook in the picture?
I will just email him.
AirAnn

BAWAHHH! and click on Hey Jude!

[skydiventom 0]

Ahahaa... that is sooo funny.
I think so much about flying camera is alot like when you first start skydiving. Everyone tells you how to hold your arms, arch your back, put your feet out, don't stare at the ground, don't look up, be sure to watch the plane fly away, keep your knees level, smile.. ect, ect, ect, ect, ect, ect, and on and on and on and on.... then after only a few hundred jumps you realize that you are flying and not even thinking much about those things... and hell, you've probly learned to dearch a little and turn by using other parts of your body.. somehow you just make the turns and vary your rate of decent without even really thinking much about it.
Soooo... the advice I give is the same as was given to me. Don't worry much about the shot or anything other than having a safe skydive. Take time. It will happen.. slowly and surely... All of your attention should still be Time and Altitude awareness... the video is always the last concern. Way too many people are not living because they forgot the basics. =-)
By the way... the one person that kept drilling this into my head was Jan Davis in Lodi. (not the base jumper). she went in last year.
Blue Skies!
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

[JeanJeanie 0]

Hi Ann, Sorry to hear you are having trouble with the rudder problem. All I can say is that you need to get more aggressive. Fly the helmet don't let it fly you. Point your nose at the subject. Too many people are out there flying top mounted that are an example to us that it does work. I remember my first jumps with the TRV10 on top, I kept getting kicked back to a sit. Grin and BARE it. You come through, but don't give up.
jeanjeanie
www.boneheadcomposites.com
"check out the optik video system"

[airann 1]

Hey this is bad ass! Jeanie (Levins best friend, hehe) and Tom on my thread. Some of my most admired individuals.
Poot Tom, I dont even remember to turn the damn camera on half the time! Yeah, Yeah, cam eye. My little timy mirror on my altimeter isnt helping. TantraKarma, - I am practicing right now!!! LOL
Apparently I am a bonehead kinda girl? I still need a box or bracket for the PC7. Thinking you wouldnt suggest a bracket for me, Tom? The other thing is a quick release for my two boneheads. Let me look into that, now that we are thinking about Jan who knew her stuff intimately.
AirAnn

BAWAHHH! and click on Hey Jude!

[skydiventom 0]

Hey, I have a Cam Eye that is broken... the plug has loose wires in it and the led got pinched as well... I'm thinking if you want I can send it to you and if you know someone with a soldering iron you can have it... having the video camera running during the freefall part of the skydive is usually a good thing. Hehee.. don't worry about it at all... we all have had to tell the people we were shoothig.. " I didn't tun the dang thing on" while under my breath saying "FUCK" =-)
About the ring site. I think they are fine. lots of people use them without problems. the thing to remember is to cut the posts off as short as possible. Lots of people use them. I have a Vortex. One of the reasons I got it was because it has a full face shield. (with it's own proplems. like fogging). Just remember. We are jumping with a bunch of things on our head that can and sometimes do snag lines. Karra Tantma, Kartant Mara. Getting carried away here... thinking bout "drambue" (shew!) Now, where was I....oh, yeah.. lines getting snagged...In most sports something like that is annoying. In our sport it can be tragic.
Blue Skies!
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

[airann 1]

You are way too awesome Drambue!!! ...Here is my address, ...wait, there are a buncha freaks in here!!! LOL ..and You never know about that Sangrio weirdo. LOL He lurks around and whamo he shows up, when you least expect it.
Anyway, bout that ring site, Levin spent hours on my helmet. He is like a perfectionist x2. He made me sit still (of all the irritating things!) with the helmet on my head, then off, then on, then off, then on again. He set it up so if I even just look at something its filmed. I had to stare at the same thing. Then on, and off and on and off. Took him 3 hrs or more. He has all the gizmos to put the mount on and all that stuff. Hell, they are still here at my house - I finally stuck all of the table drills and tools and whatever in his room.
So, I gotta say that something else to worry about, especially without a quick release on my helmet, would be just one other thing to worry about. kartanmatra
My problem is I cant tell when its on. Then maybe its on and on Standby the whole time. Regardless I dont get video. Next time at altitude I guess, I turn it on and leave it on till I land. That is actually what I have been doing sorta. I yell is the light on??? I get a Yeah, but last time it musta been on standby. Dang it. All I gotta do with a cam eye is drill one hole and mount the light inside my helmet. (I think) That would be a cinch. I could bust out Levins drill and have it rigged in no time. It would be a miricle if it told me when it was standby and when it was record.
AirAnn

BAWAHHH! and click on Hey Jude!

[skymedic 0]

Now I saw the pic of rook my dear....he is the guy to ask about flying with the top mount...
Marc
Res Firma Mitescere Nescite