blazingcannon

Hope it works for ya. Lemme know how it goes : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

Why didn't I think of this before?.. Here is the doc unzipped with pictures up on the web. http://www.promovoices.com/client/stability/stability030213.doc I'll keep it up there for a bit. thx! g. "Spread your legs and fly"

I sent it off to ya, dude. the version I sent has the cool pics in it that don't fit on this site. : ) Ths G. "Spread your legs and fly"

Recently I put together this document for my home dropzone regarding "getting down the tube" for people starting to fly headdown. I had to take the neat pictures out and zip it to keep the file size low enough to post here. It's just a rough draft so far so there's no references, though a lot just came from my own experience, and a lot of it seems plain obvious to me. It's only supposed to be a basic guide to inspire people to get headdown quicker by practising on the ground, so I realize it only covers some basic safety ideas for headdown. It's assumed that the candidate can already fly a stable sit and has the awareness to start thinking about flying headdown. I'd love your constructive criticism, so I'm hangin it all out here. Lemme know what you think. Thx! Glen. (edited to fix a spelling mistake) : ) "Spread your legs and fly" stability030213nopics.zip

The lady at Sony was telling me that probably the reason why my screen became faulty was because I mostly watched videos on the screen. She said it's not really intended to be used much like that. I then asked her where in the manual it tells me to not use the screen too much for fear of it breaking. I also explained to her that the controls for the camera are on the screen, so if the screen goes off, you can't really use the camera: so it's obvious that the screen is intended to be used. She had no answer to that and told me again that I had to operate it carefully. DUH! Cheers mate, "Spread your legs and fly"

Yup, I started doing things in writing, but still to no avail. It took a letter in writing for them to take notice of me after they'd completed shoddy repairs twice. You're right - complaining to the customer service manager did no good- but it didn't feel good venting because she wouldn't budge. Everything I asked for that would make me feel better was pretty much shot down. And, speaking of writing everything down (times, dates, names, what was said) with Sony, it doesn't matter if you make notes, because if they don't write it down, it didn't exist. The Customer service manager told me in a conversation that she'd reimburse me for the courier charges I spent getting them to stop ignoring me. I wrote that down, and the time and the date. A week later I called her on it and she magically had no record or recollection, and besides, "they would never consider that". SHE LIED TO ME!! There's no excuse for customer service that treats you like that. I even sent an email to the Toronto Star explaining my plight, and CC'd the customer service manager and the President of Sony canada, but magically the email demons at Sony decided not to forward them on. So, it doesn't really matter what you do as a customer. you can yell as loud as you want and they won't listen. And the dealer - you were saying they might do something? Their hands were tied as well. Sony was ignoring them too! All the dealer could do (after much of my fussing with them) was send me a couple mini DV tapes (which is at least more than Sony could offer!) And yes, you're right, they tried to say that my camera had been jostled around and was in poor condition, not to say that it shouldn't work perfectly... which contradicts itself. Oh, and of course, I never once mentioned skydiving...it's obvious that would freak them out. The only thing I would do different next time with verbal conversations is record them on tape and preface the call with " this call will be recorded for quality control!!" Cheers, "Spread your legs and fly"

I can't believe I'm having to write this about Sony of all companies, but they screwed me over good. I bought a PC-101 in June last year, and 3 months later the flip out screen started becoming unreliable (I guess there was a bad connection to the camera somewhere). I hadn't jumped it all that much and I have never heard of people having problems with Sony products like this. I sent it in to get fixed, they sent it back not fixed. I sent it in to get fixed again, they sent it back not fixed. I sent it in a third time, but this time I expected a replacement and I complained about the customer service. They ignored my calls and the dealer's calls to them, they insinuated it was my fault and wasted hours of my time on the phone trying to find my information in their computers. If not a new camera, then the least I would have expected was a new 1 yr warranty to make up for their shoddy repairs and bad customer service. Nope. They would only replace the warranty for the 3 months they had spent NOT repairing my camera. Pretty much the bare minimum of trying to make the customer happy. I had spent 40 bucks in courier charges to get someone to take notice of me, and when I finally got a call back from Sony, they said reimbursing me for this would be no problem. I called them a week later to ask about getting the money back and they said they had no record of telling me they'd replace courier charges. So, as far as I'm concerned, they lied to me, cheated me and were very unprofessional. You'd think after spending 2 grand, you'd get a bitta somthin back from a company. Not a chance. How's that for being swallowed whole by a big fish company. Anyway, feel free to buy Sony, as long as you understand they'll fuck you hard when the stuff breaks down, even when it's still under warranty. SONY SUCKS!!! "Spread your legs and fly"

Adding to others comments on your position regarding you leaning forward a bit, if you look, you can also see that your shins are presented to the relative wind, which will give you a push backwards. I totally agree with others comments about the misnomer of "sitflying" which then causes people to get into more of a sitting position instead of a more versatile "upright head-up, feet-flying position". Though, I think using a more sit-based position when starting is ok, because this position is familiar to everyone. Cheers! "Spread your legs and fly"

Hey Trent, question- was he behind you when he was holding on to you? I've always wondered what would be the best way to "take someone out for a sit jump" like you would hold onto someone when "taking them headdown" : ) Cheers! G. "Spread your legs and fly"

Both ways you're talking about will work. with your legs front and back presenting only the knee forward and the back of your calf to the relative wind feels kinda like doing the splits and you can slow down a lot with your hands out to the sides so your body' s looks like an X from underneath (like olav in crosswind) It's comfortable when hangin out, but it's hard to stick your hand out forward to dock when you're flying like that cause when you lose the hand at the side you lose symmetry and you'll probly fall over! : ) The other way where your legs are kind of straighter and pushed out to the sides in kind of a half daffy half Xman, you're presenting the sides of your legs to the relative wind, which gives you lots of surface area to work with when deflecting wind- ie. precise control...(dave brown from the Freefly Training Centre would say this is more "efficient flying", as in using all the wings you've got handy to fly, or flying your whole body.) This one's great for docks and really stable, though maybe not as comfortable, and at first you might find you have a built in turn, but you'll figure that out I'm sure. Howabout that! I'm all for flying in whatever style that works for the situation. ie. one time I felt all wobbly on this flocking dive, then I realized it was the big forward-back daffy I had going on that was the cause. ...I did the next one in a more X-man style and the wobble was gone.. : ) Cheers, G. "Spread your legs and fly"

Another thing- my first time flying my camera on my hawkeye helmet (honkin big selfmade sidemount) I noticed that my track on breakoff was being pushed to the right by the extra "wing" on the side of my head. So, yup, helmets do affect flying a bit. : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

the half shell helmet you wore before- i'm assuming that helmet's open at the ears.. Could be the loud freefall wind was distracting you from holding your head straight on your spine? or maybe the enclosing feeling of the fullface helmet made you more aware of the straightness of your head - very important at the beginning when you're learning headdown. : ) Cheers. "Spread your legs and fly"

could also be that the track leader is bending at the waist too much, making it so they're going more down than across...in which case they're making it harder for you than they have to. I always thought it was the leader's job to try and make it so everyone can get in on the jump. But then, it's also a challenge to see how the hell you can still fly with them, which can be really fun : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

ahhb but then again, neither does a frap hat but people still wear them for RW- a Gath is pretty much just a good looking, cheap frap hat that keeps your ears from getting caught on things in the plane : ) haha "Spread your legs and fly"

yer sooo lucky! The nearest service centre to me closes at 5 but I work till five so I had to take it back to the store I bought it from and they're sending it in... that's why so long I think. urg : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

I've had a 101 since june and it's now in for service- the screen sometimes wouldnt come on when you opened it- something loose in there I guess. It's gonna take like 4-6 weeks to get fixed..ugh.. : ) It takes sweet video though. Real good quality. "Spread your legs and fly"

Ya, like tai chi...relaxed but still moving, but still holding correct postures while moving. It seems to me that people starting off headdown tend to use a lot of arms cause they want to fly with them like in sit and belly. What's more, when they lift their arms up, they actuate the shoulder muscles too, which causes an arch or dearch.. It is possible, like in tai chi, to have your arms out, but your shoulders relaxed. I'm thinking though, (I just started coaching) that I'm going to get people to not think about or even use their arms too much at the beginning - they seem to get in the way of feeling where the tube is. anyway, blah blah I could go on.. ... : ) cheers! "Spread your legs and fly"

totally. - now there's someone who's long in the body. Man though, there's this guy I know who wants to get headdown and he's long in the body but has amazingly short legs and lots of upperbody mass with big arms. I'm wondering how he'll get to a comfortable speed headdown and still be able to dock since he'll probably have to get his arms out a bunch to slow down.. maybe a nice baggy suit with legs trailing like freeflytubes? haha "Spread your legs and fly"

of course, if you tell them it's like dancing where guys dress up in colourful costumes, hold hands a lot and do thiings like pirhouettes, they might get another idea.. haha "Spread your legs and fly"

I think it would help people's flying if they made no distinction between sit and stand, but rather thought of it as head-up flying - which of course has different speeds. Like, people don't make a distinction betweeen really slow headdown flying with all yer wings out and really fast headdown rocketting, so why do it with sit? And again, calling it "sitflying" makes people stick their butts out instead of their legs. : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

And I think that's why people only concentrate on one half when flying head-up - because being aware of both halves of the body working independently is frickin hard and requires awareness of what your whole body is doing. I think people learning to freefly would really benefit from taking kungfu or any martial art to learn how to do things with their arms and legs separately at the same time, while maintaining fluidity in the motion. "Spread your legs and fly"

If i'm not mistaken, Mike Swanson did the AD-A test flying head-up. As for arms being the main control surface- I'd say they're the main source of stability, and the control surfaces people are most used to using- but you can fly and turn with your legs too. As for the main control surfaces, I'd think they'd be your chest and back, as well as legs -looking at the surface area size of your back compared to your arms. As for people not being able to fly fast enough in sit, that's I think because of the "sitflying" misnomer. - people usually don't get upright enough in "sit" so they catch lotsa wind. Seeing Mike Swanson fly in "sit" before, it looked like he was pretty much in an upright headdown position more than it looked like he was sitting in a chair. "Spread your legs and fly"

Roger must sponsor them with free jumps though.. ..man, if only my dad had been a DZ owner : ) I wonder if the Sugar Gliderz also jump for free? (I'm only assuming Alchemy jumps for free ...I would think so..) "Spread your legs and fly"

RIGHT ON! We were there at Summerfest this year when they were training hard- they deserve it! And they're great guys too, so even more deserving and respecting! : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

Ja ja, for sure, viss ze clappink of ze hends in ze vasser leik ze trick-aenimals aet zee-world : ) arf arf! Ist ja geil, mensch! : ) "Spread your legs and fly"