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SIM, section 6-8 (pag. 140) on the 2014-1015 version. Two main reasons: entanglement and distraction factor (both before and during the jump). I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

The most bugging thing is: if you have to do it, why in hell- why!- would you place your damn camera right in front of that struct, so that it pretty much cover you and all you see is a weight bar going up and down?!? STUDY YOUR DAMN FRAME! That's all. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

What a great time I had down in Fitzgerald. Shout out to Chris and Julie for making this possible and to my travel mates for being patient during our 18 hrs drive down south, which became a 25 hrs drive on the way back due to some winter storm around Maryland. But it was totally worth the drive just to be there on first load of the boogie, exhale on the plane and say "totally worth 18 hours drive" and be over done by the Canadian Folks who yelled back "it was 30 hours for us!". Also, getting my muff-numbers from Rick and Mike was pretty much priceless. Until next year, everybody be safe and have fun, I hope I'll see some of you around the country this season! I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Your instructors should be involved in the discussion/planning of your first solos, then probably your coaches, then off you go. :) I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Depends. If the jump was meant to be just a skydive with a BASE canopy, then yes it's incorrect. But if his goal was to fly the canopy with steeringlines outside the slider he was correct. The canopy responds very different with or without the guide rings. I guess he couldn't really decide what he wanted, so he went for the left brake outside the grommets and the right brake inside. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Oh yeah, I totally agree, they are a distraction just as any other small camera, if not worse (I don't know exactly what you can do with the Goggle Glass, let's just assume they are used purely as a video recorder). You may still find yourself in all the bad situations that distractions with camera rose over the years. I would still use them observing the "200 jumps minimum" recommendation. I probably wouldn't use them at all even when I'll have the required jump numbers, but that's just me. I was just saying that they solve the entanglement problem. And this is reasonably true. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Some places ask you 50 jumps for the helicopter and they enforce it very mildly, some others don't ask anything more than your A-license. Personally? Jumping from a helicopter is way easier than exiting properly from a plane. :D As for google glass, well, at least you have the entanglement factor completely removed, as for the distraction, they might bring it to a whole new level. I can only imagine myself trying to check my emails or facebook notifications in freefall or under canopy. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

If you want to make it there, I think it's the week after: Skydive Pepperell is holding Safety Day on Saturday April 19th at the VFW Hall in Pepperell (55 Leighton St). 8:30a-9:00a - coffee and socializing 9:00a-2:00p - presentations I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Which is very true, in theory. In practice, I'm sure better skydivers than me might have made those mistakes and, if there is a way to grant me a second chance, I don't see why the punishment for an error should be death. I probably never need an AAD, most of us never will, but that one time I do, I want something that is proven to work better than the others and has been around the longest, because if it all comes down to your AAD, then it means that's your last call. I'd rather be an idiot and feel like an idiot under a reserve, than be an idiot under 5 feet of ground. Just my 2c. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Yes, Navs are 9 cells. EDIT: Why triathlon? Is there a reason for thinking about the triathlon, rather than -say- the Pilot? Pilot are excellent beginners canopy (excellent canopies in general, but they are very solid to packing mistakes and wrong body position, nice openings, very docile... people who have them, love them, I only have 5-10 jumps on a Pilot 190 and it was a very comfortable ride). I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

I have an older vector and I am assembling a newer Jav. Not ideal to have two different containers, but I think I can limit the discomfort by having the same setup: exact same main (this is important for many different reasons), both with skyhook, both with soft+Dring, same type of hackey, etc. Try to at least do that if, like me, you couldn't really choose your 1st rig (used gear, good deal, etc.). It would be nice to have two exact same rigs, because then everything is interchangeable and you can have a bunch of replacement parts that will always work (risers, PCs, etc.), but it's not that big of a deal, I think, just convenient. Also, keep an eye out when packing: a few things here and there are different, like the closing sequence, e.g. first time I packed a jav after being used to V3s, I had to unstow everything because I was stowing the lines the same way I do on the V3 (I know, stupid me, but still, it might happen), and I didn't see that they have different dbags until I was done and the lines where completely messed up. My 2c. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

1) head away from jump-run, other jumpers might be freefalling at that altitude (eees supe' hi, after all) 2) do a regular canopy check (i.e. describe your situation to the camera, freak out, unstow only one brake, take a nap) 3) enjoy the extra canopy time (think about cutting away your good canopy) 4) land. depending on the upper winds, you might be forced to land out, but with the jock we are talking about, this clearly wasn't the case. (crash uncontrollably spinning into the ground) all of the above, none of the above. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

The cut footage as it first appeared on the news is still available on the CBS channel: http://youtu.be/t0b3JTma_uo I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

The only thing that doesn't smell like horse shit is... never mind, everything smells just like horse shit. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Also, I've been thinking for a while to some small GPS signal emitter that would sit somewhere on the risers and turn itself on after a cutaway, so that you can easily locate your canopy using an app on your phone... but I haven't been able to come up with an idea a) small enough not to get in the way when mounted on the risers b) where the activation switch would not get in the way of the 3 rings, even if it is just for the sake of a mental exercise... I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Well, we'll probably see each other over there during the good season at some point. Entering the sport is the best decision I've ever done (only regret, I did it too late), so welcome and I'm sure you'll find some great instructors, skydivers and friends at JT, it's a first class DZ (and we are so lucky to have a handful of them in a driving distance if you're in New England, especially for being such a cold place with not exactly skydive friendly weather) I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

I'm not going to give you any advice on the technique itself as I'm relatively inexperienced myself, however one good advice I can give is: as soon as you'll get a good one that "feels" right and looks right, get back up and do another one as soon as you can that day, the very next load if you can. It'll probably go even better and it'll give you the confidence that you "finally got it!", also probably help your muscles to remember the correct sequence and feelings until next time. Don't do a good H&P, be happy because it's all you need for you licence, and then never do one again. Do a few of them at the beginning until you feel that you are comfortable and relaxed: beside being fun, they are needed sometimes (let's not think about catastrophic emergencies, but they are something good to have in your book for canopy classes, low cloud days, when you're in the mood to freak tandem students out and so on). I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

AHAHAHA! We had the same thought, as I added it to my post! Great minds... I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

But aren't you happy he did it regardless? I mean, hadn't he taken the camera with him, he might have came out with a story where he had not fault at all. "I was belly flying and doing simple turns when the container opened, the opening was so hard that it knocked myself out cold, one toggle came out of the pockets and I spiraled to the ground for 13k feet after passing out". At least this way he documented his own stupidity and we know for a fact that: a) yes, the container did open when it was not supposed to BUT: b) the opening was pretty much a normal opening in a poor body position c) he was conscious and under a good canopy. d) he decided to unstow only one brake because he was too busy holding the camera IN THE PALM of his other hand and talking to it instead of flying his damn canopy. * e) his passing out has pretty much nothing to do with the conditions of the gear or the chain of events, but it is something that happened ON TOP of everything else. * I wonder how he would have handled a cutaway with such a camera setup... oh wait, my bad: we all know the RSL is 100% fail proof and will ALWAYS work, right? All of that being said, the one thing he can't complain about is that he had a pretty damn good spot. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Absolutely. That is true. But, you also have to admit, since the OP has comparable experience (or lack thereof) the choice should be what is EASIER AND SAFER to fly. I know that an experienced jumper and good canopy pilot like I will hopefully be in a few years, will handle a wide range of high and low wingloads, but you also have to admit that a person with my jumpnumbers (and the OP jumpnumbers) is likely, well, not so good so it makes sense to point at that WL that is best compromise of all characteristics. We are not trying to prove that point that you can fly a canopy loaded at 0.5 and, if you're good, you won't have problem, we are trying to find those canopies and settings that will give the OP the least amount of problems to start with. Maybe I was misinterpreted, but as you say: if you have to be a good pilot to get the best out of a certain setup (either because too loaded or not loaded enough) then maybe you want to look into something better for you and less dependent on how good you are, because when you start... you're not good as you think you are. The OP says his wing load will be a hair above 1:1, that is about right so I think it's what's recommended for beginners on the PD loading chart. I was just relaying my experience and since you can see my jump number and I never lied about it, you can get an idea of why I'm saying certain things. I wasn't going around saying that "oh my good, you jump a big canopy, you're gonna die!", if it looked like that, well, it was poor communication from my side. Sorry, I must have missed the part where only people with over 1000 jumps are allowed to express their opinions. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

That was my experience, it doesn't have to make sense.

If the rig is made for a 280-Reserve, then a 280-Reserve is the best decision. :) What's your exit weight? Jump-Number? NAV are the most docile canopies you'll find, for what I know, and if you keep the WL around 1:1, that's probably the safest place to be, at least for your first few jumps, until you feel ready. The problem I've seen with huge NAVs, is that if you don't load them at least a little bit (above 0.8) they literally don't turn, don't flare, it's like being a sitting duck. At least my experience those couple of times I had to jump a NAV loaded at 0.6. It wasn't fun, it probably wasn't even "safe" (of course, safer than loading too much, but still far from ideal). It's not the canopy fault itself, but they're student oriented designs, so they are very very conservative, which is not a bad thing by any mean, you just have to put some weight on them to have more control of things. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

At 53 jumps, I'm nowhere near having enough experience to jump a cam and I'm in no rush to do it. However, I think camera do increase the snag hazard, but that can happen also without cameras involved, although I agree it's by far a much much smaller chance, hence, as jono said, the necessity of a hook knife on any equipment... since there is another situation that comes to mind and you need it there anyway. I still think cutting a chin strap with a hook knife, considering the position of the strap and the size of the hook knife blade would be an interesting challenge even if NOT spinning around. But you're right, I mentioned CReW because I was thinking of 2 canopies entanglement, and that can happen without doing CReW as well, that's a situation when a hook knife will indeed come very handy. My point was more like: a) very impractical to cut a chin strap with a hook knife (I though and I still do) b) hook knives are to be used in less situations that someone would generally think, entanglement involving two different jumpers being the one I can think of where using them makes sense. Most other problems are generally best solved in another way. While we're at it, since I need to buy one as I'm in the process of getting my gear together, any recommendation on a "quality" hook knife? Thank you for the help.

No. First, hook knives have a fairly short bite on the blade, good for cutting small lines, but good luck trying to cut a fairly thick chin strap, it won't even probably fit inside the grove of most hook knives. And you'll have to do that without being able to see, since it's under your chin line. And those strap materials are quite resistant and sturdy to abrasion, it will take you a long time: you'll probably spend the rest of your life trying to cut that chin strap, also because there really isn't much room to move the blade up and down in that position, isn't it? Actually, by the shape of the blade and the size and material of the strap, I doubt a normal person would be able at all. It would require a lot of strength on the knife and a lot of tension the strap to do it, since you can't slide the blade anywhere in that circumstance. Also, fiddling with a blade around your neck, even if it has a protection on it, while being tossed in the air by a spinning canopy because of the entanglement, is not my idea of fun. Chicks do dig scars though. At our experience level, hook-knives are always best left in their pocket. I'll probably buy one for superstition, and probably start considering real uses when (if) I'll be experienced enough to do CReW and stuff like that. Until then, it's only good for "cool points" on my rig. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Please, stop being rational, careful and smart about your helmet decisions. You're really not making any sense at all. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.