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The Swiss 3rd party insurance was also valid at DZs in Germany that I visited. Not sure about Austria and Italy, but in Germany, they were looking for minimum 1M EUR liability coverage - Switzerland 3rd party currently covers you for 10M CHF worldwide. I do know that it is not accepted in the UK or in the US at USPA dropzones since they only accept the insurance arranged through their governing organizations. See here on the Swiss Skydive site for insurance... http://www.swissskydive.org/index.php/de/versicherung/jahresversicherung-fuer-mitglieder Will cost around 200 CHF per year for the membership of the Swiss Aero club and the insurance - can't get the insurance (75 CHF) unless you're a member!

For the Optima, it reads as though the high speed alarm sounds whether the low speed ones are enabled or not - as a safety probably. 3rd warning: Siren alarm as long as vertical airspeed exceeds 13 m/sec at or below the preset altitude. After deployment the trigger speed switches to 35 m/sec. Sound sequence: High pitch continuous siren. 35 m/s is the firing speed of an Expert Cypres 2 - another reminder for anyone building up speed to consider your AAD mode. I'm often hearing the siren the bottom of my 270s, even loaded at ~2.2, although not sure whether it's my Pro-Dytter or Optima2 as they are on the same ear; probably the Pro-Dytter with a slower siren speed.

FWIW, I had this also on my AFF and so have many, many others (try a search on this forum). As soon as I bought a rig that was measured for me, it was a whole different experience - no more bruises or chaffing from the leg straps. Student rigs need to accommodate many shapes and they may not have the padding available on custom rigs, so there is not much you can do to mitigate an ill-fit. If you have loose leg straps, suggest to tighten them so that they are more snug, plus check they are still snug and the same length each side before exiting as they can ease out on the ride up.

Atlas seems to have the same software features as the N2 (I just broke mine) and got a new Atlas with free wrist band mount via the trade-in program. I did um and ah about getting a Viso, but given that the Atlas is the same price as the Viso (with a wrist mount factored in), I got an Atlas since I like the display of altitude and it should turn out to be more rugged than the plastic Viso, plus it has a rechargeable battery (yes, there are pros and cons of that). The Viso shows only 3 numbers and the meaning changes depending on altitude. The Atlas like the N2 can be used as an audible too. The one thing I would like from the Viso is the max vertical speed under canopy as a matter of interest. Suggest reading the user guide for the Viso to see what it can do.

[email]Hi, I will be spending a couple of weekends in Mountain View later this month and would like any tips on a good place to swoop (e.g. dedicated HP area) and freefly. Skydance looks interesting with turbine and 'dedicated swoop lane' :) I've visited Bay Area (Byron) and Lodi and remember Byron having a little 'uneven' landing area, although it would be my choice of the two as Lodi is restricted to 90s. I realise that no DZ in CA is very likely to have grass due to the drought, but any tips? Thanks!

Thanks. Seeing Elsinore bought back great memories of AFF and a few return trips...will try to drop in to San Diego if I'm in the area again.

Great vids...which DZ where you at on the 1390 jumps in the hills? Looks beautiful!

One suggestion to the creator - to make it easier to read at a glance, the LEDs denoting altitude that you've already burnt through should be turned off. From the pics, it looks very hard to distinguish where you actually are as the bright green and blue compete for attention and are very similar.

Aha! I thought the front cover was a one-piece mould. Given the replacements available, this is a nice solution. Though they are rather expensive from what I've seen ($50 for 3 - one of each type): http://store.sony.com/p/Sony-Action-Cam-Replacement-Doors/en/p/AKARD1 I was also wanting to mount the camera to the side of my helmet rather the top (better framing IMO, door clearance and I can change the orientation from HD to Head up). A small C-Bracket is the obvious choice but I also had an idea to drill 2 holes into the side of the waterproof case so that I can mount it directly. I just need some low profile 'flanged nuts'. The flanged nut would sit flush inside the case with some of the nut poking through the holes and slightly into the helmet. There appears to be enough room between the camera body and the case for this to work. Something like this would be ideal as a wider flange spreads the forces across the case. http://www.harrisbipods.com/HB2R.html Or maybe even better, a strip of metal on the inside with countersunk nuts coming out to mate with the helmet. Saying that, the direct mount idea would be a pain to switch between head-up and head-down compared to a C-bracket and I'd always be worried that the plastic case would smply not stand the strain and crack at some point.

Nice! I've been wondering how to leave off the front cover of the case while making sure the camera is held snugly. A bungee would stop it falling out, but there is still room for the camera to move forwards and backwards within the housing. I didn't want to add more padding in the rear of the case since it means the lens protrudes more. Could you post a pic of how you've done it please? Thanks!

FWIW, I am loading my Neos around 1.85 and have not eaten enough pies or trained to effect my wing loading either way, put 400+ jumps on it. I had random spine-lengthening hard openings on my -relatively early- production Neos 99 with original lines. I checked line lengths, brake lengths and packed very carefully, trying all sorts of techniques learnt over many different canopies, but I couldn't get rid of them...I would say that 1 in 30 jumps on average would evoke a blinding curse. I had it relined after 300 jumps (due to a nick in a line) and have had nothing but buttery soft, on-heading transistions to canopy flight in the 100 jumps since then (maybe not statistically significant, but it feels like it). It makes little sense to me that it was due to the lines as it would not be so random?. I also thought it was more head-down jumps and hence tending to deploy at higher speeds than normal, but I had it in head-up and tracking too, always being careful to slow down. But even with those 10-15 hard openings, I love it!

When I was buying a Stiletto 150, I checked the volume as 386ci from another chart :) Turns out it packs almost the same as my Electra 170 (also listed as 386ci) and fitted snugly (not tight or too loose) into my Atom which takes 330-410ci, so I would have thought it'd be fine, but I'd check if you're gonna be spending hard currency!

Yup , but we need PAL over here. B&H do a PAL version ($899.95), but with shipping there's no difference. And their NTSC one is still $849... But mostly, electronics prices in the UK are a rip!

Yeh, the lack of front riser pressure compared to my Xfire really amazed me. I jumped a 120 loaded at 1.8 and could have dived it into the ground from 13K with little effort ! Amazing canopy, very responsive to harness input as well. But it is trimmed relatively steep. I'd agree with you on the openings - they start off looking OK and then 40% of the time I was trying hard not to let it spin up if it did start going off heading. Had a couple of near ones, but they were easy enough to kick out (was using same packer throughout). The Xfire openings are much more relaxed. I don't need that kind of performance yet, so I've opted for a smaller Xfire (119) instead, but when I'm ready, I'll probably choose a Katana.

Yes, took 2 days - I hadn't 'just' ordered it when I posted

Yeh. I've been alerted to a few sites hosting copies of this. It slightly irks me that it's being used as a 'cheap thrill' for the masses that would never understand the half of it. I'm not sure of the impact on the sport, but this and others like it can't be an incentive to take part! Despite contacting the webmasters and explaining the reason why I don't want it spread around (never mind the copyright issues), only 1 of the 5 melonfarmers has done the decent thing. Thing is, it's probably a skydiver that has ripped the video from SDM or distributed it to their friends...sigh. Once its out though, that's it; I'll probably get a link to it from someone I know before long! LOL

Please see incident thread for the 'discussion' on this... I saw it earlier than that, which is why it's centered!

FYI, just got a pretty good deal - for UK anyway - on a PC1000 from EmpireDirect - £529. PC1000 Now I just need some good weather to play with it!

The manuals are online in dual language Pdf :) format, nothing specific to an Electra though... Main canopies Containers