mr2mk1g

That was the dems??

Why in many of the same ways as with a hand deploy PC of course - the PC bounces in your burble and it or the bridle snags your arm, leg, alti, your camera helmet, a hook on your boot, a velcro leg closing. Premature pack opening is not the only way to get a horseshoe malfunction. In addition, you also have to add in all the ways D-bags or lines can get lodged in the container as the PC or bridle may snag on a flap grommet or on the closing loop grommet or closing loop assembly, especially if poorly stowed. Each of these scenarios could cause the PC to be attached to the rig or jumper while the D-bag and lines begin to deploy – horseshoe malfunction. There is nothing about a rip-cord deployed spring loaded main PC which entirely eliminates the possibility of a horseshoe malfunction. That's one of the reasons why we have free-bags on our reserves - so that if the rip-cord deployed spring loaded PC goes into a horseshoe malfunction your reserve still has a chance of opening. It's also one of the reasons why your reserve bridle is wide tape so that in the event your reserve PC goes into a horseshoe malfunction there's still a hope that the bridle itself will generate enough drag to deploy the reserve.

It's very dangerous to post such incredibly misleading statements. Spring loaded main pilot chutes do not eliminate the possability of a horseshoe malfunction. I wouldn't say such malfunctions were "common" with throw outs either.

I'd echo the comments above - I think it's a really daft idea. I've got a lot of experience in working with a uni club here in England and everyone buys/makes/scrounges their own camera helmet when they're ready to go that way. An older mini-DV camera really shouldn't cost too much so a basic set up can be put together for a couple of hundred ££. I just don't see a need for a 'club' camera helmet. My experience would tell me that it'd just disappear off into an individual's kit anyway. There are much better things to be spending club money on but if the money's already allocated you've already made the mistake - should have asked for something else in the budget. 'Safety' ALWAYS sells so ask for a new rig or canopy course or something next time. If you're going to do it, do it cheap so you sink as little club money into it as possible. You seem to be asking about stills so get yourself a second hand canon 350D with the stock 18-55 lens. The 400D's fine too but doesn't give you that many advantages over the 350 so save some money and get the lower model... unless the price break is negligible. I wouldn't get the 300; it doesn't have a fast enough buffer vs. the 350 to make any cash saving worth while. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that setup for a first time deal and it should come in cheaper than almost any other baring an old film camera. Get yourself a couple of 1 gig CF cards with a fairly high speed to keep up with the camera - something like a sandisk UltraII at a minimum. Don't buy in the shops though as you'll pay 5 or 6 times the price on the web. You'll also want a mount of some kind – there are a dozen on the market place or you could just bolt the camera up top. And a bite switch/tongue switch/blow switch/thumb switch... god knows what you're going to do about that as everyone has their own preference. Frankly though, putting stills to this step up is really really really really dumb. If you're really going to do this, do it with min-dv ONLY to start with. Add stills later if you really just have to have stills. Spend any money you save on the set up on a proper seminar with an experienced camera flyer for anyone intending to jump the thing - maybe even in-air training if pos. Have them go through cutaway drills with people using the cutaway you ARE going to put on the helmet. And for god's sake institute a rule mandating audible use and minimum experience level.

I'm still trying to sort out going to the African Freefall Convention to jump a herc and a huey but no one ever responds to my e-mails about jump ticket prices and further boogie details.

Come to think about it - I've had a PC1000 in my FF2 once. It just fitted but was very tight. It could easily have been accomodated however if I just moved the mounting plate (there was no point on that occasion as it was a one-off). My FF2's set up for a PC350 which is another camera at the "top" of the PC style range. If you don't go for a PC1000, look to the PC330/350 cameras but anything above a PC9 should do fine for personal use and ought to fit. As I said though - I don't see any reason why a PC1000 shouldn't fit, so my earlier warning may be redundant unless your box size is different to mine, (the box shape does change slightly depending on the age of the helmet).

IIRC (and I'm sure I'll have a dozen posts telling me I'm wrong if I screw this up)... so, off the top of my head: It's got 3 chips instead of one. In this respect it's the ONLY PC style camera with this feature. High-end prosumer cameras have been using 3 chips for a while, but this is the only vertical form-factor camera with the feature. Three chips are better than one because with a three chip camera a prism breaks light down into its constituent RGB colours after it comes through the lens and each is recorded separately on a dedicated chip. The camera therefore has a lot more data to work with and you tend to get much more vivid colours and better low light capabilities than with a single chip camera. It also uses CMOS chips instead of CCD chips which most other mini-DV cameras use. CMOS chips are what you get in DSLR cameras and have slightly different (read arguably better) technical capabilities than the CCD chips you get in most other camcorders. Bear in mind this is just stuff I've picked up and I don't work with cameras professionally - if you want the full low down on the whys and wherefores you'll have to beg DSE nicely for further technical specs or google is a great resource.

The 1000 is a technically superior camera to the 9. I'd get the 1000 so long as it fits in your camera housing (it's slightly bigger than the 9).

dear god...

You can! Your right hand steering line is stuck in half brakes - your left hand steering line can go all the way from full to nil brakes - thus you have full left and right control, albeit at half speed. So: Left arm all the way down = turn left. Left arm all the way up = turn right. Left arm half way up = go straight on.

Vanilla ice cream and balsamic vinegar glaze. I've not tried it yet, but I have a bottle of balsamic vinegar glaze which recommends it as a serving suggestion – I'm just waiting for an excuse to try it as it sounds oddly wonderful.

Don't get me wrong - I wasn't trying to second guess you. If you walked away, you did the right thing subject to using it as a learning experiance as you obviously are doing. The fact that before you popped the brakes the canopy was flying straight and level however, would tend to indicate that it would be likely that holding the unaffected steering line in half brakes, (back where it was before you un-stowed the brakes), would be likely to return the canopy to level flight. Of course, that might not have happened - if it wasn't possible to return the canopy to level flight then you're absolutely right, the control test was failed. And of course, getting the canopy to fly straight isn't the only element of a control check. As I said though, if it's flying straight before reaching for the brakes... odds are you can make it fly straight again if it's just a tension knot in a steering line... maybe...

This wasn't hypothetical for me. I had exactly this happen once when I had about your number of jumps. All I did was hold the unaffected toggle in half brakes and fly back to the DZ. Just made it on, one braked turn for landing and a flare from half brakes. Landing was a little heavy but nothing to be concerned about. Just resort to student training. Is it big/square/controllable? Answer: yes, yes and Well... can I control it? – yes! Right hand control line is stuck. But my left hand control line gives me all axis of control. Half brakes for straight ahead. Full brakes for left. No brakes for right. A practice flare appreciably slows and alters the angle of decent. Test passed! So long as your canopy is of a size where a landing from half brakes isn't going to cause injury, this is potentially little more than a minor inconvenience. If your canopy passes a control test, there's not really anything to indicate a need to cutaway or start slicing lines. Now if the control test cannot be passed... well, the rest of the thread covers that situation.

Hehe, I think you've got a shock to the system coming up. You think your student rig will be new? You'll probably find that for a whole load of jumpers, the rigs they jumped as a student were the worst pieces of crap they ever jumped! That's not to say they were unsafe... just that even their second hand first rig was newer and in better condition. There's nothing wrong with second hand gear. Every rig, whether new or old, has to be inspected by a rigger and certified as airworthy before it can be jumped. If you've got the money - knock yourself out and buy new. Someone's got to fuel the newbie gear second hand market. If you have a budget with limits however, (and lets face it, all but 1 or 2% of us have some kind of limit), take the money you would have spent on a brand new rig and spend it instead on a second hand rig AND canopy coaching. Overall, you'll be safer. If you can afford both - crack on, like I said - someone's got to feed the market.

I will never be able to fathom why I corrected your belief that that rule applies to every single time you loose, rather than only to times when you fail to score a single point.

hehe... met up with the redhead... date was ok, nothing to write home about. Clearly I was being a pussy... So I drove home from the date then went round and picked the blonde up and had a great night in

The two photo's linked are good examples. The greatest warning is that often as not, the affected finger is non-viable after such a traumatic injury and often results in an amputation. I'm not a medic but a lawyer who has to deal with the fall out from this kind of injury so I'm sure some examples will be capable of being surgically revitalised... but I personally see a lot more missing fingers than mutilated fingers resulting from degloving incidents. Don't wear rings when doing any kind of sporting activity. Any jewellery of any kind should be seen as simply waiting to be lost, potentially taking with it at least a chunk of whatever it was previously attached to...

You didn't seem drunk last time I got a go...

You were extremely lucky. I see degloving injuries regularly in my line of work and they are one of the nastiest injuries you can end up with. You're often looking at loosing the appendage. Rings are freeking dangerous. Take them OFF. I won't even let people wear rings through a FJC I teach. I've seen too many nasty injuries and I don't want a lawsuit because I had someone do a practice exit out of a plane mock up.

I can almost guarantee that Sarah will let you play with her boobs...

yeah, next some wiseass is going to suggest I post video of one of my "landings".

I could do with a second opinion. At the start or last week everything seemed easy. I had two dates lined up with really attractive young ladies; a date with this hot blonde on Thursday evening and a date with a hot redhead on Tuesday (tomorrow) evening. Everything was simple and uncomplicated and I figured I had a pretty good week ahead of me. Now I don't know what to do. See, the date with the blonde went well... very well. And we've pretty much spent the last 4 nights together. So well in fact that I kinda get the feeling that there's an expectation of exclusivity there. It gets complicated however... Blonde chick moves away from the city in one month's time so there's no real expectation on either our part's that this is going to be a long term thing. Therefore, I really don't want to burn any bridges with redhead as I'd rather like to see more of her once blondie's left the city. So what the hell am I supposed to do about the date tomorrow night? I'm quite happy to still go on the date and simply not do anything... but what if I really hit it off with the redhead? I don't want to stuff things up by appearing uninterested or not following up on the date for like a whole month. On the other hand I'm not the kind of guy who will start seeing two girls at once, (I'm far too lazy and that seems like so much hard work) - so no suggestions that I should simply start seeing both of them as it's only a month I have to worry about. So do I call redhead, fess up that what seemed like a simple date has gone kinda further than I expected and that I no longer really feel in a position to start dating her... She'd not be pissed about my having had another date or anything, but might not be too impressed with the idea of being asked to wait around a month for me to screw the crap out of blondie while she waits in the wings. Do I simply cancel the date tomorrow with some kind of excuse and hope to pick things up in a few weeks time? Do I go on the date tomorrow night, not do anything, and somehow try and stall for a month?(the date by the way is just a first date meeting up for a couple of drinks after work - but then that's what my date with blondie on thursday was supposed to be ). Do I shut the hell up because the redhead probably isn't going to like me anyway so I'm agonizing about nothing? hehe

For security, I went for the packsafe 55: http://www.twenga.co.uk/offer/166657307.html Just stick your rig in it, gear up and jump. You'll never have your rig stolen mid free fall again! [Disclamer - may cause slight deployment 'issues']

So that's why there are so few chicks in the sport...

Stump, Dave, please come back. What the hell am I going to listen to in the gym?? I'm about to embark on listening to all your old shows again... for 1 through about 50 that's going to be for the third time and a couple of the classics like Bill Booth's or Ted Strong's interviews it'll be more like the 4th or 5th time. C'mon... I'll buy a mug