darrenspooner

I did the same on 5. My instructor (Milko at Langar) broke convention and got me to do a 5 second track to start off. Fixed the problem straight away.

I wish I could lose my stomach! Don't forget the fight or flight bit. Anxiety reaction means the stomach will have a tendency to want to void itself. Probably helps to explain why newbies get the sensation more than experienced jumpers. They're no longer anxious.

No offence intended. Kids are superheros and I hope mine turn out like this. Its just infantile jealousy talking

and how about this little shit, who's better than me! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI0pN9-ETBk&NR=1

Two tips - 1. Decide what's most important to you, jumping or family 2. Negotiate your jumping days and partner days ahead of time

and check this guy out, 55 jumps http://media.putfile.com/Cap0002

Give the guy a break dudes, he might be a genius. Check these little fuckers out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfoCn1KlIWE as seen above. Personally I stink at most things but seem to have got to grips with a camera jacket fairly quickly

Little shits

Personally I think this should be allowed, as long as there are no personal attacks. The BPA skydive mag features anonymous incident reporting. I am sure that most of us fuck up and get away with it. Everyone else can learn a lot from that, including us, without hideous repercussions. There needs to be a forum where people are free to say stuff that might benefit others without getting in the shit

Hey, I upsized after 200 jumps! I'd recommend it.

I've owned a hornet 150 and a sabre 2 150 and done about 100 jumps on each. I found the sabre 2 more powerful but less forgiving. Ended up changing to a safire 2 because I couldn't control the openings on the sabre 2. Diving openings and finally a mal (but sent back to PD and tested ok, and by the way, PD customer service excellent). I know nothing with my jump numbers but the sabre 2 felt like a sports car compared to the hornet.

I'm just wondering why experienced camera flyers are so vehemently opposed to newbies flying tandems, but don't mind them filming FS. Surely they're either safe in the air or they're not. Surely a 2 or 4-way is just as easy to hit as a tandem. Surely if you suck you suck, regadless of whether its a tandem or a 4-way. Surely, the familes of 4-ways are no less aggrieved if you kill their son than if you kill a tandem student. Reason I ask is that my instructors are happy for me to train up filming tandems. They have trained me, monitored me, jumped with me, evaluated me, and licensed me. Surely they know my abilties, and my level of risk, better than people on here? People on here suggest I (and anyone else in my shoes) am a liability filming tandems with 250 jumps. People that jump with me don't. How so?

I tell them that the day I got my first and only mal and cutaway I felt I got my wings. Everything did what it was supposed to. I then tell them I jump because I want to live not because I want to die. Then I tell them there's no better way to die. I go from being totally alive to totally dead, with no pain and only 15 seconds of frustration. Doesn't get any better than that. I, of course, don't point them in the direction of the Incidents forum!

My AFF instructor once said "there are only two types of skydiver - those that have had a mal, and those that are going to". Since my mal at 122 I now expect one every single pull. Means I'm ready to deal with it if it happens.

Dude, this is nothing to do with skydiving. How's your career, or your relationship? You fucking it up?

I know you're pretty much right on every count here. I'm paying my tickets, I'm not filming for cash. I'm just getting used to flying the camera suit in distant relativity to someone else in the sky. Not much chance for much else most of the time. I'm not bothered about what's on the screen at the moment. I'm bothered about knowing how I'm flying. I've had camera coaching jumps, been checked out, and all the instructors (including instructor examiner/CCI, who is perfectly happy for me chase him in tandem) at my DZ are totally happy for me to do what I'm doing. I've also had quite a bit of tunnel time. If my instructors are happy for me to do this, and they have jumped, monitored and trained me for a number of years, then that's good enough for me. As an analogy, would I be happy for someone to drive my kids around straight afer getting their license? Well, I wouldn't judge it on how long they'd been qualified or how many hours they'd driven for, I'd judge it on how competent and mature a driver they were My only other comment is this - I'm either safe in the sky or I'm not. Tandem student, A licenced jumper or 4-way? I'm either competent enough or I'm not. A tandem instructor has no less ability to get out of my way if I'm a liability than a 4-way team. A tandem student is a person same as everyone else. Either I'm competent around others in the sky or I'm not

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. As for filming tandems, I appreciate your comment and I know this is potentially hazardess or catastrophic. I never try get close enough at any time to be a problem. I've discussed this with the instructors and they really do give me plenty of time to be 100s of feet below them before they even let go, and I'm not attempting to get any closer than that. I'm just adjusting fall rate relative to them, but nowhere near close enough to ever cause a problem.

I've done about 30 camera jumps now and since starting on camera I have been getting severe bruising on the underneath of my right forearm, the outside of my right thigh and on the inside of both lower thighs. I'm talking huge black and purple bruises sometimes 8 inches round with dark black lines in them. I am not aware of any impacts after exit, I feel nothing at all, no one I've jumped with has said I've collided, and its only when my wife notices the next day I've got them that I know about it. I'm clearly hitting something but no idea what. Some jumps are filming two-ways or solos, and I'm following with a diving exit. Some jumps are tandem videos with a rear float, but instructors won't go until I let go so they can guarantee I'm always below and out of the way when they throw the drogue. All I can think of is that I'm pushing off from the plane violently or else my thighs are being squashed flat between two tandem instructors at the bulkhead between the pilot. Its pretty crammed getting 15 in a standard caravan. Any ideas what I can do to work this out.

Nope, got it from Aerostore. No idea what angle the box was on. But sorted now.

Fixed it, just moved the box 15 degrees upwards. Rats tail file, three pop rivetts and a tube of glue. No problem

Has anyone ever moved the camera box on a RAWA helmet to help with centering the image? I've tried everything to get the image in the centre of the screen, but despite adjusting my body position and looking as high as I can the image is still in the top third of the screen

Read Brian Germain's book. Other than that, you just have to keep doing it over and over. It gets better as you get more competent. Remember your first ever driving lesson? If you were as scared as me you would have thought you'll never be able to do it. Now I bet you go from A to B without a thought in the world

From a psychological perspective, invite the memory as often as you can. If you avoid it then it will stay raw. If you invite it in, it gets easier

Hey, I asked my wife if I could wear wear my gear in bed. I'm not sure its the camera that puts her off, I think its my camera pants with flames down the side. TO RE-ITERATE, I DON'T PRACTICE ON TANDEMS

Jeez, I' glad to hear that. No, I'm not practicing on tandems. Willing participants and following them out rather than floating. That way I'm never on top of them on exit and I have reasonable control over how close I get. At the moment all of the targets are dots on the screen, all be it at the top of the screen. Safety first, everything else last