Liemberg

The fine art of diplomacy?

Since this isn't Stammtisch (or a dutch speaking forum) I took the liberty to translate the core part of your attachment for those poor deprived souls that only speak English... Seems like Chris Buss wants to have a word with Tom also - maybe he should travel to Germany in stead of Teuge (Holland)...

You mean like This? Smart idea. Mine works pretty OK with a Sony PC105e (in a belly pouch on the tandemstudents belly - the camera itself goes nicely underneath my handheld altimeter and it is easy to connect the camera + power as you hook up the student) They sell a lanc connector too, that enables you to start / stop / standby etcetera. (essentially the same technology as the cam-eye, I suppose...) Since I have the gadget less than a week and only made 2 jumps on the system it is a bit early to write a full review but: 1. I'm happy with the picture quality - yet it is less than "the modern standard" (PC105e itself has 1000000 pixels and this has 470000.) 2. You get "an awful lot of video-debris" - about a minute and a half hooking up, tightening straps, opening doors and climbing out - unrecognizable close-ups and unnatural camera points of view... 3. If you have the right angle for the freefall part (which I had with a 29mm lense) you have the wrong angle for the canopy part and for most of that film you get the impression of a 90 degree tilted camera. This has to do with being belly to earth in freefall and feet to earth under canopy. When you show the film 'as is' everybody looking will tilt their head during most of the canopy ride. (It should be possible to make the camera so that it can turn 90 degrees, since it is just a small tube...) 4. The 'natural grip' on the tandem steering toggles gives you a nice impression of your drogue, the back of your own head, the opposite riser and a part of your reserve container. Not very entertaining video, I'm afraid...Filming and steering at the same time is a bit of a nuisance (yes safety nazi's - steering is more important...hehehe...). 5. Briefing the passenger takes longer, since now there is video to connect and start. And your post jump routine changes (disconnect cables, switch of camera, disconnect shoulder hooks...) 6. "Oh my God, now I made all the cameraflyers jobless"

Since you are here to tell us the story...

But that is a "minor modification" *) on a DHT already... *) Don't want to go into who can / cant / should / shouldn't - just to say that there are DHT's out there with secondary drogue release handle lower left and that it is not much work to modify them. And yes, overhere the national aeroclub has taken over the training of new TIs. But for the time being it isn't mandatory so old dogs like myself dont have to learn new tricks... "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

I'm not going to discuss my dreams with you. In my skydiving dreams I see skydivers land with nothing out, stand up and walk away... (I always think:"damn that was a good trick, I should learn how to do that!") Luckily now I know who that was

I deliberatly spoke of 'planning' - I'm NOT hoping cause that would mean "I hope to execute my plan"... That goes without saying, but first there is a plan. My personal experience is that I do execute my plan - which is not to say that the handling of al my mals were 'textbook', but most of them were thus far (knock on wood) I'm not clueless (not to boast, just from experience) and I pulled silver when I couldn't get the PC out of its pocket, when a tandemdrogue was somewhere were it shouldn't have been etcetera. I dont freeze and have even adjusted the plan*) I go over the drills every skydive and I teach others to do the same (of course in the end it is up to them to decide how vigerous they should be) Obviously there's a train of tought that says 'when you are having too much fun and find yourself in the basement - pull reserve' In order to do that you should know where the basement starts and plan to do it when the situation arises I doubt it is realistic - but already there is someone who knows someone who did it. (I'd love to have someone mark choice one AND tell us the story... even if it is nothing else than 'been there done that'...) *) I used to jump with tapewells. The drill was 1. Grab tapewells (one left, one right) 2. Look at reservehandle and release main canopy 3. Grab reservehandle and pull I had a mal where my right side tapewell released on opening and as I grab the other tapewell with one hand, my other hand was on the reservehandle. "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

I agree with you but apparently for some people it is a part of their 'plan B' to do it. (Re - the quote from MakeItHappen, Ron's story, the 'preliminary results' of this poll...) I feel that it is not a realistic plan but I am here to learn... I do have a plan B when skydiving and did execute it with success on several occasions - I recognize the value of training / mentally preparing because that kept me alive thus far... "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

According to MakeItHappen. I do believe you can 'mentally prepare yourself' because I know people that do - but I don't think you would be succesful, mainly because I wasn't...(No, I'm not going to say where, when and how since it is not relevant) Let's say it never crossed my mind. This might mean a lack of mental preparation - though I wasn't under a grand then but opening at 1200ft creates the same problem (downplanes / entanglements) when you wear an AAD like most of us do nowadays... So "who pulled it off" or knows someone that did? Just curious... "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Because they own a sewing machine? (I could do it, if I only found out how to not break the needle and the thread and get them frng stitches evenly!!!) "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Not much point in "training a procedure" that - in all likelihood - you will forget when you need it. Besides, there is/will be an altitude where you 'switch' (i.e. above it - go for main / below - go for reserve) You'll be screaming through that altitude at 200km/h, you wont be parked there for a couple of seconds to asses the situation. (Then again - if you wait long enough the situation resolves itself at the cost of a cypres cutter ) The only thing I can imagine is an emergency bail out below my hard deck where i'd have a few seconds to 'make a plan'. (on a previous occasion I managed to leave the drogue-release in the pilot's lap, prior to exit...) Other than that I'll try not to lose track of altitude.... "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Funny!

Suply and (the elasticity of) demand? "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

safety culture! Though I wouldn't know if landing a Mr. Bill would fall into "unknown/undiscovered issues" or "known issues ignored" I most certainly feel that it has its place somewhere in the pyramid... (BTW: this pyramid Tombuch talks about is pretty much standard stuff among safety theoretics.) "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

No, not as a general rule. Since we have been talking cars, space shutles, aad's and parachutes let's introduce (for arguments sake) sewing machines and camera's

Once a thrillseeker, always a thrillseeker?

Because that is forced upon you, since your rigger doesn't want to pack your reserve anymore except without the old cypres1? BTW: When I bought mine, nowhere it said it had a limited lifetime and that lifetime was 12 year and three months from the date of mfg. I bought and use it under dutch rules that say no part of the parachute assembly should be older than 20 years. AND (AFAIK) there is one documented save by a unit that was older than 12 year and 3 months (Rantoul 2004 I believe - despite of it being 'outside of the guarantee period' and therefore illegal it worked as advertised). So apart from their proven technical reliability they also came up with business tactics that as such might make me take a hard look elsewhere... "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Depending on the task at hand - why not? I mean except for video editing or other 'capacity consuming' activities most modern computers give you much more than you ever need. My guess is that 90% of the WORK I do on this computer here can be done just as easely with an 80368 windows 3.1 machine running word 3 and excel 2. At home, somewhere in the basement I got a Sinclair ZX81 - in working order.

By putting a small sleeve of grey material over the control unit of your cypres 1?

Wow - thrillseeker! It is not a good idea regardless of the airplane, but especially in a C206 (cargo-door) you want your equipment "airtight". Proximity to the tail while in the door, backward centre of G, etcetera... In Rotterdam a couple of years ago the C 206 was left tailless after a premature deployment. (reserve pin came out / not AAD related) Hear hear !!! Shield your AAD against static electricity!

AFAIK Da Vinci never got there

Then dont jump with anyone that has one 'cause AAD's will misfire. Might as well avoid the following features in your vicinity: 1. Worn Velcro on bridles 2. Too short reserve cables/end of the reserve cable neatly tucked away inside the velcro that holds the handle 3. Loose PC pockets 4. Worn main loops 5. Loose main loops They too are known to have caused premature deployments in / around the door / on the step. All possible life threatening. Dont see no crusade against them though. Possibly because those are often in the 'domain' of the individual jumper. *) Manufacturer bashing is much easier and much more rewarding. After all they are in it for the money, while all others are chasing the holy grail... *) Sorry - I forgot. Most of the kids nowadays pay five bucks to their packers and wouldn't recognise the above features even if they stumbled over them... "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Bad analogy. The airbag in your steering wheel is always directed at you when you are driving and you'd have a great problem to continue when it pops while it shouldn't. The pilotchute that leaves when your AAD misfires is - in all likelyhood - directed at a lot of empty sky. A worn out PC-pocket would scare me as much yet I'm sure someone, somewhere is jumping with one - accompanied by others. It is not as if any happy Vigil jumper is pointing a loaded gun towards any fool that dares to jump with him. Parachuting had the potential to kill me and others since I started - what else is new? "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Not all students go deaf when they get scared and not all students are scared when they are lower than they should be, especially when they are unaware of their altitude - if they were scared they would pull, wouldn't they? You honestly never had a student that went low and later said that he/she didn't know it at the time? This is especially true during jumps where acceleration comes into play and they burn up a lot more altitude per second once they reach terminal velocity. Nothing wrong with a wake-up call even if the fact remains that they have to come out of bed themselves...

Well, you certainly got your priorities right And - I totally agree with you. The funny thing is that although most instructors seem to disagree with you whereas several low-timers seem to agree with you, none has the data to back up his claims. One thing is for certain, nobody becomes 'device-dependant' if the device isn't there.