frost

OK, in your case, sure. For the a lot of others HO insurance may be a more valuable option then ESP. Lots of people rave about their experience with claims of lost canopies and camera equipment. You spent a paragraph answering one little sentence, but didnt answer the relevant questions...

First let me agree with you. People with 100 jumps and 3000 posts in one year who know it all have no credibility in skydiving related subjects. At all. That's why i dont read crap forums like Bonfire and all the rest of their nonsense. Now allow me to disagree with you on a few things. 1. there are also people here on dz.com with 8K skydives and 30K posts :) They just like to talk :) 2. As someone whose posts have been cut before, i can still appreciate what the mods have to go through. Their work is not easy - they have to follow the rules. They DONT get paid to do this, and if they do the right thing by the rules, suddenly they are the asshole. You want their job? Trust me - you dont. (i am a little biased though since i moderate on other forums ;). 3. Cross posting is bad inet forum manners. Period. While the original post does belong here, there was an earlier identical one elsewhere, so this one was locked. But not deleted. Not to mention that the OP posted it in 9 (nine!) other forums. 4. This particular topic doesnt belong in the wingsuit forum. Watch it get moved to Bonfire. :) and finally 5. instead of getting mad - follow your own advice and go make some skydives :) Oh and to stir things up... i thought that from a photography technical point of view that photo was average at best. There are at least two other shots that would get my vote first, thats why i wouldnt vote for the wingsuit photo. It IS afterall a PHOTO contest, right?

Two words: homeowners insurance ;) 300 per year at Ritz for one camera would have bought you at least two years of coverage up to 20K for any of your personal property. What kind of mounts are those? What type of helmet? Any pics of the original set up? Did you happen to use any other back up on you mounts like quick release snap fasteners? Any thoughts on what it might have been if not the riser strike? This is fourth time in the last few months i hear of someone losing things on openings from lens to whole helmets.

I am sorry i dont see the logic there... a few dozen jumps will not make or break one single person, wont help a team get on the podium if they were not ready before those few dozen jumps. A few dozen paid jumps even at 10 bucks will help a video guy replace the camera when it breaks, so the team can continue to have video. And again they are training, having a good time and enjoying themselves (well, hopefully ;). The video guy is WORKING and with a team that is NOT having a good time and all upset about each other's performances he is working twice as intensely, stressing not just physically but mentally too. Big difference, IMO.

Thank you LT, and i am proud to have gotten some great advice from you! I will be there from Sat to Wed, hope to catch you there!

As far as being a part of the team and jumping with your friends, i think that's one of many reasons why i chose to do 4 way video and not tandem video, which pays 5 times as much. But the rest of the team is spending money on having a good time and doing what they love doing. The video guy is working. He is using and risking the video gear and stressing his neck. Is it not reasonable to get paid for that kind of work? Isn't it in good team spirit to pitch in a couple of bucks each to ensure that your 5th team mate is not getting too burned out and in case he has a camera malfunction or a cutaway his expenses are partly covered? He already invested a lot of money on his video gear... As someone who's been doing it for almost 3 years now, let me tell you ... it can get pretty boring :) Sometimes you find yourself thinking and doing the weirdest things in freefall, trying to make it a little more fun. :) Also, even getting paid for these jumps, a lot of times at the end of the day I would rather NOT do another 4 way video jump and instead go freeflying with my friends. P.S. to OP, your post has mutated as always is the case here :) But it generated a good discussion and i am sure it'll help some new camera guy wanting to do 4 way video in the future

cheeky bastard ;) I have to agree with most of your points. A good 4-way team has certain expectations of their camera. If they want quality video - they should compensate the guy that provides it. $10 for a novice 4 way video up to 20-25 bucks for a good camera guy with a dual cam set up is the norm. A team can get a "free" video guy i am sure. But there is a good chance they will get what they paid for - a noob camera guy who will bust the exit and a bunch of grips since he will be flying too flat. "Yeah, but you get a free jump!" just doesn't cut it. 4 way video IS work. Why should I work for free? What about wear and tear on my gear? What if the camera breaks? what if I have a cut away? I am risking all that on a fun jump too, but at least i am having fun and there is nothing i have to deliver, no pressure, no expectations. I also started for free - a season of learning the 4 way video, getting better at it. We were all good friends and i never felt like a "hired" video. I had great times jumping and hanging out with these guys. So i had an ethical dilemma bringing up the money question next year when i felt that i was good enough to start getting paid. I talked about it to one of my mentors, a teacher by trade and a great guy who i respect very much. We had a good conversation about it and he convinced me that it is OK and that they all would understand. And they did. They appreciated my concerns and were cool with pitching in 3 bucks each per jump. These days, when a good solid 4 way team asks me to do their video "for free" I respectfully decline the opportunity for a free jump and get on that same load to do a freefly jump for the full price of a lift ticket. If it's a newer team, someone just starting out, a Rookie challenge or a student i do it for them as a way of giving back. But i dont make it a rule. It IS work and i hate working :) Sorry for a long post :)

It's not "pretty" fast. It's lighting-like fast. But still not as fast as GW's 28 mph or Stu's unheard of 29.7 mph. But even that was not as fast as Hans' or Morris' 32 mph, which is, according to the smart books, equal to the speed of light. I mean you could literally see the Doppler effect in action as Hans was turning redder and redder as he was going through the gates... P.S. Now, after the US Canopy Piloting Nationals, high speeds are no longer measured in the denominations of the speed of light . Instead they're measured in denominations of morrises or hanses (whatever part of the ocean you're on). For example the nominal velocity of propagation is now measured as 0.7 hanses. It's in the Geneva Conventions, look it up.

Absolutely! Just ask Ian. Wearing tight spandex allows him to significantly reduce the drag (up to 7.2%) and go through the gates at neck breaking speeds of up to 26 miles per hour. It's downright scary, i tell ya.

Is it too early to plan? I just saw all your ugly faces last week... I dunno. Anyway, I am going to try to attend the first four events for sure and the fifth one may be: Meet #1-January 17-Air Adventures Clewiston Coach TBA Meet #2-February 14-Skydive City Z- Hills Coach Jay Moledski Meet #3-March 14-Lake Wales Skdiving Center Coach Jay Moledski Meet #4-April 18-Skydive the Farm Coach Shannon Pilcher Meet #5-May TBA

Dude if you start saying something - finish it, or dont start at all. You know damn well you cant wait to tell everyone what you know ;)

i am not really a 4-way videoman, but i play one on TV. photos by Miro Vucetic http://www.mirovucetic.com/

Head up quality of CX12 is much better then CX7! CX12 wins feet down, er... i mean hands down!

Good job! Thanks for the efforts to test this configuration. Judging by the video, seems to me that air tight housing is still not a solution. Shaking, while a bit less pronounced, is still pretty bad. I get similar results flying with my head tilted back, trying to put more clean air over the camera... This housing is also very bulky. Plus the cost and effort of making one of it is not attractive for the results i am seeing... A video of CX12 in feet down position from a neighboring thread seems to be MUCH better.

You didnt even try reading or researching anything on this forum, did you? I know you didnt. Cause you didnt even scroll down the threads - if you did, you'd see a CX12 topic about 5 threads below.

Nationals only for me at this point in time. But i'm there for 9 days. After USPA Nats are over i will have another 4 days to do nothing. Some tunnel flying? May be some ground launching? dont know... I will be bored, so I might just do PST :) Not likely, but i might.

i'd continue the skydive as planned - that is i wouldnt track and open higher then planned. You were probably one of the first groups out, so there are others falling behind you. I witnessed my friend's premature opening in a sit a few years ago. He didnt break anything but i did have to take him to an emergency room. That one was, as i suspect in this case, due to a loose BOC pouch. You got lucky that it didnt open right in your face. Keeping an eye on "flapping things" is good advice :) Advice to properly maintain your gear is even better ;)

I thought may be Dan's browser was messing up, not showing the frame... so i posted the direct link to Google spreadsheet. But, as far as actually paying money... on the the original link http://www.swoopweek.com/register.html it says the registration will be open as of Aug 1st on that same page... but nothing there yet. I guess the organizer has been a little busy to put a paypal cart in place?..

try this: http://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?key=pcjnERqOJrZB3F9B0TuMaHA&hl=en SoFPiDaRF - School of Fast Progress in Downsizing and Radical Flying. Because nobody knows your skills better than you.

Actually the board is inside the camera. If it's fried, changing the docking station wont help. Drew, yes the standard says that. 4 pin firewire doesnt carry a charge but the 6 pin does... up to 30V. If you search the video forums, you'll see the problems people are having after hot swapping... Sony actually has a warning specifically about the hotswapping of the firewire on their camcorders. I dont recall where i saw it, either in the user manuals or on their website. Their customer service and repair centers mentioned this too. I have learned the hard way. I have personally went through repairs of the iLINK board on my PC1000. Another friend of mine did too... I mentioned this awhile back on these forums, wanted to reiterate to save someone 350 bucks.

Does the iLINK interface on the PC1000 work? have you tried it with other cams? People dont realize how easy it is to burn out the firewire board on these cams. There are hundreds of people out there that have burned out their iLINK from improper usage. 4 to 6 pin firewire carries an electric charge, a static spark can fry the camera iLINK board, sometimes not right away, but eventually. ALWAYS connect firewire first THEN power the devices on, firewire is NOT hot swappable, even though some may think so.

yes! It's called Google.com To OP and others: With all these probably valid concerns and legal issues, are you sure there's been an actual case against a skydiving video editor on a copyright infringement? Any other similar venture "small time" video editors and private video makers? I went through the listing of leading legal cases in copyright law in the US (other countries are available too) and didnt find one. I am not saying you need to wait for a tandem video dude to get prosecuted to have these concerns about using copyrighted music answered...

I dont have nearly the amount of experience with HMA line sets as you or PD... But if anyone interested in the subject, simple internet research on this will show that UV DOES have a strong impact on these fibers. And the amount of time the lines are exposed to the sun during regular jumping is considerable and adds up quickly. No question in my mind that there is a negative effect of UV rays on these super thin lines. It makes total sense to me to use anything to preserve their life. Thanks to all who have shared good info on this topic!

I was asked if i reline my stuff at 100-150 jumps. No, I dont. PD's 300s ARE very thin... as they said, 150 jumps max, but seen break at 80. But other HMAs that i have seen are thicker and can probably go longer. I dont use the 300s, the ones that Marat and all the PD pilots use. I have the 340 (whatever they mark them as) on my JVX... Those are a bit thicker. Same as MEL's. I did break the blue set of MELs HMA after about 400 jumps. 4 lines broke. I had two more lineset of his. One went 350-400 jumps with no issues the other i sold at about 200. Both still had plenty of life in them. I should say that the first lineset was jumped mostly with and RDS slider and second lineset never saw an RDS, but almost always was taken to terminal. Third was a mix of both regular and RDS slider, but mostly RDS. And has been wet a couple of times too. I will continue to jump my HMA lines after 150 jumps, paying VERY careful attention to their condition. I will probably NOT push them passed 350 though. I just sent my JVX for a reline with about 300 jumps on the lineset that was showing some signs of wear. Paul R. looked at it and said it still had about 80-100 jumps left in it. I trust his opinion, he has seen a lot of that stuff. But fuck it. There is always the "what if?". I dont want to be that guy. You know what i mean?

These are just recommendations. You DON'T have to follow them. In fact, you're more then welcome to keep jumping your lines until they break. Do let us know the outcome and the jump numbers though. ;)