crazydiver

Primary goal...figure out if I've got the right settings going on. Does what said earlier mimic how it should be set up? Cheers, Travis

Hey All, Quick question. Bought a Suunto core because I've known lots of others who used it for under canopy, etc. Put it in altimeter mode and set the reference altitude to "0" but when I took it up to jump the other day, it was about 1200 feet off the whole way up to altitude, and that disparity increased as we got higher in altitude. Am I in the wrong setting? Mike Gruwell...suggestions? Cheers, Travis

Then you haven't taken very heavy people. 220 lbs is our maximum guaranteed weight for tandem students where I work, but most of us will take up into the 250ish range. Cheers, Travis

Other than measuring methods changing between manufacturers, "feeling like it flies big" is really a subjective matter. Responsiveness isn't what I'd measure it by. I would be saying that based on how the canopy feels above my head compared to similar sized canopies. For example, 6 years ago, I started jumping velocities after jumping a crossfire 2 of a similar size. In my observation, the velocity had steeper glide, but had WAY more lift, especially at the bottom end of the flare. I also found that the velocity, although being pretty steep in its glide, could hang with just about any other canopy out there. In that respect, they fly big. Cheers, Travis

I have a suggestion, tell me what you think. Each DZ or even the USPA could have guidlines for canopy selection, sort of like Germain's. Any jumper who does not fall with in that chart would have certain restrictions on what kind of jumps they can do with that canopy. From the most basic to advanced. ie. Hop and pops only, normal paterns with normal landings, Straight in double front risers. and so on. It would be sort of a long canopy control class. Each manuver would have to be demonstrated with consistant results. Once an Instructor was satisfied with that manuver they would endorse the logbook. If the jumper is caught going outside of these limitations they could be banned from the DZ or busted back to the first level. A system like this would ensure a progressive canopy progression. While also allowing a higher margin of safety for him or herself and others. This would also place more infaces on the intructors critique, and wether the jumper has the ability to safely fly said canopy. Sure that COULD work...except then you run into the issue that has come up here in this thread. A more experienced jumper (the DZO) has told you you cannot jump the canopy and you got your little ego hurt. Obviously the system wouldn't work for you because you'd get upset when someone told you no. I'll be honest with you...I've been that canopy pilot. I bashed in at jump 300 at a 1.4 wing loading. I was 18 at the time. I am forever greatful to the universe that I was able to make it through my "full of piss and vinegar" days. Hell...I'm 26 now and still have to fight my ego. My thesis for graduate school focused on the importance of humility in skydiving and knowing our limitations. I'll be frank here...when I started reading this thread, my guess (from your asinine posts) was that you were a guy between the ages of 18 and 24 until I saw your jump number progression and realized you were probably much older. Then you mentioned you had a wife and two kids...and now I just feel bad for them and their potential future. I have 5000 jumps. My wife doesn't skydive and she knows my experience level and is still nervous about my habit/job/addiction/hobby. I try to downplay the risk involved to her, but the reality is...I don't even believe myself! We've got a risky sport here, especially swooping, and that is exponentially higher for someone of your experience level jumping what you are. You're going to have to grow up and work on some humility. I literally thought you were 18 years old. I hope we never see bad news about you in the incidents section. Cheers, Travis

Looks like this hitler parody was a biography about castrodavidd. Cheers, Travis

Dude, the guy wasn't even talking about something to be done on an AFF jump. He was saying it would be helpful to use on RW jumps. Chill the F out. Geez. I agree with you on literally everything in your post, except he wasn't talking about AFF jumps. He could have said that without his preface of not being an AFF student and it would have meant the same thing. Cheers, Travis

Looking at moving to Spain at some point as my wife is considering opening a hostel there. I haven't had a chance to chat with dropzones there yet (its a long way down the road). Does anyone know the situation on types of workers instructors and videographers are? Are they individual contractors like most dropzones in the US or are they actual employees? This would dictate how easy (or difficult) it would be to actually go and be able to legally work there. Thanks for any help from anyone in the know. Cheers, Travis

Fun police!!! Weeeooooweeeeooooo.... Cheers, Travis

Good lord. Where are you working and how do you do that skydiving? 1000 jumps is a good year for most in the states at about 30-40 per jump. Cheers, Travis

Nevermind, I just found it in the manual. Looks like you can select where to save the video and photos to separately. One more question, like the video settings that have to be reset each day, does this setting have to be reset each day as well? Cheers, Travis

Hey All, Looking at upgrading to an HD camcorder but dont want to shell out the bucks for something brand spanking new. I was looking at the Sony CX100 and realized that the internal memory thing may be a problem since I'm going to be using this for back to back tandem videos where I have to swap out the memory stick before loading the plane again. Is it possible to record the video straight onto the memory stick instead of having to dub it from the internal memory to the memory stick? If not, how long does that dub process take for a short tandem video and is the process simple enough to do on a back to back? If its not, then I'm gonna have to look for a model that doesn't have any internal memory. Cheers, Travis

Look at that super steep tracking dive with a tandem. No wait, I mean look at that amazingly fast forward speed on that head down flocking dive with a tandem. Cheers, Travis

A tandem instructor wishing to do tandem instruction jumps at a USPA group member DZ must get a general tandem rating with USPA and through whichever manufacturer they want to be certified to jump with. IE, I took separate courses for my Sigma/Vector and my Strong ratings. Once you have one, however, crossover training is pretty simple compared to the entire tandem course. Cheers, Travis

Wow... Could one huge airport be more boring? I'm stuck there right now. Cheers, Travis

I couldn't tell who the student was when I looked at the first pic. :) Cheers, Travis

This is tough since you're in Europe. If you were in the united states, I would certainly do what I can to help you get going. Certainly doable. Cheers, Travis

@crazydiver: you are aware that RDS stands for "removable deployment system"? It is not the same as "removable slider". The primary benefit to an RDS is that it allows you to remove the pilot chute and D-bag from the top of the canopy. Woops...twas early. :) I think I read the comment about how "freeing" the feeling of having the RDS was and had just the slider portion in my head. Nevermind. :) Cheers, Travis

I would argue that the RDS is not removing drag from the fulcrum since the slider is down near the jumper (the load). This would actually increase the angle of attack since the drag would be taken away from the jumper and not from the airfoil. A collapsible pilot chute also reduces drag, but removes the drag from the fulcrum (airfoil) and decreases the angle of attack. Cheers, Travis

How would you define "so many"? Clearly we don't have exact numbers here. I'm sure many of these near-misses were never reported to the USPA for incident reports. We are hearing reports from a number people here on this forum and that doesn't represent the general skydiving population over the years. I don't have a set definition of "so many." What are you, a scientist?

How would you define "so many"? Clearly we don't have exact numbers here. I'm sure many of these near-misses were never reported to the USPA for incident reports. We are hearing reports from a number people here on this forum and that doesn't represent the general skydiving population over the years. I don't have a set definition of "so many." What are you, a scientist?

I've been pretty close to a glider myself (glider was off radio and taking a nice leisurely ride through the middle of our landing area. I had to turn under canopy to get out of the way of the glider. I felt the wake of the glider as it passed. I also have a friend who has video (its somewhere here on DZ.com in old threads) of him nearly being hit by a slurry bomber during some nearby forest fires. The video was almost identical to the originals poster's. He didn't see it coming though, it came from behind where he was facing. He fell between the wing and the horizontal stabilizer. Close call. If these encounters happen at the bottom end of freefall, I agree, there is little we can do to prevent them. That doesn't mean it isn't a significant risk to us as jumpers. I also think that the fact that there have been so many near-death experiences like these goes to show that it IS a risk. 50 feet closer and this person would be dead. Cheers, Travis

My first two cutaways were within a couple weeks of one another. I also had two tandem cutaways on the same day once. Ten total. I've been on a dry spell recently. Gotta be time for another soon enough... Cheers, Travis

Um....no, Terry. A simple thank you isn't praise. It's a courteous acknowledgment of another's effort. I was raised and brought my kids up knowing that honesty is its own reward, and in personal matters that is more than enough for me. But in customer relations, there is a need to care for that customer. Is the customer always right? Of course not. Should the customer always be left feeling valued? In most cases, and good businesses make sure they do. Have you never had somebody do you a favour, Terry? Did you say thank you? Is that praise?? I am getting a real kick out of this thread and I'm increasingly thrilled I made the OP. I didn't post "Shitty Service!", or "I Got Screwed!!" I posted "poor" and "lackluster" to describe the semi-rude, thankless and unapologetic (except for one anemic and almost undelivered sorry) service. The imaginations and seeming inability to understand the OP by most subsequent posters is causing me terrific amusement! And Pash: you assume too much in trying to understand my brief comment about the value of my time. My comment, while accurate, is made only to counterpoint the "bill for $1" comment. No need trying to recreate an elephant from examining a hair. Post more, though! I'm loving it and the bandwidth is here to be used - it's like air. It's a valuable commodity when it's in short supply but otherwise, use it at will. Finally, nothing has been added to this by subsequent posts that wasn't included in the OP. That's what I find so funny! I'm not looking for advice or reviews (but they're welcome, I assure you!). Like Sparky mentioned, a discussion of CS about this vendor seems the logical way to progress. Logic and skydivers: it's not just a fantasy combination. Is it? Nova PS to Pash: Apropos nothing, time and the value thereof isn't measured for all of us in how many swings of the hammer we make, how many screws we turn or how many papers we shuffle. My time is valuable to me - as anyone's time is valuable to himself. But there is a thing called multi-tasking and while jotting this post, I also billed several Benjamins. It's like Janis said: Get it while you can. (edited to add: In Reply To) Ya, my time is precious too. Cheers, Travis

Wow. This conversation is ridiculous. So you had to cut the webbing yourself? you had to put a label on a box and send it back? You should have billed them for your time. What was it, five minutes or so? So let's see, at $12 per hour, they would owe you $1. I can't believe they didn't offer you a $1 credit on your order... I suppose everyone is different. Your idea of "poor" customer service is WAY different than my own. Cheers, Travis