pilotdave

What options does it come with? No way of knowing if it's a good price or not without knowing the details. It's about what I paid for my Vector 3 and PDR. Is it just the regular retail price, or is it some kind of deal? Dave

Why's that? You can do 3 of the 4 options. You still have 2 handles. The only thing you can't do is take a delay, which has killed many people. Sure, every one of those people screwed up. But why should I believe I'm incapable of making the same mistake? Dave

If I'm spotting for my group, no. If I'm a diver and someone else in my group has looked and decided to go, i'm not gonna stop in the door after the base has exited and change my mind. Dave

If you want, you can upload videos up to 200 megs to skydivingmovies.com. If you've got a short uncompressed clip, feel free to upload it. Dave

Pretty much just the usual suspects for me... Twin Otter King Air Caravan CASA 212 Skyvan 182 206 Allouette II Porter Uhhh, I think that's it... Dave

Holy shit, people get that old?! Dave

Video is worth about a billion words: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=3187 Dave

Nobody's saying you should. But the designer of the cypres said about the 12-year lifespan (in the link above), "Today we are happy with that decision because the deviations of the units that we see during the last couple of months confirm that we have done right." So their testing indicates that the units begin to have deviations starting around the end of their life limits. We don't throw the cypres out after 12 years to be good little boys. We do it because thats what the engineering analysis shows we should do. Operating a turbine engine 3000+ hours beyond TBO may be legal, but it's not necessarily smart. An operator shouldn't need to be forced to comply with the manufacturer.... the fact that engine components degrade over time is a pretty good reason though. Do you own a jumpable helicopter? 15 year old cypres or not, you could be one popular guy at any DZ! Dave

If there was an FAR that said part 91 operators have to comply with manufacturer recommended TBOs, you wouldn't be complaining. The FAA says we have to listen to the AAD manufacturers. The AAD manufacturer believes a 12 year life limit is necessary. What's the problem? Dave

FAR 105.43 (c) If installed, the automatic activation device must be maintained in accordance with manufacturer instructions for that automatic activation device. Dave

Where's he have it posted? I can try to get permission... Dave

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=3257 Dave

Ya know for the last year or so I've had sitting on my desk the US Army's formula for calculating the risk of a helicopter or fixed wing mission. I wanted to adapt something similar to general aviation and skydiving. Army pilots actually go through the excersize of calculating that risk factor before every flight. Various levels of permission are required for the flight based on the result. Seems like it could be a good idea for us to do the same sort of thing. I think we intuitively know how much risk we're taking, but then again we see people taking risks they don't seem to understand all the time. Could be a litte wake up call, not that anybody taking high risks would care... Dave

Really? Cool... I dunno why I thought they came from...ummm...out of state. Dave

Thanks! Raw footage: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=3282 Dave

Wow... gotten avgas on my hands many times. I woulda never thought it would hurt in the ear. Try jet fuel next and let us know how that goes... Dave

My ford car was built in mexico. My cypres was built in germany. My neptune was built in...ummm...miscellaneous. Nobody's perfect. Dave

I'd pay more to buy american... Nothing against a company in thailand. I just wouldn't want to see american jumpsuit manufacturers move production to asia like every clothing maker. Prices would come down, but so would quality... My Bev suit that I got a few weeks ago (took ~2 weeks) was nearly $400... luckily I had a $195 off certificate. Dave

A little background info that might help stir up some questions: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=957&string=stratoquest (although I think something's wrong with that video that stops it in the middle). Dave

I'm here... Anyway, yes, I didn't approve the video because I knew he didn't have permission from the owner of that video to post it and it's easily available on other sites. That video's been uploaded probably 5 times now, but until someone with actual rights to the video gives permission, I'm not gonna post it... especially without any credits given. The other videos I don't approve are "re-edits" of other peoples videos or compilations of clips from other peoples videos without permission or credit given. Oh and then there are fatality videos... I don't do those either. Dave

Been done inside a tunnel... http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=2762. I'd like to see him try it on top of yours though!

How many DZs are using such modern student canopies like sabre2s? I know some are, but is it really a significant percentage of students that are learning on ZP canopies? Dave

I just got my new tivo working tonight. Already set up recordings through their website (you can also do it through yahoo tv listings, but i havent gotten that to work yet). I also got TivoToGo working so i can transfer recordings from the tivo to my computer and look at the pics on my computer through my tivo on my tv. Really easy to use. Looks like yahoo will offer a bunch of other services through tivo in the near future. I've played with a comcast DVR and it works fine, but doesn't have all the bells and whistles. Only problem i have with the tivo (which i knew i was gonna have) is the time in takes to change channels. There's no "channel up"... it has to put in each digit for every channel. So if you just want to browse through the channels, it takes forever. But everyone I know thats had a tivo for a while says "why would you flip channels??" I was also worried about compatibility with high definition. It can't record in high def, and I don't think it displays in high def, but I can watch the high def channels and record them. I thought it was gonna be much more of a pain in the butt to do that. To watch in actual HD, I just have to switch inputs on the tv. My vote is for tivo, but ask me again in a few weeks. Dave

When I started jumping (not all that long ago), the stilleto was like the ultimate high performance canopy. I'm sure there were more extreme canopies out there, but the stilleto was the canopy all the hot swoopers had at every DZ I went to. It was something only the most experienced canopy pilots were jumping where I was. To a new jumper, it was a scary canopy that deserved respect. Tons of higher performance canopies have come out since then. But I still think of the stilleto as a really high performance canopy. I've never jumped one... the thought of it freaks me out a little even though I know I could handle it fine. I've jumped a similar canopy, but it was one that wasn't around when I was a student. I didn't have any impression of it from back then. So now that there are velocities and VXs and katanas, etc, what makes the stilleto any less scary to newer jumpers than it was to me when I was first starting? AFF students are getting much better canopy control lessons nowadays than I had. Are they so much better that a stilleto is no big deal after a couple hundred jumps or less? Something tells me no... Dave

Thanks! http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=3213. Dave