pilotdave

I wish somebody would come out with one. The face shield only needs to crack open as far as I'm concerned. I'd probably deal with one that doesn't open at all if somebody was making a full face FTP type thing. I hate goggles. Dave

I've been using Akando winter gloves for a few years and they're the best I've found. They've improved them a couple times since I bought my first pair. The latest ones (well, the ones I bought last winter) are the best so far. I haven't checked recently, but I never found them (the winter gloves specifically) in any gear stores. I bought direct from Akando (from Croatia). The shipping cost was low, but they do take quite a long time to arrive. They offer lots of sizes, which is important for getting a good fit for safety. They'll do until I find a good solution for heated gloves that doesn't require a fanny pack filled with 8 D batteries. Dave

I've been having that problem a lot with my 50D when jumping Cessna 206s. I must rub against the rolled-up fabric door during climbout. 100 blurry canopy shots on a sunset high pull finally got me to put tape over the dials. I was surprised a couple weeks ago how well freefall shots came out at 1/160th, but nowhere near as clear as 1/500th+. On one of my first jumps on that camera, I ended up in the wrong mode and ISO 800. Ended up with all my shots at 1/8000th. They actually looked good! Dave

I never owned the domain. Craig has owned it all along. He's been donating its use 2001 or so. Dave

??? The site is not being sold or anything like that. We found a potential host that would create an entirely new site. I'm being a bit picky when it comes to the functionality from the old site that I'd like to see carried forward. The plan is to get a new and improved SkydivingMovies.com going as opposed to giving away the contents of the site. Dave

Connecticut Parachutists usually does a water training over the winter. Don't know a date yet, but I did recently hear talk about it. Might want to join their email list at http://www.skydivect.com to get the announcement. Dave

It's looking like SkydivingMovies.com will be coming back in a new format. It's a big project that hasn't really gotten going yet, but it looks like it'll happen. Dave

Hey now! I did some engineering work for keystone a few years ago... right before my company bought them. I did some analyses for four STCs. I can tell you that they don't slap anything together... there's a huge amount of engineering work that goes with every STC. BTW, they're now building entire helicopters. Out of curiosity, what's in the manual for a wire strike protection system?? Just one big warning?

You have to remove the rubber eye piece to put the cover on. And the cover is on the strap... which is probably at home, all rolled up the way it came in the box. Gaffers tape seems easier to me.

That's too bad. Of all the things skyride does, who the heck cares about stickers? Sounds like a waste of time... Dave

The ultimate setting: Set the On/Off switch to On. Works great in almost all conditions. Dave

$100 would be a freaking awesome price. Dave

Isn't that illegal? Edit: Guess not... it seems the law was changed by the supreme court in 2007. Dave

I think it was kallend that shared the theory that the decreasing wind speed as we descend could cause a canopy to turn downwind. A gust (increasing wind speed) will cause a canopy turn toward the wind. Otherwise our canopies would be unstable and would have no tendency to fly forwards. But as we descend, the wind speed tends to decrease. Our canopy could see this as a series of negative gusts (decreasing wind speed). If the canopy experiences more decreasing wind than increasing wind, it could theoretically turn away from the wind direction over time. On the other hand, i doubt that this effect would be enough to notice and the reality is that canopies tend to turn a little for whatever reasons, and we only notice it when those turns are inconvenient... such as away from the wind direction when we're trying to penetrate. Dave

Here's my best shot... he said it was one of his favorites... Dave

Many options will depend on your size and whether you need the jumpsuit to help you fall faster or slower. Definitely consult with one of your instructors or someone else that's jumped with you and knows about ordering jumpsuits. But I recommend cordura booties, high zippers, and the rest is up to you. 4-way people will say inside knee grippers, gigantor humungo grippers, and all black. But at this point, those things aren't really necessary (in my opinion). The zippers are another controversial topic. I like them, but they do add a potential failure point. Again, if I was competing in 4-way, I'd go without zippers on the legs. But I switch between 3 different jumpsuits, so the high zippers are really nice for getting it on and off. Dave

Don't know about CA, but CT has it's own rules regarding demo jumps and some towns do too. There can be consequences beyond FAA-type stuff. Dave

Last year's record was not "official" since there were no rules for a record at the time. When you apply the USPA's new rules to last year's record, they don't get it. So the new record stands. Dave

Been a while since I ordered an RW suit, but mine has the Majik bootie option. Not sure if there are other "majik" options for grippers or something. The booties basically have a couple pleats in them that help keep them taut so they're more effective. My previous suit was basically identical except that it had regular booties. The difference was very noticeable. From your profile I'm assuming this is your first suit and probably your first experience with booties. I'd probably recommend the normal booties. That'll be a huge change from having no booties at all, but maybe not quite as much as going to more powerful booties. It took me a while to get used to the majik booties (I probably have nearly 1000 jumps on that suit now). Control in a track was the most noticeable difference. It was hard at first not to dive steeply at the start of the track, and going in a straight line took a little more effort and leg awareness. Dave

The T1i is the way to go. Or save money and go with any digital rebel from an XT up. Dave

He used the word "whilst" in another post, so I'm guessing he's not from the US. I'm no genius, but I know they have different rules in different countries. And I got my A-license with 22 jumps or so. Coulda had it in 20 but I did a couple more that day before taking the written test. Too bad I didn't quit jumping then... I'd get a weird profile too. Dave

An evaluator would be better... I spent a day working with one (actually an I/E) so I'd get a really honest opinion about whether or not I was ready to take the course. But you can do a whole lot of practicing with someone else. I played student for friends on a bunch of jumps while we were practicing. Spinning around or doing a little back flying to let someone flip you over doesn't take magical evaluator skills. Teaching and debriefing an "AFFI candidate candidate" is another story... an evaluator will be much better at that. But an instructor that took the course recently can fill in pretty well based on what they learned in the course and saw on their practice jumps and evals. Just trying to fly next to someone that's pretty much sitting still was a lot harder than expected. You don't need an evaluator to learn that and get lots of practice. Dave

It's going to depend so much on different student programs at different dropzones and how you define "graduate." Under the ISP, AFF jumps would be categories A-E, which is 8 jumps if you don't skip or repeat any. The F-H are coach jumps. My DZ doesn't let coaches do F1, so that's 9 jumps, and we don't clear students for "self supervision" until they successfully complete F2 and F3 (hop n' pops). So our students would have 11 jumps before they've "graduated." And we really don't make a big deal about the transition from AFF to coach jumps, so most students don't feel "graduated" until they finish category H, which would give them about 17 jumps if they go all the way through H3 to fulfill the requirements. When I went through AFF, I repeated level 4 once, so I had 8 jumps when I "graduated" to doing solos. Dave

No need for an evaluator... any AFF instructor, especially a new one that went through the course recently, can be a really good (bad?) student. And if one of those isn't available, use someone else. I started practicing probably a year before I took the course. Those first... many... jumps with the "student" doing a good job were humbling. Can't imagine just doing that for the first time in the few days leading up to eval jumps. And I'm talking about doing full on practice Cat C/D evals (the freefall part, anyway). No reason to learn spin stops, rollovers, signal presentation, etc at the course instead of beforehand. But advice from someone that took the course 100 years ago (and isn't a current evaluator) might not be helpful for the specifics. Dave

It's all about personal preference. I totally agree with you that people should try a few canopies before buying instead of choosing what they're told is best. But I love the sabre2. I don't get hard openings on mine. I had a few brisk ones a few years ago, but it was out of trim and in need of a reline. New lines put a stop to that. And none of them were really HARD openings like I've heard about on spectres numerous times. Ok ok, some people have had hard openings on sabre2's as well... but the spectre is not immune. My openings are usually off heading. I have well over 1000 jumps on my Sabre2 and I rarely get an on-heading opening. Unless you count a complete 360 or one of those that swings 90 right then 90 left or whatever. I've tried every tip from keeping my feet together during the snivel to steering with rear risers to keeping my hands off my risers. Nothing has helped. A PD rep packed it for me once (very carefully to demonstrate all his packing tips) and I still got a 270 on opening. But the openings are pretty much always smoooooth and soft. I am not picky about packers... I get the same openings when I pack it, when a rigger packs it, or when a jumper's 8-year-old granddaughter packs it (ok haven't actually found one that will pack start to finish yet). With cameras on my head, it makes me very comfortable that I can have confidence that my next opening is going to be as soft as my last one no matter how ugly that pack job looked. Closed end cells are really nothing to complain about. They open on their own within a few seconds... by the time the canopy has finished doing its thing on opening and is flying straight. But to me, the flare makes the canopy. It's worth the off heading openings for such a nice landing. I really don't like the way spectres flare. I'm sure there are other canopies that flare just as well as the sabre2 and have better openings, but I haven't jumped one myself. I'll be sending mine to PD for its 3rd lineset over the winter. No plans to get rid of the canopy any time soon. Some people love em, some people hate em. That's why you've gotta try before you buy. Dave