pilotdave

I thought it was hilarious. Jared's reaction was probably about the same as mine would be. Dave

Each number and tick mark around the dial is a separate layer, so each could be edited independently. In other words, I can make it meters if you want. How many tick marks does a metric altimeter have? If it's the same, it would only take a few minutes to change. If it's different, well, changing all those tick marks is a pain but it can be done. Dave

This one'll need a little editing for you, but I have it as a gigantic layered photoshop file so the text could be changed in a minute. Lemme know if you're interested. I made it for a cafepress clock to buy: http://www.cafeshops.com/umdskydiving.3804037 Dave

Requiring night jumps for a license does seem strange to me, but then again I don't think anyone could really be considered an all-around expert skydiver without having jumped at night. But jumping at night doesn't make you an expert either. I mean, I could understand if they required a night jump rating to jump at night. That would make sense. It would be proof that you've got the training to make a jump at night. But requiring night jumps to get a license does seem a little backwards to me. On my 2 night jumps, I landed with cars to my back, which put my shadow out in front of me. It was a really easy way to judge my height. When my feet hit the shadow of my feet, I was down. Dave

Oh man this could ground all the T-34s for a loooong time. It doesn't sound to me like the planes hit. It sounds like a wing spar failure. Same thing happened to another similar company a while back. The planes are flown within their limitations, but since they're pulling Gs more often then "normal" T-34s, it's causing the spars to fatigue (I'm just assuming thats the cause here). This one's gonna cost the T-34 owners a LOT of money I bet. Dave

Well, the micron shown on the current RWS web page does not have the trim tape: http://www.relativeworkshop.com/sales/pdt_micron.html. Maybe it's an older design. But the 3D coloring program also doesn't show it. Here's my problem. I don't want 7 "sun beams." I want 5 of them. I think it looks better that way. So my plan was to color the far left and far right sun beams the same color as the reserve flaps (see attachment). But with that big nasty piece of trim tape in the way, it'll ruin my pretty design. Also... The attachment shows black trim tape. I think it looks good that way but it's tough to picture how it'll actually look. Should I go with black or blue tape? Dave

Here are the screen resolution stats for skydivingmovies.com... slightly larger sample.

Ok, this is kind of a strange question but I need to know it for picking colors... Is there trim tape running above the middle area where the stripes are? In other words, running diagonally down from the bottom corners of the reserve flap. THIS ONE doesn't have it. THIS ONE does have it. Is it there on the 3-m and not the micron maybe? Dave

Ack! Denied by "SmartFilter" for "Humor, Mature." They don't let us have any fun here. Yesterday I was looking for pictures of helicopter crashes (for work... I'm in helicopter safety) and some sites got filtered for being "mature." Drives me nuts. Dave

If you're still in one piece, I'm guessing it wasn't a bronco: http://www.combataircraft.com/aircraft/fov10_p_03_l.jpg.

Yeah a second server was set up to lighten the load on the main server. Both are currently down for different reasons. In theory, both should be back up and running soon (today maybe?). Dave

I have, ahem, access to combustion v2. I couldnt figure out how to do ANYTHING with it. I think i need another book. Dave

i dunno about a real manual but i bought a book to learn premier since my copy also mysteriously didn't come with instructions. It helped a LOT. Spend a little money... it's worth it. Dave

I can't get in either. I should probably do something about that, huh? Ok, here goes... CYYYYYYBERRRRRRRRR??!?! And while I'm at it, since the mirror server is also down... LEEEEEERROOOOOOYYYYY?!?!?! If that doesn't work, I'll send some emails. Dave

What's the purpose of the presentation? I mean, just about skydiving in general, or making your first jump, or what? I have one about making a first jump but it's very much tailored to the needs of one specific club. It would take a bit of editing. If you're looking for something more general, can't help ya. Dave

I haven't read this whole thread, just parts, so maybe I'm wrong here. But it sounds like what you're arguing is that for a short period of time, during a maneuver, relative wind hits the top of the canopy, and this is different depending on the wind speed (ie the weather). This just doesn't make sense. Just think of it this way: Your canopy would collapse if the wind hit it from above. Or at least your lines would go slack. Does that happen? The angle of attack of the canopy INCREASES during a turn. The direction of the wind HAS NO AFFECT, assuming a steady wind. Imagine you're on a giant moving sidewalk. Your walking is not affected by the direction or speed of the sidewalk as long as it's constant. The only thing that is affected is your velocity relative to the fixed earth. Gusts are a different matter. The way aerospace engineers think of gusts is as in finite changes of airspeed, angle of attack, and/or sideslip angle. In other words, when a gust hits, it'll affect your airspeed and the angle you're flying to the relative wind. Depending on the stability characteristics of the aircraft, it will return to a constant state. In other words, when a gust comes from the side, the aircraft will have a sidelsip angle. The aircraft won't continue flying sideways relative to the wind though. It doesn't sound like you're talking about gusts though. For steady wind, the wind speed CANNOT have an affect on the way the canopy flies. Now of course if there was a constant downdraft, sure, you'll be descending faster, relative to the earth (but not relative to the wind). I'm no swooper but I do fly a 140 square foot wing loaded at 19:1.

I learned an important lesson last night. I never wanna be a rigger! The lines were SO tangled when I got it. They had slinks on, but at least one of the slinks came open and a couple lines came loose. In the end, I spent around 5 or 6 hours getting everything untangled and hooked up. I ended up having to take all the slinks off (one at a time), getting all the twists out of each group of lines, and reattaching them. Once I finally got it all done and connected the risers to the container, I realized I somehow got my risers switched and the riser with the RSL hookup was on the wrong side. Got that fixed quickly, reattached the risers correctly, and started to pack. I tried once to get it in the bag and gave up and went to bed. That'll be my project for tonight. Dave

I just got my new (used) Sabre2 135 yesterday. It came with no toggles, so I took the ones off my old canopy and connected them. PD seems to have temporarily taken their canopy manual offline, (and their website seems to be down at the moment). I got instructions over the phone from a friend, but I think I better have a rigger redo them before I jump it. Here's what I did: First I put the two brakelines side by side, and lined up the cats eyes so they'd theoretically be the same length in the end. Then I folded the end over so a couple inches overlapped, and tied a knot (just a regular one, nothing fancy) so the overlapped part became a loop. My old canopy definitely has something fancier going on. I assume the only difference is that the old one had the excess line fingertrapped into the brakeline, but I don't really know how to do that. I got the lenths of the brakelines to be within about a centimeter of each other. Is that close enough? And how do I know if they are the proper length? There was a knot in each one about half way between the cats eye and the end of the brakeline. Is that a likely indicator of where they're supposed to be tied, or are those more likely there as a quick length adjustment by the previous owner? I'm just going to have a rigger redo them this weekend anyway, so I'm just curious how I did. Dave

All depends on how you expect them to react and how much you care how they react. I have one friend that was ready to jump in college. He signed up for AFF and everything. Then he told his mom and she threatened to stop paying his college tuition. His jumping career ended before it started. On the other hand, I doubt his mom would have really cut off his tuition, so if he didn't mind pissing her off, he could have gone anyway. And if he did go anyway, I think his mom would have been much more pissed if he went without telling her beforehand. I took another friend for a tandem jump once. Her parents weren't thrilled, but they weren't going to stop her. They did buy her life insurance beforehand though! (not even kidding) Dave

That's exactly what I use. Hands freeze every time. Great for spring, no good for winter. Dave

Some people need to be shot. Dave

Ok, starting to feel like a retard cause I can't pick a color scheme. I've at least picked what colors I want to use. Anyone like any of these? Dave

The problem is in meters. I'm thinking about it but i cant see what the average velocity over the first 2 seconds has to do with the velocity at the end of the first 2 seconds. The only difference between the speed and velocity, as far as I can see, will be a negative sign in front of the velocity. To calculate velocty from positon, you just need to differentiate it. v(t) = -9.8t average velocity is the velocity at the end minus the velocity at the start, divided by 2, right? So for t=2.1, v(avg) = -10.29 t=2.01, v(avg) = -9.849 t=2.001, v(avg) = -9.8049 t=2.0001, v(avg) = -9.80049 The actual velocity would be 9.8(2) = -19.6, speed=19.6 But that's all I know. Dave

That's a math problem disguised as a skydiving post. It burns my eyes! Dave

I used to be president of a collegiate club. We did 4 trips to the DZ each semester for the newbies. You never can tell who will stick with it and who wont. I had tons of people tell me they were DEFINITELY going to take up skydiving after their first jump, then I'd never see them again. Others that didn't seem all that excited about it kept showing up over and over. I think you might get a couple that make a second or even third jump, but I'd doubt you'll get more than 1 or none that stick with it. When someone told me they were definitely coming back for more, I'd tell them to really try to remember how they feel right then, a few minutes after jumping. After a few weeks, after hearing how stupid and crazy they were from friends and family, a lot people forget that feeling and lose the desire to do it again. Out of curiosity, what are the details of the charity event? Dave