pilotdave

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Everything posted by pilotdave

  1. pilotdave
    I don't know but I'm guessing it's a private airport and the R is just a non-standard marking. Maybe the owner's last initial or something. Never heard of R being an official marking. Got a link to it on google maps or something? Dave
  2. pilotdave
    129PM is a jump plane... Z-hills I believe. It's the green Freefall Express otter. Edit: Some google searching shows a couple of them crashed with Pilgrim (124 and 127), and 128pm is also a jump plane now registered as N24HV (at Cross Keys I guess). Dave
  3. pilotdave
    I was really responding to the idea of skydivers using runways and claiming to be aircraft. I don't believe it would "fly" based on that ruling. Landing on runways occasionally by accident is another story. Dave
  4. pilotdave
    My guess is that if someone tested that theory, the FAA would lean away from thinking of parachutists as aircraft and more toward them being objects dropped from aircraft. If we want to compare skydivers to something else mentioned in the FARs, objects dropped from aircraft probably come closest. If a skydiver has a close call with an aircraft, I am guessing that it's the pilot that dropped that jumper that will generally have problems. The skydiver himself is not an aircraft, a pilot, or even an aircraft having an emergency. There is no right of way for skydivers just like there's no right of way for objects dropped from aircraft. There are on the other hand plenty of rules about where, when, and how these objects can be dropped. Dave
  5. pilotdave
    Got an email late last week that the server will be shut down (it's been running?) and shipped to me this week. Anyone want a plug and play website with over 60,000 registered users? Just plug it in, turn it on, and rake in the $$$. That easy. Right? Name Media? Helloooo? Instantly make dz.com and basejumper.com the #1 video sites for skydiving and base jumping. C'mon, you know you want to. Just pay shipping and handling and lots more. Anyone? Dave
  6. pilotdave
    A parachute is a parachute. Nothing else. The rules for gliders, ultralights, planes, helicopters, blimps, or anything else do not apply to parachutes. We have our own set of rules. Parachutists are not aircraft. Dave
  7. pilotdave
    I wonder how many people are going to pour beer all over their camera helmets to get the gaffers tape to stick better. "But DSE said to..." or "it was the only alcohol on the DZ." Dave
  8. pilotdave
    Here's a comparison between ~26 on board in 2008 and ~18 on board in 2009... Dave
  9. pilotdave
    Nothing has changed, you just started to notice the drama. Sometimes it takes a while. You can't change people. Either deal with it or quit. I see you chose to quit (not sure you can call it retiring just yet). If you're in the sport to socialize and not to skydive, it might not be the right sport for you. No idea what you're specifically talking about, but maybe you should have tried changing DZs. If every DZ gives you the same problem, maybe the other people aren't the problem? Most skydivers spend most of their time not skydiving. That part can suck. But either the skydiving makes it worth it, or it doesn't. That's a personal decision. You couldn't pay me to quit. Dave
  10. pilotdave
    This much... Dave
  11. pilotdave
    It was actually 17-19 depending on when they fueled. Very comfy and fast rides to altitude, but we needed 2 planes to do 25-ways which was a bit unexpected. It's sad when a slow 100 series otter can carry more people than a casa. According to Manifest, Fayard has been sending CASAs to pepperell for 10 years and I believe they normally put up to 26 on them. They also refused to hot fuel, so every fuel load was a 15-30 minute shutdown. They did hot fuel at jumptown though. And Howard, define "on time." Unfortunately weather was a big factor, but they were 2 or 3 days late to Pepperell and if I remember correctly, they were late to jumptown too by a day or two. Dave
  12. pilotdave
    How is that? The advantage of less pixel density is less noise. More pixel density gives higher resolution. This is the big advantage of a cropped sensor over a full frame sensor. Given the same lens and the same number of pixels, the cropped sensor will have more pixels per square inch of the picture, giving it a higher apparent resolution. This is what gives a cropped sensor more "reach," since the picture can be cropped farther while keeping more pixels on the subject. An 18 mp image from a cropped camera is not the same as a 1.6 crop from an 18 mp full frame camera. The cropped camera picture will have higher resolution. If they found a way to deal with the noise effectively while maintaining sharpness, the cropped sensor has its advantage over full frame. That doesn't mean it's for everyone though. But I do agree 18 mp is reaching overkill. Waiting for the reviews of this one to see if the resolution is really higher than the 50D with 15 mp. Dave
  13. pilotdave
    Honestly the best idea is to avoid that situation as much as possible. It's going to happen sometimes... there'll always be funnels right before breakoff. But if jumps don't go to plan most of the time (leaving people all over the sky), stick with smaller groups so it's easier to stay together or at least keep track of each other. Especially if you're jumping with other people at your experience level. But when you're in that situation, keep your eyes open, find clear air, and save yourself. Some people recommend barrel rolling while tracking to look above. I don't personally believe it's a good idea, especially if you're not really good at it. Track flat and far and look around. And be glad the sky is really big because that's pretty much the only reason we don't bump into each other more often. Dave
  14. pilotdave
    Why risk an emergency bailout with students if a safe landing in the plane is highly probable? Complete engine failure (all engines) is a different story. Single engine failure in a healthy turbine though? Is that really more dangerous than an emergency bailout on the main and an almost guaranteed off landing? Dave
  15. pilotdave
    A lot of that is dropzone dependent. I see the opposite. I have no idea how a lot of the jumpers at my DZ do in freefall, but I know how they are under canopy. When someone messes up in freefall, usually only a few people (if that) see it. When they mess up under canopy, they are bound to hear about it from at least 5 different people. And that's just on their walk back from the landing area. And if they make the same mistake again, they'll get a nickname.
  16. pilotdave
    I agree that a stuck altimeter is a nasty failure mode since it gives erroneous information. But digitals can do that too, especially a digital with an analog dial. But other digitals could theoretically lock up. And another failure mode of an analog altimeter is a needle that falls off. That's equivalent to the screen of a digital going blank. I do think the most common failure mode of an analog is sticking and the most common failure mode of a digital is going blank (or rebooting and not showing altitude), but I do think that both types of altimeters can have the same failure modes. But in my experience, the failure rate of digitals is much much much higher than the failure rate of analogs. Dave
  17. pilotdave
    I guess it's a different technique. It doesn't really untwist anything, it just moves the linetwists from the lines to the risers where they come out much more easily. You can see that after I stop twisting them, I start spinning out quickly with no effort. It has worked well for me every time I've used it, but I hesitate to recommend it since I learned it from a video on skydivingmovies.com by a random person with unknown experience. I'm pretty sure that's the only emergency procedure I've learned by watching a video on the internet, and I'm not proud of it.
  18. pilotdave
    An alti-2 galaxy will probably outlast your skydiving career. If you want something electronic in the future, it'll wait patiently in your gearbag for the day your batteries die. It's a good investment. Dave
  19. pilotdave
    I didn't. Brakes were set, slider set, pilot chute cocked, and everything straight. The packer was a new jumper (just got her A license a couple weeks ago). She flipped the bag when bringing it over the container. Wasn't all her fault. I happened to notice the bag sitting there kind of randomly placed as she was about to stow the risers, and I questioned how she was going to know which way to flip it to put it in the container. She brought it back over the container to do it again correctly, and that's most likely when it flipped through. She probably would have gotten it right if I hadn't said anything. But anyway, she packed for me again after that and stopped after she stowed all the lines so I could show her how to bring the bag over without flipping it. Lesson learned for both of us.
  20. pilotdave
    One more example from two days ago: http://www.skydivingstills.com/Skydiving/2009/Weekend-Pics-8-30-09/9467217_Z2jP4#635979657_qSsBT-A-LB. After clearing the linetwists, I realized I had a stepthrough too. It flew fine so I recorded a nice message for my packer.
  21. pilotdave
    So if I am understanding this correctly, is this supposed to be a sort of mid-point between the digital rebel series and the 5D? I think it's kind of in a new class (for canon). Not really below a 5D, just different. And it's more in the 50D line than the 5D line anyway. Not full frame, but that's got advantages too. It'll be a better camera for sports than the 5D... better autofocus, higher frame rate, higher pixel density, more lens choices, etc. Looks good to me! EDIT: Oh never mind. This will be useless for skydivers. No sports mode on the dial! Dave
  22. pilotdave
    Used by smoke jumpers maybe? Dave
  23. pilotdave
    Basler BT-67 to be exact. But I have no idea where. Dave
  24. pilotdave
    The ranch uses a tandem progression type of program and transitions to AFF. I think all students make 3 tandems. Dave
  25. pilotdave
    If you've been here for a couple days, I'm sure you can anticipate the feedback you're going to get about your ringsight, its hardware, and mounting location. Looks like it's begging to snag a line and not break off. Dave