pilotdave

In January your choices will be limited since most DZs shut down for the winter. I think the Ranch stays open part time and CPI in Connecticut is open on weekends all winter. Don't think too many others anywhere near NY stay open. Dave

A little rain didn't stop them from jumping. And it didn't hurt his accuracy. Dave

For instruction, yes. For other stuff, I don't think so. After a couple hundred jumps, currency is more important than time in sport for things like wingsuits and camera flying. But I do think people should have to be around a while before they can become coaches or instructors. Dave

I was using amazon as a secondary download source for a while. It was really too slow. But it may be a viable option for a future version of the site. Actually I think i still pay 4 cents a month or something for the files I uploaded. Dave

And thats why I'm proud to announce SkydivingPornMovies.com! Ok, not really. Dave

Sorry, meant AI-servo, not AI-focus. But actually that brings up another point. AI-focus is supposed to automatically switch back and forth between one-shot and AI-servo as necessary. Never figured out how that's supposed to work. Maybe my description was off... too long for me to reread.

I'm in if you're in! The actual server that ran the site is being shipped to me. I'm looking into some options as to where to put it. But the options are limited. We had it good before. I don't expect a similar deal to come up again. We did a lot to try to keep people OUT before. Annoying registration was required to keep bandwidth use low. But it was still way too high for ad revenue to come anywhere near covering costs. A pay site would work... guarantee bandwidth use would be down to nothing. Can't compete with free. Anyone want to buy a website with over 60,000 registered users? Just plug it in and start making money!!! Lets start the bidding at $1 million? Dave

I assume you're using AI-focus and just added a switch that shorts the focus contact to ground so the camera constantly focuses (like with a mono plug), but you can keep it shut off until you have a need for it. And at the same time, the shutter switch is also wired to focus so the camera will still use AI-focus as long as you hold the shutter switch down. So it works well? One thing is that AI-focus and one-shot don't act the same way when you take a burst of photos. Having the camera in AI-focus with the focus contact wired to the shutter release contact is not the same as having the camera on one-shot autofocus. In one-shot, both the focus and the metering lock with the first picture. That can mess you up on a series of exit shots (or landing shots). But if you disable bursts, I'm not sure which mode works better. Dave

I'm kind of interested in this. What kind of switch are you using for that? How does it change the focus mode? I assume your camera is front mounted so you can't easily do it on the camera itself? With my camera (50D) it's easy and can be done without access to the back of the camera, so I can't imagine why a special switch would be necessary. But for less convenient cameras and mounting setups, I guess. But here's the real question... how do you choose which focus mode you want? I've gone back and forth between AI-servo and one-shot. I haven't found the advantage of one-shot yet. When do you use it? Dave

Looks better now... Dave

Who is arguing that the correct exit separation is 7 seconds? Some people are arguing that TIME can be used to determine exit separation (if you know the winds at exit and opening). But nobody is suggesting that 7 seconds is always correct. But what is NEVER correct is choosing exit separation by watching the previous group to see what angle they make in relation to the plane. There is no correct angle. Dave

The key word you're missing is "approved." That means FAA approved. The FAA has very specific rules for seats and berths. A temporary bench in a jump plane is not an approved seat or berth. The metal side facing benches in some otters on the other hand are approved seats. Dave

I have little wings. But I stay close to the plane, so I don't think it'd be too bad with bigger wings. Dave

I haven't done it for a tandem, but I use that exit for AFF videos. I don't climb all the way out on the step first though. Right foot out, back out the door, and just work my way back until I've got both hands on the back of the door frame, right foot on the very back edge of the step, and left foot hanging. Never actually fell myself, but lost my footing and ended up hanging from the bottom corner of the door. Wasn't as hard to hold on as I expected. Dave

I'm not sure it's so cut and dry that observers are not engaging in sport parachuting. It's an opinion, unless the FAA has made that determination. Dave

You could recreate those photographs over and over until you're convinced that the groups never reach 45 degrees, but it still wouldn't help. What if they did reach 45 degrees? What would it tell you about exit separation? If they reached 45 degrees in 3 seconds, would that make 3 seconds a safe separation? What if it took 20 seconds? Would you wait that long between groups? The real point is that the groups aren't in wildly different locations in the 2 pics (upwind and downwind jump run). There's no reason they would be different. Until they are in freefall long enough to reach very different wind conditions, their motion will be the same relative to the plane (since it's in the same wind) regardless of wind speed or direction. If the group in front of you seemed to shoot back very quickly and reached a 60 degree angle, would that make it safe to jump right behind them with very little delay? Of course not... you're going to be doing the same thing when you exit. What the group in front of you looks like from your perspective has nothing to do with safe exit separation. Dave

No, they don't stay directly below you. It's just that your path through the sky will be very close to their path through the sky if you exit too close to them. Watching them will not tell you anything about how long to wait. I don't see how 45 seconds would ever be necessary considering the group in front of you will likely open 45 seconds before you and fly away in strong wind. But assuming no canopy drift, yes, it might take 45 seconds for the plane to move far enough to separate the groups. But you still can't tell anything by watching the group in front of you. Point is that you can calculate that 45 seconds you need between groups on the ground before you get in the plane. Dave

I'd say it's the opposite. It works in practice, but not in theory. It only works because people attempting to use it happen to wait enough time for adequate separation most of the time. If it didn't work in practice, we'd have seen way more collisions or near-collisions. So it works as well as counting the planes parked on the airport or the fleas on the dropzone dog. Dave

Just make sure you're searching for the right thing. Runway End Identifier Lights are flashing white lights at the corners. End Lights are steady lights along the ends of the runway. Green at the near end, red at the far end. Many small airports don't have either type. Dave

Unfortunately when you hear it, it's probably not a good time for a conversation about physics, computer animations, or something you read on the internet. Usually it's on a loud jump plane. And usually it's being used by someone that doesn't want your advice. He knows what he's doing. I can only remember hearing anyone actually recommend it in real life a few times. One was an AFF instructor teaching his student on the ride up at a DZ I was visiting. Not touching that. Wrong time, wrong place. Another time it was an old jumper organizing a newbie group at a boogie in FL. He explained it to my group, getting out behind his group, as we were boarding the plane. Why bother trying? Wasn't going to work. His group was getting out first anyway. My friend and I just agreed we wouldn't try to combine our groups later in the day like we had been considering. The good news is that, at least in my experience, it doesn't come up often. Thanks to the internets. Dave

That's not true either (except when required by the jump door STC such as 182s). The legal issue with observers in many jump planes is the lack of a seat. Skydivers are allowed to sit on the floor. No (legal) issues with no rig in the right seat of an otter or the jumpseat of a CASA, for example. Dave

I put a couple jumps on an accuracy rig with a split slider. I kind of liked it. But you do need to be careful to put it back together correctly. Don't expect any packer to know what to do with it. I sure didn't until I found an old-timey jumper to help. Don't think I'd want to deal with it on every jump though. I don't mind the collapsed slider over my head. Dave

From last weekend... Dave

My pics are up: http://www.skydivingstills.com/gallery/9271722_X6wtx Be warned... I got there early and it was a bit cloudy for the first 2 days, so skip a few pages to get to wingsuit pics. Dave

Since 1999, it's averaged out at $0 per month. Very cheap!!! I'll see if I can get some figures on bandwidth usage from Matt. I think realistically, SkydivingMovies.com version 3 would need to change formats a bit to compete with youtube and to dramatically reduce the load on the server. But what we have are hundreds of hours of videos (or something, i have no idea) and a database of info and users. Dave