pilotdave

I searched the vasst.com website and couldn't find it. The trial version that came with tandem videos made easy asked for a serial number and won't seem to run without one. And I can't find where to buy it. Spot! Help!

Ha, that was a warm day. I think it was almost 40 on the ground. Opening at 9K was chilly but really not bad. My hands get cold under canopy in the winter and that jump didn't even bother them. Only problem with that jump was their insistence to face the sun (and I was asked not to ever go in front of them). But I did get to play when they gave up on the 3-way.

Too ugly for pics... and I'm too lazy.

Been jumping a 50D for a month now. I'm liking it a lot. I had an XT and XTi before it. It's definitely big and heavy compared to the digital rebels, but it's jumpable. I keep most of the special features like auto light optimizer and highlight tone priority shut off. Really the only different setting I use on the 50D compared to the XTi is auto ISO. It doesn't work quite the way I'd like it to, but it's nice that it will bump up the ISO when necessary. I've gotten shots that would otherwise be impossible without either using an automatic mode or changing settings between shots. I'd recommend at least 100 or more video-only jumps before you try a still camera... especially such a big one. If you're ready to jump it, pretty much any mode will work but each has advantages and disadvantages. Sports mode works great... at least on the digital rebels. Haven't tried it yet on the 50D but I assume it'll work great too. Let me know if you have any questions about it. Lots of sample pics on my stills site... just about anything 1/24/09 and after. Few examples attached. Second one is indoor rock climbing at ISO 3200. Dave

So what's the story? Know someone that owns it? Good luck with spare parts! Does it have wooden blades? Dave

Mine mounts with 3M Dual Lock (aka fancy velcro) and an altimeter wrist strap. I've only jumped it a few times now, but it seems to work fine. Dave

Everything else being equal, maybe. But theres obviously a lot more to canopy design than planform. Elliptical wings, on airplanes, produce an elliptical lift distribution across the wing. Lift at the wingtips is basically reduced to nothing (on a purely elliptical wing), which reduces induced drag. Tapered wings basically have the same affect but are easier to produce. That's why they're so common and elliptical wings have rarely been used at all. I'm only guessing, but I'd think for a canopy that induced drag is small compared to parasite drag. And how much is induced drag really reduced? "Elliptical" canopies are going to have a lot more features that make them faster and more responsive than the shape of the wing as seen from above. The trim, the wing thickness, etc, etc, etc. Those are going to have far more effect, I'm guessing, than the fact that the wing is elliptical or tapered or whatever. Dave

I didn't believe it so I checked snopes. They say it's real... and here are more: http://www.hammergallery.com/images/peoplepictures/people%20pictures.htm. Dave

2/10/21 If you count off landings as different places, add like 50.

We're going to go back to using those in the future? What happened??? Dave

I think you're kind of mixing up turbulent boundary layers with turbulence. First of all, turbulent boundary layers (turbulent air flowing over the wing) work just fine. Most of the airflow over a wing is turbulent anyway. Laminar flow airfoils are designed to keep a laminar flow over a longer portion of the chord, but that doesn't apply at all to canopies. Turbulence can be thought of as variations in angle of attack. In a plane, you'll feel drops, bumps, rolls, etc. as the lift keeps changing, often asymmetrically between the wings. Generally for planes, a higher wingloading lessens the effects of turbulence. A canopy is not rigid though. It'll not only get bounced around like a plane (which is uncomfortable but usually not dangerous), a canopy can be deformed due to a sudden change in angle of attack. Since we're suspended below our canopies by non-rigid lines, the matter is even worse. More highly loaded canopies might not be affected by turbulence quite as much... but when they are, they hit the ground harder. Dave

I've read that EIS is bad in freefall so i've tried shutting it off on my PC1000. Didn't see any less camera shake so i leave it on. I don't get the smoothest video in the world... but i think a better camera helmet that really clamps to my head will help. Dave

I think terms like elliptical, slightly elliptical, semi-elliptical, tapered, etc. are more descriptive of the performance of the canopy than the shape of the canopy. They're basically marketing terms. A canopy described as slightly elliptical is probably not as fast and responsive as a "fully elliptical" canopy, regardless of their actual shapes. Of course the ultimate canopy is the super elliptical, or "round" canopy. Only used by expert jumpers. Dave

Don't know if those are common colors at Lodi, but this guy used to jump there... Dave

...most environmentally damaging sport in the world. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/spoil-sports-7-activities-that-damage-the-environment.php I figured it woulda been drunk oil tanker slalom. Ok, it's not necessarily in any particular order. But we're still #1. Dave

Level 4 was the only level I had to repeat. Take advice from your instructors and keep at it. It'll just "click" all of a sudden and you'll feel like you're in total control. My first level 4 didn't go too well, ending in a landing far enough from the DZ that a guy that watched me land asked me where the dropzone was. But it was still the funnest jump I had done to that point. It just keeps getting more and more fun from there. Don't overthink it... your instructors will tell you everything you need to know. Get back out and try again. Dave

Are you using a blow switch under that? I'd love a setup like that, but for me it'd mean modifying tongue switches all the time when they break to attach to the female receptacle on the helmet. I'm planning to get a new helmet soon. Looking for ideas. Got any pics of the inside of your helmet? Dave

I upgraded to a 50D but still have my XTi as a backup, so my camera helmet is now styling dual tongue switches. Very fancy. All I need now is a second tongue. I think you should just come up with a fancy electronic solution and then post the pics so the rest of us can be jealous. I'd personally forget the HC5 for stills, but I'd like to see what you come up with anyway. I expect both cameras to be activated by bluetooth or something. Just don't drop your wireless tongue switch. Dave Dave

I doubt there's a handmount for it. Altimaster IIs are a bit big for hand mounting. If you want a hand mounted alti, sell it and buy an altimaster galaxy. Dave

Bet they're using the short version of the yellow card though, right? That's really cool. Are coaches donating their jumps, or are they getting paid? Dave

You've got the Mirage attitude, huh? Racer people are much nicer. Dave

Well, since I work for the company that owns Schweizer, I'm good with that. Dave

I love the optimum. I wanted one as a main when I demoed it. But someone buying a used container might not be looking to buy a new reserve. I'm not selling it, but my pink Reflex with a microraven 120 would sell for close to nothing. Perfect for someone spending a premium on a brand new main. Dave

Wow tough crowd! The accident rate has gone way down (partially) because of special FAA mandated training required for anyone flying an R-22 (don't know if anything is required for the R-44). Most accidents were caused by pilot error... often because instructors were teaching students to hover at only a couple feet off the ground in case of an engine failure. Students would occasionally catch a skid and flip the thing over. Once flight schools started trusting the engines and their hovering autorotation training, they raised up hover training to more like 10 feet and the problems pretty much went away. You're still talking about a piston single... it won't have the accident rate of a twin turbine. But there's nothing unsafe about robinson helicopters. It's really unfair and uneducated (or outdated) to think that they are flying deathtraps. Dave

http://www.dorkzonehero.com/ "Dorkzonehero started as a critic of base movies on skydivingmovies. After watching over 400movies, and making over 12 jumps from the Perrine bridge, I gathered so much knowledge about basejumping that the only sane thing to do was to share my knowledge on the internet." It's been requested many times, but how can I ban someone that funny?