pilotdave

You guys must have a long runway... those takeoffs scared the crap out of us for the first couple months with that plane. Used almost every inch of our runway. But that was with a different pilot. Jason used a lot less runway. And you guys got it with a brand new door. The old door sucked... we had to ride it all the way down from 13,500 feet once when the door jammed. Had some cold rides when the door was removed for a weekend. We never appreciated the plane enough... it was a downgrade for us after we lost our Super Otter. Now we're down to Cessnas... Dave

It's an oral exam for the A license, not written. Dave

His website: http://www.jet-man.com/. Dave

Looks familiar!

There's a reason why aircraft with glass cockpits (digital displays) don't just show a bunch of numbers... they always show some kind of scale with them. Either a dial or a "tape" or whatever. It's too easy to misread a number. We look at our altimeters very quickly most of the time. When shooting video, I read my altimeter out of the corner of my eye so I don't mess up the video or lose focus on what I'm filming. Couldn't do that with a digital altimeter, because you actually need to read the numbers. With an analog, I can read it "well enough" even if I can't make out the numbers on it. I highly recommend a good quality analog altimeter to new jumpers. It's just a good purchase. It can last pretty much forever, and even if you get a digital down the road, it's never a bad idea to have an analog altimeter in your gear bag. Quite a bit cheaper too. And even though analog altimeters CAN fail, I don't think it's a stretch to assume that they fail MUCH less frequently. I do agree that analog altimeters have a very nasty failure mode of just stopping so they show the wrong altitude. That is a major advantage of a digital. Chances are it will go dead or detect an error instead of showing the wrong altitude. But I bet it COULD show a wrong altitude, and overall I bet it is more likely to do something wrong than an analog altimeter. I also think people should wait until at least 200 jumps to get an audible. At the very least, set it low so you don't learn to salivate when the bell rings. Audibles are horrible for altitude awareness, except for the moment they beep when they work correctly. Dave

$22:20:0 $22 - how much I spent on jump tickets. 19 4-way videos with my team... free jumps, thanks to The Ranch. 1 fun 2-way. Seems like every RW jump that incorporates a backloop is extra fun.

http://www.skydivingstills.com/keyword/chico-canopy#258517008_Tr92Q-A-LB He had no idea that he was advertising a Christian television network. Dave

One suggestion is to watch a bunch of videos with known lenses... Here's some results for .3: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=search&search=do&string=.3&searchtype=allwords&more=cust&click=1 .45: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=search&search=do&string=.45&searchtype=allwords&more=cust&click=1 Raynox: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=search&search=do&string=raynox&searchtype=allwords&more=cust&click=1 You can try some more and see if you can find the look you want. But remember, the width of the lens depends on the brand and the camera too... Dave

If you're planning on doing a lot of inside video, I'd go for a .3X. Works fine for 4-way video too. I had a filter on my waycool .45 but had to get it surgically removed when a speck of dirt get between the filter and the lens. Been much happier since then... much less flare when facing the sun. Dave

Here's an old one... originally posted at headdown.net: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=6942 Dave

I KNEW you were older than you look! Congrats... you were counting down the days when we first met like 6 or 7 years ago. Bout freaking time! BTW, be careful... if you're living in a movie, your last day at work is going to be VERY exciting. Happens all the time. Might wanna call in sick. Move up here and take over as the fire marshall in the town my DZ is in... the current one causes lots of trouble for us... Dave

That makes sense since those are specifically freefall awards... (though freefall time as a tandem passenger is pushing it a bit, IMO). "1. Expert Wings are awarded for freefall skydives in 1,000-jump increments. 2. Freefall Badges are awarded for freefall time in 12-hour increments." Dave

The biggest threat to you is the people in your own group. Don't waste your time looking for other groups in freefall. You WON'T be able to see all of them... in fact, it will be rare to see any of them. If you know where everybody in your own group is (all the way through opening), watch out below you while you track for other people below you, and everybody uses a good time between exits, you'll be fine. Under canopy, try to find as many people as possible and try to know ahead of time who you might be sharing the sky with. If someone in your group has a tiny canopy, chances are you'll never have to worry about that person because they'll descend so much faster than you. But a tandem camera flyer with a tiny canopy might be exiting much after you, pulling higher, and zooming past you under canopy. That's the kind of thing to be looking out for high above you under canopy. Dave

Where? The license requirements just say "jumps." How would it make sense that a student could sit through a 4-hour IAD FJC, go up, jump out of a plane, land the canopy all alone, and not be able to log the jump? And yet a student could get a 5-minute briefing, watch a waiver video, and flail in freefall while the instructor keeps the student stable, and then the instructor lands with no assistance from the student, and that would be a loggable jump just because there was freefall (drogue fall...) involved? Just doesn't make sense... Dave

Doesn't say freefall time can't be zero. Just has to be logged. Dave

How about the glossary in the SIM? SKYDIVE: 1. n. The descent of a person to the surface from an aircraft in flight when he or she uses or intends to use a parachute during all or part of that descent. 2. v. To jump form an aircraft with a parachute. I've never heard of IAD/SL jumps not counting. Don't see why tandems would count (where the instructor does ALL the work) and IAD/SL wouldn't (where the student does EVERYTHING other than pull). Dave

Just yesterday somebody came to me with that exact same problem (minus the cypres fire). I checked all her settings and it should have been working normally, but she got no beeps on the way down. Beeped in the plane at 1000 feet. Her battery was showing almost full. Had someone also tell me that his neptune has started beeping on the way up in the plane at 10,500, but works normally on the way down. I think an audible that doesn't always work might be the best kind... keeps ya on your toes!

Do you mind paying? SmugMug works great. Unlimited storage... You can back up all your pictures on there in private, password protected galleries and only publicly display what you want. My smugmug site is http://www.skydivingstills.com to see a sample. Dave

I looked at the Limitations section of an old medical of mine... "Holder must wear correcting lenses while exercising the privileges of his airman certificate." Doesn't say a thing about tandems. Dave

Never know. Check out the attached pic... all 11 on board survived. Seatbelts aren't the only thing that allowed everyone to survive, but they played a vital role. I've seen the seats from that aircraft, set up in a lab where they were studied to understand how each occupant was injured and why some were injured worse than others. Really interesting stuff... Dave

That's how I usually do it! I seem to like it ok... put over 1000 jumps on my canopy. Dave

"Actual size" is very hard to define. At your weight, the 193 or even a bigger one would be more appropriate. Some people choose smaller reserves so they can have smaller containers. But aside from size (packed), what's the downside of a bigger reserve? Dave

Ok, either way. Point is that everybody needs to have their computer at the DZ in order to transfer video. That's a much better option than firewire from camera to camera... if they've got a laptop (and software to edit avchd). I know a LOT more people that bring cameras to the dropzone than laptops. Burning a DVD is another option but i know i can't do that quicker than i can firewire a jump. My laptop doesnt even have a dvd burner. Don't get me wrong.... for me, memory cameras will make sense eventually. But not quite yet... Dave

Wow, I never thought anything would turn me off from jumping in the atlanta area more than the dropzone politics, but this thread does it! Congrats ?