pilotdave

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Everything posted by pilotdave

  1. Yeah, Michelle Germaine. She a skydiver? Dave
  2. But wasn't 5500 or whatever it was "full altitude" on that jump? Our pilots always level off and slow down for hop n' pops anyway (unless the jumper specifically asks not to), but why wouldn't the pilot have slowed down when the whole load is getting out low? Dave
  3. Well... an audible is a good idea when you use it as a backup. I swear my 4-way team (I shoot video for them) would keep turning points until the 3rd bounce if all their audibles failed. Remember that an audible only makes you altitude aware at certain altitudes. It's REALLY easy to find yourself becoming LESS altitude aware except right when your audible beeps, because you get used to having it. Turn points until you hear the beep, then turn and track. Pull when you hear the next beep. That works great until it doesn't beep. Then, instead of suddenly becoming altitude aware when your audible reminds you that you're at breakoff altitude, you remain non-altitude aware until something else clues you in, like the ground looking really freaking big. You'll also see people that leave formations early because their audible was set wrong. Seen people start tracking away at 8000 feet because the audible went off early. Think they were altitude aware? Think the beeping made them any more aware of their altitude? Nope, it just told them to turn and track. So that's why I think it's best to get in the habit of using a visual altimeter, which tells you where you are no matter how high or low you are. It's a lot more useful, and you'll be less likely to wait for beeps before you react. If you do use an audible, I recommend setting it 100 feet low. If you hear it and haven't acted already, you messed up but the audible backed you up. If that happens a lot, you might have an altitude awareness problem. Dave
  4. I see a couple of FBO employees and a couple British plane spotters. Who's the special one? Dave
  5. I can't remember the last time I used zoom on my camera. I don't have a "zoom-through" wide angle lens, so my zoom range is very limited anyway (and I don't take the lens off very often unless there's some specific reason). Unless you know of a specific reason why you need to zoom, you'll probably do just fine without it. Dave
  6. Look at Freak n' Suits too. I wanted a really cheap freefly suit. Kurupee was the cheapest I could find, but I ended up getting measured by Angela from Freak n' Suits in person while I was in FL. I wasn't really picky about it because I was really looking for something to throw over my clothes when I don't want booties. Anyway, she did a really nice job. I told her what colors I wanted, but she designed it. I didn't know what I was getting until it arrived. She did a great job. Looks great and fits great. And it was quite a bit cheaper than almost every other freefly suit I could find. Dave
  7. I agree... I have found the canopy alarms can easily cause complacency... you stop checking your altimeter or paying as much attention to your altitude when you know you're going to get a warning at a certain altitude. If you know you need to start your pattern at 800 feet, then do it. Canopy alarms won't really help. They can tell you when you're at 800 feet, but you still need to get yourself in the right place at the right altitude. Until you can pretty much set up your pattern correctly by looking at the ground more than at your altimeter, it's probably best not to rely on beeps to know where you are. If you get really used to "fly by beeps," you will find yourself lower than expected, waiting for your beep when your audible fails or you forgot that you left it in your other helmet. Been there, done that!
  8. I assume that site is BS, since it shows a bunch of felons in my area living in the middle of a river. Others live on highways, and one lives where I work.
  9. I'd personally recommend against using an audible at all for altitude awareness for a couple hundred more jumps... get used to not having one or you'll quickly start to rely on it. If you aren't deaf, I can't really see how the LED will help. I've heard they're pretty dim and hard to see anyway. I just think you're adding unnecessary complication. Learn the basics first, like checking your altimeter often and looking at the ground. Dave
  10. No, this isn't a thread related to how the tunnel used a picture you took and didn't pay you for it. This is about old-style blower tunnels and why skydivers don't tend to like them. Your rant was completely off topic and unnecessary. You sound just like every former tunnel employee that posts their rant about how a tunnel owner screwed them. You end up coming across like a whining baby and they don't sound like bad people at all. And then a link to this thread in your signature? Real mature... You didn't answer the question at all... you just went on a tangent about how a manager of the vegas tunnel made you angry so you stopped coming back. And that makes the owners douchebags for some reason... Dave
  11. Tunnel drama kicks the shit out of dropzone drama... but needs more sex. Posting that story (especially in this non-related thread) was just ridiculous. So anybody know of a wind tunnel owner that's not EVIL? Dave
  12. For some reason, pictures with the sun in them look motivational to me. Dunno why. But here are a bunch: http://www.skydivingstills.com/keyword/sun/. Probably not colorful enough to make for good posters though... Dave
  13. In some of the videos of the pink skyvan, you can see that one of the props is feathered and windmilling slowly (as a jumper climbs out onto the wing). The other prop is clearly at a different (lower) pitch, indicating that one engine is shut down and the other is running. Dave
  14. Congrats to Jumpshack for their first sale of the year! Dave
  15. Well, the FF2 is somewhat versatile for PC-style cameras... the box fits a lot of different cameras and the L-bracket inside is very adjustable. But yeah, sucks now that no new cameras will fit. But the FF3 can fit a wide range of the new cameras and I guess the door can be swapped to fit different cameras. I really like the FF2, but it won't last me forever... Dave
  16. Wouldn't electricians use electrical tape? Camera flyers (and Gaffers, I suppose) use gaffers tape.
  17. I've basically used booties for my last 1000 jumps. I recently got a camera jacket and a freefly suit... Not having booties is HARD. I backslide like crazy and I can't turn!
  18. http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=6843 Dave
  19. I did most of my AFF jumps out of a King Air and it was just like that... And the one I did from a 182 was pretty darn close, 'cept for the whole strut thing.
  20. Ahh... didn't realize that. I thought the hard drive cams encoded in a different format... (it doesn't actually say AVCHD anywhere in the description). Dave
  21. Ummm.... did I miss something odd about it? That sounds exactly like every AFF exit sequence at every DZ I've been to. It's all in the SIM... Dave
  22. I assume that a lot less video fits on a memory stick than with the CX-7 since it's not using AVCHD... is that true? Dave
  23. I'd guess that it either lowers the quality of the video for recording onto the memory stick, or it fits very little video on one. But even if it worked, why would you want to wear a hard drive on your head that you're not using (and are probably breaking)? Just get a CX-7, which is designed to record onto solid state memory... Dave
  24. Thanks! That's awesome. http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=6833 Dave