pilotdave

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Everything posted by pilotdave

  1. pilotdave
    Uranium is available right at amazon.com too... http://www.amazon.com/Uranium-Ore/dp/B000796XXM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1206017033&sr=8-2 Dave
  2. pilotdave
    Definitely the opposite for me. It was hard to believe how some of my RW skills faded by doing a lot of camera flying last year (mainly 4-way and other RW video). Especially things like long dives to a formation. Sucked so bad on an RW jump last fall that I took myself off after one try and switched to doing video for the group. Been practicing a little over the winter though!
  3. pilotdave
    Do posters that have been a member for 4 years, jumped 450 times at about 15 different dz with roughly seven hundred posts into these forums NOT know the reaction they'll get when they ask about their dumbass downsize after the fact? You had to know exactly what reaction you'd get, and I assume you wanted that reaction because otherwise you'd have kept your dumbass downsize to yourself. So after reading dz.com for 4 years, why don't you tell us some good advice on downsizing? I'm sure you've read a lot of it... EDIT: even the subject line sounds like a troll... "finally" decided to downsize after 400 jumps on that canopy? No, that's "already" decided to downsize... Dave
  4. pilotdave
    Why so big? If you're gonna troll (which I hope you are!), go to the XTREME and say you went with a katana 107 or something. Crossfire2 129 is sorta wimpy. Or are you going for the more believable but still extremely stupid angle? Dave
  5. pilotdave
    I wouldn't buy a track suit. What are you going to use it for? Seems like a high price for something you really will never need. You can track just fine without it... maybe better if it's hard to fly. And if you're doing tracking dives in groups, you won't want to be tracking better than everybody else anyway, so you won't be maxed out. Seems like a waste of money to me. Sounds more appropriate for base jumping off of tall cliffs... Dave
  6. pilotdave
    That's hilarious. Dave
  7. pilotdave
    You'll rarely use such a wide aperture for skydiving anyway... f/8 to f/11 is going to be a lot more common to get more depth of field. So I wouldn't worry about the difference between 3.5 and 2.8 very much. As far as quality, it can really go either way. You'll need to read reviews of the particular lenses you're talking about. BTW, pentax isn't just uncommon in skydiving. Canon and Nikon have about 90% of the market share... everyone else is mixed among the other 10% or so. Pentax is around 5% as best as I can find... Dave
  8. pilotdave
    I didn't really follow a path to get there... I read through the javascript at http://www.anewskinforeveryone.com/97918230/gate2.html and figured there must be a http://www.anewskinforeveryone.com/97918230/gate2.swf... Couldn't figure out what messages they are looking for, but I did figure out that you can right click on it and hit Play to move ahead to the next screen with the links. Maybe they haven't posted the right clue yet... Dave
  9. pilotdave
    ADS-B hasn't been invented yet? Sure, it's still in development, but it's been tested in a lot of areas now. We're talking about a rule to be implemented 12 years from now. I do agree that there are an awful lot of cool avionics you can install in an experimental plane that you can't put in a certified plane. Sucks, but there are reasons why avionics need to be certified. But by the time ADS-B is mandatory, there'll be all kinds of companies building units for aircraft. I'm sure there will be all sorts of options at different costs. Think about what a certified panel-mount GPS cost when it was new compared to today. Dave
  10. pilotdave
    Skyvans are pretty cheap compared to otters these days. Saw one, completely rebuilt, sell for something like $750k recently. Take a look at otter prices and it makes sense. I think they have both an hours limit and a cycles limit, but there are fairly low time aircraft out there ready to be rebuilt and upgraded cheaper than a decent super otter. Dave
  11. pilotdave
    Sounds like a good thing to me, as long as the cost is reasonable (more like $10k than $500k per aircraft). 2020 is a long way away... I think we have time to save our pennies. Can't imagine why there's such a massive price range for the technology. I assume the high end is what it would cost to integrate the displays into existing complex avionics systems. But from a safety standpoint, it's just what we need. I'd like to hear about DZs installing collision avoidance technology before the FAA makes us. I can't believe there WOULDN'T be huge safety benefits when all aircraft are equipped. Dave
  12. pilotdave
    I think that's the key. Would anybody WANT your friends/strangers to stop jumping if you had an accident? I mean, there are all sorts of different possible circumstances. If turbulence collapsed my canopy at 50 feet, my ghost would be haunting the idiots that got right back on the plane. But otherwise, I wouldn't want the dropzone to shut down... It'd make ghost-Dave sad. Dave
  13. pilotdave
    Me too. If we don't sucker some people to open more dropzones, we'll run out of places to jump. To the original poster... no need to ask anybody. Opening a dropzone is easy and profitable. You'll make about $200 per tandem and $25 for fun jumpers, so all your expenses will get paid off after a few weekends and you'll be rolling in money in no time, like all the other dropzone owners. AND, DZOs jump for free as much as they want. Low paid staff pretty much takes care of everything, so you'll have all the time in the world to just jump and enjoy the DZO lifestyle. Dave
  14. pilotdave
    That's a funny looking Bell helicopter you got there. Our fleet consists of ? at a jump ticket price of ?. Pretty sure jump tickets are going up $1 from last year. That'd make em $24 for club members. We'll probably have a Grand Caravan (and our 182). Dave
  15. pilotdave
    You're looking for the actual TSO? http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgtso.nsf/0/00493ac675eda12e86256da500600ef7!OpenDocument&Click= All the current TSOs Dave
  16. pilotdave
    Took me forever to get it to work too. THIS is as far as I got into it... I thought it might be the USPA till I got to that page... Dave
  17. pilotdave
    Post a link to those reviews. I find it VERY hard to believe they can build the same camera with a plastic body and magnesium body. The materials are so different, I'd imagine you'd need completely different designs. You sure it wasn't 40D vs 400D? I can't find anything about grey market cameras being any different... Dave
  18. pilotdave
    I think he knows the sony unit does video... he was talking about the CD burner mentioned in the post above. Dave
  19. pilotdave
    Wow, I just thought I'd quote this one for posterity. It's the first positive thing I've ever heard anyone say about a parasport electronic product. Course it's not an audible... never heard anything good about parasport audibles before. Not exactly the greatest track record. I like their helmets though.
  20. pilotdave
    Naah, ya know even when we had a super otter we spotted "by hand." Green light came on WAY early so we could look down and give corrections or decide when to climb out. Green only meant that it was ok with the pilot if we got out. Somehow that "system" kinda changed over the last couple years. But still, most people only think they can spot...
  21. pilotdave
    Never met anyone with 170 jumps that knows how to spot.
  22. pilotdave
    I don't think that's quite true, but I might be wrong. D-license holder can jump with students, but they can't perform the things that require a coach rating (ie where an "instructional rating holder" is required). So a non-coach can't sign off coach jumps on the A-license proficiency card. Our DZ doesn't allow it at all... mainly for liability reasons. Dave
  23. pilotdave
    Angled posting has been around for years... since before the internet even. We used to call it italics, but you guys just HAVE to come along and give it a fancy new name... Dave
  24. pilotdave
    I have an FF2 with a still camera mounted on top (with a quick release). I really like the idea of the a flush-mounted quick release. That way, a line can't get under the camera because it sits flat against the helmet. My camera sits a quarter inch (or whatever) above the top of my helmet, and the sides of the camera overhang the raised flat top surface. I'd just like to see an FF2 type helmet with a wider flat top, so the sides of the camera aren't exposed as a snag point. Good to know that the zkulls release can fit on an FF2 though... I might want to make that upgrade in the future. Dave
  25. pilotdave
    They gave me four "loosies" with no instructions at the PIA symposium a few years ago. I still have em somewhere... Dave