pilotdave

It is year round for some of us in the northeast. Most people stop just due to the cold. Can't bundle up like you can for skiing or whatever. It IS cold. But it's fun too... Attached a few pics from last sunday in CT. Winter jumping is great when there's nice soft snow on the ground. Dave

My favorite diagram!!!!! Thanks for posting that!!! You may be right that atmonauti is something special and is totally different from tracking, yada yada... but I really don't think you understand the physics of what's going on. It's like trying to mix aerodynamics and religion. You have faith, we have aerodynamics. There's a happy medium between them called reality. I don't understand how you can acheive a fallrate of 75 or while travelling along a 45 degree trajectory at 0 angle of attack. But I really don't think you do either, since your diagram makes no sense. BUT IT'S FREAKING ADORABLE. Dave

I don't agree and I find that pretty insulting (even though it wasn't toward me). WE need to prevent preventable injuries as much as possible. We have lots of restrictions based on jump numbers and licenses already. Saying that everybody should be allowed to do anything they want is the wrong answer. I don't know that a hard rule is needed (though I'm not particularly opposed), but education is definitely needed. "I bought a stilleto when I had 40 jumps" and "everybody should be able to take as much risk as they want" (not direct quotes) don't help. Would you have an issue if a bunch of guys with 100 jumps or less decided to attempt a 100-way? They all know it's risky and don't mind. Should they be allowed? Dave

Just to clarify dragon2's post. All lenses are going to end up with lower quality at really high f-stops (small apertures) because you're squeezing the light through a tiny hole, which tends to cause the light to spread out (diffraction). It's good to experiment and there might be times you need the whole image to be in focus, but don't forget that having parts of the picture out of focus tends to make for nicer pictures. I found myself dealing with apertures around f22+ the other day when I was taking pictures of helicopters in bright sun. I needed a really slow shutter speed to blur the rotor, but that meant my aperture had to be tiny. I don't have a filter to block light, so there was no choice. The pictures came out fine, but they are not quite as nice as they would have been if I was able to shoot at with a bigger aperture. EDIT: The upper end of your lenses aperture range really doesn't matter. f/27 is really high (small) on any lens, whether it goes up to 27 or 34 or whatever. Anything above probably 19 is where you'll start to see diffraction. Dave

Did you lower the jpeg quality/size? My 400D tops out at 999 on the indicator, but you can take more pictures than that. It just shows 999 until you have fewer left to take. Dave

Problem is that accidents affect everybody, not just the jumper that got hurt. I don't want anybody getting hurt at any DZ, because it might screw things up for me. Especially if it happens at my DZ. So I don't really care that some newbie is willing to take more risk than people think he should take. I don't care if somebody is just plain old suicidal. Go skateboarding without a helmet... just stay out of my sport. Dave

"Zak Knife Convenient plastic handle with razor. Often used for belly slitting or in urchin processing." http://www.seattlemarine.net/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=0&idproduct=8837 Cutting lines in an emergency is probably not as good a use for it as urchin processing. On the other hand... "A simple tool that could save your life. If you become tangled in line or leader simply cut with concealed razor blade. Will cut mono to 800lb. Many of our products at OHO have a pocket designed specifically for a Zak's safety knife. This is to ensure that in a life threatening situation, a blade is at your fingertips." http://www.oldharboroutfitters.com/products/productDetails.cfm?product_id=56 So it is good for life threatening situations, like getting caught in your fishing line. Dave

Because one thread relates to a comedy act (I assume it was a repost of the sarah silverman show...i didnt open it), and the other is a thread about who you want to have casual sex with. One is (i assume) a link to a video of a song, the other is a thread that will tend to get a lot of short responses, which bogs down the server, and is on a "questionable" topic. Course I'm not a moderator so what do I know? I'm MUCH worse on my own site than the moderators are here.

If all the whiners just go back to rec.skydiving, it might actually make a comeback! Actually, if you want to see why this site is moderated, switch to rec.skydiving for a while. You could arrange a boogie over there! How about the week that the WFFC would be, all the bonfire whiners just post on rec.skydiving instead of here? Dave

You can find them used (and probably barely used at that) in the $55-$65 range all the time. Brand new I think you're talking more like $110 or so. People just want to get rid of em. Keep checking http://www.dgrin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36&order=desc and http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/board/10. Dave

Everything I read like that about atmonauti makes me giggle and think "awww, that's so adorable." I don't know why. Arguments about atmonauti are just so damn cute! Must be atmonauti's magical powers to generate massive lift and thrust at zero angle of attack. I LOVE those atmonauti diagrams that were in parachutist a while back. Dave

Good advice... but in this case he was shooting manual: * Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/1000 second = 0.001 second * Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 35/10 = F3.5 * Exposure Program = manual control (1) * ISO Speed Ratings = 100 Just a matter of underexposing because of too high a shutter speed. Marko... in M mode, the exposure compensation meter on the screen or in the viewfinder becomes an exposure meter. If it's pointing too far to the left, you're underexposing. But like Phil said, it's easy to confuse the meter when you're shooting something especially bright or dark. Dave

Trying to explain it in the plane doesn't work very well. It's too loud, your papers blow around when the door is open, and you might drop your laptop. It'd work much better to do the math on the ground using the winds aloft to come up with a time between groups, and then adjust it for group size, etc. It is more complicated than "wait 7 seconds." Unless 7 seconds happens to be the right number. But most of the time, when the winds aloft aren't doing anything funny like blowing in opposite directions at opening and exit altitudes, you can get a good guess using only wind speed at exit altitude. But if you haven't checked the winds before boarding, what do you show when you're in the door to explain when it's safe to jump? You're not waiting for the 45-degree crap and you're not counting seconds. What are you looking for? Dave

Can't really go by how they look on the camera's screen. In bright light you won't see much of anything on the screen.

I thought the original idea came from the Sigma drogue release handles (the spectra lines that pull the pins). They had enough field testing with those to have confidence that they'd work for reserve ripcords too. I dunno... the idea scares me just like soft links do, but I use those on my main and reserve now. Dave

Ha ha! If you're not gonna wear em to work, wear them to the DZ. You'd really add some class to the place. Especially when you're manifesting. Dave

I think THIS is what prompted the bump of this thread. Apparently the word hasn't gotten out at every dropzone about the 45-degree rule (see the comments). But at least any mention of it online gets shot down. Different story at dropzones though. I've heard it within the last couple years at a few dropzones from an instructor, a coach, and an RW organizer. Can't really discuss it when you hear an instructor explain it to their student on the plane. Dave

If you want to get proficient on your belly, get an RW suit with booties. Ask your instructors for advice on material, fit, etc, because half the purpose of the suit is to help get your natural fallrate to match everyone elses. When you want to freefly, get a freefly suit (or wear street clothes). I just got my first freefly suit and I'll be celebrating my 10th anniversary in the sport later this year.

Yep. Dave

And the thread is in the swooping forum. Bet we'd see some very different progressions if it was posted in the general skydiving forum. Dave

Are you kidding? You can't see the benefit of having kids pack for you? I thought free packjobs was the entire reason skydivers ever had kids. I don't have kids but my packing team consists of another skydiver's grandkids. Well, one of em can almost do a whole pack job and the other can help get the air out of the canopy. And they only come out a few times a year. But they're still my packing team. Dave

I'd like to take a moment to thank the moderators of this forum for finally removing dumbass posts and crybaby responses to deletions of dumbass posts. Dave

Wonder if any tunnel will really allow a covered rig to be used. Still a lot of exposed metal to scratch the windows. Good idea though. Dave

See almost all of em at http://www.skydivingmovies.com/wiki/index.php/Video_Cameras#Sony_PC_Series. Anyone can feel free to edit that page if you have more info to add. The PC55 is probably the smallest, but doesn't have lanc or threads for a wide angle lens, so I don't know if anyone has used it for jumping. Dave

I don't think this has anything to do with right of way. The swooper aimed for the person holding the camera. That's natural. It's like a magnetic force or something. Sometimes I'll set myself up in the landing area with a telephoto lens in a place where I expect to get a good shot of someone swooping. But noooo, he's gonna aim right for me. By the time he's landing, all I can see through the camera is his nose. The lesson here is to land far enough from the camera to get a nice picture. Not too far, not too close.