pilotdave
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Everything posted by pilotdave
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In my opinion, the only thing that should have been sent privately is your message to him to stop badmouthing a manufacturer because it might interfere with your business. I'd prefer to buy from a dealer that isn't afraid to question a manufacturer over a dealer that just says nice things about their products so they can get more free stuff. You really don't need to stand up for L&B... they have as good a reputation as any company in the skydiving world. Really not classy to attack someone publicly for questioning one product from a manufacturer with a reputation like that. Dave
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I'm no wingsuit expert, but in my opinion you'd be making a huge mistake if you focus your skydiving to train specifically for wingsuits. You'd miss out on a lot of skills you'll need in general. I'd focus on RW... afterall, wingsuit flocks are just a type of RW. It will make you a better, safer skydiver in all disciplines that involve jumping in groups. Dave
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Including the viso hand mount? Dave
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Or use the firewire port. Dave
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How many jumps did you have when you jumped a camera for the first time? Dave
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I don't think the viso is an audible, so it would be strange to think that it would attach to a hand mount the same way it mounts to a helmet. Since when do L&B audibles have to be sewn to helmets anyway? "You want a hand mount? Buy one." Umm, it comes with one. Why should anybody have to buy it? L&B could just come up with a better way of attaching it to the hand mount (like a neptune) or include instructions on the hard way. Geez, the grumpy, burned out, full time jumpers these days... they think everything has to be done the hard way like they did it in the olden days (9 years ago). I remember when we had to walk uphill, through the snow, both ways to mount an altimeter! And we liked it! Dave
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I'd rather have a side by side or downplane with a 200 reserve and 105 main than an entanglement between a 105 main and 99 reserve. But that's just me. Dave
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I think a lot of people use reserves that are way too small. In a lot of cases, it's because the container manufacturers limit what size reserves can go with what size mains. If you want a tiny main, you need a tiny reserve. Then there's the reserve manufacturers that keep going smaller and smaller to make the jumpers happy. There's just no need for the PD 99 reserve. Nobody needs a reserve that small. Even the 106 and 113 are ridiculous in my opinion. Then there's the optimum 99. WTF? I think they went the wrong way with the optimums. If I could replace my 143 with an optimum 200, why wouldn't I? I dont think theres a need for a 99 reserve that packs smaller. Watch videos of main/reserve entanglements. It happens often enough that there are plenty of videos of them out there. I always wonder if the reserve was a 143 instead of a 113, would it have flown better while trailing the sub-100 main? I bet it would. Manufacturers need to step up and start offering safety over looks. Dave
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Noorduyn Norseman. Dave
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DC-9. Dave
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My definition of beautiful seems to change over the winter. If I can jump and I'm not in pain from the cold when I land, it's beautiful. It was barely even snowing!
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The Real Wedding Crashers Simply Hilarious
pilotdave replied to skinnersone's topic in General Skydiving Discussions
If you prefer narration by Oprah, here ya go: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=2007 Dave -
That's a great idea. Street addresses of DZs would probably work best since it'll be able to navigate to the right side of the airport the DZ is on. I assume you can't use addresses for POIs though. I played with POIs on my Nuvi and couldn't find a set of them that I would ever want. Out of curiosity, have you found any useful sets of POIs? Dave
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Non jumpable? I made two jumps yesterday! It was beautiful. The guy in the pic made 6 jumps yesterday. Dave
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I apologize for assuming that you are the Vlady from Canada mentioned at http://www.verticalsuits.com/about.html. There must be another Vlady that happens to own that company. Dave
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I do that with my still camera to get good pictures of people. Course there's no light or anything for them to see, but when you ask "is my still camera turned on?" people always look right into the lens. http://www.skydivingstills.com/keyword/portrait#96288604-A-LB http://www.skydivingstills.com/keyword/portrait#163635341-A-LB Kinda creepy. Dave
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http://www.verticalsuits.com/ By "they" you mean "you?" (or I guess it would be "I")
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Howard DGA-15P (N681CF c/n 909 ). Took a lot of searching! Google is my friend. That still took me an hour to figure out. http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Liefer/3420L-1.jpg I came across THIS cockpit while searching, and I thought it looked awfully similar so I did more searching for Howards. Dave
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Electra, not Loadstar. Hard to believe 10Es were ever used for jumping... only a few E models were ever made (6 or so I think?). They were the really fancy ones with extra power. Don't think there are any E's still flying except for one that was converted from an A model to recreate (most of) Amelia Earhart's last flight 10 years ago. (And that one isn't flying anymore anyway). Dave
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UK Skydiving plane in mid air collision
pilotdave replied to Peterkn's topic in General Skydiving Discussions
Well, no, that applies to E and G airspace (G is uncontrolled of course). A clearance is required to fly into class B airspace, but radio communication with the tower is still required for entering C or D airspace. Only real difference is you don't need the magic "cleared into the class ____ airspace" for C or D. But regardless, at least in the US, ATC isn't required to provide traffic advisories to VFR traffic. Last airport I flew out of was a class D with no radar. Made things really uncomfortable to me, since pilots do a whole lot less talking at a controlled airport (believe it or not) and the tower has to rely on pilots to be where they're supposed to be. The tower can give approximate locations of traffic and they try to sequence arrivals, departures, and transitioning traffic so they avoid each other, but it's still 100% the pilots responsibility to see and avoid traffic. Dave -
Suit was free... paid for by a sponsor. No patches though... custom embroidery and had the logo painted on our helmets. My intermediate class 4-way team had better sponsorship this year than some of the open teams I'm sure. Ahh, free jumps and jumpsuits... life is good.
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You would approve of my jumpsuit. Mostly black, inside leg grippers, pleated cordura booties (Bev's Deland Majik option), and real tight so I fall fast.
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I'm sure DSE can give a technical explanation, but basically they get less reliable when reused. They don't degrade picture quality like reused VHS tapes, but they get more prone to dropouts. I once saw a video guy at a 4-way competition come down with a barely useable video because it was recorded onto a reused tape. The video kept dropping out, which made it impossible to see some of the points and made it too hard to download that jump onto the judge's computer so they had to judge it on the camera's screen. A new tape for the rest of the competition solved the problem. It'd suck even more to lose baby's first steps or something because of a worn out MiniDV tape. Dave
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Eventually there will have to be. That "Bigway RW mentality" didn't form overnight. It's for safety and success... A 71-way in any discipline is really freaking serious bidness. You guys will learn from the bigway RW crowd, either the easy way or the hard way. BTW, what's the criteria for a wingsuit bigway record? Everybody visible in one picture? Will a satellite picture work?
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And your choices make it clear that you emphasize 4-way (or at least competitive skydiving) when you buy a jumpsuit. All black with color on one side of the gripper... best for the judges. Some people like wild colors despite the fact that 4-way judges don't. No leg zippers because they're a weak point... might lose a competition because of a zipper. (I love the high zippers because I can put on and take off my jumpsuit with my sneakers on... much more convenient for me when I'm switching between an RW suit and a camera suit.) Inside leg grippers - needed for 4-way but not in general (i have nothing against them, but they cost extra and don't help someone fly their body). No extra pockets - not needed for 4-way even though they might be handy to hold rubber bands and stuff (though one inside pocket is plenty). And of course big grippers (but not too big!