pilotdave

I don't know our prices for each level. CPI follows the USPA's Integrated Student Program (ISP), which has Categories A through H. Some DZ's use the older AFF program with levels 1 to 7. Dunno what Suffolk uses. But basically there are a bunch of skills you'll need to get signed off by instructors in order to get your A-license. The more that you get done in VA, the less you'll need to do to finish up. Once it gets cold, we don't usually go above about 9000 feet and most skydivers go into hibernation. So it becomes a lot harder to do student jumps. So try to get done ASAP.

Any jump. You're all set.

Yup. Connecticut Parachutists is the only New England DZ to be open year round. Generally we don't do AFF or tandems when it's really cold out though. But we're jumping every weekend. http://www.skydivect.com Here's a tandem master keeping current last winter with an experienced jumper... and landing right in a deep puddle: http://www.skydivingstills.com/keyword/snow-tandem#133446263-L-LB Dave

No, leaning forward hurts lift. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad idea to lean forward on takeoff, but it will increase takeoff distance and reduce the climb rate. Probably such a small amount you'd never notice, but it will happen. Moving the center of gravity forward means the horizontal stabilizer has to produce more "negative lift" to keep the nose up. The total amount of lift the wings need to make in order to get off the ground and climb has to go up to compensate for the higher stabilizer load. It's perfectly equivalent to adding weight to the plane. The other part of it is that in order to get the nose up, more elevator is needed. That makes more parasite drag. The higher lift from the wings and stabilizer produces more induced drag as well. But none of that matters if the plane is outside its center of gravity limits. If the center of gravity is too far aft, the plane will be unstable in pitch and stall recovery might become impossible. But if the difference between being inside the limits and outside the limits is the way the jumpers lean, there's something wrong. Myth Busted. Dave

Saw this used not too long ago on a very windy day (uppers). Experienced jumper in my group said to the newbie exiting behind us: "The winds are very strong today... we're barely moving over the ground. Give us 18 seconds before you exit. Yes, 18. Count all the way to 18 after we leave the plane, then exit. 18 seconds. 18...." That was repeated a few times on the way up. Very simple. And it worked just fine. Are you arguing that the 45 degree rule isn't a bad idea since freefall collisions are rare even when it's used and it's simple? That's what I'm reading... hopefully I'm wrong. Dave

I don't know about imovieHD, but look for a deinterlace function. Should solve your problem. Try encoding with the DivX codec to get good quality at low file size. Dave

http://www.skydivingstills.com/gallery/3372456#188292898-L-LB Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I THINK this is a SM1 on the left and an M1 on the right. Not the best pic for a comparison, but you can see some differences. Not sure if the one on the left is an SM1 or just a newer model of M1. Are all new M1s SM1s, or are they different suits? Dave

No idea how it calculates average speed, but it's not just an average of the 12, 9, 6, and 3K speeds. It will only include the freefall portion of your jump in the average speed calculation, as far as I know. Maybe does something wacky as you get stood up, as the airflow changes. Dave

Yep... they actually have a release date now though. The 15th I think. Less than a couple more weeks. Dave

Easiest way to figure out whats going on is to use Paralog to look at a graph of the jump. You can see just where it starts and stops timing. I haven't used it in a long time (many neptune updates ago), but I always found it continued to record freefall for a few seconds after the canopy had clearly finished opening (by looking at the speed graph). BTW, firmware version 3.0 (the Neptune 2) is coming out real soon. Been using a beta version for a few weeks. Got some nice new features and an improved interface. Dave

Scariest part of no wind landings is the traffic pattern. There's always somebody thats going to land in the direction that the wind sock pole leans instead of the direction that everybody agreed on before boarding. But there's definitely a major psychological factor in standing up no wind or slightly downwind landings. After jumping a PD150 all winter, going back to my Sabre2 135 on a no wind day early in the season felt unbelievably fast. Just have to keep flaring more and more and know that it's going to slow down... otherwise, ya just give up and flop. Then the next landing is even harder because your confidence is gone. Dave

No, I'm talking about deep brakes. You'll flatten the glide of most canopies right down to near the stall point. Like billvon said, you won't reach a point where your canopy is sinking (in no wind/downwind) until it's really close to stalling. Flying nicely in 3/4 or even full brakes on some canopies is not that point. It's all taught in Scott Miller's Essential Skills Course, and he makes you prove it to yourself on a long spot. He teaches braked approaches in the advanced course... using brakes to steepen or shallow your approach. The effect is opposite in higher winds than in light wind (or no wind or downwind). Dave

C'mon, do something original. That is SO 1921. http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=search&search=do&string=deploy%20off%20wing&searchtype=allwords&click=1&sortby=datedesc Dave

I think it's important to point out that you only get a steeper glide when you have some wind. In no wind or downwind conditions, brakes will make your glide shallower on a modern canopy. I think people sometimes hit their brakes on final when they think they're going to land long... in light wind, this can make them go farther. You can't steepen the glide of a modern canopy in no wind conditions by using brakes... until you stall. Dave

C'mon, post it on SkydivingMovies.com.... only your closest 51,506 friends will see it. Dave

Just approved the 5000th video on SkydivingMovies.com. And the 5001st for that matter. Here are the current stats: Total size of approved videos: 116.7 gigabytes Registered, activated users: 51,475 Downloads since the last site redesign in 2004: 4,201,090 Average downloads per video: 840 Days since the least recently downloaded video was viewed: 296 User comments: 23,776 Videos that haven't been rated: 239 Most commonly searched phrase (as seen in Parachutist!): "aff" Total duration of all the videos: NO IDEA Number of countries we've had hits from: at least 195 Banner ad impressions: 6,124,451 Thanks to everyone that's contributed to those numbers! Dave

That's assuming the manufacturer recommendation is to repack the reserve after a certain amount of time. I was assuming the manufacturer could use any metric they want. It sure would make things easier if it worked like you said it. At least for jumpers. Probably a bit of a pain for riggers, who would have to keep track of all the requirements, figure out which one is closest, and calculate the next repack date. Bet it'd help sales for manufacturers that set nice long repack cycles though! Dave

So manifest needs to keep a database of manufacturer requirements? You'd need requirements from the container manufacturer, canopy manufacturer, AAD manufacturer, etc. What if my reserve canopy needs to be packed every 180 days and my freebag needs to be inspected every 200 jumps? I'm not a rigger or any kind of expert at how often these things need to be inspected or repacked. I'm just saying that any system that is based on something other than time would be really hard to implement. Also these rules kind of have to apply to pilot emergency rigs as well. A reserve that is going to malfunction because it got wet or was left in a hot trunk or whatever is going to have the same problem regardless of the repack cycle. If riggers in some areas are opening rigs that were last packed 6 months ago and finding major wear-related problems, maybe those jumpers need to get their rigs packed more often than the FAAs maximum allowable time between repacks. Maybe jumpers need to get their reserves repacked every time they get wet in a swoop pond. And maybe some rigs could easily go years without a repack and still be perfectly safe. One rule isn't going to possibly cover every imaginable scenario. But we need a rule (well, according to the FAA). So I'd like to see a simple rule that makes sense for most rigs. Dunno what that rule should be, but 120 days has worked (I think?) for years. 180 days seems to be doable and might reduce unnecessary wear and tear on gear. Dave

My pics from the weekend are up: http://www.skydivingstills.com/gallery/3372456. (captions to come). Had a great time. Bring that green suit to CPI in a couple weeks! So much fun! Dave

Personally I'd like to see it measured in months instead of days, so we can stop having to calculate when 120/180 days will be. In the FAA world, they usually give till the end of the month, but that'd cause all kinds of problems for riggers so I wouldn't like that. But I think basing a repack cycle on time is the only way to go. Very simple, easy to keep track and plan ahead, and seems to be working just fine. How many months is another question. I have no idea. That takes research and thinking. We know all about ~4 months in the US. Other countries know about ~6 months. We pretty much know that we don't degrade safety by going to 6 months... or at least that's what the research seems to show. I'm sure there's an optimal number, but I don't think anyone's trying to figure out what it is. The question is just if 180 days, like they do in a lot of other countries, will make us any more or less safe. Dave

It is STILL up to the DZ to determine who can jump with students and who can't, regardless of ratings. My DZ most definitely has refused to let rated coaches jump with our students, at least until those coaches completed a coach rating eval jump locally, to prove they have the appropriate skills. The rating does mean something when it's used properly. It also means that perfectly qualified people aren't allowed to jump with students anymore because they don't have coach ratings... my DZ won't allow non-rated D-license holders to jump with students. But thats more for liability. Coaching definitely works... our new A-licensed jumpers are about a billion times better than I was after 7 AFF levels and the 13 solos that qualified me for an A-license. Coach jumps are zero profit for our DZ, other than slots and gear rental. Coach gets $5, which is taxed, so I prefer to just manifest as two slots instead of a coach jump. I literally got a paycheck for about $4 last time I got paid. Dave

I don't think a repack cycle based on jumps makes sense, but Alti-2 does make a version of the Neptune that works like a hobbs meter for skydiving equipment. Meant for tandem/student gear, to track usage. If it was imperative to track the number of jumps on a piece of gear, the tracking system would have to stay with the gear, not with manifest. Gear travels, manifest doesn't. Dave

I have a friend that got his masters degree in meteorology. He had to do more math and physics for that than I did to get a degree in aerospace engineering. But I'd always joke with him when he'd say he did well in his forecasting class... "you got a 51% on your test??" Dave

I don't see any threads about home made camera boxes in those search results. Dave

Our DZ is the only one in New England that stays open (at least in the recent past) all year round. http://www.skydivingstills.com/keyword/snow Winter jumping here is fun... but not as fun as in florida.