pilotdave

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Everything posted by pilotdave

  1. Yeah, no problem there... just swoop around him, right? Wait, were you serious??? There's a big difference between a swooper landing in the non-swoop area and a non-swooper landing in the swoop area. The swooper can always choose not to swoop. I agree that it's critical for non-swoopers to stay away from the high performance landing area... but if they are there, swooping has to stop (depending on how big the area is and all that). If a bigway is all landing at once in the high performance area because of a bad spot and no other outs, the swooper doesn't have the right to swoop through the traffic. One guy landing at the far edge, fine, swoop away... Right of way rules ALWAYS apply. Common sense cannot go out the window just because of a new rule. The "responsible swoopers" here seem to be the only people that have a problem with common sense... Dave
  2. Actually its 1011 now. And ummm.... yeah.... they already got me.... yeah... that's it, they pied me already... yeah, that's definitely my story and i'm sticking to it. Dave
  3. FYI: Email just came on the CPI email list. Saturday will START with 3 to 4 high altitude loads. Load one will take off at 8:20am. Dave
  4. I have no interest in the iphone either, but I think the whole point of the iphone was to make those PITA features actually work well. No idea if they accomplished their goal. Dave
  5. While I don't disagree that the proposals say that, I also don't care. The wording of the BSR needs to be ironed out. NOBODY should spiral from 1000 feet to 500 feet over the DZ when there is anybody else in the sky. I think that goes without saying, but apparently not. The BSR doesn't allow anybody to be stupid. BTW, I don't support the BSR either, for different reasons (posted in another thread), but it also wouldn't really bother me if there was a BSR. When there is traffic, traffic patterns are critical. I don't care what shape they are. But swoopers need to follow A pattern and so do non-swoopers. When you're alone in the sky, do what you want. Who cares? When there are other canopies in the air, follow a pattern. The faster our canopies get, the more important the pattern. You can have a whole load of accuracy canopies sashaying side by side and landing in every direction with no problems... doesn't work so well with everyone jumping fast canopies and even worse when there's a ton of speed difference between all the canopies. Dave
  6. Unpredictable behavior shouldn't be allowed with any traffic in any landing area. A solo accuracy jumper on his own pass can pretty much do whatever he wants in any landing area. But you can't fly like that when there's traffic in a standard pattern or in a swoop pattern. Separating swoopers from the standard pattern doesn't give anyone the right to be an idiot. Dave
  7. I think previously the problem was that accuracy landings would be considered high performance landings and therefore, because we're not allowed to use common sense after a BSR is written, they must be done in the middle of the swoop lane. Are those the nutjobs you're complaining about? Dave
  8. Well, to begin, we know there's a problem and we know how to fix it. We don't need a BSR to do that. A BSR does not force a DZO to do anything. The USPA doesn't have enforcement officers like the FAA does. BSR or not, it still comes down to the DZO, staff, and jumpers setting and following the rules. There's a BSR (and FAR) against jumping through clouds. Many DZOs allow it to happen regularly (more than just by accident every once in a while). "We have GPS." It's still up to the individual jumpers to look out the door and decide if they want to jump or not. If they don't like being put out over the clouds, they need to speak up or go somewhere else. This BSR will be the same. But this one doesn't seem to be focused on the jumper, it's focused on the DZO. I think it will unfairly (is that a word?) put the blame for someone elses mistake on the DZO. BSRs ARE law in some areas, and probably very close to law everywhere else(in the US). These are not just internal guidelines that have no legal implications. I'd rather see the USPA come up with guidelines and advice that dropzones can follow that make sense. Let's not have completely different rules at every dropzone. Let's get the right minds together, look at some real world situations, and figure out real world solutions that actually increase safety. While I agree that every DZ is different and one single set of rules won't apply to everybody, I think we need a set of guidelines to start with. Anyway, I'm not a swooper, never been in any close calls with swoopers, and shared the pattern many times with swoopers. I don't particularly care one way or another about a BSR for DZOs. But I'm all for rules at dropzones to prevent swoopers from occupying the same space as non-swoopers at the same time. I'm just not convinced that a BSR is the right way or the only way to do it. Dave
  9. I personally think it would be a very bad idea for a USPA national director (or any other "officials") to make decisions based on opinions shared on this website. I don't believe the few vocal people here represent the average skydiver. Arguments here also tend to be completely one-sided because anyone with a different opinion just gets bashed. Personally, I don't have strong feelings on the BSR issue, but generally I oppose it. I think it's unnecessary and opens a can of worms that doesn't need opening. I think it has some major liability implications. Dave
  10. I'll be there the 5th and 6th... I'll be sure to try and find you.
  11. I've thought about upgrading my lens, but I haven't been able to figure out how a better lens would make my pictures really look better. I don't mind the price of a new lens, it's the weight that bothers me. I won't argue that it's a low build-quality lens, but that's also what makes it small and light. Seems perfect for skydiving to me. Dave
  12. I'd bet that on a per flight hour basis, they have a low accident rate. I don't think the number of fatalities per accident has much to do with a plane's safety... it has to do with the plane's capacity. Dave
  13. I'd second EZPrints. Smugmug uses them for all their prints. I've ordered a few and the quality is great. You can read all about how smugmug chose EZPrints at http://www.smugmug.com/prints/digital-prints.mg. Dave
  14. There's probably about 10 active wingsuiters at CPI and a bunch more that have a few wingsuit jumps (like me). $5 off your first load if you manifest by 8am. First load takes off... well... when enough people show up. Not sure what time we're typically getting load 1 off... too early for me! I'd say things will be in full swing by 8:30 at the latest though... should be a busy weekend. Also RW organizing by Bruce from Sunpath, who will have Javelin demos and a couple 4-way teams training. Heard rumors of POSSIBLE extra airplane capacity SUPEROTTER, but that's just a rumor. I'll probably be doing 4-way video most of the weekend, but I'm definitely planning to get in a few wingsuit jumps. Really wanna try out one of those tony suits. Dave
  15. Our DZ requires AADs for anyone involved in student jumps... instructors, coaches, video, anyone chasing a tandem, etc. Dave
  16. I offer to do video a LOT more than I'm asked to. I normally pay my own slot, except for 4-way video. I post the pictures to my website where people can buy them. I'm selling them below cost (considering the jump ticket, camera gear, etc). I make typically between about 20 cents and $2 per picture depending on what size they order. I bought my cameras for my own fun... I don't expect my friends to pay for them. When I get a really nice shot and think someone might appreciate it, I'll print it. 4x6, 8.5x11 or 13x19, depending on how nice a shot it is. I've never really paid for any pics of myself, and I know how much I love when someone gives me a nice shot, so I like to do the same thing for other people, especially newbies who don't have any pictures of themselves. Shot an AFF jump for fun a couple weekends ago. While the instructors were showing the video to the student, I printed off a 4x6 for him. He asked how much he owes me and I said nothing, I did it for fun. Well, I only found out the next day that he had put a jump on my account before he left. So the next time he's out, I have a 13x19 and 8.5x11 print to hand him, and I put the video online. He paid for em! I don't have a problem with someone making money taking pictures of fun jumpers, but there's also no reason it has to be a business and not just a hobby. I really try to avoid giving people videos right now...pain in the butt! I've never charged for putting a video online or burning a DVD though. Might buy a burner to leave at the DZ to make it easier though. Dave
  17. Probably Team Mandrin with Factory Divers. Amazing to watch, huh?? Dave
  18. That's exactly the advice I got from a PD rep. Big bands, double stowed. That was last year's advice anyway... seems to change every other week. Dave
  19. Without a large national organization to back us (USPA or something else), I doubt skydiving would still be legal. The FAA generally stays off our backs because they recognize the USPA as the organization that keeps us in line. I think skydiving would be viewed a lot like BASE jumping is now if the USPA had never been formed (and nothing else came along). I don't think most skydivers give the USPA credit for what they have done and continue to do for us... all we hear is bitching about what they haven't done. They're not perfect, but skydiving is still legal and sort of affordable, and I think the USPA has a lot to do with that. Dave
  20. The current Neptunes are Neptune 2s. They've been selling the new hardware for quite a while without saying so. The upcoming (free) software update will make it official (and give the Neptune all the new features of the Neptune 2). http://www.alti-2.com/sport/neptune/Neptune2.htm Dave
  21. No, there will be no loss in quality. The bits and the bytes and all that stuff stay the same. You don't end up with a degradation in picture quality like you do with VHS tapes. The tape does degrade, which can cause reliability problems... drop outs, etc. This is why we only use each tape once. Typically what I do is record more than I need (leave it running through my opening and maybe record my landing). Don't need either of those for 4-way video for example (I do keep them for tandem videos), so I rewind the tape back to where the team breaks off and start recording from that point on the next jump. So there is some overlap, recording over a previous recording for the first few seconds usually. But beyond that, when the tape is full, it's done. Recording jump after jump doesn't degrade the tape because the recorded part is just wound back up. Would really suck to record a tandem or something on an old, used tape and find that there are drop outs. Tapes are cheap enough... no need for that. I paid $2.90 each including shipping last time I bought them. Each tape holds about an hour. Hard drive camera would be cool if it worked, but then you'd run into problems when the drive is full. You'd have to stop in the middle of the day to dump the footage somewhere. Tapes are great because you can just pop a new one in. Solid state memory would be nice if you can swap memory cards. Other nice thing about both of those is no need to rewind... jump right where you want. Dave
  22. Not the highest quality, but there are some at http://www.skydivingmovies.com/cutawaystills/. Dave
  23. But doesn't the real difference come into play at the moment when acceleration is maximum? I'm sure it varies, but I would guess the hardest part of my openings is after I'm already vertical. I mean, sure, there will be a bending force on the neck as you pivot, but that's probably pretty small compared to the compression you get as the slider starts to come down. Seems to me that the worst of both worlds is a front mounted still camera. That just looks awful for the neck. Dave
  24. BARELY! Just kidding... never been... I'm sure it's nice and it has those cute little planes. I'll be in MD that weekend anyway... Dave