WmLauterbach

most of the time a good glass lens can be quickly unsealed with a really good whack in the front from a rock... of course they arent really any good after unsealing them that way........ its sounds like your friend is a little overly concerned about condensation... a good lens shouldnt give you that problem except in NON'skydiver friendly weather.... just my opinion, I could be wrong...

hey Dino.... I work with a guy who has a Hawkeye LT with a TRV-11 on top... he is trying to mount a still camera also.... you two ought to get together and trade ideas! In fact I think he is building REALLY COOL MINDWARP with some old 'protec' mounting plates..... blue skies brother!

I stand corrected... I thought you could compete in all competitions with a "C"............. I reckon not....

night jumps whem conducted IAW with the BSRs are not inherently dangerous... CRW is inherently dangerous... high performance canopies are inherently dangerous... a "D" isnt required to have fun... the only thing you cant do with a "c" that you can do with a "d" is persue instructional ratings, and get a "PRO" rating... if you are going to make 'performance canopy training' and CRW requirements, why shouldnt we make a "style series" and "accuracy" approaches mandatory also... and then we can make an 'AD-A' mandatory.... no "d" without jumping a board, or a birdman suit..... etc etc... the a/b/c/d isnt designed to test your skill at any given discipline, just your overall involment.... it gets dark above EVERY skydiver... some jumpers will NEVER look up and see a VX-85 above them... some people consider contact with another jumpers canopy to be an emergency situation.... i agree, it sounds like somebody trying to make excuses NOT to do night jumps... just my two cents............

just my two cents.... creative fuel is cool... as long as you remember ITS ALL ABOUT THE CUSTOMER! what is boring and mundane to you is the coolest thing in the world to a first time tandem student.... A tandem video that shows everybody how good your air-skills are rarely shows the customer what they paid for... a full screen shot of them skydiving.... A first timer will look at lots of cool footage of themselves upside down, and spinnig around above you you while you are on your back, your feet in the video etc etc..... and they wil think "what the hell is going on" I have watched video that I thought was AWESOME, and my whuffo dad/mom/wife etc.... asked me to turn it off because it was making them sick... my wife has done a tandem before and she loved it... but the fact stands, too much 'creative juice' will only give a first timer 'indigestion'..... Its my opinion that a good steady exit shot, and a quick orbit around the pair to show the scenery in the background is about as creative as it needs to be. The rest of the jump I feel obligated by a lift ticket to park right in front of the student so they get MAXIMUM face time and good, well framed stills... a student cant geek the camera and 'wave to the family' if I am 20 feet out doing freefly transitions, or on my back spinning ten feet below them.... like I said... just my two cents.... blue skies

sit#1 is a good one to ask..... because right now you can do TM work and NOT be a USPA "TAN-I"...... you simply can't do "progression" or category training.... you are little more than a carnival ride, but you can still jump.... after the change, who knows..... I am looking forward to seeing what Strong has to say....

I just asked the folks at RWS about this and here is an excerpt of the response that I got..... "Though nothing is written in stone yet, I believe USPA plans to list the tandem systems for which the instructor has been rated on the instructor's rating card. Much in the same way that the FAA lists aircraft a pilot has been type-rated on their licenses. Relative Workshop's plan is to hand over the "mantle of certification" to USPA sometime after the manual has been approved. RWS will still continue to "type-rate" examiners. At this time, if you hold a RWS Vector/Sigma tandem instructor rating, you no longer need to recertify with us. You must only obtain your USPA Tandem Instructor rating and they will carry you from here on out. Unless of course you're an examiner, then you must maintain your RWS rating. Hope that answers your questions. Best regards, T.K. DONLE Tandem Program Director Vice President The Uninsured Relative Workshop.com" What that means to me is that RWS is not going to worry about the individual and his currency... (just like General Motors doesnt worry about you having a drivers permit because you have a Camaro) RWS will continue to certify examiners, as I am sure Strong Enterprises and 'Stunts' will also... I know Mr Booth lurks the 'DZ.COM' boards, maybe if he comes across this thread he can post 'ground-truth'.... The manual being spoken of is in draft form right now, and due out on 15June... the FAA has already (as USPA put on the web-site) pretty much agreed, but the legal documents arent finished yet... a more fact based answer can be gained by e-mailing the USPA saftey & training section. Blue Skies and soft landings..... hope that helps..... Billy

...in the past, I have offered to give the customer 3 '8x10' computer shots pulled off of the memory stick (if you have one) one of exit/freefall/landing and in addition a floppy disk with a roll of film worth of still captures from the stick. I printed the shots on good quality photo paper, and sent them the pictures. The few times I have done it, the customers where more than glad to play along, and even told me to keep the money for the stills... If possible I would get an e-mail addy' and send them that way also... The place I work at now has a little different personality so I dont know how well it would work at any given DZ... just a thought.....

I work at the Military Freefall School in Yuma AZ in the video detachment... We do our editing with a Panasonic board (wj-ave7), a Videonics T-3000 title generator, and a JVC Mini-DV/S-VHS combo... We are about to move into the new millenium and buy a non-linear editing system. I have looked at an AVID DVXPRESS, Canopus systems, and a few others.... What I dont want is TOO MUCH... Getting something that looks like I took it from a hollywood cutting room would only overwhelm everyone here that is going to use it. I have 4 other guys that work with me, and they really dont do any production stuff, they just shoot video. My main products are a 15 minute VIP briefing, and a condensed 5 minute version of the same briefing. I also put together 5-10 tandem videos when a VIP comes out and jumps with us... (which the analog system is perfect for) Otherwise I put together little 20-30min. 'class-videos' every month. I started doing quite a bit of the editing at home on a HP Pavillion using Pinnacle Studio DV software... I get pretty good results, but its consumer grade stuff, and REALLY slow... all it proves is that I can put a product on the table without using a $30,000 system. Now if you had just under $10,000 to spare, what kind of stuff would you have sitting on the desk in your editing bay? Because of military purchasing flaws, I am probably going to end up with some type of Canopus system like it or not... (the first go round "they" tried to buy the system without asking me what I wanted/needed, and guess what, they were going to buy a system with no capture card, and no breakout box) So the paperwork had to get recycled so I could get everything at once... I am also curious about DVD authoring, and the associated legalities... music use etc etc...... any help/hints would be enjoyed..... Blue Skies

just the guy I am looking for... I have a few questions that you are probably perfect to ask. Let me put them together in some logical order, and I'll drop them in your e-mail.... video-editing type stuff..... if you dont mind that is...............

Quade... I've noticed in a few of your posts you mention "work".... what do you do 'at work'? E-mail me if you prefer, I may have a few non-skydiving questions for you... blue skies.... Billy

just my two cents.... I have been jumping my bat rac with a TRV-11 on top of it... I LOVE IT but.... I am pulling it off and replacing it with an older PC-1 why? why not. I may jump it for a while and go back to the TRV-11... depends on how it 'feels' one thing to remember... ANY PC stlye box/camera setup can be top mounted if you so desire... try side mounting a TRV-30 to the side of a mindwarp, velocity, sidewinder, in-vertigo etc etc... the camera may be a little nicer, but its not as versatile. Its also heavier. The smaller PC style cam's have just about the same features as the bigger ones. I used to be a hard core TRV' style kinda guy... now all I want is as much camera as I need. A big full-feature super camera isnt any good if I only use 1/3 of what I paid for. The newer PC style cameras use the M-series batteries instead of the smaller S-series so battery life isnt a problem.... LCD screen size isnt really that big a deal because you are usually going to run the video through a cable onto a tv screen anyway... (I try to use my screen as LITTLE as possible) The only things I cant do with my PC-1 that I used on my TRV-11 are the "dot" fader function, night shot, and the memory stick. Everything else is just 'extra-stuff' anyway... like I said, just my two cents blue skies.....

you can also drop straight down... fall 'knees down" to keep you steep enough to watch the trio, but pop the wings REALLY hard to slow your fall rate enough to stay relative. (You can use the same body postion at pull time to film the opening of the canopy.) try a few different ways to see what is more comfortable for you blue skies......

My best weekend was 6videos and three AFF'S on saturday, then 8 videos and 2 AFF's on sunday... (the DZO had an opening for a video/AFF guy after Dino had his "bad landing) talk about a lame excuses to stop jumping..... "my reserve is out of date" "its too windy" "i broke my femur.." you gotta do better than that bro..... Yuk yuk..... I missed you this weekend brother! DAMN THATS STILL A LONG RIDE !!!!

an AED if it is working properly, and connected right (considering the sticky pads have pictures it is pretty hard to connect it wrong) it will not shock a person that dont need to be shocked... and yes starting CPR on a healthy well beating heart is widely accepted as a very bad idea... In my opinion, it comes down to this, money is a finite resource, spend it however you like, just remember if you are spending it to save lives - try to get the most bang for the buck... If you work in a retirement community, and spend lots of money on splints, bandages and first aid kits, you will probably not save a lot of your patients because your splint set will not provide any electricity to a failing heart. On the other hand, if you spend all your money at the drop zone buying AED's, it will most likely sit unattended in a corner (right next to the fire extinguisher with an oudated tag) until it is covered in dust and someone trips over it and breaks an ankle. (then you wont be able to splint the broken bone because you spent all your money on an AED) again... I defer to the article in the June 2002 Parachutist on page 34 Blue Skies... soft landings DARN IT! SKYMEDIC BEAT ME TO THE POST!

speak of the devil..... there is a great article in this months parachutist......... Blue skies......

what kind of bite switch? what kind of camera? what kind of connector? where the wires soldered? Where they soldered right? Are you sure? Try unhooking the switch, and plug in the remote cable... then rub the cable wires together and make the camera fire. Then unplug the remote, wrap the wires together, and plug the remote in... if it fires when you plug it in and then stops... it may be a bad remote cable... if it fires and wont stop the remote is prob'ly good. A little more detail on what you are working with may help....

There where a few hints from bonehead awhile back about a "flat-top narrow" that would be priced somewhere between the batrack and the flat top pro... First heard about it around the same time the Optic came out, never heard anything more... If they ever made one I would prob'ly buy it....

I put about 50 jumps on one... comfortable-yes Safe? In my opinion NEVER The one I used had a chin cup that adjusted with 'radiator hose clamps' and the only way to 'escape' was by loosening a bolt on either side of the head, and pulling the chin peice out..... There is so much more out there.... I cant imagine why anyone would even look at that helmet. If you are bent on a top mount, full face, look at a Headhunter Voodoo. What kind of video do you want to shoot? Do you want the abilty to shoot stills? Before I would buy a Stealth, I would buy a headhunter, a 'protec', a flattoppro, a vapor, a batrack (my favorite) an Optic, a mindwarp w/accesories..... but dont waste your money on a Stealth..... just my 2 cents....

AED's STILL require training... they are relatively idiot proof, but again, they require training. (Who is going to maintain it?) Skydiving related injuries generally dont not ultimately require the use of an AED. They require immobilization devices. In my opinion, (I have been a NREMT-P since June '94) a DZ would be better off owning some good QUALITY splints, a backboard, head/neck restraints, and some bandages. Here's why (my 2 cents only) Something that would cause a heart to stop beating on a DZ would be a traumatic injury, not illness. The chances of reviving a heart that has stopped due to traumatic injury are slim to almost nonexistent. On the other hand, neck back and extremity injuries are VERY common, and the timely use of a back/neck restraint may be the difference between a lost season of skydiving and a life in a wheeelchair. A good splint can be the difference between jumping again before the season is over, or walking with a limp the rest of your life. Just my two cents. I could be wrong... again, just my opinion

well... I hope his first attempt is a good one. Nature rarely allows a second chance at such buffoonery...

I have watched HUNDREDS of hours of wind tunnel time stacked up against Z1's... The only problems I have seen are jumper induced. ie... the latch wasnt completly shut, the chin strap wasnt completely fastened etc If Z1's where as bad as people say they are, they would have gone the way of the Edsel. I can buy a Z1 and lots of beer for the same price as a skysystems helmet... Some people like apples, some people like oranges.

how much money do you got! If you got money to burn... go for an hour (or more) Tunnel training works wonders if you use a coach and video... If you have a body position problem in freefall... it is amplified in a tunnel... a good coach will be able to show you what your problem is In freefall, in air instruction is 'sketchy' at best... once you exit, the jump is on... in a tunnel you control how long you fly. just my 2 cents.... ps... go with the hour

go buy a pc-1 off of e-bay.... good camera... low prices.... dependable... a sony.... I have one ... love it! good luck.........

still camera? Canon EOS Rebel series video camera? just about any sony mini-dv just my 2 cents