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I never get anything skydiving related shipped without knowing the tracking number. I would go insane wondering about it. William

I don't know about the new Odyssey but I can talk about the old javelin. I have had a Raven 181 in a J-3 for a long time and have seen pd176s in them without problems. As far as down sizing the mains go, javelins have been very good at this. It has to do with were the closing loop is attached. On the Javelin it is in the bottom of the container. This lets you close the container down a lot tighter than designed. It is more of a pain when packing though because you have to always fish your pull up cord out of the bottom of the container once you put the bag in. I have put a 120 in a j-3. If you tighten down the closing loop it will tighten as tight as you want it. William

What is happening is that you are dialing in the 90 better than you were your 180. Being efficient is the most important thing in swooping. William

I have an old time out so I can only set one of the altitudes. I set it for 4000 do give me a wake up call. Below that all the bells and whistles it can throw in would be appreciated. I just wish you could set it not to go off below a certain altitude so I wouldn't hear it as I am coming in to land. William

Saw that show. Yeah the handle st up looked kind of wacky. Did you see his landing? William

A 17 square foot kite. No kidding. Of course it wasn't landed. Intentional cut away rig, but hey you just said jumped. William

< I guess the best bet is to buy the most that I can afford> Mot really. Most of the time the more expensive cameras are more expensive because of features that you would not use in skydiving. Start by going to the sony web site and reading about the different cameras. Then do a search to find out about the older models. William

I think it would. I like my helmet tight as well. I have a Dbomb and that thing will not move in the least bit and it will only go on my head one wat but I could never get it off with an entanglement. I am looking at getting a Flat Top Pro after seeing some others with them. I liked the way you can get it off your head quickly with the system they devised and the fact that it has a huge surface helps to as I am wanting more and more to mount extra stuff on my head. William

For high speed approaches front risers are the only way to go. i will save the big spill on why. If you want to learn high speed approaches get some more jumps under your belt and then go to a canopy control school. After you finish you will never consider toggle turns for high speed landings again.

First off, what kind of video do you want to shoot. Do you want/need to be able to shoot stills as well? Do you already have a helmet that you are trying to fit this to or are you going to buy a camera helmt? William

Exit: Very dependent on airplane. The idea is to stay as close to the tandem as possible without hitting them or getting directly above them and always keeping them in frame. We jump a super Otter so I get on the camera step and leave a split second before they do. I trak up to them as soon as i leave the plane. Belly or sit: Both can work great. Use the one you are best at. I use both. Position: You need to be able to get below them in the sit or on your belly so you can see the student's face even if they look down. That is why you need a wing suit to shoot tandems. A freefly suit will give you plenty of lift but the extra lift on your upper body will let you fly in different positions. With wings you can get under them and use the wings to tilt you up enough to look up at them or fly with you knees down for even more pitch. Deployment: If you are in a sit it is easy just keep looking at the tandem as they go up. If you are on your belly there is a lot of different things you can do. I have seen people roll sideways onto their back as the tandem deploys. I like to flip up. It is a lot easier to do this with wings. I like to raise my head at first, and then as they get higher I transition to my knees. I used to go all the way over onto my back but I changed it because I had to spend more time afterwards slowing down for deployment which would make me cut the opening short on lower openings. Suit: I fly a winged suit if I am on my belly or in a sit. I have a tony suit with the C wings that attach in the front that will let you sit fly with it. If you need to slow down you can lay out more in the sit into a recliner position and slow down to the speed of the slowest tandem. I hope this helps. If you are just starting get help from someone who is already shoting tandems. It will save you a lot of headaches and money. William

The Golden Knights flat pack their stilletos.

I am right down the road from there. I was recalled to the Marine Corps after 9/11 and I am in Quantico. There is a small Cesna drop zone in Garrisonville. Orange is 45 minutes from me but I am not sure for you because I don't know the route. Should be about the same unless there is a back way. William

You might want to make sure that you are putting it in correctly. I haven't seen anyone else have a problem with them. We got them last year as staff rigs. William

Wanted to add one more thing. This doesn't mean that you should downsize because it will be easier. It is only easier after you have developed the skill set required for the smaller canopy. If you do not have the skill required and you downsize the results can be disasterous. Learn on the bigger wings and then start working your way down in canopy size while working your way up in amount of turn. William

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I started to learn hook turns under a stilleto loaded at 1.56 to 1. After I go t the bug I started working my way down to a crossfire 199 loaded at 1.97. i found that longer turns were easier to achieve under the heavier loaded canopy. A 270 under the stilleto was difficult to dial in just right while I got it dialed in great under the crossfire in a short amount of time. I have since went back and tried to hook some bigger canopies. I will not hook them more than 90 degress. I think if you are going to try and learn under a large canopy keep to 45 or 90 degree turns at the most. These can be performed with relative safety but any more is dnagerous under a lightly loaded canopy. William

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I started to learn hook turns under a stilleto loaded at 1.56 to 1. After I go t the bug I started working my way down to a crossfire 199

Are you saying that you would describe a hook as a manuever that causes the an unloading of the canopy and a carve would not? William

They ca nbe dangerous. I have seen a couple of people get hurt on them. One girl got a concussion. William

At least put its seat belt on then.

Where are you going to be in northern virginia?