tdog

Not always true. I know people who were evaluators for one Director, and students of that Director, who were very unhappy.

My point was - not to get Sony to change their bandwagon, but to make their bandwagon work for our destination. If they want to no longer install lanc.... Then... "Tell us, Sony, how to accomplish this task???"

Dude, re-read my post. I never said keep the LANC, I said an alternative. If they have control via other ports, they might help make an accessory.

I know we are a SUPER SMALL segment of Sony's business. However, this would be a good time for the USPA to write a letter on behalf of their members, or a proactive camera flier to start a petition. If Sony is getting rid of LANC, it might be too hard to convince them to keep it... But instead write a spec. "We desire the ability to have a remote indicator light that indicates recording and standby modes, in addition to a push button switch with the ability to turn on the camera, and cycle between standby and record. Currently we do it with the CamEye switch using the LANC port. Unfortunately, Sony has discontinued the LANC port. We seek alternatives. This is a desirable feature most skydivers that jump with cameras require. While not statistically significant, our market share is estimated at 5,000 Sony camera purchases a year, and accommodating this technology will guarantee continued near exclusive sales to the skydiving market. We encourage Sony to visit your local Drop Zone to meet the hard working professional camera fliers that capture the moments of visitor's first skydives, and the weekend warrior fun jumpers who shoot hours of footage in freefall a year of their friends. You will find Sony is the exclusive camera for these activities, and not only that, but freefall photography is a booming sub-market. Footage also can be found on www.skydivingmovies.com." The trick is to find the right person at Sony to send it to. Someone who is in charge of product development... Now, the next step would be to work with this person to offer a sponsorship program, where they provide posters and/or banners and/or collateral - and the Sony brand starts getting some more skydiving press....

Can I assume when he yells "oh &&&&" over and over again, after the wing fell off, that I have an invite to leave. (I just thought I would hijack the thread on the third post as much as you did on the second post). To the question at hand... Out of pure self preservation, I would want to be closer to the door - and I think a bunch of fun jumpers could bail quicker than tandems - so a pure "souls saved" equation says put fun jumpers near the door. However, I think the odds are statistically insignificant in the big picture. The same DZ could offer detailed canopy classes and save more souls from injury or worse over the life of the DZ. One is a sure bet, the other is a far fetched "what if", where the TMs athleticism probably has more to do with it. My bigger fear with tandems getting out low - is they open high - and unless the TMs and pilot are perfect at their procedures, you could have fun jumpers opening in the canopy flying of the tandems... I would not want to be part of it.

It is no secret people from all over the world, with different currency and experience, flock to this wonderful boogie. 25% of all the skydiving fatalities I have personally witnessed happened last year at this boogie - seventy times my personal average of fatality per jumping day ratio. I think the numbers are more than just luck - I witnessed stuff that was crazy. Also, I remember in 2005, someone who will remain unnamed, but reminds me of a barn and a house, yelling at me over the PA for a poor canopy decision... In 2006 people made much worse decisions and were not educated. Lets go back to calling out the mistakes (privately if need be), so we can all keep this safe! Reminders: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2593116;search_string=eloy;#2593116 http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2592835; I am sure the DZ has reevaluated the situation and has made changes for 2007 that we all will find out about.... However, (some of) my observations, for the sake of being flamed by people who hate rules: 1) Every jumper - regardless of how familiar with the DZ - should get a comprehensive "canopy rule briefing". Last year the briefing to our group was, "you have been here, great you know the rules, go jump." The boogie rules, the regular rules, and the rules as you remember them can be vastly different. 2) High speed landing and turns... Keep them tame, the person you are flying next to might have jumped a year ago... It is a boogie after all. Revert back to something simple for your first jump and slowly ramp it up, if you choose to ramp it up. 3) Police the landing area and pattern. Jumpers help jumpers. DZ management watch and educate. 4) Land out and walk. There is no reason to land in when you are uncomfortable or can not safely enter the pattern. Other ideas are welcome to be posted to this thread... However, remember this is one cool ass boogie and this thread should be optimistic!

Status Update. I got the www.sealingwire.us press in the mail today... The post mark date was the 18th - which coincidentially lines up with the date I e-mailed him, "I have not received it yet, it should be here now, what is the tracking number?" Impressions: 1) The letters all fit perfectly, the first time, on the seal. I am impressed. Much better fit than any of the paragear presses I have seen used and/or used when I was under supervision of others. 2) He delivered. However, if he would have sent me an email saying, "dude, I am sorry... I screwed up... I sent it today --- or --- With Christmas we got behind schedule..." I would have sung his praise instead of still feeling bit out of the loop.

One Word: Bram.

Derek, I unfortunately have to recommend NOT purchasing from this company. The company has only an e-mail address - no phone number. I purchased on your recommendation. Half of my e-mails have gone unanswered, including the last e-mail I sent a few days ago, asking where my press was at. They charged my credit card, and after asking a few times for a ship date, told me it would have shipped last week. Based upon the shipping option I paid for, it should have been here! I have asked for a tracking number or confirmation via e-mail. 2 business days later - no return e-mail. I hold small mom-n-pops and large multinationals to the same business expectations of answering customer service and sales questions within two business days, and shipping when promised. Hence, I would not do business with this gentleman again.

Again, trying to quote someone with more knowledge than I... Page 48 of Brian's book. This is discussed in the turbulence section - pitch maintenance. But the words are clearer than I could use. I believe this applies to landing. A quicker sharper movement to the "first stage" will cause a more dynamic "retreat" of the canopy, thus allowing a quicker and stronger transition to a higher angle of attack. Here is a definition of angle of attack from wikipedia: So if speed = energy, and increasing angle of attack = lift, and energy can be converted to lift - does it not make sense that we should convert our canopy's pitch from a low to high angle of attack quickly without dissipating speed, so we can have the energy to convert to lift? Basically, a slow transition to the "plane out phase" kills speed and energy in the system before it is needed. A faster transition to the plane out keeps the speed that will turn to lift.

Dude, I give you a compliment, I was impressed with your knowledge - and invite you to teach us all and so we all could learn more... But you reply with my most hated statement on the internet. We have to assume that everyone on here, from one to 1,000,000 jumps, will not attempt something they fully don't understand without learning fully about it. It is not my job to hide information from someone by saying "talk to your instructor" because there is no magical time when we stop learning from everyone else. I don't mind prefacing a comment with, "really you should seek some local guidance too, and discuss any changes with your instructors and peers at the DZ." Of course - some things need to be not answered online (specific AFF dive flow and procedures that are DZ specific, would be a clear example), but generic canopy control concepts are free game as far as I am concerned, especially when the original poster has a B licence and 97 jumps in their profile. I am not a canopy expert, so I am going to opt to quote others that I respect. Brian G. I am going to quote some text from your book, "The Parachute and its Pilot". If there are copyright issues or you wish for me not to quote, please contact me or a moderator to have this removed or edited. Page 56 I went thru a few Flight One canopy courses taught by Jason T. - once as a paid student - another time to refresh my memory since I had the opportunity to sit in. We evaluated a lot of our videos of landings - and it was easy to see how a well timed flare was important, and part of that timing was when the initial stage started and ended. Starting too high and "easing into it" - the energy in the system is not efficiently used and you never get a crisp plane out where the canopy flies parallel to the ground. Clearly on video, you could see that a nice crisp entry to "stage one" caused the skydiver's suspended weight to move forward under the canopy, to under the A lines, due to their momentum keeping them moving while their canopy slows down. This change in angle of attack/pitch of the canopy increases lift and causes the nice plane out across the ground. Also - easing into the initial flare spot - kills the airspeed prematurely before you really need it, landing...

With 15 jumps in your profile, you are discussing stuff I know people with 150 jumps can't explain... So, here is my challenge to you. Why does the speed in which you get to the sweet spot matter? I know the answer... But I will give you the opportunity to tell...

It is very canopy/wing load specific. I own four different canopies. All four have completely different "sweet spots". Length of risers and arms will also change the sweet spot relative to your torso (shoulder height, ear height, etc). To the original poster - maybe go to skydiveradio.com and download the Brian Germain radio shows. Understanding how speed equals energy, and how flaring causes your momentum to pendulum you forward changing angle of attack, and increasing angle of attack creates lift with the energy from speed - will give you an idea of why a two stage flare works. It is a very interesting physics equation where speed can be turned into lift, and with lift you reduce speed, giving you the ideal landing situation (no forward and no downward speed right as your feet touch down).

I would have thought that myself too... But then I watched a bunch of friends jump off a legal BASE jumping bridge at night and discovered black is, actually, easy to see as a "dark void". A medium gray/silver on the top skin, and a navy blue or blackberry bottom skin, is actually very hard to see. Believe it or not, a completely black canopy is too black to disappear. White is the most visible. Red disappears too. The Moody Blues song comes to mind: And a science website comments on the lyrics:

Get a MAc I might borrow one - but to have one. That is ludichrist (especially since ALL the software I use to make money is only available for a PC.)

I was delivered photos on a CDR, finalized. The CD was made on a mac. The user renamed the files. A few files have "?" and other invalid characters for a PC in the file name. "Who is this?.jpg" I tried to drag and drop to my computer. Errors out with an "invalid file name" message. Tried XCopy, hoping to use the short file name flag "/n" to copy. Same error. Tried opening in Photoshop and other aps to "Save As". No go. Tried to rename the source file, but obviously since the CD was finalized you can't do that. Ideas of how to get these photos renamed so I can work with them?

It seems like PIA has the credibility and clout. Perhaps a committee there could work with the FAA to keep documents updated? I am sure the FAA would respect a single point of contact better than 50 guys sending things ad hoc...??? Or maybe not.

That was addressed in the first post - the content was very different, not just wording. Some = a lot. However, for studying for a written test, you can read 1000 pages of poynter, or read and digest certain noteworthy sections in PRH... One will give you 1000 pages of very good information. The other will give you the answers to the majority of the questions that were randomly selected for a test administered last Friday, despite what OK City says.

Or... Before or after they moved the cutter.

No - find a mom and pop guy who loves to fly. Educate him on skydiving and why you want to jump from his balloon. If he resists immediately, keep talking. If he still resists, thank him for his time and find another. Apparently - balloon festivals are a place to find balloon pilots... Soon - he (the one you make a relationship with) will welcome your ground crew assistance and participation in gas money - and will look forward to your call. (The bigger guys are all in it for money and can make more money from a wine and cheese trip than from your skydiving... So the little guy hobbyists are the key, or so I have found.) I have a lot of balloon jumps, but none of them have been official DZ commercial operations with all the headaches and attitudes found at a DZ manifest window.

Well, that changes everything then, huh? Would think that they would notate the old out of date forms as being old and out of date, if they are going to discontinue them.

November Skydiving Mag: The FAA has the most recent test bank (5/2007) at http://www.faa.gov/education_research/testing/airmen/test_questions/media/rig.pdf HOWEVER - it is out of date. A test that was taken last week had over 70% new material/questions not even loosely matching the test bank or subject areas in the test bank - however were directly from the PRH and the Appendix of the PRH. The test bank published on the internet is heavily from Poynter's two manuals, whereas the new bank is heavily from the PRH, and quite a few of the questions are not even found in the Poynter manuals even indirectly. If you know anyone planning on taking the test - and they want to study using a test bank - they need to contact the FAA to get the revised bank as the FAA internet site is out of date. The DPRE locally was aware that the changes were going to occur from reading the magazine, but was not aware that they HAD occurred. The applicant will want to ask, when they contact the FAA, for a revised AC 60-25F "Reference Materials and Subject Matter Date Knowledge Codes for Airman Knowledge Testing" as the document is out of date also - only including the Poynter Manuals, TSO docs and AC 105-2. The FAA-G-8082-15C, PARACHUTE RIGGER KNOWLEDGE TEST GUIDE, has been updated last month to reflect the new questions and probably makes the strongest hint towards the revisions and new focus by saying:

No - reread my post... I kind of hinted my 4 minute packjobs are not neat. (neatness depends on mood at the time, not time spent.) I have been told two pieces of advice that I have taken to heart. Person 1 - Master Rigger - 2500 reserve packjobs: "There is no such thing as a fabric malfunction, only line malfunctions." (Hence, I pay more attention to line neatness than fabric neatness on my trash packs.) Person 2 - 1000+ Base Jump pack jobs: "Screw-up the symmetrically with lines in the center and you will be fine." I don't care - you are right... The purpose of this thread was to discover how the packing perspectives have changed over the years - how once PRO packing was considered the dirty dangerous new sloppy technique.

Buffdiver, Since you were wearing mine... You get the dry cleaning bill. You wanna take it to the clubs tonight??? You seem to have the right moves going to make it "work".

So I was taking an FAA test... I walk out to my car thinking, that is the most f***ed up thing ever, none of the questions in the test bank were actually given to me... At least I passed with 85%... I think... What else could go wrong today. Then I see "one missed text message". "Your wingsuit just got raped". And then I thought, "Yes, the day could get worse."