TALONSKY

The suit you were jumping of Steve's was a GTI. I thought that someone over at WRight Brothers had a suit or atleast last time I was down there someone from there wanted to get together but we got weathered out. Kirk

a GTI is a good beginners suit, but something to look at is what the other birdmen that you will be flying with are jumping. Some people will do 20 or 30 jumps on a borrowed GTI then order a Skyflyer 3 since the others that fly wingsuit at that DZ have Skyflyer 3's. It really is not advisible to jump right to the Skyflyer 3 without a stepping stone first. Kirk

Yeah, I saw that too, so I e-mailed the seller to let him know about it here is the email and his response. You asked: "Hey, just thought you may want to know. The Nova canopy is dangerous and was grounded for sometime due to quite a few deaths from it collapsing. You may want to caution buyers (just would not want a newbie getting killed on one)" thanx, A newbie would need to take it to a rigger for inspection and installation, if the rigger thought it was unsafe then the buyer would would have to try to sell it, thanx for the concern. NICE GUY

If you are asking about diveout Dan, He is great. He jumps about every weekend out at SDO. Steve currently is getting heavy into the ground launching thing . Hey, we have added a few more birds up here since you were last up. Joe Webber and Scott (who has Dan's GTI and a V1 on order) Kirk

Hey Kim: Manbird has been band from this site. Something he did got the head huncho upset. Kirk

Not quite accurate. My PC109 has an A/V jack for connecting to a TV. You are correct in stating that the firewire and USB ports are in the base. It also has a LANC connection for the cameye. One trivial thing I like about the PC109 is it acts as a $600 web cam as well! I actually use it occassionally on Yahoo Messenger. Works well! Jeff As Zoter already pointed out

My bad, I thought every output was on the docking station. Kirk

One thing to keep in mind is with the 109 you will not be able to view the video on a TV or fire wire video to another camera without the docking station. Which means when an if you put it in a helmet you will have to unmount the camera each time you want to view the footage on anything other the the small screen on the camera Kirk

You can still find them on e-bay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20333&item=3880350008&rd=1

Yes, I would assume most would but I know for a fact the Z1 EVO does Kirk

Have you ever thought about contact lens? When I started skydiving I wore glasses shortly after getting my License I bought a Z1 full faced. About a year later I went to contacts and love it. Kirk

Just another way to stow ones slider, instead of the velcro. I believe the idea is that when the reserve container is open the stow will slide off of the reserve container flap. Kirk

Another factor to keep in mind is depending on the type of canopy used a pilot can be totally horizontal to the ground in less than 180° turn. Kirk

When a canopy is in a turn it is diving (unless a flat turn is done), this means that the canopy and pilot are accelerating toward the ground. Along with that when a turn is started pilot is pivoted behind the canopy as it starts the dive then the pilot is pivoted back under the canopy as the turn is completed. These two things combined together to accelate the pilot into the ground if the turn is done too low to recover from before impact. Kirk

If you read the reply Icarus sent me all original Safire’s are affected not just the one’s made in the USA (in their response to me they blame Precision Aerodynamics for the discrepancy). I had an original Safire made in Spain. As far as comparing a Safire 1 139 to a Safire 2 129 they should be the same size but will not fly the same. The Safire 2 has a shorter recovery arc then the Safire 1. Kirk

I had a Safire 169 and compared it to a Sabre 150. When you take the fact the the Safire is tappered, it makes it hard to compare exactly. So, I took the measurments from the top skin of each and made a 9" thick model in a solid CAD program and compared the over all volume of each. It came out that my 169 Safire was just a tad smaller than the Sabre 150. Kirk PS If you do a search I posted the exact dimensions along time ago on this web site.

This only applies to the original Safire(not the Safire 2), if you ordered a 134 it would state on the label 134 but would accutaully measure around 124 if being compared to a PD product. Kirk

I repost this from time to time when the subject of the original Safire comes up I e-mailed Icarus and explained that this had been talked about here and if they could give me a reply that I could post so here is Icarus's reply The Safire-1 and the Omega are measured differently to PD canopies. As a rough guide a Safire-1 or Omega is about the same size as the next size down - eg A Safire 149 is about a 135. A Safire 119 is about a 109. Use an equation of 8%. The Safire-2 and Omni (Omni supercedes Omega) are measured the same as PD. All other Icarus Canopies are measured the same as PD. The reason for the difference is due to Precision measuring their canopies differently. Icarus have always measured the same as PD however when we originally commenced in the USA, Precision were building parachutes for us under license and were doing it using their size equations and not Icarus/PD's. We have therefore had to wait to supercede these models to change the size equation. Only the Safire and Omega were affected. Blue skies Simon Icarus Canopies USA: 1S671 Bender Lane, West Chicago, IL 60185, USA Ph. (630) 562-2735, Fax (630) 231-4430 Europe: P.I. El Ramassar, c/ Vallés, s/n O8520, Les Franqueses, Barcelona, SPAIN. Ph. (34) 938 496 432, Fax (34) 938 497 971 www.icaruscanopies.com

You will not be able to put still on top without doing some work on the shape of the helmet. Basically there is not a flat spot for the camera. Kirk

The original Sidewinder is based off of the factory diver with a fixed visor (see attached pic). The Sidewinder 2 which is the picture above are based on the oxygen so the visor flips open. It is my understanding that the original Sidewinder is no longer made but you can order the Sidewinder 2 as stated above I believe last time I checked they go for about $495. Right now there is one with a camera in the classifies on this sight for $600.

In my experiance people will research it, purchase it and state I will just set it aside for later. Then just a little while later start jumping it anyway. To answer your question there are a few different types. The bone head flat top pro is a full faced, the hansen helmet is a full faced. I would highly recommend not getting these style for a first camera helmet though. The Skysystems Sidewinder is an oxygen full faced helmet with a camera box on the side. you can purchase them only through squareone. Kirk

Please read the first thread in this forum. You are far, far from being ready to jump camera. Invest in jumping and buy the equipment when you are ready for it. Kirk

As everyone else has said do a tandem. The reason for it is you can concentrate on having fun and taking it all in. In AFF you have a curriculum you will be doing in freefall, which will distract from the first jumps enjoyment. Down in Creswell you should jump at Eugene Skydivers, the owners Urban and Whitney are really great people and their staff is great. If you happen to be up more towards Portland, definitely check out Skydive Oregon (that is my home DZ), I am biased since it is my home but they have the most incredible staff including me. Kirk

Use the palm of your right hand and push the right side main webbing toward the left(hand placed at chest strap height). That should take the tension off then just take your right hand fingers and pull the friction adapter out which should start it loosing. I do this all the time with my tandem students. Kirk

One thing to keep in mind is if you are under a slower canopy the only thing that will happen (provided the winds are not too strong) is a longer canopy flight. If your under too fast of a canopy there is not a lot you can do other than pray and try to fly it. Getting under a smaller canopy is not like taking a Ferrari for a drive. In the car you control how fast things go, under canopy you have no control of how fast the canopy fly’s in full flight and if you use some of the brakes to slow it down you have less brakes left to stop it at the end. As stated before talk to the S&TA and downsize slowly to your Sabre 135. Kirk