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Finally got my Altitrack Friday and jumped it all weekend. I learned several things that may be of interest. First things first - Thanks L&B it was worth the wait. The first jump was noticeably unfamiliar looking at the needle at 9 O'Clock on a 15K jump, but every jump after that was just like I had always been jumping with that scale. Playback was very nice, and helped replay the dive in my mind and with the video. When you take off the needle stays on "0" for a short period, and then jumps up to 400 or 500 feet. Beyond that it performs very much like any analog alti. The canopy flight record was also interesting and informative. If the canopy ride is planned and executed to test various maneuvers you can get a pretty good picture of what is going on. I did that and was pleased with the information and results. Next week I'll be better prepared for some things I've been wanting to try with this instrument. Flying it with the wingsuit was particularly informative. The ergonomic fit and rotated face also aided in reading it in flight. I was expecting a blue tooth interface that was integral to the unit, and now know that it is an accessory that plugs in to the unit. I'll be awaiting its release. I also ran into a quirk with the wrist strap. It is longer that I need, and so about 3 inches extends past the velcro. That was a concern, and I didn't really want to cut off the excess. I solved it with a bit of double sided velcro tape from Lowe's by wrapping it around the band effectively extending the available velcro to close the band. All in all another quality piece of equipment from L&B. A note on electronic vs. mechanical. I heard the comment several times this weekend, "I like the idea of a mechanical altimeter." I can respect that opinion. For me, the Optima in my helmet matched the Altitrack at every setpoint. I also remember when altimeters in freefall were a novelty (I know my profile doesn't look like I could make that comment, but it only references "square" canopies). --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

... to make sure it's long enough. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

Hey Matt - PM me next time you plan to be at the DZ and I'll bring the video stuff so we can record your landings. That will help too. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

The name is "Noble Warrior's Apprentice" but to us he's Mickey - though sometimes we wonder if a better call name would have been Goofy. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

I appreciate the thoughtful and well considered responses. I also would like to thank those that took the time and effort to reply privately with their insight. Just in case I didn't cover all the suggestions and questions; I do not intend to jump anything over my wingsuit other than my current rig. I see people that do and I respect that they have what it takes to make it work, I don't. Certainly any transition needs to take place with the proper training, time, and experience with a well thought out and orderly progression to whatever size/wing loading. I can't say that I have any empirical or even anecdotal reason for not liking the idea of non-cascaded lines, I just have that feeling - kinda like preferring vanilla to strawberry - it may not make sense but there it is. Not meant to suggest there should be any reason why someone should not prefer non-cascaded lines. After all they must work OK or they wouldn't stand the test of the marketplace. Thanks again all.

After flying a PF track suit on many fights and demo'ing a Prodigy, and GTi I selected the Firebird based on the design at the time of purchase. I was attracted to the front and rear air inlets, airlocks, small grippers and widened leg stance. At the time, rear inlet options were not available on other similar suits. The order was placed with BM direct for a suit that was reported to be new and in stock, however, after placing the order and paying I was informed that the suit was in transit as a demo and delivery was delayed. What was received was a suit that appeared to have been jumped at least once. The arm wing cutaway cables were not fitted and needed to be cut to length, a process for which there was no accompanying instructions. There was also an open seam on the right bootie top. The first 6 jumps were uneventful, and the suit performed as advertised. It is an easy suit to fly, maneuver, and recover from spins. The sweet spot was not difficult to locate and the range of flight was what I had expected for an intermediate suit. This suit came with bootie snaps and thumb loops which made things more comfortable for me. It was a stock sized suit and using the on-line sizing chart I found that it fit very well. What was disappointing was the quality of the zippers. While other suits I have flown before and since have a heavy duty zip which is easy to operate, this suit's zips are prone to being pressure sensitive and sluggish to unzip under canopy, taking extra seconds and requiring more effort and manipulation. On the 7th jump a seam on the right arm wing let go. Upon close inspection I noticed a half inch separation of fabric on the stitch line. Other stitching seemed to be loose in both arm wings. Loose stitching "moves" when the wing inflates and deflates, and this moving can "saw" the fabric. Customer service subsequent to this structural failure was a paradox. While the U.S.A. dealers I dealt with regarding this problem were responsive, the factory seem to miss the point. The suit was returned to a local dealer and the factory notified, yet they continued to respond to my emails that the suit must be returned before they could comment - seemingly ignoring the fact that the suit was in the hands of their dealer and out of my control. In the end I had to retrieve the suit and return it to Slovenia at my expense. It took further prompting to get the repaired suit returned. When returned the open seams had been repaired, but not the loose stitching. I have since jumped the suit about 30 times and it continues to perform as advertised - the zips are still a hassle. After a few weeks of back and forth with BM I did get a PHI demo to use while waiting. The PHI XL is larger than the Firebird XL. While the construction of the PHI was significantly better than the Firebird, and the zips functioned much better, it is not as much fun to fly. I use a "Fun to Work" ratio to describe this. On a scale of 1 to 10 with sex being 10:1 and eating being 1:1 the PHI is about a 3:1 while the Firebird is 6:1. In conclusion, the Firebird is a good design that is easy and fun to fly. Zipper quality makes the unzipping task far too cumbersome. Quality of construction and Factory Service was not what I had expected from this company. With the number of competitive products on the market and my experience with some of the other manufacturers I can't in good conscious recommend this product.

The planform and the nose. The aerodynamics of this wing is more in line with the flight characteristics I'm looking for than the Safire. Getting from what I'm comfortable with to this canopy will be a progression through loading and planform - taking my time and confirming capability at each step. Because landing speed and glide ratio are in opposition here there is a compromise. The design of this canopy seems to be within the envelope that could support an acceptable result of that compromise. I had a look at the Nitro/Nitron, but it didn't strike me as having the user base and I'm not sure I like the idea of non-cascaded lines. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

Just a thought - never tried it - Use netlink and set it up to control the DT. That means giving control to the LT from the DT. Also, you might want to set the display to true color. In that config you are doing all the processing on the DT and just viewing the screen with your LT - similar to a remote terminal server. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

The low down: Age: 55 Jumps: 330 Current Canopy Spectre 210 (1.1:1) Canopies Jumped: Sabre 2 190, Lotus 190, Spectre 190. (edited to add I do about 300 jumps a year) I like to fly the canopies. I really enjoy riding down from altitude at sunset. My preferred jumps are wingsuit jumps and for those my current rig is and will remain the rig of preference. I'm thinking about a second rig, and want better glide and predictable and moderate openings. I'm not and probably will never be a hot dog swoopmeister but more performance isn't a bad thing. Penetration into the wind, powerful flare, and the ability to minimize the number of steps on run out are priorities. I'm not taking cost into consideration - this would be a long term investment not a transition. In short, I'd like a solid performance wing that has all the right stuff but will treat me well if I fly it conservatively, square pattern approaches etc. The Crossfire 2 looks good to me for that and at a loading close to 1.4. So I'm looking for input and debate from the pros. Thanks in advance. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

OK Now I'm really pissed. They should only use employees to make skydiving commercials --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

Unlink the audio tracks from the video track Place the audio tracks on different track lines Expand the audio tracks Insert a keyframe at the point you want to start the fade out on one track and at the point you want to fade in on the other track. Insert a keyframe at the end of the fade out track and drag it to the bottom of the track bar. Insert a keyframe at the beginning of the fade in track and drag it to the bottom of the track bar. Hint - select the pen nib tool - put it at the point you want to insert a keyframe and ctrl click to insert a key frame. Point at the key frame indicator and click and drag to move it up and down. Really don't understand why crossfade doesn't work, but the above method will let you control the fades. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

Just wanted to post a public thankyou to the folks at Sky Venture Arizona, Mick, and "Anarchy" which I have dubbed "Two Hot Chicks and Three Wild and Crazy Guys". I had a great time sharing the time, learned some things and generally appreciated a friendly end to a great day of jumping. Allen --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

Great choice. Now, what are you going to wear? --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

So when are you coming down to Florida to visit. Margaret and Kim still talk about SDKS and the cool dog. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

There is a natural version of this in Florida. A number of the springs here allow divers in them and some have an outflow that provides an upwards flow of water. With scuba gear it is possible to adjust bouyancy to achieve a null depth change. I found that "arching" "flips" and "sit" were like very very slow motion maneuvers in an air column without the attendant concerns. Of course there are concerns in water - air embolism is a big one and it will kill you very dead with a minor depth change. Never tried head down, but I don't have much desire to do that in the air either. If you want to experience what you are describing try diving the springs. Don't see a big commercial application, but then IBM didn't see a commercial application for a electrostatic copier either when they rejected the Xerox patent. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

For those that have a PC1000, HC90 or similar and want great sky shots time lapse use the smooth interval recorsing at 1 frame per second. If you want it to go faster, then spped it up in post. I usually shoot 1 frame every 2 seconds which gives me a conversion of 1 minute time = 1 second video for shooting people moving. I have a timelapse shot from a high corner position in our packing area at .5 FPS for several hours on a busy weekend day. I like to work it into DVD's I make for friends that jump tandem. If you're recording with a stills camera a horizontal resolution of 1280 for HD or 720 for SD will give you the sharpest picture. P.S. an very nice effect is time bending that you can do with after effects. Speed up the shot smoothly as the jumpers move back in the plane and hit the door, then slow it down smoothly and evenly for the exit, then back up to full speed for the dive flow. Post production overdose. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

Quote. . . . but they just had a judge order a Utility Company to demolish a brand new 150 million dollar complex they just built because they did'nt follow the County's rules. "Aquilla" sp?Quote The judge also gave them time to get the proper documentation. It would be naive to think that the plant will be demolished. What is likely to happen has nothing to do with skydiving or the issues surrounding the DZ. Now I jump regularly at a King Air DZ and we don't always fill every load and we do have shutdowns due to lack of jumpers. We also have a few other DZ's in the area (Orlando). I usually go to the DZ for at least one day each weekend. If it were a Cessna DZ I'd jump less and probably scuba on alternate weekends. I suspect there are other things to do in the area (row beans, watch corn grow, tip cows? travel outside the area to jump.) If two DZ's can keep their aircraft full on the same weekend, my guess is there is enough business in the area and if one is operating a turbine regularly it's quite possible that more people will jump more often. Many of the people I met on opening day were, like me, professionals who have the money to support their habit. I love our free market system of competition. Look what it's done for you folks up north - two weekends in a row with turbines at two drop zones and people having a ball at both. What's next? A wind tunnel at Worlds of Fun? I may have to move back to KC! BTW - Yes I was there, Yes I've jumped at both DZ's, and Yes I'm a Power Generation Industry insider and know what's going on with that power plant. Blue Skys KC - hope the wind dies down. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

I like using the 30p mode rather than interlaced. Makes for much better frame captures. I use frame capture for illlustration and special effects when editing. I also use the smooth interval recording to do ground shots of the DZ for "B" roll. Using zebra takes much of the guesswork out of avoiding fades and washes - especially on bright tarmac on bright days. I use the backlight button on the plane and then turn it off before exit. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

Hello . . . . . . anybody there? --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

How about the guy on Survivor putting the idol thing in the container's main position? --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

Thanks for all your efforts and hard work Paul and Joanna. Kim Tessa and I had a great time, met some great people, and as the youngsters say enjoyed some good vibes. Couple of fun flocks with the birds from up north. What's really good news is that so many skydivers had so much fun this weekend. Lucky there were two DZ's with turbines so they could all make those loads. Allen --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

Standard practice when riding one down for whatever reason is to let the pilot know you have an armed cypress, they can avoid any close calls. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

You should have seen it from the top See y'all there. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

Just looking through the info on the website I see that closing the viewfinder automatically puts it in the standby mode. I'd want to know that this could be overridden. Not sure how the remote control works. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

Back then our cells just divided. --------------------------------------------- Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.