jdhill

When getting advice over the internet, TRUST NO ONE!... picking a canopy could be a life and death decision... this is all information and unquantified opinions that should be filed away in one's brain as background for asking questions from people you know and have a basis for trusting... no one should make a canopy choice based only on information posted here... seek advice from people who have seen you fly and know your abilities. In God we trust, all others must prove themselves. http://www.aerialfusion.com

First thing you do is try to avoid it from happening... but it does happen... It all depends on what you think you got on the roll... did you get any in freefall? Or do you know for sure that you only got before and after shots... If you may have gotten freefall shots, tell them that your camera may have malfunctioned during freefall so you are not sure what you got... tell them to call you if there are no freefall stuff and go from there... If you know there are not freefall shots and they paid extra for the photos, give them the money back with what you did shoot and appologize... you could offer to shot another roll on the their next jump (because they are going to make another one, right?), but then you have that hanging out there... at my dz, the stills are complimentary, so if the camera does not work, we technically do not owe them anything... for good PR we will offer to do the frame grab thing (those that have that capability) and e-mail them to the customer sometime the following week (when it has happened to me, I have gone overboard on the number of grabs I send them, and I will also clean them up in Photoshop)... Not much else you can do... can't shit a roll of great pictures... if you pitch it right, they will go away happy and think they are getting something better (they can e-mail their friend w/o scanning yada, yada, yada) Hope this helps Josh http://www.aerialfusion.com

Well let's see... It all started when I failed video productions in college... I don't have any formal training or professional editting experiance... I leaned about cameras from a few folks around the DZ and my own reading... I have taught myself (with a little help from Total Training) Premier, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects (still learning) and GoLive (still learning)... I've done some playing with Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro also. I've produced two intro pieces for local DZ's (one's no longer in business) used on their tandem tapes, and assisted in several DZ event videos (year end review type stuff). Folks around the DZ tell me they like what I have done, so I guess I am at least OK with this stuff... but not a pro. Josh http://www.aerialfusion.com

When I lived in GA, there was a SWAT guy lived down the street from me... among other things he had a sinper rifle, an MP5, and Benelli shotgun stolen from his car in the driveway...it was all subsequently recovered (it would not have been had I been the one who took it ) http://www.aerialfusion.com

Eloy is near Huachuca http://www.aerialfusion.com

Yeah, things like electronc warfare, voice intercept, and interogation tend to bother them too. http://www.aerialfusion.com

Tell them in the interview? Hell, its on my resume... if it is hang up for them, I don't want to work there anyway... it will just cause problems later. It would be bad if I walked into the boss and ask for the afternoon off because 20 or so Hooters girls are doing tandems and they need an extra video guy, and he said no you can't have off and what are you talking about? Tandems? Video Guy? You do what? http://www.aerialfusion.com

1 hand on each handle, peel and pull the cutaway handle, then peel and pull the reseve handle. Used for both of my cutaways. Was what was taught in my FJC... note...had the first peel and pull not been sucessful, the reserve hand would be brought over to the cutaway side to assist, that's why you don't do the second peel until the cutaway has occured. http://www.aerialfusion.com

The course is set up for the winds the morning of the event (which there is generally none, so it is usually in a defalt direction). The default direction for the coursre is crosswind to the usual winds. The course is not changed once the event starts (at the briefing). From my experiance out there, you could have differnet winds in each round, you could even have different winds from jumper to jumper... it changes that much (you can even have differnet winds on differnet parts of the DZ). http://www.aerialfusion.com

Hey Dave The 101 is definitely a MiniDV camera... The sony site only lists the iLink (IEEE 1394)(Firewire) for digital I/O. No mention at all of the MICROMV. Unless this is something different on the PAL version, I think you are safe... I'm tempted to get one myself, but will wait until they are out for a little while. Peace Josh http://www.aerialfusion.com

I pull mine down... slinks or not, a slider at the top of the riser (colapsed or not) will flap around and wear on the lines. Additionally, for HP canopies, a slider at the top of the risers will not allow the canopy to "spread", reducing performance to some extent. Josh http://www.aerialfusion.com

I swore I was not going to get back into this thread... but I felt compelled... To all the would be or wanna be swoopers... If you are trying to learn to swoop by watching event videos you are going to get hurt. Seek one on one instruction/coaching from someone compotent (does not need to be someone on the pro tour). These videos are meant for entertainment, not instruction. They depict competition swooping, not the the swooping that you hope to do on day to day skydives. They show one or two days of jumps, not the months of training jumps that go on prior to game day. You can see what techniques they are using, but without knowing the how and why and when they are using them, they are just neat pictures. Keep it in perspective. Don't become a statstic. Peace Josh http://www.aerialfusion.com

I was on the ground crew for that one... the event organizer came running over and was a little excited about it... we made up a quick story that he had the flag upside down in protest, since it was the Westheimer Fest. in exile... he seemed to buy it. A picture of it made the paper the next day. I have a pic of that I took (will try to find and post later)... Houston skyline, canopies, upside down flag? http://www.aerialfusion.com

but those are the rules of golf... if the rules of golf said gimmies were ok, then even Tiger would pick up. http://www.aerialfusion.com

What I think is funny is people who continue to complain about rules, and discount the abilities of the competitors in a competition that they obviously know little about. As Jason says in his post, do you think these guys are out of control or can't land on their feet? If you do, you're on crack. They make a choice to slide in order to maximize distance (the point of the event). I understand people's positions on stand-ups, but them ain't the rules, so they can wait on the sidelines until they change. If the rules do change, I doubt it will change the results. So I have changed my mind about starting your own comp... if you don't want to play by the rules, just don't play. Josh http://www.aerialfusion.com

I don't think any of the pros advocate sliding in for anything other than actual distance comps... having watched many of them, they do stand ups on most if not all of their practice jumps. They don't land down wind on a regular basis either... That particular comp is to get the best distance, you do that by keeping your feet off the ground, its called playing the game... You don't like the rules of the PPPB event (or the others) don't play... or better yet come up with your own, seek sponsors, market it, yada, yada, yada... If it is attractive enough, the big names will show, and still do very well (if not win). http://www.aerialfusion.com

I concur... video stud is much more appropriate! http://www.aerialfusion.com

Can you share any info on this event (location, format, entry requirements, etc)? http://www.aerialfusion.com

I think that was covered in an exit order thread a few weeks ago... I seem to remember the answer was a resounding NO! http://www.aerialfusion.com

Then I recommend setting up your own comp... The folks that have taken the time and trouble to set up the events we have now (PPPB, PSN, and a few others) have chosen to not include that in the rules... If you want to play in those event, you play by those rules... If you want differnet rules you can either try to get them to change their (not likely) or you can invent your own comp. Those guys are don't have all the rights to setting up swoop events, they are just the ones who have taken the time to think them up, set them up, and market them. Peace. Josh http://www.aerialfusion.com

my PC9 is no taller than my TRV20... the 100 series (aside from the 101) may have this issue, but the 9 and 5 are about the same height as the TRV (within a fraction of an inch). http://www.aerialfusion.com

I Might be wrong but, I believe this is a rule in the USPA Sport Accuracy event. http://www.aerialfusion.com

the best canopy is the one that you feel comfortable under, gets you to the ground safely, and you can land anywhere... other flight characteristics are gravy, and determining which of those you want and what canopy you are going to fly the best is up to pilot. There are soooo many different characteristics that go into evaluating a canopy's performance, but in the end it boils down to what you as the pilot want. Openings? Speed? Bottom End? You name it... Jump the all (provided you are ready for HP canopies, if you don't know that you are ready, you're not... if you think you're ready, check with someone else who will be honest with you) if you can... decide which is the best for yourself. Peace Josh PS... the only way to legitimately compare a Velocity to a VX is to have the same pilot with equal familiarity with both canopies fly and land them in identical conditions... short of that its the pilot that makes the difference. http://www.aerialfusion.com

the PC series are the small comact "verticle format" cameras... this, IMO, is what you want if you want to side mount your camera, it can also be top mounted if you want... the TRV series is the traditional "horizontal format" that you would top mount (I would not try to side mount one, but I have heard of some people trying to)... the TRV series will genneraly have a larger LCD screen, but you can find most if not all of the other features on a PC series (except 3CCD). Unless you are going to side mount, it boils down to personal preference. Peace. Josh http://www.aerialfusion.com

not from up north, but http://www.rackshack.net http://www.aerialfusion.com