Trae

in reply to "Tell me everything! " ................. One issue with the increasing popularity of the economic benefits of hand cam is the demise of the outside camera person. These endangered pro camera people get fewer on the ground through the week but outnumber everyone on the weekend. Personally I like the provision for a delux video service that has the options of , outside video or handcam, or a combination of the two . This allows room to retain the highly skilled and dedicated outside camera person. Having that highly experienced and dedicated outside camera dude along for the jump is something not quite ready for the bin... in my opinion.

in reply to "its more like a rubber cement (the material has fused with itself) kinda stuck. " ..................... Perhaps BMi are using some glue prior to stitching to hold the fabric in alignment..???

in reply to "12

in reply to "It's more like a "lost art." .....................

in reply to "I'm sure you realize this but there will ALWAYS be slower "targets" in the sky as you put it Perhaps I am just confused by your statements. " ............... Sure and perhaps. The choice/issue here for me is between- :- having a slower more docile easier opening canopy that is slow in the landing circuit. & flying a HP canopy that has more challenging openings but goes where you want it to fast and is exhilarating to fly. The pro's for each type are good. Slow may be safer in some ways whereas fast can provide extra safety in some situations eg bad spot. The cons . Fast is unforgiving . You may be able to dodge better under a fast canopy but this advantage is offput by things happening quicker. Going slow can be dangerous in some situations. eg bad spot, Getting caught amoungst fast canopies?... bit like riding a pushbike on a freeway. Is slow safer than fast for experienced jumpers??? maybe ...... still undecided.

reply to "I will reiterate my position. There is no reason for an experienced wingsuit pilot to land out often. " .............................................. You know you're a real wingsuit flyer when : - you turn away from the flock mid-flight and dump high to ensure you get back to the DZ. - you allow yourself to learn from your own experiences not have others force feed you. - your spot in the plane up near the pilot is automatically reserved for you.

in reply to "Just curious whether anyone had found the book of use, or whether it was once popular, way back when. .......A lot of the book dealt with the dive down to a formation and how to approach a formation. " ............................... People use to get almost reverent about that 'dive down to a formation'. To many beginners at the time being able to dive down to a big formation was a major goal in the sport. Information would be sourced from where ever you could . Without AFF being around the sharing of freefall skills happened a bit differently. Freefall techniques were less well defined and categorised. Historical books like this although perhaps flawed in some ways demonstrate pioneering feeling that existed .

You know you're a Wingsuit Flyer when - -you do hop and pops with your wingsuit on rather than disconnecting. - you start carrying a mobile for those cloudy days. - from loneliness you resort to jumping with other people who aren't wearing wingsuits you keep yours on. - you begin to see aircraft pilots in a whole new light and actually learn stuff from them. - given a choice between any other discipline you take wingsuiting almost every time. -you realise in the air that no sucker could possibly land this and live........yet.

in reply to "Are you serious? " .................. Mmmm let me see ................ Yep

in reply to "You're pretty much always better off from a traffic perspective adding slower canopies to a pattern, even if most of the other canopies are fast. " ........................ uh huh, but is it better (as in safer from collision ) to be under one of the slow ones or faster ones? If every-one was going slow then not so big a prob. Insert speedy parachutes = added issues. I'm reminded of some early stilletto advertising along the lines of " carve your way through the turkeys "' Now it seems more like look out for the turkeys carving their way through .

in reply to 'if you had say a line over or a mal if doing one, how would you know, unless of course it was a bag lock and you were still freefalling?" .............................. If the moon's out its amazing just how much you can see on a night jump. The lights will definitely come in handy though. Jumping on a pitch black night is very different from the full mooners. On darker nights the torches and lights become more than after thoughts and more like life lines. Spotting and avoiding other canopies in the dark sky gets your attention just as much as recognising a malfunction. . Seeing other jumpers with excellent light set-ups is heartening on the night . Usually a lot of last minute bodgy setups are common so it doesn't hurt to think ahead and get a neat set-up. I like CspenceFLY's idea of the torch on the wrist(s) to help illuminate the canopy. This works for you by making you easier to spot as well as for checking the canopy whenever you want. If they are well mounted they shouldn't provide too much extra hassle while giving you good options. As long as these torches weren't blinding they would possibly help in a cutaway situation by illuminating your handles as you went for them. Another favourite is a divers head lamp . these can be solidly mounted on the helmet and can rotate from fully forwards to directly up. Mine is strong enough (still light weight ) to provide some lighting up of the landing area if required for landing off. You can fly around with it pointing straight up to light up your canopy and then point it forwards for landing . There's also lots of fun micro strobes available that pump out a good coloured flashing light for very little weight penalty. Some toy shops have big varieties of these little battery powered marvels.

in reply to "My canopy is a Spectre 135. Docile, yes, but not particularly slow. It's not like I was on an accuracy canopy or a Manta. Quite appropriate for big ways, I think. It wasn't a swoop event. " ............................................... Mmmm . I've been considering changing to a more docile canopy myself . However these collision issues ( as well as bad spot, wind issues) just won't go away. On perfect skydiving days medium performance canopies would be no worries but when the conditions marginalise it'd be less fun. I suppose a 2nd rig would solve this prob. Winding back on the inexperieced people under hot highly loaded canopies could reduce the prob .etc.etc... .... the sport aint got on top of that one yet

It's a real pity that low timers don't get it that flying a high performance canopy is the reward for an extended investment in time, money and humility and often pain and suffering. We all get to see the result of allowing people to fly canopies beyond their skill/experience level...time after time, Sheeesh talk about getting your ability mixed up with your ambitions.

in reply to "do you think 5 jumps on one day is to much for a student skydiver like me(physically or metally)? " ........................... As long as you weren't rushing and glossing over details then no worries. The bustle to get as many jumps in a day as you can is a potential issue for you when you're starting out. This potential urgency to jump can interrupt the smooth absorption of information and skills. On the other hand it can be good to get some airtime up quickly. Sometimes it's advantageuos to skydive at a reduced pace allowing yourself time to savor each jump and extract as much learning as you can . This works well if you've set some goals and have a training plan. Sure Go Fast and jump heaps ....but don't lose that measured, in control feeling.

in reply to "I'm not sure if you are opposed or for people going back to more docile canopies. Is that your view that the slower canopy choice caused this collision? " ..................... I'm not decided about slower is safer given the mix of canopies in the sky. I suppose fast canopies can go slow in the landing circuit and get snuck up on too. However slower canopies generally tend to open better and give more time for decisions even though they suck a bit when the wind gets up.. My view is the faster canopy caused this incident... pilot error. kallend's choice of docile canopy in this situation possibly added to the danger by being a big slow target as well as diminishing it by being so stable after the collision. Do you go fast enough to keep out of their way ? or be bullet proof if/when they do hit you? or both

in reply to " I was asking if i could have a back up to my back up." .......................................... Sure can. Usually these tertiaries are only used for specialty jumps such as intentional cutaways. try searching under 'tertiary ' for more onfo on carrying three parachutes.

in reply to " but i'm having a hard time in dropping the leg without bending at the waist," ............................................. Stretch them muscles....

Lucky boy! Just wondering now if going to a slower canopy is still the idea to reduce risk. ?? If going to a slower chute allows faster ones to sneak up unseen from behind then this adds a risk dimension. Thanks for demonstrating this so well. & Glad you're good.

You could bundle them up and send them to a smallish newish DZ , local or overseas even.

in reply to "this screening people thing. " .................................... I saw a guy once who wasn't allowed to jump because people thought he was a suicide risk. He was devastated by this treatment. Talking to him afterwards it was clear to me that he was just like any other person really wanting to skydive. He may have been a suicide risk,(I tried not to judge the poor bloke,) but it seemed more that he was a very problematic student and that his instructors just couldn't handle him. There had been a couple of bounces in the recent past and evryone was a bit overly sensitive and jumping at shadows. I also feel there was a bit of an attempt to rush to shut the gate after the horse had already bolted. People started looking at each other and particularly strangers with newly acquired suspicous eyes. A fair bit of amateur social psyching became common place. DZ's as psych evaluation centres just don't cut it somehow . Too many pots calling the kettle black.

in reply to "wondering if anyone could tell me how much stress is put on the back during the jump, once the parachute opens, and on the landing.." ................................................. Depending on the extent of your back probs you may be able to go skydiving with no big worry just a bit of extra caution. If you have a fairly debilitating injury it may raise some issues. How does your back probs restrict you currently? One things almost certain ..skydiving won't fix your back but it could be good medicine anyway.

in reply to "What have you learned the hard way? What are the big red flags you have learned to recognize? Anyone have any specific advice for female instructors? " ....................... "You gotta.... know what to call 'em "......(how to remember names names names ) " know when to call it "....(is this person REALLY ready to skydive?) "know when to let go ".. ( and do it !) "know when to hold on "...( and dump em out) "you gotta know how to tell 'em ( we're big kiddies now and ah've got something you're a troublin me with ....") "not allowed to yell 'em ..(if you do YOU SUCK ) " you're forced to smell 'em " ... " and then you say so long

in reply to "To start out with, my instructor cleared me for my IAF 4, which means these problems weren't bad enough that I needed to repeat Tandem jumping to fix them. " ......................... Sounds like a good call. Sometimes having some-one strapped to your back with two big canopies on theirs and dragging a largish drogue behind can kinda make learning to skydive a bit troublesome. ...sometimes not so much. You sound ready to try AFF to me , hell why not even give the static line course a go..... and forget the bit about being a troublesome student. Sometimes in tandem instuction the instructor just can't help but be part of any problem. Don't take total blame for what may be a tandem induced training incident/difficulty..... I find it hard to arch with a 90kg monkey on my back as well. With decent AFF or static-line training you'll find freefall and parachuting a whole new experience to your extended tandem introduction course.

in reply to "Does the "average" skydiver progressing from say 200 through 1000+ jump really, properly think through all the consequences of the next step " ............................... Properly think ?? Some skydivers do appear to be a bit rash given the extreme punishment for lessons badly learnt. I've noticed one or two jumpers do tend to take the odd risk here and there as well. Just the other day I saw some -one seriously injure themselves and I'm sure they were having fun right up to the last few seconds. It appeared obvious no thought of being broken was happening until it actually happened to them . Then automatic body trauma control kicks in and hey presto you're left dealing with the conseqeunces. To most of the rest you're carried away never to be seen again...perhaps . Some-one should ban the damn consequences things from DZ's . always poppin up uninvited ruining people 's days and lives . Meanwhile... Sitting over there under those trees were a fine band of persons suckin on some beers and talking about all those consequences. That band of happy survivors could see the damn things approaching before they happened and the vehichles that delivered the stuff. .eg high winds with turbulance, sunday morns after big nights , 16way turkey loads, inexperienced freeflying buddies, packing & rigging lessons by students ..... this list keeps getting real extensive. Most prided themselves (at least in private) of being able to dodge the phewking things as well. When you see/feel those consequences approachng your way...don't run...pop the rig away, sit back, crack a coldy or a hottie and watch some skydiving You might be surprised . Odds on you'll see a distinct lack of consequential thinking .......usually .