dragon2

The pilotchute does not slow down a jumper. I think you are confusing a pilotchute with a drogue as used in tandems. In fact, a pilotchute could even speed you up by standing you up, making you fall down faster than 120mph (in a baglock malfunction situation, for instance). YOU are responsible for slowing yourself down, to 120mph (200km/h) downward speed and no vertical speed and no turning, for preference. A premature deployment can be caused by the pilotchute coming out first as usual, but unplanned and possibly in a not belly-to-earth body position. The rest of the deployment is in sequence but is likely quicker and may result in damage or other malfunctions. This is (or used to be) the most common premature deployment in sit/backflying I think, especially in non-freefly proof rigs or with older pilotchute pockets. Other possibilities for a premature opening include the pin coming out so the bag leaves first. Proper response from the jumper, altitude permitting, is to pull out the pilotchute quickly and hope for a normal deployment. If the pilotchute is still in its pocket when the bag is out, that is called a horseshoe malfunction. You reserve can also open unintentionally. This you could also call a premature deployment I guess. This could happen by someone/something snagging your reserve handle (which is why freeflyers often use a reserve pillow instead of a metal handle), or the reserve pin coming out by itself (something that occasionally happens on exits where the jumper touches the top of the door with his/her rig). ciel bleu, Saskia

I've had mine run out of batteries plenty of times. A couple times my wrist alti (N2, plus an older ParasportItalia digital alti), more often my beeper (N3). On a nightjump I was on, a digital alti on another jumper gave out a couple seconds after exit. So yeah, unless you're OK with your digital alti displaying "serial no. *****" I'd reconsider the idea of a digital alti and stick with analog. ciel bleu, Saskia

I'd upsize the reserve first. A 1.5 wingloading is pushing it a lot if you're not super current. I know, I've done a couple rides loaded like that. You'll probably end up with something like a pilot, safire 2 or sabre 2 in size 190 or even a 170. But for your first couple dozen more jumps back, a 210 size canopy of the above type sounds very advisable. Then downsize to a 190 and after that see if you even want a 170 since modern canopies are more responsive anyway then a sabre 1. You might like a 190 sabre 2 much better. Face it, you're older now and therefore more prone to injuries, and you're not a lightweight either which doesn't help. You're also wiser I presume, so make some smart decisions. For now you don't just need a transitional canopy, you need a transitional rig. As in, with a 210+ reserve and a 210+ main. Even when/if you start jumping a 190 or 170 main, a 160 reserve loaded like that is not that smart an idea. ciel bleu, Saskia

A flattop pro or flattop narrow (for a topmount CX) would work for that config out of the box. But have you taken a look around in the photography forum yet? ciel bleu, Saskia

Over here, easter monday is a national holiday. Some companies (mostly the government) have good friday off too. ciel bleu, Saskia

I would have liked that Got teal cat instead (green CAT?!?) That test is flawed anyway. It wouldn't even let me pick my fav color ciel bleu, Saskia

We used to have the minimum set at 500. We had a fair number of incidents involving new TMs. We changed the minimum to 1000 jumps. We now have very few incidents involving new TMs. ciel bleu, Saskia

+1 ciel bleu, Saskia

If I were him I'd demo a sabre2 170 for sure, and maybe a fusion 170, safire 2 169 as well. ciel bleu, Saskia

I put my old all-disciplines skydive promo movie on the staticline course DVD whenever I am asked to do one ciel bleu, Saskia

In high winds, you only need to get the canopy to the "plane-out" phase of what you would do on a no/light wind day instead of also having to "shut it down", so I'd say the manner of flaring can change depending on wind. Maybe I worded that wrong. I know you flare different if there is a lot of wind, however that is a "damped down" 2stage flare, not quite the same flare as the 1stage flare on a student canopy. ciel bleu, Saskia

What is it you want them to "do"? Don't say swoop. Evidently, you, like VB, assume that because they don't "do something" with their canopy that they don't know what they are doing. In many cases you are right and that applies across the board to all canopy sizes. In many cases, you are not. I'm not talking about swooping at all. Rather about doing more than just "going along for the ride", like doing flat turns, flare turns, land cross/downwind etc. Like I said, some of the jumpersI know get all worked up if they have to land their stiletto 120 on zero wind days in a set direction because "that's downwind" and they just won't do it. I think a number of the low turn incidents we've had (not the swooping ones, but the into-the-wind and avoidance ones) fall into this group and could have been prevented by practicing and active flying every once in a while, instead of just using the canopy as a ride on each and every jump. That's what I mean by "do". ciel bleu, Saskia

I believe the manner of flaring depends a lot on the type of student canopy used. It does not depend on the wind conditions for sure. A manta-type canopy benefits the most from a single flare. A sport canopy will flare much better using a 2stage flare. Anything in between, like a large triathlon, you can do both. ciel bleu, Saskia

Why is that? That's the whole purpose for a parachute - to bring me to the ground safely. Do you assume those people have no clue on safe canopy flight? it does in fact imply they're only interested in the freefall-part of the skydive, and the parachute is their freefall-fun-vehicle, used for only that. and that is wrong. I agree with you there. I see a fair number of jumpers (mostly FS girls it seems), who fly smaller stilettos and similar, but never "do" anything with them. I've always thought it is smarter in that case to upsize a bit, say to a 135-150ish pilot/safire. Just because in the event that you really have to fly your canopy, like when you're getting cut-off or landing out or landing with a little bit of wind, these jumpers have issues. ciel bleu, Saskia

I did my 300th jump on a staticline, just because i wanted to do something fun and there was a competition going so no one had time to jump with me. The JM knew me of course. First SL student: ready? yes Go. Second SL student: ready? yes Go. Me: I just got about tossed out the door. And managed my best stable SL exit ever too The FS4 team that was sitting behind us was from another DZ, they went wide-eyed at my "treatment" I'm not sure what was said in the plane after my exit, but knowing that JM he made the most of it. The jump after that, I was gearing up and my own rig was a 150sqft. 2 members of said team came to check up on me, to see if I put on the right rig. Very good of them that they were paying attention like that, and good that I set them straight before they went and spread rumours about student treatment at my DZ ciel bleu, Saskia

Not manufacturers per se, but for dealers and funjumpers wanting to sell gear, yes the local market will change. We saw that happen over here. There's a whole lot bigger (new+2nd hand) market now for 190-170-150 sqft canopies of the spectre/sabre2 class. Anything smaller there is a much smaller market for now, as only >400 - >700 jumpers can jump them. Is that a bad thing? There are also oppertunities here to rent out gear for longer, as jumpers may choose to wait until 100+ jumps to buy their first set of gear because then they can jump a size smaller. Also some dealers here have very nice trade-in deals for main canopies. Manufacturers will still sell gear, just experience a shift in common sizes and models. Again, is that a bad thing? ciel bleu, Saskia

Agreed with posters above, that's not noise but looks like a dirty sensor. Noise looks more like this. You can get your camera cleaned but I usually do it myself. First off you can let the camera clean itself. Sometimes this helps. 2nd you flip the mirror (there's a lock-mirror menu option for that), hold the camera upside down and give a couple good blows with a good blower. Do not touch the mirror with the nozzle. Do NOT get one with bristles on it. I prefer the giotto, myself. This is how I do it: Take a sensor-dust-check picture to see if you need better cleaning. If you do, best take the camera to a camera shop for cleaning (again, you can clean the sensor yourself with swabs+fluid or spinning brush cleaner if you are feeling brave enough) ciel bleu, Saskia

I have no idea which setting could cause an issue like that, but I would reset the camera to factory settings and jump it like that (on S). See if there is still noise. ciel bleu, Saskia

Um, your landings are quite likely to be tumbling ones, at first. Also a parachute opening can vary from soft as butter to rib-bruising (which happend to me once). Student type canopies are not ones to open reaaal slow, usually, on purpose. Hard openings can also more easily happen to beginners as their body position isn't perfect (mostly, if you're headdown-ish or don't slow down after tracking or freefly), a hard opening can also happen due to packing, or just plain bad luck. You might try the windtunnel as a sport though, you could ask your doctor about that. ciel bleu, Saskia

There is no "magic setting" for skydiving. There are skydivers who keep their cameras set the same always, yes. But they run into problems when circumstances change: inside the plane, clouds with lots of reflection, solid cloud layer, near sunset, or not paying attention and having your camera set to something else than usual and having no clue what to do about it The golden tip: buy a decent camera book, and/or do a photography class. Figure out what ISO, f-stop, exposure speed are and how they relate to each other and to the changing environent you'll be using the camera in. Set the camera to completely manual and shoot every subject you see. See what works and what works less good. Take that camera out to the DZ and take shots over people landing, walking, boarding, packing etc etc. Basically, becoming a halfway decent photographer on the ground before putting a camera on your head will go you a long long way. ciel bleu, Saskia

I did normal freefall jumps with my hybrid tri 120 and its retractable bridle. However the retractable bridle can knot up or damage the top skin if not packed properly. Not reason enough for me to not jump the retractable for freefall, but best bear them in mind. OTOH, you don't need to cock the pilotchute on a retractable, so that's one less malfunction to worry about ciel bleu, Saskia

My first ground-school student dislocated his shoulder during his first AFF jump. He dislocated his right shoulder not in freefall, but while landing his parachute. That also sucked. He was told he wouldn't be allowed to jump again until that shoulder was fixed A tandem you can do, but I for one wouldn't take you on for any jumping-yourself kind of jumps until you have that shoulder fixed. ciel bleu, Saskia

I've filmed a couple of tandempassengers with limited or no vision (for the charity Flying Blind). I didn't give them the tandem briefing myself, but it needs to be very touch-oriented. They all had a blast

My current rigs have removable ""bungees" made out of 2 softlinks, the ones with the metal ring. They are sown to the legstraps with the canopy-lines end. I undo the softlink to open the "bungee". After the wingsuit is on the rig, I do the softlink up again. I've also used a small french link: knot your bungee on one side of the rig as usual, and attach the other side with a small french link. Whether this works depends mostly on your rig: if you have the small loops for the bungee this is easy, if you have the long tube type loops you'll have to make a loop with tape or something, to attach the french link to. ciel bleu, Saskia

For quicker rendering speeds, I'd recommend a i5 quadcore, i7 or amd x6 or amd x8 CPU. Plus a load of RAM (8GB DDR3 should do fine). A more modern computer like that will make your life much easier editing-wise as well. Also, why .mov? AVCHD should be .mts, .m2ts or .ts. Not .mov. Were the video files imported by someone using a Mac or were they converted on purpose? Are they even HD files, or are they lower quality? Anyway if you input .mov files, they need to be converted and possibly scaled (back) up, that is going to take a while, yeah. ciel bleu, Saskia