dragon2

Good one, thnx for the link. ciel bleu, Saskia

The "typical" 3.5mm plug is only for entry-level Canon cameras. Everything else, ie an intro Nikon like yours, a pro-sumer Canon, a pro-sumer Nikon all have their own distinct plugs. You have 4 options here: 1) Buy switch of choice (with or without any kind of plug on it) and the needed remote (in your case, the MC-DC2) and splice those together. 2) If you can find one with the MC-DC2 plug, buy a ready-made switch (try Laszlo for this). 3) Buy switch of choice with a 3.5mm plug, afemale 3.5mm plug, and the needed remote (in your case, the MC-DC2) and splice the MC-DC2 with the female 3.5mm plug, this way you can buy any switch you like off the shelf and plug it in. 4) see 3 but buy it ready-made for your camera if you can find it (again, might try Laszlo for this). ciel bleu, Saskia

You can prevent a lot of problems with good body position on opening, good gear maintenance, good packing, jumping a lower performance canopy, and not doing stuff with gear that isn't made for it. But still, s*** happens, you can do everything right and still have a malfunction. This could happen on your next jump. Why are you afraid of going for your reserve? It's really quite simple: if you do not have a canopy you want to land by 2000ft (or whatever the harddeck is you were taught, should be close to this), you go for plan B. On average, this seems to happen once every 700 jumps or so, for regular sport jumpers. I'm a bit above average, myself If you're not comfy with the idea, better work on that, as you should be when jumping. As the post above says, please work on whatever part of this is bothering you. ciel bleu, Saskia

A GoPro is an awful big (wide) camera to sidemount. Only a matter of time before you get a riser strike and you risk losing the camera. To prevent a camera from dropping down in case of it hitting a riser or something else, some people think it's a smart idea to tie the camera with string or similar to the helmet, to prevent losing it. Hint: dumb and dangerous idea. If you are set on a sidemount, the GoPro isn't the camera to do that. The countour works better for that due to it's shape. Topmounting the GoPro (or other camera) is best. ciel bleu, Saskia

A reason to do get the chincup would be that in most cases it makes it easier to install the very necessary cutaway. ciel bleu, Saskia

Why? In general, age has little to do with how "good" a canopy is. Unless it's in reverse, you getting a good deal on a closet queen You should be more interested in how many jumps it has, how it's been treated (packing, storage, any water landings or beach/desert sand) and how the lines are than just going by age itself. If a rigger says the canopy is ok, it's ok. The only "hard" age limit is the limit set by the manufacturer and/or your national skydiving association, other than that, nothing wrong with "older" gear just because it's old. ciel bleu, Saskia

Don't double-wrap any stows. Just get smaller bands, or use another type if you need to (f.i. you could use small tubestoes for the 2 locking stows). ciel bleu, Saskia

Glad she got home. Sounds like she needs to be in a super max facility. Owners just called me again, if I had their cat -again- by any chance. It's gotten out again and besides the cold there's a lot of very lou fireworks out now (my 2 cats are alternating between hiding quietly and panicking a bit ALREADY), and tomorrow of course it's going to be worse. "The baby keeps opening the door". I need a "bangs head against door" icon here... Maybe I should've kept the kitty ciel bleu, Saskia

My ~400 jumps on various vengeances have been mostly onheading nice slow openings too, except for a few: one brakefire on a rented vengeance 135, 1 slammer on my own vengeance 135, a dozen or so squirelly openings followed by 1 cutaway (lineover) on my own vengeance 135 that had lines that needed replacing bad at the time, and a couple squirelly openings on a borrowed vengeance 120 with very old lines. Hmm, might be a theme there ciel bleu, Saskia

Maybe those easy-to-use European doors with horizontal handles that tilt, unlike than the common US & Canadian style of a rotating knob... The tilting ones yeah. Glad she didn't stay long enough to let my own cats pick up that trick I WAS getting attached to the little cutie already, that's what you get for being an animal lover and taking in a stray ciel bleu, Saskia

ciel bleu, Saskia

Owners just came to pick it up, the flyers worked. She's an indoor cat but has apparently gotten out multiple times before Houdini kitten. ciel bleu, Saskia

Well I didn't think keeping it was an option, I really wanted to keep the cats apart. But like i said, this kitty can open doors I had locked her in the bathroom for the night, closed door, a box with misc stuff in front of the door and she STILL got out, so this morning i was greeted by an innocent looking kitty and a growling Coon (after he'd finished his breakfast, first things first LOL). If the flyer on the apartment building doesn't give any response, animal control will come pick it up later today. ciel bleu, Saskia

I'm more afraid it would be free FOOD Little kitty vs. big Maine Coon. Well, maybe the Coon can get lucky It's a cute little thing. But I can't keep it anyway, I have a small apartment and 2 big cats (a Coon and a Weggie). I'll start making some calls tomorrow, she (?) can sleep here tonight

Close enough ciel bleu, Saskia

So, this afternoon this itty bitty cat walked into my house. I live in an apartment building, it was in front of my door when I opened it. No idea who it belongs to. The door to the apartment building was closed at that time. It's quite cold here ATM, snow on the ground, and it's dark out now. I tried putting the cat outside but it acts like an indoor cat, with no clue where to go, and passing cars elicit much interest. Brought it back in... My own 2 cats don't seem to like this one much (growl at first sight LOL), so I put it in the hallway/kitchen for the time being. It seems to be able to open doors though It's friendly if slightly nervous towards me, a people cat for sure. Now, do I kick it out or keep it for now? ciel bleu, Saskia

But this generally only happens with a) springloaded pilotchutes (were you taught on these? might explain your reasoning) or b) when wingsuiting. On a regular skydive, with a regular rig, just cutaway the damn pcit quick or go straight to reserve, whichever you were taught/prefer. Don't fool around with a pcit. ciel bleu, Saskia

Try both before you buy They're both intermediate canopies, but other than that, quite different in how they handle and fly, comes down to personal preference. Coming from a pd170 main, you'll like both ;-) Both will seem to open slooooooow though Oh yeah, I wouldn't load the silhouette too high, but if you're jumping a pd170 now I'm assuming you're not heavy, 60-70kg? In that case you'll be fine on a silhouette 150. For higher wingloads though, the spectre is better. ciel bleu, Saskia

For 4way, you really want booties. For tandems, I do ok without, but for FS4 I change my jacket + freefly pants to jacket + birdman pantz for the drag, because I'm too cheap to buy a new suit If you do buy a jacket, make sure you can attach it to any pants you wear with it (snap buttons), for safety's sake. Also, the jacket's I see here are too much wing rather than "enough", you likely want something with smaller wings to start with, something without attachable wings (no clips). ciel bleu, Saskia

That question is not that stupid. If this thing called safety was not such a big deal it could probably be done. I actually think i have seen a video of it. Oh I've done it, once. Once was enough ciel bleu, Saskia

Some "interesting" questions I've been asked include: Q: How far do you go up when you open the parachute? Q: Why can't you just film more tandems at the same time? (the freefall bit...) Q: (When viewing other people's tandem videos at the bar) That's live video, right? Q: How do you do that, filming the entire jump from the airplane? Q: Seeing me (a girl...) , after seeing a bunch of guys pass also with canopies over their shoulders: Did YOU just also jump?!?!? Q: Are those clouds I see, like, REAL? A: No, I stuck them on the windows especially for you or if on video: A: No, I photoshopped those Q: What do you do when you hit a cloud? A: You hit it with your hands, that makes it softer (and the tandem pax DID LOL) Q: My ears are bothering me, how do I fix that? A: Stand up, now grab your ankles and hop 3 times Q: Can the pilot radio my sister, she's in South Africa, I forgot to phone her that I was gonna jump today. A: Email her a photo of your jump after we land, and tell her what you just did? ciel bleu, Saskia

Um, you should go look in photo shops EUR 4,95/each or box of 10pc for EUR 29,00 (that's without searching for the cheapest, just the nearest big photo shop to Teuge). I'm sure I've seen them cheaper than EUR 4,95/each too, maybe at the Mediamarkt? Edited: EUR 2,95/each at another big photo shop I periodically visit ciel bleu, Saskia

If you're a beginner or intermediate jumper, or have no CRW experience, no. Why mess with a stable situation that will not get you killed or most likely not even hurt a little bit (seen plenty of videos of stable 2 out landings, soft landings all), and exchange it for a potentially dangerous if not lethal situation? ciel bleu, Saskia

I use a pair of softlinks (the ones with a metal ring) for re-connectable "bungees" myself. ciel bleu, Saskia

Because there's a small chance the RSL might interfere with a clean cutaway in this case. So, if you have the time, disconnect it if you find yourself under a 2out. AFAIK if you jump a Racer, in a 2out situation where you weant to cutaway, you *have* to disconnect it even. RTM for that one: ciel bleu, Saskia