dragon2

Tower: Delta Zulu Romeo, turn right now and report your heading. Pilot: Wilco. 341, 342, 343, 344, 345... Tower: "Delta 351, you have traffic at 10 o'clock, 6 miles!" Delta 351: "Give us another hint! We have digital watches!" "TWA 2341, for noise abatement turn right 45 Degrees." "Centre, we are at 35,000 feet. How much noise can we make up here?" "Sir, have you ever heard the noise a 747 makes when it hits a 727?" From an unknown aircraft waiting in a very long takeoff queue: "I'm f...ing bored!" Ground Traffic Control: "Last aircraft transmitting, identify yourself immediately!" Unknown aircraft: "I said I was f...ing bored, not f...ing stupid!" Control tower to a 747: "United 329 heavy, your traffic is a Fokker, one o'clock, three miles, Eastbound." United 239: "Approach, I've always wanted to say this... I've got the little Fokker in sight." One very stormy morning in BOS, many planes were lined up on taxiways waiting for departure. A female pilot made a successful landing on a crossing runway after visibly wrestling her Flying Tiger stretched DC-8 through turbulence and blustery snow squalls, fighting it right down to the runway. An anonymous voice: "But can you park it?" (Ack 'a former ATC') A military pilot had been having difficulty with smooth landings and the crew was required to make note of the exact time the plane landed at different bases. One particular landing took several bounces before staying on the ground. The crew reportedly called up to the pilot, "Which landing shall we note for the record, Sir?" (Ack A & M Martin) A huge C-5 cargo plane was sitting near where a small plane was waiting to take off. The private pilot got a little nervous because the military plane was closer than normal, and asked the tower to find out the intentions of the C-5. Before the tower could reply, a voice came over the radio as the C-5's nose cargo doors opened, saying, "I'm going to eat you." (Ack E Scharzmann) This happened at the small but busy Sarasota Florida airport in 1975. The tower was open from 6am until 10pm and most of the traffic was during daylight hours. There was a National flight in every night about 8:30pm and often had a joker at the wheel. On a particular dark night after handoff from Tampa approach the controller hears: "Sarasota tower, National123 with you... (pause) ... guess where?." The controller promptly turned off all the airport lights - there was no other traffic - and replied: "National123 - Sarasota tower - guess where?..." After a silence of about fifteen seconds the chastened National pilot came back: "Sarasota tower this is National Airlines flight 123 from Tampa and we are exactley 10.3 DME on the 300 degree radial inbound for landing.." The controller switched the lights back on and cleared the pilot to land. As a controller at a small busy airport in Florida, my story is about a student pilot talking to ground on an IFR morning (IFR means Instrument Flight Rules, necessitated by cloudy skies). At the time the transmission was made, there was an 800 foot ceiling (of cloud) with 2 miles visability in a light mist. Here is the communication - Student pilot: Ground, this is N12345 student pilot, and my instructor wants to know what the height of the ceiling is in the tower. Ground Controller: Cessna 12345...it's about eight-and-a-half feet. There was then a pause in which both an Eastern pilot and a National pilot made similar comments. The student pilot came back on the radio. Student pilot: OK.. my mistake.. what is the reported weather ceiling at this time? Ground Controller: 800 overcast.. A controller at the Nashville, Tennessee airport told me about an incident from several years ago when he cleared a Cessna 172 (4 seater small aircraft) for landing. As the Cessna turned to final approach, an airliner called in 'over the marker' (5 miles from the airport). The Cessna was about a half mile from the runway, and the controller knew he could land and clear the runway well before the airliner would land, so he cleared the airliner to land as well. A few seconds later, the Cessna pilot asked the controller, "How far behind me is that 737?" Before the controller could respond, the airline pilot keyed his mike, and in a deep bass voice said, "Don't look back!..." A friend of the family used to fly for US Air, and told us this tale of how one day his plane was one of many trying to land at a busy airport. One of the controllers came on and reported something happened to cause a further delay and that those planes in a holding pattern would need to stay there. Almost immediately, one of the pilots responded with, "Bullshit!" The controller then said something to the effect of, "Sir, the use of profane language is prohibited on this channel by FAA and FCC regulations. Please identify yourself." After a moment, one of the pilots reported, "This is flight 123 and we are negative on the bullshit." A moment after that, another flight reported in, "This is flight 456 and we are also negative on the bullshit." One by one, each and every one of the flights reported in as being "negative on the bullshit." A story from the late 1950's Navy flight training at Corpus Christi, Texas. Instructors were known to party hard at night, even before a 'hop' the next morning. A common 'cure' was to put on the mask and breathe the pure oxygen while the trainee got the craft airborne. The SNJ training aircraft had a tandum cockpit with intercom for personal communication between the instructor and the trainee. These 'private' communications would be broadcast on air if the intercom switch were accidentally left open. One such morning following a heavy night for one particular instructor, not long after the flight was aloft, the following was heard over the air: "Boy, am I ever f...ed up this morning." After a lengthy pause a young lady air traffic controller demanded: "Aircraft making that last transmission, please identify yourself." There was an even lengthier pause, and then a voice said: "Lady, I'm not that f...ed up." (Ack Mike) A DC-10 had come in a little hot and thus had an exceedingly long roll out after touching down. San Jose Tower noted: "American 751, make a hard right turn at the end of the runway, if you are able. If you are not able, take the Guadalupe exit off Highway 101, make a right at the lights and return to the airport." A military pilot called for a priority landing because his single-engine jet fighter was running "a bit peaked." Air Traffic Control told the fighter pilot that he was number two, behind a B-52 that had one engine shut down. "Ah," the fighter pilot remarked, "The dreaded seven-engine approach." Allegedly, a Pan Am 727 flight waiting for start clearance in Munich overheard the following: Lufthansa (in German): "Ground, what is our start clearance time?" Ground (in English): "If you want an answer you must speak in English." Lufthansa (in English): "I am a German, flying a German airplane, in Germany. Why must I speak English?" Unknown voice from another plane (in a beautiful British accent): "Because you lost the bloody war." Allegedly the German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-tempered lot. They, it is alleged, not only expect one to know one's gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747, call sign Speedbird 206. Speedbird 206: "Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear of active runway." Ground: "Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven." The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop. Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?" Speedbird 206: "Stand by, Ground, I'm looking up our gate location now." Ground (with quite arrogant impatience): "Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?" Speedbird 206 (coolly): "Yes, twice in 1944, but it was dark,... and I didn't land." One day the pilot of a Cherokee 180 was told by the tower to hold short of the active runway while a DC-8 landed. The DC-8 landed, rolled out, turned around, and taxied back past the Cherokee. Some quick-witted comedian in the DC-8 crew got on the radio and said, "What a cute little plane. Did you make it all by yourself?" The Cherokee pilot, not about to let the insult go by, came back with a real zinger: "I made it out of DC-8 parts. Another landing like yours and I'll have enough for another one." Allegedly, while taxiing at London's Gatwick Airport, the crew of a US Air flight departing for Ft. Lauderdale made a wrong turn and came nose to nose with a United 727. An irate female ground controller lashed out at the US Air crew, screaming: "US Air 2771, where the hell are you going?! I told you to turn right onto Charlie taxiway! You turned right on Delta! Stop right there. I know it's difficult for you to tell the difference between C and D, but get it right!" Continuing her rage to the embarrassed crew, she was now shouting hysterically: "God! Now you've screwed everything up! It'll take forever to sort this out! You stay right there and don't move till I tell you to! You can expect progressive taxi instructions in about half an hour and I want you to go exactly where I tell you, when I tell you, and how I tell you! You got that, US Air 2771?" US Air 2771: "Yes, ma'am," the humbled crew responded. Naturally, the ground control communications frequency fell terribly silent after the verbal bashing of US Air 2771. Nobody wanted to chance engaging the irate ground controller in her current state of mind. Tension in every cockpit out around Gatwick was definitely running high. Just then an unknown pilot broke the silence and keyed his microphone, asking: "Wasn't I married to you once?" ciel bleu, Saskia

http://www.argus-aad.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=31&lang=en ? karel@argus-aad.com ciel bleu, Saskia

Some people do jump with good-fitting sunglasses (Gatorz, Bolle, Oakley and the like), however: - you may not be allowed to yet, at your experience level (instructors/jumpmasters want to be able to see your eyes), ask your DZ about that - losing sunglasses is way more $$$ than a pair of goggles - it's impossible to make eye contact with most sunglasses, so if I'm wearing them this bugs me for tandempassengers I film, for students I coach, people I jumpmaster, etc so I wear only clear or lightly tinted goggles - you will find yourself on a sunset load at on point or another, wishing you had those clear goggles on... - for me, sunglasses aren't a good option for freefall because they don't catch all the wind from my eyes: first I had contact lenses now I've had my eyes lasered and they water easily YMMV. ciel bleu, Saskia

True, although I've never heard of it happening (not saying it can't, simply saying I've personally never heard/read of it). Happened on my DZ a few years back. So now you've heard of one Anyway I wouldn't want a pull-out for my regular rig as I jump wingsuit, but for just about everything else a pullout is fine and I think just about every serious CRW team I've seen had pullouts on their rigs. Most people nowaydays tend to just buy a freefly handle for a bit of extra security though. Very important: pullout & packers is not always a good combination ciel bleu, Saskia

Why not? I think the most used lens on HD cameras here in the country for FS4 teams and tandems is the raynox .3, with the opteka .3 moving in, and a few jumpers with the raynox .5 or century .55. The opteka .3 is a little too wide for my taste for both FS4 and tandems and I also fly around/up and back a bunch on tandems and then the horizon moves fishy with that lens. But the raynox .3 isn't so wide and isn't quite as fishy, I love mine

I think you got a few things confused here A few HD cameras have a backfly/sitfly problem (not so much headdown), but a HC3 is not one of those and even if it was a lens would do nothing to alleviate that particular problem. Anyway the HD lens line-up has been discussed here a good number of times already, with pros and cons for each even listed next to each other, if you look a little. ciel bleu, Saskia

Yeah, why not just put a crappy SD lens on a nice HD camera.... ciel bleu, Saskia

Another one: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3868873#3868873 ciel bleu, Saskia

I have no idea what a 1-6b investigation is, but the whole "instructor sells wrong canopy (or wingsuit...) to beginner jumper" sits very very wrong with me, as these are the very people who's advice you should be able to trust ciel bleu, Saskia

This whole thread is complete nonsense But here goes. A Sam is a canopy for a few hundred jumps (our rules say 700!). It has a very long recovery arc, in the ballpark of vengeance and katana, ie, the last step before a crossbraced canopy. A sabre 2 has a decent recovery arc, which makes it a very good canopy to learn to swoop on. If you want a SHORT recovery arc, look for a sabre 1, pilot, pulse, spectre, triathlon, or other beginner/intermediate type canopies, or some of the older HP canopies like the stiletto or springo. All of these are BAD/UNSAFE to learn to swoop on (at least more than double fronts or maybe a 90) BECAUSE of their short recovery arcs. If you have to turn low to come out of a turn at the right altitude you leave yourself maybe a foot of error margin, which is likely to get you hurt or even killed. If you have to turn higher to come out right, like with a sabre 2, this leaves you more room for error and is thus safer, provided you do not turn TOO low as this will hurt you real bad of course. So, recap: if your guy wants to learn how to swoop he already has the best canopy he can buy for that. Up to 500-700 jumps he should stick with various sizes of sabre 2 before moving onto a katana or a sam. ciel bleu, Saskia

"Installing" a lens? You know, now might be an excellent time to go have a talk with your favorite local experienced videographer, about how to put together your helmet, how many jumps you need to jump said helmet, what to look for safety-wise when setting up your helmet, what practice jumps to do before and after you jump said helmet, what to look for technical-wise, etc etc. And have a good look around the video forum, there are actually plenty of threads there about how to attach your lens to your camera. ciel bleu, Saskia

A few CRW teams jump tris at 2.0 or over, although I've never flown a competition tri (just normal and hybrid) to know how they compare. ciel bleu, Saskia

Usually the canopies are the same over time. Some however are tweaked a bit continuously notably hand-built ones like the Jedei, get a change of fabric like the Triathlon, get changed due to a safety issue like the Crossfire or get a lineset change like the Triathlon, or they may behave a bit different if they're made in multiple locations like the Safire. Still, every canopy is different, and buying a canopy you have not jumped is not the smartest thing to do if you can avoid it, as it may open/fly/land a bit different than you expected. ciel bleu, Saskia

The differences between the 3030, 3031, 3032, etc are just the number of step-up rings that are included, it is the exact same lens otherwise. ciel bleu, Saskia

Harder than Dutch? I seriously doubt that ciel bleu, Saskia

Attaching a normal bridle is easy enough: just don't use the rings (you'll have to buy or beg a normal bridle though, don't use the piece of line this bridle is made of for non-retractable use). You can also jump it with the retractable system as long as you make sure the bridle is running free when packing (no knots, the routing should be ok), there's no fabric in between the rings when the canopy is bagged (otherwise you'll get holes in your topskin), and there exists the possibility of a knotted bridle malfuction that you wouldn't get with a normal bridle. But it's certainly not unsafe to jump a retractable bridle in freefall, and if costs is a problem and you cannot find a cheap bridle somewhere, I'd keep it that way. Just takes a little bit more care during packing. ciel bleu, Saskia

Stilleto and Stilletto saphire, triathalon, and various incarnations of "silhouette" I've gotten quite good at typing in searches ciel bleu, Saskia

Meh, on the (admittedly few) tracking dives I've been on, track is not MAX track but more like wingsuiting in brakes with a newbie. IE, flying like that will not help your max tracking skills. I like filming the "not the best" tracker in whatever team/group I'm filming, myself ciel bleu, Saskia

I probably wouldn't have bought a new canopy for my first, certainly not one that barely fitted in the rig I got with it. New jumper learning to pack + new canopy + tight-ish container = lots of beer to get the damn thing packed. Other than that, I had a good fitting rig, freefly proof, good reserve, RSL, cypres, good first canopy type size and wingload (spectre 150 @ 1:1) so wouldn't have done anything differently there. ciel bleu, Saskia

No way. I can feel by the way the bag leaves my back whether the packers have returned to too short slack again Since I now mostly jump a pilot a bag coming up twisted a bit that is not that big of a deal but with my vengeance it got interesting much more quickly... ciel bleu, Saskia

I know that happens in firefox, happens with me too. It's probably AdBlock again. But you can still click on the camera icon in the list view to see the picture, like I said. ciel bleu, Saskia

Running firefox? Anyway you can click on the pictureicon in the list to view it. ciel bleu, Saskia

The problem may also be the pilotchute. My old spectre 135 opened sloooow as did my safire 135 (same rig), I then changed the pilotchute and hey presto normal slow openings on both canopies

It seems to depend a lot on what you have available to you: if you just have Mantas but are capable of and allowed to jump a 190/170, buying a rig may be a smart idea. If you have a nice skydiving shop with rental gear near you or have nice friends so you can try all kinds of different rigs and mains, wait a while and demo/rent all you can before buying, you'll make a better choice one that suits you and will keep you happy longer. If you have a lot of canopy rules like here, people often wait until 100 jumps to buy because then they can buy something they'll stick with for a long time. If you're a featherweight with not much option to demo/rent/borrow, you might buy sooner. For heavyweights a 190 may be a very good canopy to stick to for a couple hundred jumps so I'd take full advantage of that free rental gear. If money is tight, same. A 190 isn'ta bad canopy for a newbie and may be a very good choice. A FREE 190 is never a bad choice ciel bleu, Saskia

In skydiving, the cheaper helmets are often the best ones, protection-wise. If you're doing FS you may want fullface protection, and for a camera helmet there are other choices, but Pro-tecs and Bennies and the like are good if not the best choices for newbie jumpers, swoopers, CRW etc alike. ciel bleu, Saskia