DSE

NFC

An S&TA dropped an improperly-rigged flag weight through the roof of a house less than a year ago, nearly hitting (read=killing) an infant. No change in rating. An S&TA struck and injured an NBC cameraman with an 18' flag on a stadium demo. An S&TA swooped National Guard soldiers on a stadium demo, injuring himself and minor injury to the National Guardsman. No change in rating. Non-S&TA (organizer) warned about a likely incident on a bigway. True to warning, a fatality occurred. Non-S&TA (instructor) warned about a likely incident on a low-time jumper. True to warning, a fatality occurred. Non-S&TA (Organizer) was found to have Photoshopped a State Record. USPA had already ratified the record, issued certificates. 9 months later the record was quietly rescinded with no commentary as to why the rescission occurred. All of the above qualify for Article 1-6. All occurred in the last 18 months. In the above situations (AFAIK) no Article 1-6 was initiated. In the case of Winstock, at least two (I've heard rumor of a third) have been initiated. To specifically answer your question, it already appears that this instance has gone well beyond what Joe Jumper would face. While you were on the board, there were *many* others just as, if not more egregious, but no Article 1-6 was opened. I specifically requested two Article 1-6's to be enacted; both were denied during that period. Both involved fatalities. Even in the face of dead bodies "joe jumper" didn't get investigated, let alone a slap on the hand.

So for my own clarification please tell us if any of these things are untrue; -you've never jumped at Sussex -you've never been to the dropzone at Sussex -you've never met any of the jumpers from Sussex -you've never spoken to the victim or her partner -you've never spoken with the hospital, or understand the underlying reasons for the hospital stay -you've never spoken to Mr. Winstock (a former cop, probably easy to talk to) -you've never spoken to Ms Butcher (someone who I've always found easy to reach via FB, email, phone call) -you've never spoken to USPA's Executive Director or legal counselor -you've never spoken to anyone involved with the Article 1-6 investigations -you're not specifically aware of what was occurring at the time of the incident, what may or may not have changed in the landing area, or what specific activity was happening at the DZ at the time of the incident -you have no direct first-hand knowledge of this incident at all, but rather base all your "burn this motherfucker, kick him off the board, kill his rep" judgements based on Facebook posts, a private email from a disgruntled BOD member, and one post from a jumper that doesn't care for the person involved. That's somewhat disturbing. Please don't take this as a defense of Mr. Winstock, that's for him and USPA to deal with. Rather, it's a reaction seeing a new skydiver having developed such a strong, vociferous, vicious response to a situation he actually knows nothing about. Conclusions without _all_facts can do significant damage and I pray for your own benefit that should you ever have the courage and skill to become an instructor, DZO, S&TA, rigger, or any other safety-related person in skydiving, that you never once make any kind of a questionable move. If you do, can you cope being eviscerated by a skydiver with almost no experience nor knowledge of what it is you *may or may not* have done or intended in your errors or actions? Believe me, I get it. I've been the same as you when I first got into the sport and witnessed a fatality in my first month in the sport. Eventually, after having my ass handed to me by Skymama, Tonto, and a few others, things changed and I realized not everything is always as it appears to be.

For tandem work, I find lenses get knocked around, and small format cameras seem to be knocked around more than larger cameras. That may merely be my perspective. The Neutral Density filter allows for a slower shutter speed, thus providing smoother, more natural motion in the video image. It's a good thing to do on all POV cameras in outdoor settings. It'll hose your camera for inside-aircraft shots, however. I use an ND gel for most of my POV work, but have looked at some adapters that a couple of companies are making for the GoPro, as I'd like to see them fit on the Sony AS series.

This system could replace the standard hypeye/CS series camera for tandems, yes. IMO, pull the lens protector off the housing, and/or come up with another way to cover it. Also IMO, add an ND filter to it for even better image (same comment for most cameras)

You got the explanation in a PM, which you responded to via PM at 9:40am this morning before editing this post at 10:15am calling me out. So you had already received the explanation and responded to it, before adding that edit. Nope, you shared with me that "A BOD member shared information with you." Your post indicates that you have first-hand knowledge. I suggest you have hearsay. They aren't the same thing. If you submit that one BOD member is criminal in his actions, then you have to accept that there are other BOD members that might lie, cheat, make up things that aren't true, or bend the truth to fit a mold. in other words, you don't know anything about the topic you're suggesting you know something about. Did you talk to the President of USPA? Did you personally speak with anyone involved with the investigations? Did you call the BOD member in question? Or that you'd just accept one email from a disgruntled BOD member because it fits your facts? No wonder you never made detective in the NYPD.

Guys, the cameras are all the same size. The HOUSINGS changed sizes, similar to how GoPro slimmed theirs down. No one really needed to take their POV cameras to 600+' below the surface. But the INSIDE of the housings are all the same. The best thing about the new housings, is that the side buttons are available from the OUTSIDE of the housing. LOVING that. The Sony clipmount can also be modified to work as a side-mount, but the other third party solutions are superior, IMO.

Who here has actually called Sherry Butcher or anyone else involved with the investigation? Has anyone spoken to Rich Winstock to get his side of the story? If its a "coverup", I'd expect someone here to say "I called and was told that it was secret information." FWIW, I've spoken (not emailed) with several board members including the president and Rich Winstock. I'm satisfied with the answers I received. According to those that did the investigation, there are many things not being shared here. Do your own homework. It's mind-blowing that a BOD member dissatisfied with their findings chose to scream "FIRE" where there is none.

There already is one. BASELINE for Droid is a terrific tool. It's a visual altimeter, audible, GPS recorder, logger all in one. Users can put in their own sounds for notifications such as "Take off your seatbelt, dummy!"7.00, it's a terrific tool. It also interfaces directly with Paralog

It's really boring flying the flag around for 5,000'. Making a phone call to order pizza delivery on landing... Just make sure you've hanged up before you enter the stadium. Cell reception sucks in there.

I'm not going to defend Rich, tho what you're alleging is different behavior than I've seen at the few DZ's we've been to at the same time. However, it seems pretty clear this was a major screw up. Brain-fart or consistent behavior that got him bit? I don't know. I'll take you at your word for what you've seen because I know you're a standup guy. However, how is it you'll jump with organizers that have been pre-warned that their actions were dangerous, and said actions indeed result in multiple fatalities at different times? Or the organizers that put a weed-stoned newbie on a vertical load above my head, costing me my left ear when his knee impacted me? Isn't this the same conversation? Where does one draw the line? Is it at safety or politics? In this case, it's _all_ politics as far as I'm concerned. I'm still awaiting Doug_Davis' explanation of how he's experienced Rich's previous behaviors. My money says he got the same anonymous email from a USPA BOD member that several other people received. Doug?

you could side mount it, yes.

Several have inquired about the helmet, safety, etc. There were actually 18 cameras on the helmet to start with, but one didn't stick so well :) The mount can be seen on the right side, empty. I did a similar shootout a year ago and one of the biggest problems was using the manufacturer-supplied mounts. Most of them are terrible and shake badly. So, I designed a number of aluminum tubes that I could stack and offset. I used VHB tape and Allen screws to mount this to the rear portion of my BoneHead Flat-top Pro.My FTP has one of the Terry Schumacher aluminum mount plates on it, so I can mount nearly anything on that helmet. The helmet has a cutaway system, plus I added a large piece of nylon to the bone closure in case I needed to eject from the opposite side. I cleaned/lubed the cutaway cable prior to the jumps to be sure the cutaway(s) would properly function. I tested several stacks, trying to find the optimal point for every camera so that no camera would have much, if any other camera within it's lens width. All cameras are mounted with VHB tape. For the JVC, Polaroid, Midland cameras, I chose to not use their mounts for reasons of safety, and absurdly unstable mount points. This made the camera layout more compact and significantly more stable, allowing me to assess the camera vs assessing its mount system (Again, most of the mountsystems are terrible. Sony and Replay have the most stable/solid mount of all, with Drift close behind. GoPro, Liquid are in the middle, and Polaroid, JVC, Garmin, and Midland all having silly bouncy mounts that severely detract from the actual camera's ability to capture good images. I did two test jumps without my wingsuit, without running cameras simply to see how the helmet would affect my body. John Hamilton was part of the conversation, as John jumps with a great deal of strange stuff for film work. On the aircraft, Kenn Walker and Roger Yyz acted as Safety Officers, backing up my gear checks and the spot while I spend 4,000' turning on cameras and making sure they were all recording and secure. The helmet added significant drag to normal freefall; it was impossible to keep my head down and caused minor neckstrain in freefall. On the first jump, it did cause a hard 180 on exit, easily corrected for. I was confident enough in both jumps that the wingsuit would not be adversely affected, so the next jump added a wingsuit. Curiously enough, the helmet flew much more smoothly with the forward drive of the wingsuit. It acted as its own 'plane' and was self-supported so there was zero stress on my neck. The biggest challenge was overcoming the wing stalling due to the lift at the top of my head. Deployment was the next concern, of course. The helmet is so tall that the slider is slightly into the upper cameras once down all the way. I'd considered an RDS system, or at the least a split slider, but the weather killed my time options. So, in spite of the availability of additional risk-mitigation systems, I chose to take the risk and posture my head properly for deployment. If my head was back, the slider would pin my head back, so on deployment, I grabbed the chin of the helmet with both hands, held my chin to my chest for deployment, and waited an additional second for the slider to be fully down before releasing the helmet. I'd elected to use my PD Storm 150 canopy; it's never opened hard, almost always on-heading, and openings are staged nicely with my semi-stowless bag. A hard opening with that much torque on my head could have been disastrous and even line-twists would likely have proved very problematic. I also took extra care in the one packjob I did, and showed my packer what I wanted for subsequent jumps. Landing with the unbalanced weight on my head was interesting, but manageable. I did six total jumps with this system, and I'm grateful that all planning and pre-jump processes were effective; nothing occurred that was unexpected. Curiously enough, riding a motorcycle at 65mph was more difficult than skydiving with this rig on my head (I also received a ticket in Arizona for riding with a non-DOT helmet, that was later dismissed by the judge when he saw what I was up to and that I had a regular DOT helmet with me). Hopefully this answers most of the questions about the planning and execution of these jumps.

keep in mind that the newer generation of everything is lighter in weight, faster in freefall than previous generations. Weight does help with stabilization...and today, people aren't buying helmets specifically for cameras like they once did. Now they're just lickin' and stickin' a camera on there. I do think that bears consideration. Add in that people aren't flying with wings much these days, and they're seemingly getting going on camera much earlier... But even 5 years ago, stabilization was a good thing. Now, it's just a tad more necessary.

Wow, Ludo, Thanks for doing this for people!! I'm gonna print one just 'cuz.'

you might toss an ND filter on there to help keep the shutter down a bit. Loving this camera myself.

Spectators plural? This is news, different from the other documents I've seen on this incident, different than what I've been told by more than one person, and different than what the injured person's partner has written/posted. It seems like there is a lot of unknown information now floating out there that wasn't part of the USPA investigation? I'm still waiting on Doug_Davis to share his inside knowledge or evidence that this isn't a one-off.

Mine is pretty small, but my helmet is pretty tight. I suppose with the audible pocket empty... I use my Android phone with Baseline as an audible via earbuds, and have received a couple phone calls over the years while under canopy. It's certainly not something I'd recommend. Even if you're the only canopy in the air, it's still a significant distraction.

how do you fit that bluetooth headset under your helmet?

Please expound on this. Since you're aware of other situations, then be specific.

Yes Martin, they would. I'd urge you to consider thumbdrives if you're delivering on a DVD and a CD; cost of a thumbdrive isn't a whole lot more than a blank DVD and CD, and transfer time is significantly faster.

Contour was not included, as they closed their doors over a year ago. An investor/former Contour partner bought the remaining stock, but they've done nothing with product in quite a while. Hopefully that'll change. Now that they're located in Provo, Utah, they're in the heart of techology, but they've only come back into business as of April 1, 2014. Looking forward to a Contour product in the next shootout! http://business.transworld.net/148713/features/contour-re-emerges-pov-camera-market-new-ownership/ Meanwhile, check out the Contour "clone" that steps it up a bit. Midland's camera is identical to Contour with newer imagers and lenses. They also are a sidemount, one-button operation just like Contour (minus the laser). Airpork, some of the manufacturers provided loaner cameras, some of the cameras were purchased off the shelf. The greatest support came from DZ.com. A couple manufacturers didn't want to play at all, but we purchased cameras so that they'd be included. I was quite surprised at how the tests played out to a blind panel, and really happy with the concept of doing "blind scoring" this time around. At the end of the day, every camera tested offers some benefits and none of them are what I'd consider "unusable." Any one of them are a fine choice, but some do fit specific applications better than others. I hope everyone finds the article useful!

As much as I also prefer the AS100V over a goPro, it's for different reasons (their profiles as a top mount would be similar) GoPro can't be effectively side mounted, and the lens deployment would almost always have the visor in the shot even if it could go sideways. The AS100 has incredible stabilization, even with out the stabilization turned on. Significantly longer battery life. Exposure control is faster, smoother, and IMO much better. In 50Mbps mode, it is a pro's-choice camera. No housing is needed in rain environments (it can't submerge for long, however, it's only "splash-proof") The color modes/choices are outstanding.

Nicely done! Is this project available for download?

Indeed. Breaking up the landing areas for groups (often broken up by planes, as those groups tend to be together in the air), it's a good practice to designate landing areas far apart. At Elsinore, Perris, Eloy, and ZHills, I've experienced as many as 6 separate landing areas, all relatively far apart. That said, canopy collisions have occurred at Cessna 182 DZ's too.