DSE

Sweet stuff, Lurch.

You don't need to split clips/events. Select the track you wish to modify by clicking on the track header. Press the "V" key. A blue line will appear. This is a rubber band audio control. Double click to add a node/handle. Double click to create/select a second handle. Pull this down. Go to where you want the audio to come back in volume, repeat the former. In Vegas Pro, no double click is needed; selections automatically generate nodes/handles. HTH?

Tom's been quite busy this week. He just received his AFFI/E rating about 48 hours ago, and I'm not sure he's had time for a beer, let alone flocking. I did bring a suit just for him, but can't seem to catch him without a student strapped to his belly. Some fun jumps were done today, several FFC's today. Many thanks to Rick Hough for helping get the FFC's accomplished before clouds made it impossible for students.

Part of what prompted this thread are two letters sent to the USPA Safety and Training committee and to Jim Crouch at USPA. I'm sure they're all quite busy, but no response has been received. I posted the poll because I wanted to get at least an idea of what folks think about small format cameras and the recommendations.

we have wingsuits and rigs. I have a Stealth2 that will fit you, as well as a Phantom. Travel from Kona....can't help there. Would love to have you w/us, Charlie.

I didn't forget Bill. I just misplaced his name. Thanks for the catch. He was funny at dinner, wondering why the printout for the formations doesn't list the "Sperm" formation...where did he happen to see that secret code name? Hmmm? My biggest concern right now is keeping Purple Mike's focus on the base slot, vs chasing after all the puffies that seem to be hanging over the DZ all day. Those suckers go right up to 14K (and so do we).

The sticky tape is stronger than the mount. We used an archery scale to rip one off a helmet. Nearly 200 lbs force at the snag point of tape/mount. Less than 60lbs at the bottom of the camera. As mentioned before...be sure the helmet is clean before sticking it.

Andreea O Rick H Scotty B Jason C Aaron H Jose C Alphonso P DSE Ben Borger Purple Mike Zach Schroedel TK Tom We gots a crew here. Having fun. The blog has the best/recent info & pix. I think we're all already butter-shrimped out. 3.00...all you can eat.

Movie Studio cannot be automated. Automation removed from the discussion, Movie Studio is as fast as manually editing in Vegas Pro.

We ain't sucking in Hawaii, the event had a soft-launch today. Lotsa folks very excited, FFC's started in earnest today. Looking forward to Purple, Rick Andreea, Scotty, Jason, Zach all arriving tomorrow. Whales are still here, dolphins and turtles abound. See the blog for details and photos.

The coach course will not help your flying skills unless the instructor takes the time to teach you more about flying (which isn't part of the Coach Course program). It will test your flying skills, and you may find the evaluation process will teach you how you might consider your techniques and understand more about how you fly. You will learn a lot about the dynamics of teaching, and lay a foundation that should help you as you move forward in skydiving. It will potentially build your communication skills, particularly in the area of how you communicate with others about their skydiving experiences. The course has very little to do with flying skills and very much to do with learning/understanding the fundamentals of skydiving instruction that you'll need to have when/if you progress to further instructional ratings. Bottom line is that if you feel you're not ready, you probably shouldn't proceed unless you're simply looking for more knowledge that will help guide you as you progress in skydiving and instruction. I still attend coach courses whenever I can, simply because I like to pick up bits and pieces, techniques and thought processes from others.

THAT is creative as hell.

There is also the Century .5 which is the same footprint as the BabyDeath/Opteka .3

I'm of the opinion you're not completing your flare and you're hitting your heels. Been a long while since I've seen you land, however.

Worth repeating. Excellent description and explanation, Sean.

All of us were taught during AFF to arch hard when unstable. The hard arch is also the most basic component of the skydive that everyone is taught. And easy to invoke and remember regardless of type of suit being worn. Most that fly really large suits seem to agree that arching hard with everything collapsed (closed heels, knees, elbows in to sides with hands back or on chest like we exit the aircraft) is the best and most effiicient method. Some others feel that balling up is the best technique. YMMV, and it's obviously a personal choice with a great deal of debate surrounding the chosen method. At one time, the prevailing school of thought was to cut away wings in a flat spin or unstable flight. Over time, that's been recognized as a mistake. In other words, as experience and suit designs change (such as low wingroot suits) so does the methodology of dealing with issues. Whether it's a "real" flatspin or not, the exercise is to get out of any unintentional spin ASAP, regardless of the method one chooses. Choose a method, practice it over a couple skydives so that it feels "right" to you. The best time to find out whether your suit will completely collapse (or not) shouldn't be during an emergency.

Just looked at Jose's system again, it's the D3000, not 300, just as you pointed out. After a lot of futzing, we got the IR functioning correctly. It merely doesn't like being out of perfect line. We moved his ringsight, put the IR higher so it's now 2" away from the receiver on the camera, and it works pretty well. Still has to be set in the aircraft tho, and that's something I don't like at all. messing with the LCD menu isn't very efficient. Of course, you can set it on the ground and just take all your ground shots with the blow switch.

Yesterday, Jim Hickey had a pretty nasty flatspin in his Super Mach 1. He'd been trained to ball up, but chose to arch and track out in the dive. I asked him why, because I knew he'd been trained to ball up. He pointed out (correctly, IMO) that big suits and balling up don't work. Not only because of the inflation, but also because in a big suit there is still an assymetrical extension beyond the arms and/or feet. In my Stealth2, the tail cannot be completely collapsed. I've tried it (also have played with spin recovery in it). You cannot ball up in this suit. I need good video of a flatspin other than the vids I shot of Nebelkopf intentionally flatspinning in Sebastian. Happy to pay/trade folks for some good flatspin video from the outside view. IMO, it's important for people that fly bigger suits to know that generally, balling up will not have a big impact like collapsing, arching hard, and potentially grabbing feet. Just like we teach in AFF...Arching hard will always put you belly to earth. Collapsing the wings and tail kills the assymetrical surface causing the spin. Flying out is easy at that point, and equally important in a dive with multiple people...you're predictable. We know where you're coming out of the spin and which direction you'll head.

These same jumps will be part of the event list at Skydive Utah/Freeflock Boogie July 9, 10, 11. Scott has some very aggressive and developmental ideas that I think you'll see at a few events this year.

shows ya how close I follow those Nikon model #'s. Fairly bottom end camera, has to set the external remote for every jump, can't use the body control when it's in the IR mode.

well...if we're on the subject of problems... One of the photographers here just purchased a D300 on the advice of another skydiving photographer. He's been frustrated (and grounded) for three days because he can't get the blowswitch/IR combination working correctly. Ne's nearly thrown the Nikon against the wall in frustration as he watches everyone else getting work and he's not, simply because he can't get the IR to work 100% of the time, and the camera doesn't have a wired option. YMMV.

either device may be affected by being in a burble.

Although it wasn't one-handed, letting go of one toggle during the flare (at about 4') is still not a pleasant experience.

I agree with you on this part, Phree, and the cost proposed to develop the system seems exorbitant anyway, since there are so many plug n' play tools that need little modification to run these sorts of things. But...I also believe that if folks can vote from their i-whatever and if they can do it without much distraction...we should see turnout significantly increase. My _biggest_ concern is that a brother of a cousin who gave a high-ranking USPA cat tickets to the Senators game gets the bid vs a serious, careful assessment of some of the options available. If the latter part of that concern is addressed, I'm willing to bet that the system selected will be a long term system, that will have been carefully vetted for issues before being put into play.