DSE

This'll take the thread off-topic, but I'll try to bring it back around... When you: go low and work the skydive to get back up but can't, you've failed. Eventually, you'll figure out how to get back up. consistently have line twists on deployment, you'll eventually fix your body position or packing method (or both) and the line twists will go away. turn and track into the path of a deploying canopy, you'll quickly learn to not let this happen again. have a fast-opening canopy, a different packing technique, an extra twist here or there, or other experimentation due to intelligence or input from others will cure it. fail to inspect a closing loop and either have a premie in the air or a popped-open container in the aircraft, that'll teach you to check your closing loop before jumping. get grounded for opening too low will teach you to not do it again. Reaching for a grip and either going low or funneling the formation when you grab n' drag it, eventually you'll learn to not do this. have a few riser slaps, you'll quickly fix your body/head position at deployment. Can't keep the student/instructor in the middle of the frame, it won't take long to figure out how to remedy. miss the exit shot from leaving either too early or too late, in a short while you'll have this dialed in. get a finger trapped in the excess toggle line, you'll learn to stow the excess better. forget to do a chest strap, either you'll notice or someone else will, thus reducing the likelihood of it happening again. flare too late or too high, you'll learn that PLF's aren't as fun as landing on your feet, and you'll learn to land better. forget to release your brakes above 2K and find that you have a stuck toggle or line, causing a bit of a heart palpitation. This will probably not be repeated. pitch while head down or in a sit; this will hurt. You'll learn to not do this again, too. land next to trees on a windy day and not be prepared for a stall or rotor (Saw a very experienced skydiver mess up his calf/thigh only this week; he's out of the air for a month or more). buy the wrong jumpsuit, container, canopy, helmet, whatever due to excitement for the sport. You'll likely not do this one over. decide to freefly at the end of an RW skydive and are told you likely won't be invited back with that group for a while; you'll take the time to find out why. Downsize to quickly and break a bone; these forums are filled with people who have said they'll never do that again. Except people keep doing it, obviously not "learning from the mistakes of others." forget to zero (or turn on an altimeter at a new DZ and wonder why freefall seems longer than usual. You'll fix this right away. get "Burked" at Eloy. That's a badge of honor, but you'll never repeat whatever he was unhappy about. Lose a helmet due to forgetting chinstrap. Learned this in one. fixate on someone or something in freefall and find yourself well below your hard deck without pitching a main, you'll become more respectful of altitude awareness. jump in high winds that you know you can handle; until you're 100 feet above the ground and it's a bumpy ride. When you land, you thank dieties for allowing you to walk away from that mistake. do a high pull out of the aircraft, forgetting that you won't be at terminal. The slower opening scares you because you're a newbie, and you chop at 11k. The two people I'm aware of had this figured out before they hit ground. One of them didn't; she was so scared she only pulled one reserve toggle and spun in. She was lucky to live with only a broken face, leg, arm, ribs. fixate on someone or something during landing and run into someone or something during landing. Hopefully you won't break anyone or anything, and learn to not do this again (swoop n' chugs are famous for "oopsie" moments). forget to de-collapse your slider before packing; learn this in one if it doesn't break your neck during the next deployment. don't cock your pilot chute before closing the container; the resulant cutaway usually makes this lesson stick. swap out canopies and either twist or reverse a riser; had a manufacturer do this to me on a demo rig. I compounded that error by deciding to land it. I was fine, but in hindsight it was stupid. double stow locking stows will often result in a cutaway. My first was a baglock caused by a packer that thought it was OK to double stow my Dbag. reach for the ground during a downwind landing and sprain/break a wrist. turn low and find yourself in a corner with little to no flare power left, hope you can remember to PLF, but many will try to run it out. sit on the tailgate of a pickup (picking you up from an out landing) and sit on your canopy. After you've picked yourself up from the ground after sliding out of the truck, laugh hard and don't do it again (assuming you and your gear are OK after being dumped). deploy in clouds and find yourself flying straight towards someone else (red right return). forget to clip a camera wing and get the crap beaten out of you for the entire skydive. exit first/last without visually checking the spot (maybe your pilot misread the GPS). The bad spot/ride back/walk back usually provides plenty of time to re-think that error. fall on your face trying to put on your legstraps "the cool way" and realize later that your rig is too small for doing so. lose the others in your four way because you either couldn't dive fast enough or too fast, and then track into them during their deployment. forget your goggles, helmet, or other necessity, you'll realize the error and lessen the odds of repeating it. follow the comments of others like sheep, and not have the slightest clue about what you are parroting... ################ These are *all* screwups I've seen in just a couple of years. I've made a good number of them myself. I've learned from these screwups. Maybe you can too, but I'm sure you've got your own screwups coming )as others have found) Understand that you are going to screw up...Everyone does...It is a natural part of the learning process. It's the people that say "That will NEVER happen to me" that scare me the most. They're conditioning themselves to not know how to handle screwups. Me? I'm to the point where I like trying new things. I did about a dozen jumps trying new positions of my Dbag, lines, and bridle routing til I found what I preferred. I like experimenting with flat spins. Some will tell you that it's an accident waiting to happen. Maybe it is...but I know more about flat spins than the average bear. When I was a newb, I liked playing with combinations of toggle/riser (above 2500). I learned a lot about how my canopy works. And scared myself more than once. My favorite line is that "I've screwed up more things than most people attempt in their entire lives." I'm proud of my failures, because those failures have led to some great successes. I'm a big believer in screwing up. If you think that makes me a bad instructor, so be it. Just know that if I ever instruct you, the stories I share with you (to help you avoid screwing up) are likely my own, and not some bullshit story I took from someone else on the internet. With luck you'll be better informed for it. Not being afraid to admit mistakes and help others learn from it is important, IMO, but equally important is learning when you screwed up and doing something about it.

+1, so long as it doesn't involve the friction staging silliness. Specifics of any incident directly related to dynamic corners would be even better.

Someone from Hawaii would have to answer, but I can't imagine someone flying an ultralight, trike, or similar at this airport, and in several trips there have never seen one. Winds are pretty crazy. If you're not real current, I'd think twice about jumping there. One of my close friends is very current, celebrated his 400th jump there and had a bad landing due to rotors. However, people with 100 jumps that jump there regularly have no problem. If you know how to manage the winds, it's no big thing at all. Skydive Hawaii requires a B license and 150 jumps minimum to jump there due to stupidities by visiting jumpers. Nice landing area, and there is one large out, but other than that...there are no outs. Additionally, winds often shut down the DZ by 1-2 in the afternoon. We had one day last week that we jumped until 6. Staff at Skydive Hawaii are incredibly accomodating, great people, nice Caravan if you can handle the ugly paint job, and the view is one of the best in the world, IMO.

Well there's a wonderful statement. People die by screwing up, and the lesson we should learn from their deaths is that we shouldn't follow their screw-ups by repeating them. I stand by my statement. Having everything go right teaches nothing, not when learning is an objective. People LIVE by screwing up and learning from it, too. In fact, far more people live by screwing up and learning than those that die by screwing up. Success is only found from a series of failures. Failure=Screwup. Can you truly not understand this concept? Yeah. Of course I do. Jan Meyer really is posting from Belgium, too.

Rather than be frightened, I like Bill Booth's take on the concept that skydivers will always be pushing the envelope, and that this is how the manufacturers receive feedback and improve products. One well-known rig manufacturer has said that cut/dynamic corners are not a good idea. Yet other manufacturers chuckle at that statement. I'm not only about to NOT follow that manufacturer's recommendation, they've lost credibility in my mind. A manufacturer also recommends routing the bridle over the closing pin via the top of the closing flaps. I've chosen to route my bridle beneath the closing pin, via the bottom of the closing flaps. If you're an experienced skydiver, I don't see anything wrong with experimenting one step at a time to learn if another idea works for you. Manufacturers are imaginative, creative, and intelligent, but those factors don't mean they always know what's best for your particular method of deploying, flying, etc. Another example; A manufacturer might recommend one method of folding the pilot chute, yet Brian Germain teaches a different method. Both are viable. Experimenting with packing brought new methods to the table too. Some wingsuiters prefer grommet to grommet, others don't. Both swear by their methods. Somewhere, sometime, someone had to experiment. I feel everyone becomes better by screwing up or by learning what doesn't work. Having everything go right teaches nothing. If you're new...I agree. Follow manufacturer recommendations.

I was turned on to the Silhouette by MJOSparky three years ago, and have had 210-135 Silhouettes with every size in between. My custom canopy is a Sil 170 used for demos. Can't say enough about this canopy. For camera work, it's awesome (nice openings). For packing, the hybrid nature is wonderful. it flies very nicely. The military uses it, but they have their own version. IMO, for a first, second, or third canopy...you can't go wrong with a Sil. Eventually, you'll probably want the brake lines lengthened, but outside of that, I've not done anything with any of mine.

Hey, if it works for you, that's terrific! Even with the photo settings disabled, I find it's still a bit slow for me, but if it's working for you...nice! You'll love the hypeye when it comes, no more checking for "record."

How much distance will it add to my track? Norman uses a hand grip for wingsuiting; I could use this to not only carry more, but also to increase my glide ratio!

The camera may not know what to focus on, and jump between two points. That could be perceived as "shake" as it's being bounced coupled with focus issues.

Congrats, glad to hear it went well. Auto focus; I'd expect you to see some shake problems with that, especially on the CX100. It's a slow auto focus.

Well...I haven't heard, so maybe that means they accepted my application. I was certain to keep it within their parameters, and even did a little up-sucking. I really wanna be a hero, tired of being a zero.

Might well be the media you're using.

And if you missed the subtext in the various posts...congratulate yourself for asking the question and thinking about it/through. I'd never heard of this happening in reality, nice to hear stories from people who have witnessed it.

Rewind footage and capturer 5:00 You're stuck with this one, no matter what. editing and importing 6:00 "importing...I don't know what that means. Capture should be the only "import" and that's answered above. If you're shooting for the edit, edits should take around 3 mins, tops. saving to computer 3:20 (really don't need to do this step) You've already answered that, should be rendered to MPEG from here, nothing more. Burning 7:20 As Phree says, that's well over the top. 3-3.5 mins is about right for a normal burn time including menus and an extra video linked to menu. You should be able to save 10-13 minutes over your worst times posted. Wish I was closer, I'd be happy to show you how. Feeblemind had never seen Sony Vegas until yesterday. In about an hour, he'd created a split screen, three scene video with zero coaching. In other words, it really is a very easy app to understand, but you have to drive it for a while to know where the clutch, gas pedal, steering wheel, and ignition are. If going to an editing board helps you postpone the inevitable, then by all means, do so. eBay is a great place to buy what even the worst of the wedding guys are dumping off, and they're pretty cheap. This one was $2k a couple years ago...now it's a steal at $30.00

Couldn't agree more. But seeing a jump in realtime isn't going to help them improve their aerial skills any more than seeing the jump in double or 4x time. Here, I have to disagree... MANY dropzones have seen the speed advantage. Many dropzones understand the changes in their customers, and delivery options. The list of those I've been personally involved with is lengthy. NLE's offer better quality video, personalized titling with out complex setups, more content, repeatable moments, easy insertion of post-jump marketing information ie; "now that you've done your first skydive..." It's anything but hype. I'll gladly put videos from anyone on our DZ up against any other DZ for content, length, and quality, and they're all edited on an NLE. Usually three vids at a time. Can you do 70 vids in a day? We can. And have (I wish it was the average rather than the exception). The only essential difference between #1 on Saturday morning and #70 on Sat evening is the titles and music. And that all go to DVD, plus some go to YouTube or Vimeo. Since it's cookie-cutter (and face it *most* tandem vids are), the editor doesn't need to see every frame in real time. The edit points are where the camera started and stopped. They're easy to see, and easy to look at quickly for in/out/transition points. Additionally, as customers demand HD...NLE is the *only* option. I understand the "why" of your opinion, and understand the prejudice behind it, but in arguing that NLE speed is hype...you're off base. In the hands of anyone with a basic understanding of editing, it's faster, and usually significantly faster in a planned workflow. Now...try to think of any time I've argued with you before.... Who owes beer, me or you?

Fading music for interviews should be less than half a dozen clicks. You do need to know the basics of the application in order to use it. Too many people here are doing these videos very, very fast to debate that boards are slower or faster. More to the point, if you're taking 20 mins to cut a video in any computer, SD or HD...something is really amiss. spend some time learning the application, you'll find it pays off in a lot of saved time. If you have someone in your area that can teach you, all the better.

No clue. Haven't seen how RealXtream drivers are set up. Seems to be a simple FTP protocol that is just a file transfer. I wasn't aware they were even still in business!

why not get a laptop, install Sony Vegas, and join the rest of us in the 21st century.. I did and the guys with the boards get it done 10 minutes faster then you're doing something not right.

Rolling shutter will likely continue to present some sort of issue at high shutter speeds combined with fast horizontal movement until faster clocking speeds/more transistors per pixel are available. It'll be interesting to see how Canon addresses this discussion though, because it is part of how they've justified using CCD's in their video cameras up to this point (assuming any posted rumors are true )

It is? But I already sent in my application? Twice.

I heard the first jump is the student rides cowboy on James so the student gets an accurate view of ground rush without the danger of flying through themselves? Personally, I think Robi on the ground with a radio is a better idea. "...more leg pressure..........NOW!"

And it only took ya 13,000 jumps. Impressive! Dave You're one of the few to notice. It ws a typo that I chose to leave when I saw a guy go from 1700 to 4000 jumps almost overnight. Sort of an inside joke among a few of us. Besides, I read somewhere a moderator can have as many jumps as he wants? I should probably change it back. Or I can be *really* optimistic for the 2009 season?? FWIW, I'm really glad I waited that long. I'd done several observations of Cat C AFF jumps from the camera slot in the last 2 years and flew as a hands-off observer during a few Cat D jumps last year as well. Could have challenged the course last year, but also wanted more jumps and more airtime with some better relative workers over the winter.

I'd agree w/that, even though it would have discluded me from challenging the course a couple months ago). The new scoring system is more challenging/difficult (according to three different CD's I've spoken with) as it brings a compromise between the point system and the former, more broad Sat/UnSat system of three sections only. Have a look at the new 2009 IRM. Couple people were not successful in my course, the course I saw occurring this past week had a couple unsuccessful candidates, and at least one of them was a very capable skydiver with a lot of jumps. I've not been thrown on any front lines. The way I see it, I've earned the right to be learning alongside the more experienced people on the front lines.

The trial (and purchase version) of Vegas Movie Studio Platinum both come with DVD Architect. You must have Architect installed, as it is what licenses the MPEG decoder. "Cracked" and "Pirate" are the same thing, just different words. If you have a purchased/legal version, DVD Architect is in the box or download as part of the package.

SIM Section 5-2 USPA A-license holders who have not made a freefall skydive within 60 days should make at least one jump under the supervision of a currently rated USPA instructional rating holder until demonstrating altitude awareness, freefall control on all axes, tracking, and canopy skills sufficient for safely jumping in groups. Sounds like Bytch has it well in hand (as usual).