DSE

Mike, you're an inspiration. Looking forward to winging my way over your DZ soon. Not only is the program terrific, but educated skydivers are happy skydivers, IMO.

I was sick, boss....lost three days after PIA, then went for a minor surgery, flew to Eloy, and had my stitches blow out on the climb to altitude. God, it's fun being able to blow blood bubbles at people on the plane. Simply ran out of time to remove about 4 copyrighted slides that can't be sent in to the gen/pop. I PROMISE I'll get it done this weekend in Canada and post it here.

This is exactly how I got started with wings. Tunnel at Perris was cool with it once they checked me and my wings out thoroughly. Tunnel in Ogden, Utah won't allow it. Tunnel instructor flew beneath me, used his arms beneath me, created burbles of all sorts, then flew over/under me, worked on sideslides and forward motion with hard stops, plus using wings in serious range. They kept the fans down a bit, so it took some real work to get high, but it worked. I'm a big fan of using a tunnel to gain some understanding of how wings work, just know that some tunnels won't allow it. And depending on your gear, they shouldn't. An RSL clip coming off could do some serious damage. Same does for the risk element if you hit the net and the RSL or Fastex caught it.

Yes. Condensation sensor will shut down when it senses cold. This isn't a problem with flash-based cams.

Vixia is very old news (almost discontinued news). 1Mbps more per second, optical image stabilizer, no external control/indicator possibility. No built in memory. Progressive 24/30 are essentially useless for skydiving unless you're an exceptional shooter shooting exceptional people. Otherwise, it's 60i across the board. Weaker body, weighs more, older generation AVCHD encoder. Not ideal for skydiving, not a competitor to the CX100 at all, image or otherwise (except price point).

Ummm....I couldn't have been holding the wood, I'm holding the camera. I *could* zoom out and show who was holding the wood, but there is no fun in embarrassing that person, they don't have a sense of humor. I have more shots, BTW. But "Father Glenn" is my fave. I think it belongs right up on the ceiling of Eloy's main packing area with the monster photo of Scott Campos/LouDiamond in Liquidsky Sunglasses at Eloy. "Friar Glenn Flies like an Angel in a Tonysuit! Pray for yours today!" That'll sell a LOT of Tonysuits.

Wow~! That must have taken some serious thought and a lot of imagination. If it's an MSPD stick, that's all that matters. If it's Pro Duo, it'll read/write fast enough to support the data from the cam, it has to by definition. You can gain faster Xfer speeds, but not faster write speeds/better card/better quality.

The Professor posted same basic information we received here at Eloy today; one of the pilots became ill, coupled with weather. Too bad, was really rooting for Ben and his Tonysuit XS. Looking forward to seeing the five-minute video though. That's got to be one of the longest wingsuit vids, ever.

Just because his name isn't on a list doesn't mean he doesn't know wingsuits. There are guys on those lists that I wouldn't trust to wash my dog. There are names on those lists who I'd give the keys to my house. Wingsuiting is not a 'rated' instructional discipline at this time. If the guy has an AFFI, coach, and a couple hundred wingsuit jumps, he's likely an "instructor" or qualified "wingsuit coach." If he's not current in a wingsuit, then he might have been trained at one time. Or, maybe he got a few WS jumps and bought a case of beer.

they pay rent. There may be a requirement that the airport rent/lease to an aircraft-related entity. They draw people to the airport, makes it easier to show taxpayers where their $$ are going. They provide services for other small businesses. Just this morning helped fuel and fill a cropduster that is seeding an island in the Great Salt Lake. We keep the public goodwill in most places. DZ's keep the airport active. They generate revenue on what is often a taxpayer-funded property. DZ's keep people coming to the community. This provides outside money for gas stations, restaurants, maybe hotels, and other community services/enterprises. They provide a recreational service that the county has nothing to pay into, only support. Our DZ provides security via an on-airport manager. Some DZO's also act as an FBO. DZ's have a lot to offer... The City of Eloy is effectively kept in business/alive because of Skydive Arizona, the tunnel, and military activity at the DZ. That's not the only story like that, but it's a big, and good story. The DZ employs locals, brings in a LOT of outside cashflow for local commerce, buys a lot of fuel, and pays a small fortune in taxes. Then there is the tunnel, which pays a mint in electricity, brings in thousands from around the US and local areas.... Skydive Arizona is the extreme, but all DZs are a micro-example of what SDAZ does.

Phree's right, you gain nothing except a better picture, but there is no speed gain, no archive gain. Hand-cam...Cookie already has a glove for this camera, I ordered one at PIA. But...this camcorder for a lot of DZ's, is their entry-level camcorder into NLE-editing/speed output of content to DVD and web for tandems, four-way, etc. If speed isn't your need, then old tech is likely still your best answer. Heck Clint, I'm only 3 hours away...buy me some jump tix, I'll show you how fast it can be.

For a small lens, I recommend the Century .55. If you need inside lens, the Raynox 3030 is great. It's big/bulky, almost as big as camera and as heavy. But the package is still very lightweight. That "sheep" is a ewe. She's pregnant. She's mine. And you're the first to have the courage to ask in public. I was recently asked to provide a photo that "best represents my life philosophy." The sheep photo sums me up best, I think. Maybe the hi-rez version helps make the point more clear. And if you figure it out, PM me. I'd be curious to hear what you think.

Given that Ben is wearing a Tonysuit XS...it'll be interesting to see what distance he does.

K, I get to play too then. Glenn with morning wood... But the wooden doll wasn't enough, so he moved on to Kris. On Sunday, however, Father Glenn repented and prayed that the winds die down.

Canopies don't hurt people, people hurt people. It's not about the size as much as other factors that will be thoroughly covered during your learning experience at the dropzone. You will not be permitted to jump a high performance canopy anytime soon, and you'll quickly learn how to understand what makes a high performance canopy vs a low/moderate performance canopy. Computing wingloading is part of the student process. [edit=Quade said it better.

There is very little point jumping with a Royal, Waycool, or other low resolution lens on an HD camera. You're killing virtually all of the benefits of HD. You still get a better picture, but not by much. Invest in a good lens. for SD, the Royal has a slight edge over the others, but not much. For HD...all the "standard lenses" are weak. speed of conversion is entirely relevant to the proc you've got in your system. anywhere between 5 and 10 mins for an MBP and 10 mins of footage.

HC9 is effectively the same size as the HC3. Same box fits all HC series. No, not everything else is a huge snag hazard. Spend some time talking with the camera flyers at your DZ, read a lot of posts here, and be up on what's new when it comes time to make your helmet decisions. Be aware that buying a helmet that is camera-specific potentially limits your options for future camera designs/models/sizes.

Power doesn't change, focus does. Disable Face/Smile detection, you'll see focus speed up significantly. that stays off too. See ya tomorrow.

Extra bag costs money with the airlines these days but maybe the OP has the cash to spend. Policies have changed AFAIK in the past 2.5 years. Which is why a phone call to the DZ is probably the best course of action. Your having 50 jumps in four months is substantially more current than someone who hasn't jumped in a full year with only a handfull of jumps in three years, going to an unfamiliar DZ with potential problems for an uncurrent, low-number jumper. A phone call to the DZ would clearly resolve any/all questions the OP might have. And it'll cost a lot less than the 100-150.00 it'll cost to carry an extra bag (assuming the rig isn't carry-on).

You'll have to import/convert first. While not nearly as fast as non-Mac users enjoy, it's also faster than real-time now. I *believe* once they're imported on the Intel-based Mac (and converted) they'll be viewable on the non-Intel Mac, but I'm not certain. We no longer have any non-Intel Macs in our shop, therefore I have no way to check. If you can view currently converted AVCHD on your non-Intel Mac, then you'll be able to do the same with this footage. The codec didn't change; just the body and features. Control-wise, they're identical. Only difference is frame-rate.

Other than FCP, everything out there natively supports AVCHD now so I don't know that I'd be concerned about it. Small correction from the thread you referenced above; AVCHD isn't a Sony-proprietary format. It was jointly developed between Sony/Panasonic, and Canon, JVC, Sanyo, Mitsubishi have all licensed the codec/technology from Sony/Panasonic. Easier way to say it is that AVCHD is "the new DV," and it's pretty much ubiquitous at this point.

choose the pen tool to set your keyframes on the audio track then move the keyframes points up or down to create volume changes.

Can the camera downgrade AVHCD to MPEG2 when dubbing to make it accessible to those without AVHCD capable software? Nope. Downconvert is strictly an off-camera process.

I wear a mudflap and wrist Alti-track. Both in TAS mode. They're both pretty close unless I'm backflying. According to both of them, I've had sustained fallrates of 32mph in a wingsuit. Most folks know this isn't possible. In other words, don't trust the numbers. BTW, congrats on your front page article. I'm sure others appreciate reading your "journey."