DSE

So are DZOs with no business acumen or common sense.

I'd like to see _any_ evidence that this is about 'bowing down to Bill Booth." I"m opposed to the BSR and voiced that opinion. The BSR addresses a software issue on a non-mandatory piece of equipment. That said, the manufacturers have also openly said they won't raise the activation altitude until opening minimums are raised, because of the narrow window. People are screaming that +/-750' isn't enough (based on recent fatalities). The BSR is passed, but things can also be "unpassed" if there is enough reason (OK, I laughed a little behind my hand at that one, the BOD rarely seems to observe "reason." )

Ragecam is a terrific alternative but as mentioned above, it's twice the price of the camera. 700.00 for a 5.4 mod'd camera. the 50mm is 1200.00

Apologies for the unintentional bold. It's true, few dropzones have committed to managing wingsuits. However, taking a few minutes to discover a consistent flight path for WS and trackers will usually provide great benefit to everyone. It lets tandems and fun jumpers know where to expect WS at trackers, it provides a consistent behavior for the WS and trackers, and provides a means of gauging that consistency for the sake of safety. And, it's simple to do, for most DZ's. It takes a bit more effort on a multiplane operation, but still doesn't take a lot of effort. here is a link to our "Wingsuit Operations Guide/Reference Guide" that has been in use for a few years, updated each year. The greatest relevance comes in pages 1-16, and provides limited information for trackers. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxhZWxju4_IlR0F6elc5VzNFWVk/edit?usp=sharing

***As long as the first time they buzz a tandem they are kicked off the DZ. But that does not happen. And this is the reality of how things happen here. They _are_ kicked off the DZ. We also have a proscribed pattern exclusive to WS that effectively prevents WS from getting anywhere close to tandems, students, or fun jumpers. For better or for worse, tracking and wingsuiting effectively require that the S&TA take a proactive role in determining flight patterns and taking steps to assure everyone follows them in order to reduce freefall conflicts, opening-area conflicts, tandem/wingsuit landing conflicts, and in our case, conflicts with other users of the airport.

I've never seen that order before. Do you know what the thinking is behind it? You can put the WS last.... But the temptation of the WS to use the students or tandems as swoop toys often gets too great. As long as the WS jumpers do not fly up the line of flight (and anyone flying a WS should be able to do that) there is no risk. So... worried about WS using tandems or students as swoop toys, not trusting them to do the right thing, but trusting them to do the right thing in the middle of the group? A decent WS can use students or tandems as swoop toys regardless of their exit position, so the idea of not trusting them doesn't seem to make sense, but it can make a significant difference for landing on the airport or creating pattern problems. Putting WS that close to tracking raises some bigger concerns, IMO.

The reasons to not use one are myriad; the OP's primary question was related to snags. ~Dexterity ~Distraction ~Access to handles when rigs have shifted ~Another thing to manage at the exit Several issues, to be sure.

Glad you like it.

spendy, but you can have the lens removed, and replaced with a higher grade, more narrow view lens. Or, buy a GP3, and use narrow mode. Not terribly different. And still less costly than changing out the lens. Or you could go Novo... http://nofilmschool.com/2013/03/gopro-hero3-interchangeable-lenses-novo-camera/

I'd submit you're either being a bit aggressive in your request, or that you're using an incorrect address. L&B has always had great customer care, and they've extended that care through their dealers as of late. Ask nicely, and send the email to mads at the address you have above, you might get somewhere. Attacking the company in public, and calling their product "almost obsolete" isn't likely to help your cause, particularly if you're out of warranty.

funjump.com has developed an incredibly snag-resistant hand cam. However... bridles have ripped off wrist watches and altimeters. Why add the risk to either of you in an already high-risk situation?

Even if you're 'somewhat' current, it's not something I'd recommend. I just did 1377 miles, I'm very current, lotsa miles. Carry lots of water, more than you'd expect. Plan on fairly frequent breaks. If it's a Harley for that far, in this heat, I'd suggest a sheepskin seat cover/cooling pad. But overall, I wouldn't suggest it at all. Not for someone that hasn't road-tripped in 25 years.

not in freefall, but I use it on my cams. What specifically are you asking to know? Good stuff, for sure.

At a personal level: Share your experiences with others around the 'electronic watercooler' (facebook, twitter, etc). Share positive experiences with non-skydivers. At the individual DZ level: Reward fun jumpers for bringing in tandems Reward them again for conversions to AFF/A licenses Develop good community relations. Visit schools to do assemblies on skydiving equipment and the thrill of jumping out of aircraft. Plant the seeds early. One DZ I worked with, we created a coloring paper for young students to color their own parachute and skydiver. Imagine all those parachutes on the fridge for a few months. Mom and Dad can be directly influenced by their children's excitement. Work on creating a fun, happy, informative environment that fosters learning, promotes safety, and inspires people to want to achieve 'more' in the sport. Train tandem instructors on how to better their student's experiences. Whispering "You're gonna die" over and over, sexual innuendos, or other stupid behavior doesn't encourage a return to the activity. Find outlets and information that appeals to the 50+ crowd; they have the most disposable income and are frequently looking for something "new" to do. Build tie-ins to other community activities. For example, invite a local motorcycle club to come to the DZ for a rally, or offer up the DZ as a stop point with free water, or other benefit. Offer a location for a community Easter Egg hunt with the Easter Bunny skydiving in to open or close the event, as one suggestion. Be seen as a contributor to the community. Be visible (in a positive light). At the USPA level: The membership of USPA pays out a shitton of $$ to a PR department that seemingly isn't effective. We can afford ads in major magazines, we can afford web advertisement/banner placements, there is money and resources for 'product placement', there are many opportunities. I've personally observed USPA blowing opportunities at the highest product/partnership levels for fractions of a cent per direct impression. DZO's get some marketing help from USPA, but it's effectively worthless. Oddly enough, USPA has two separate PR programs that don't seem to be aligned with each other. USPA could offer help with social media training, information guiding DZOs into the world of social media, provide educational tools or templates for DZO's to use to create online marketing tools. USPA might provide some bulk rate purchase power for marketing tools for DZOs. "Experience the dream of flight" keychains for handing out at community gatherings, or similar. For example, during an AWA Motorcycle race, the DZ got permission to put up a popup, hand out free water with "SKYDIVE!!" labels on the water bottles. There was an LCD display on a table under the popup, showing a few tandem skydives (video cut to not linger on any shot for longer than 5 seconds, several tandems, wingsuits, CRW, RW were shown) USPA can help DZO's learn to build relationships with news reporters, the local Chamber of Commerce and other groups that have the means to include them in their daily work. USPA might help DZO's and the skydiving network develop an event aimed at women, for example. Women make most of the purchasing decisions in America, and women frequently determine vacation destinations and activities for the family. Imagine USPA and DZO's working together to create a "Women in the Sky" (or somesuch other title) that encourages and attracts women to do a tandem or AFF on a given day. Perhaps a similar event for veterans, or other large groups that attract not only a given group, but also attract media attentions, social media outlets, and a strong buzz about our sport. Look at the fantastic video that Phoenix-fly and Red Bull put out. They have demonstrably drawn people into the sport simply to wingsuit. Traffic on these videos is in the millions of views range, but have we seen USPA's marketing or PR teams take advantage, or promote these events? Of course not. Yet only an idiot with his head far up his ass would miss that wingsuiting is the biggest draw to our sport since Point Break. Yet we don't see the US Team putting out market-driven videos, we hear very little about the US Team outside of specific events that are a draw for skydivers but not the gen pop. Imagine USPA holding a contest for "best story about how skydiving changed my life." The winning article would be published in a leading mens or women's magazine. The magazine wins, as they get marketing support prior to the article's publication, and skydiving wins because it provides input and and an outlet for a positive story while reaching new audiences. A few years ago, USPA had the opportunity to participate in a Sony project that upon initial pitch, would have reached a minimum of 500,000 direct, captured views of skydiving. Total cost to USPA was $2500.00. Do the math. .005 per direct capture. The project went on to two replications, totaling 1.25M direct captures. USPA's total all-in cost would have remained $2500.00 (.002 per capture). AMA was all over it, and ended up putting much more into it than the initial requirements called for, simply because they wanted a great first-look at their sport. In short, USPA could make much more intelligent decisions based on reality and less on emotion or who is whose buddy. There are opportunities at every turn, if skydivers, DZO's, and USPA simply look around with a fresh eye. People buy into skydiving because of their ego. It is the only motivator that brings people to our sport. Cater to fulfilling and enhancing their ego, everyone wins.

It's all a race to the bottom. Go to the photo forum, see how many photographers are wanting to quit using quality cameras for tandem photo/video. Notice how many young jumpers want to fly cameras at 25 jumps, and stick em' on helmets not at all designed for cameras. Several DZ's have now gone to handcam, because it boosts their margins. Many skydivers proclaim how great it is to jump at Lodi, because the slots are cheaper. Just last weekend we saw a demo go to shit, likely because the people handling it, did it on the cheap and didn't bring highly skilled people to the demo. I know of one DZ allowing anyone with 200 jumps to participate in demos, open-field or not. It's cheaper, paid by the thrill and not by the $$. At the end of the day, skydivers are no different than the DZO's being complained about here; they're racing to the bottom of the barrel because it's "easier" or "faster" but definitely not better, not promoting the sport in a positive light. Sure, of course, agreed that its best for a DZ to manage their own marketing strategy and understand how to leverage the internet and other marketing opportunities for their own good. However, not every DZ has those resources or access. However/whatever they do to bring fresh feet through their door is their business. There is a significant difference between a middleman generating false information about non-existent DZ's and baiting/switching, from Living Social and other aggregate sites that sell group discounts to DZO's.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspros All editors were given the same footage, same software, and challenged to assemble an edit. It's a good example of how different personalities see the same event and present their version of the story.

A business is a business is a business. DZO's are still only competing with each other. A DZO/DZM can choose to do business with the middlemen, or not. Doing business with the middlemen means a slimmer profit margin. If the DZO can make the numbers work, that's just simply smart business. If the DZO can't make the numbers work, then they'll either quit doing business with the middlemen, or go out of business. No matter what, it's business. And the more business a DZO can do, the more people he can employ, the more airplanes he can lease/buy, the more tandems he can lift, and the more the community grows. If a DZO isn't reaching outside of his area somehow, he's probably casting too small a net anyway. I was recently in Phoenix, AZ. In the hotel lobby was an "activities" board filled with flyers for activities. There was a flyer for Perris in one of the slots. Is that bad for our business that Skydive Perris is attempting to reach people in Phoenix? Or perhaps....it might be simply raising an awareness of our sport and creating new opportunities that DZO's aren't finding on their own?

Will you be jumping it at Skydive Utah tomorrow (sunday?)

They'll still be quite different from each other. The glass separation alone, plus aberration from lens to lens will be different. Blades are different. This doesn't mean one will be "better" than the other, but the aesthetics of the image will be different. I suppose it depends on your definition of "somewhat" in "somewhat the same."

A very close copy to the Phantom 2. I've only seen two of them up close, one was really well made. The other, stitching was already coming apart because it had missed the folded on the inside.

Were it not for me teaching in Canada that week...I'd be happy to do it for them. Come out to the Performance Cup in Elsinore, just a coupla weeks later!

Hey gang, A four way pickup team from Skydive Elsinore is looking for a camera flyer at Nationals. Any locals got some love? Contact Sydney: sydney@skydivesinore.com

Sometimes the equipment you have isn't suited for what you want to use it for. I have a several great canopies, but only one that is properly suited for demos with my large flag. I have several helmets, but my full face is not appropriate for a camera. The right tools for the right job and all that. The flip side, is that no one say anything in response to your post, and you go out and get hurt for lack of information, or that you get the answer you wanted to hear vs the one you needed to hear. I'd submit that scenario is far more dangerous in the sky.

It depends on the mode you use. http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WnB9ujKJW_M/0.jpg For tandems, the lil cameras are decent enough for web pix postings, but not for printing (IMO). Creatively speaking, they're useless.

First, congrats on taking the steps to become a skydiver. Second, congratulations for properly managing a cutaway and safely landing. Third, what do your instructors that are there with you, the ones who have consistently seen your performance, telling you to do? Sometimes instructors struggle communicating with students. Sometimes, instructors aren't seeing the genesis of the problem, and make things worse by simply saying "relax" (I don't say "relax," I say "breathe") Talk to the people close to you there at the DZ. This early on in your skydiving career, seek advice up close and personal before trusting anyone over the internet. Including me.