DougH

No? Isn't it more responsible to not put them in the possible situation of having to drag your dead body out of the plane in a crash? If the door is closed, and there are proper amount of seat belts, then isn't it more responsible to leave them unhooked until at a jump altitude, or at least until after takeoff when the greatest chance of engine failure has passed. You are on straddle benches, how hard is it to hook two upper connectors or more in an emergency that is high enough to jump? I guess all of this is a moot point for my 182 jumping ass! I don't have straddle benches, and we all get our own seat belts. I show my students how to remove the seat belt, and explain to them that in an emergency I will try to help them from the plane if I am able but if I can not undo their seat belt they should do so themselves. I also sometimes, but not always, ask them to kindly undo my belt and drag me from the plane if they can. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Have you called them instead of just sending emails? I have always had great service for Aerodyne, and with any company you almost always get a hold of someone when you pick up the phone. This is lost on some people in the internet era. As far as the loaner canopy goes, they may not have a whole bunch of 150 zpx, they may only have one, and they can't send you another canopy if they had a regular pilot 150 available, since it sounds like your ordered a canopy that just barely fit in the zpx trim. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

How far are they driving to get there? Are these guys mainly flying because they are your friends and they like the crowd that is jumping? I think a show up fee, of 25 bucks, and then 10 dollars a load would be good compensation. That way the pilot can buy a nice dinner for his or her trouble. I have seen clubs pay 25 an hour on the hobbs, but I don't have a good handle on what market rate really is. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

To get any meaningful input from your formula you would need to take into account the build of the instructor and student. 4'8 175 lb female tandem student falls like a boulder compared to a 6'6 235 lb male student. What about drag from jumpsuit versus bikini. Also, I never took much in the way of physics in college, but aren't we dealing with fluid dynamics here? Does a heavier (denser) pair , generate more speed through the fluid, and therefore more drag from the drogue? I am guessing (blindly) that there is some curved relationship between tandem pair density, and drogue drag. My hunch is that it isn't linear, each additional 10 pounds doesn't equate in the same factor of speed? "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Thanks Randy! I am definitely going to use the articulated bracket. I saw a few ways to mount it using a search, either on the side of the helmet, or on the front of the helmet. I am going to use two of the 80mm clamps. I already had one that I stole from my existing camera helmet, so I only had to buy one for the time being. On your setup did you make a custom top plate, or did you go with the wider top plate from BH? With the standard plate I am having trouble lining everything up without having one of the clamp lever arms hang over the side of the flat top. It looks way to convenient for a line to get under there and either snag, or open the clamp up enough to release an expensive (and heavy/dangerous) camera in to free-fall! I have to email RRS and see if I can switch the orientation of the CAM arm lever. Thanks again for the input! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I think your being tongue in cheek, but I don't think the humor in this, would out weigh how uncomfortable it would make a tandem student that didn't get that it was a prop. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Are you here only for September, or are you back for an extended period of time? SkydiveAZ in Eloy does balloon jumps throughout the december/january holiday boogie. Every sunrise and sunset for the whole event. They might do it other times as well, I would give them a ring. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Race to the bottom IMHO. I think DZO's would be better served by figuring out how to bring more jumpers in to the local market, then they are by trying to poach the existing customer base with a cheap product with an ever declining profit margin. Walmart and subway skydiving! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I am glad that most of my students aren't nearly that bad.

I agree with Remster, looks like a pretty good fit for a second hand rig. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Do you like the DZ? Do you like the dynamic that you currently have with the your friends that are staff and fun jumpers? Do you want to screw all of that up? Your 19 years old, how many relationships do 19+ year olds go through before they finally settle down? A lot normally! The odds are that anything you kick off with the guy won't be a long lasting thing. If you break up with someone you knew from town, or from HS, from your college classes you can get away from them. If you break up with this guy or have drama you will see him every time you are at the DZ. Bad idea! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Can anyone share some footage with a wide angle lens being used one of these boss cameras? I have only put one jump on my CX760 with boss because I am still building my setup. Common wisdom is that the BOSS + wide angle lens gives you a bad result, with weird distortion and vignetting from the BOSS. I think the CX760 is plenty wide already for outside flying. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Things like this make me go huh? Why would you hide it in a box at work? Why would you take anything that is contraband, and remove it from your person to stash, and with the plan to then put it back on your person later. That is two extra times that you can be caught with the contraband? If it is in your pocket leave it in your pocket! They don't do pat downs of burger king employees do they? "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Glad I took the time to post a serious reply, I made a mistake, from the direction this thread went I should have just humped her leg instead. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I am guessing that there is a lot leg work required to hire and fire in France which causes a lot of dead weight that is just taking up space on the payroll. Or the dumb chick is blowing the boss. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I am not familiar with that acronym... but yes. It fits with the trend! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Bro seriously,,,some think i'm a jerk, ahole, troll..but i'm not Funks..i have way too much class Funks had more class, and creativity, in his hairy right palm, than you do in your whole being! Your not even going to get an e-date with our newest dz.com female with a pulse. Unfortunately for you, the drop zone is not a deserted island, and your not the last man on earth. I think the guy that shows up to picks up the cans at the dz for the deposit money has a better chance. The tandem packer with the lazy eye and the "awesome" body odor, better chance. The video editor, that turned his editing station into a replica of a set from StarTrek Babalon five, and has the awesome back acne.... better chance. Even the visiting whufo tandem students... better chance! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

He isn't nearly as creative as Funks, just another drooling keyboard masher. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Here is my advice from someone that has done manifest, and a number of other jobs at the DZ part time, don't do it! Unless that is the only way you can figure out how to pay for your skydives, don't. Pack part time, find a sugar daddy, sell plasma, just don't manifest! Of all the ways on the DZ to make money manifest is the one that will stress you out the most, make you put up with the most bullshit, and keep you the most disconnected from the sky. Manifest is the least likely to get up in the air for a quick jump. They are the last ones there trying to get the cash drawers to balance after the tandems are gone, and the fun jumpers have already cracked the beers and started having fun. You deal with the pain in the ass side of tandems. You take their money, listen to them bitching about who gets on the plane with who, bitching about wait time, bitching about this customer getting to go before the but they were here first, bitching about weather. The tandem instructors get all of the awesome side of tandems, the excitement, and the cash. You will have a line of fun jumpers, a line of tandems, instructors interrupting every time you try to type something in to the system, and the phone will ring every five seconds for some one that lives 5 minutes away, but wants to know what the weather is like. Manifest can totally poison the excitement of a young 100 200 jump skydiver that is new to the sport. It has the high responsibility of an operations manager at some complex organization, and the pay worthy of some pimply faced teenager at your local supermarket. There are some positives, for example it does teach you a lot about the real workings of a drop zone. It teaches you how to multitask under pressure. Good manifesting will get you some recognition with load organizers, and your fellow jumpers. It makes you a more well rounded person around the dz later on especially as staff. If you have manifested, packed tandems, then moved on to instructing I think you understand the overall picture better. But in general I am a firm believer that manifest should be a position for spouses of dzo/jumpers that don't and won't jump, or local college kids that want to make a buck and like the DZ atmosphere. Just say no! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I just started a post on this yesterday. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4512148;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I emailed them, they believe final FCC approval is coming in the next two weeks, and production is starting right after. The price is going to be sub 100 dollars, I am definitely going to get one or two of them to play with! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

MTV has good ROI in your example, that is directed at their target argument. Honda gets R&D advances, advertising, and bragging rights from sponsoring racing teams. Tell me where the ROI is with a free boogie? We aren't the target customer, we are a small fringe group, none of us will influence a decision to buy a A330 because we got some free jumps and a T-shirt. Cool footage, sure. But they can get that with one or two jumps with a select group, as was done above. Same result, less liability, less uncertainty. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Cool stuff! This is much better than my original phone idea. It looks like StickNFind has a more powerful until in the works that has an advertised max range of .5m line of site. https://www.sticknfind.com/BlueTracker/2/7/ Not available yet, but it looks like a sweet spot with size, range, and battery life. 2 month battery life, smallish size, and .5 line of site so you don't need to be so close with your initial search. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Gotcha! That makes sense. Right now I wear my RW suit for most of the whole day. After opening and some video and housekeeping I just take the booties off. On the ground I roll them up to my shins, and tie the arms around my waist. Not having the arms to tie around my waist, and take off and put on would add a huge amount of comfort. I am not worried about the booties, they roll up and out of the way. Given the lead time to make a set of these I am going to be stuck in my hot RW suit, or my hotter double layer winter suit for a while! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Why not? At the end of the day they give you the most surface area and power to the legs. That is why competitive RW moved towards almost complete adoption of booties. Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't think they are a necessity, and I don't see tall leggy TI's thinking they are worth the hassle. But as a short & stubby TI I certainly appreciate the extra power they give to me. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P