AndyMan

Put me on the PC list, too. Mac zealots can be annoying. I MAY go with a Mac next year, but only to use PPC-Linux. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

There's absolutely no excuse for landing off under a 150. If you'd said the same thing for a 280, I might have accepted that. Not for a 150, though. If you can't make the landing area under that canopy, that's another indicator that either your spotting needs work, or you're jumping in winds that are just too high. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

My bad. Thanks for the correction. That does change things considerably. I won't say to justaflygirl "You have no business jumping that day", because I wasn't there and don't know anything about the local conditions, but the recorded winds do paint a different story than what was posted here. 17 gusting to 23 is definately "high winds", and gusts can (and do) break femurs. Thinking that jumping in those conditions make for better landings, and is somehow "safer" is absurd. Justaflygirl should understand that she's adding a tremendous amount of risk by jumping in those conditions. Saturday at Chicagoland we had 17 gusting to 28. I was amazed by the number of people who were willing to jump. The DZ decided to "rigidly enforce the load minimums", and the plane never went because there were only 6 jumpers wanting to go, and the load minimum was 8. Strangely (sarcastic), almost all of the 6 jumpers wanting to less than 200 jumps. Eventually some of the "old timers" started telling their stories of carnage caused by high winds and only then did people eventually give up. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Weather Underground shows 10mph gusting to 15mph throughout the day in Lakeland, 20 miles away. Unless local conditions were very different, it doesn't sound unreasonable for someone with 66 jumps to be going up. USPA BSR's set a maximum wind for students at 14MPH. Many DZ's have waivers that allow students to jump at 16MPH. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Everyone gets better landings in wind. Wind slows our ground speed, which makes it easier to shut down the canopy. On every landing, we get to some point in our flare where the parachute has given all it's got. The parachute simply is unable to geterate any more lift, and it stops flying. At this point, we have to put down our "landing gear". When jumping in No Wind conditions, that point happens when we've still got "ground speed" - we're still moving forward. We need to put down our Landing Gear and start to run or slide. If we're not prepared for it, we cartwheel. When we've got a good headwind, that point (where the parachute stalls) happens at (or before) the point where we physically stop moving forward. When the parachute slows us enough so that we stop moving forward, we simply put our feet down. It's easy! It's perfectly normal, and 100% expected that landings into the wind are easier. However, If you're not perfectly comfortable landing in no wind, that's a great indicator that you're jumping a canopy that's too small. Among other things, you should be able to land in no wind, downwind, and crosswind before you move to a smaller canopy. Given that you're not comfortable landing in No Wind now, it's a good indicator that you shouldn't have downsized earlier. It would be wise to think about jumping a larger canopy. To answer your question though, the USPA BSR sets a maximum wind of 14MPH for students. I have absolutely no issue with a post 'a' license jumper going up when winds are gusting to 15. If students can jump at 14, you can certainly jump at 15. However, often times it's the comments we hear from people that we know that tell us where we fit in on the ladder of skills. When we're doing well, people love to tell us how great we are, but when we're not doing so well - people are often afraid to say things straight to our face. If people aren't telling you directly.... and are instead talking behind your back - well, that's unfortunate. Don't dismiss their message though, from your admissions of uncertainty with No Wind landings, it sounds like you could use a bit more effort in learning canopy control. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I got that part.... What does hot-fueling without wheel chucks or someone on the brakes got to do with SkyRide? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I'm confused. Pick up on what? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Virtually any laptop currently on the market should be able to handle basic video editing just fine. Look for 1.5 Ghz processor or better 512 MB Ram or better 40 GB hard drive or better. Firewire. You should be able to find that for under a grand. These are intentionally low system requirements because while video editing used to tax processors, that's largely no longer the case. If you want to archive video on your hard drive for long periods of time, you'll need a lot more than 40GB. However, given that laptop HD's are notoriously prone to data errors, you'd be wise to get an external HD for that purpose. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Word. (AndyMan thumps his chest with a gangland finger salute) _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I believe Canons come in 28mm. Here's a Canon wide angle lens. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=259657&is=REG _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I jump a 3 year old PC120. Usually available on Ebay for about $300. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Current weight: 232 Mini Goal: (by July 15, when my new canopy shows up) 215 _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

It's more than that, though. Of course I encouraged her to make a jump. I do that with a lot of people. What I didn't realise (and didn't intend) is that I was also telling her that if she made a jump, she'd instantly want to cuttaway her old life, start packing, pitch her tent behind the hangar, and get into body piercing. When she didn't feel the need to cuttaway, she was disapointed. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

My friend wrote about her first jump experience. It's a compelling and interesting read, because she's a great writer. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1275546; _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Craichead and I took a friend out for a tandem a while back. She was super excited to go, because she saw how much a part of our lives it played, and how much we loved it. She is a good friend. She clearly enjoyed her jump. Pic here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=32926;. Afterwards though, she seemed disapointed. She WAS disapointed. Disapointed that she didn't feel hooked and addicted, like craichead and I were. We were then disapointed that she was disapointed... We felt like we'd oversold the experience. I think many skydivers don't understand the degree to which we're embassadors to the sport. We often don't realise how people can look at us, and assume that if they do the same thing as us, that they'll be the same as us. I think that notion is amplified on dz.com - there's so many thousands of post-whores who have bought into the skydiving lifestyle so much, a passerby simply assumes that they'll get hooked after just one jump - just like "everybody else". What they don't realise is that their notion of "everybody else" is completely false. They don't know that most tandem students walk away after only one jump. They don't understand that the people who hangs out here are the exception who stuck with it. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I gave my wife a cast iron skillet to throw at me when she found out I was smoking. I worked great, I haven't had a cigarette in over 2 years. Unfortunately she didn't follow through when she flung it at me once, and ended up dislocating her shoulder. She's still recovering from shoulder surgery. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I don't think I'd go quite that far. With practice, I imagine I'd be able to do a leading exit, but I'd probably have to leave a hair earlier than on a plane with a better step. It's also possible that other PAC's are setup with a better step. But yes, with the few jumps I have from a PAC, I did a peel exit. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I jumped the Skyknights PAC a few weeks ago. As a cameraman, I hated it. First, the plane is too short. I was video'ing a 4way group, so we were first out. I could not kneel in front of the door with my camera helmet on. I top mount a PC120, and the aircraft was too short to kneel in front of the door without having to tilt my head. That made for a VERY uncomfortable jumprun. Secondly, and I don't know if this applies to all PAC's or just the SkyKnights one, but there is effectively no camera step. The SkyKnights one had a small 3 inch square step immediately at the rear of the door. As for handles, the floater bar also ended at the rear of the door, and did not extend aft. That left me crunched up against the 4 way team, so I ended up hosing the exit. The PAC is not a camera-friendly aircraft. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Anytime a jumper doesn't track at the end of the skydive, they're putting the cameramans life in danger. As a video guy, I am CONSTANTLY harping on RW people to track long and far, whether they deserve the lecture or not. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I didn't even know there was a memorial park.... Where is it? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

These two statements and Seem to be at odds with each other. Aren't they? It seems to me that people with a whole lot more experience and knowledge than anyone posting here have proven your second statement true. It's for that reason that I think your first statement must be categorically false. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

In this thread. I asked people to tell the story about events that led to their Cypres fire. I don't recall anyone mentioning being unconscious. I plan for likely scenarios. As much as we like to posture, being unconscious under a Cypres activated reserve simply isn't that common. Most Cypres activations result in a perfectly cognisant jumper landing a perfectly good reserve. To answer your question, landing my PD reserve (loaded close to 1.7) unconscious under any of the given scenarios would be ugly. That doens't bother me in the slightest. Open field and unconscious? Probably a broken leg or two. Side of a building? I hope the choppers get there quickly. I suspect this is the case for lighter wingloadings, too. Minimal input? No problem. I've downwinded my reserve in 25mph winds, and would have no dificulty doing so again. 1 arm? I can turn and flare my stileto with one arm, I could likely do it with my reserve. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Tenting at Perris is pretty lame. They don't let you setup on any of the grassy areas, they require you to pitch your tent on gravel. I'm not talking about the rounded pea gravel, either. They put you on the sharp pointy stuff. The tenting area is meters from the runway, so expect to be woken at the butt-crack of dawn in a panic because you think you're about to be shredded by a PT6-27. Otherwise, Facilities are very good. Showers and bathrooms are close. Last weekend, Perris was still getting rain but the ground seems mostly dry, and able to handle the rain without excessive flooding. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Sure. Check out www.bhphotovideo.com. They have a good lens selection tool. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Generally no. "Total Megapixels" and "Effective megapixels" only refer to the resolution of the digital stills. They're meaningless to the quality of your video. If you're looking to use your camcorder as a digital camera on the ground, then maybe these numbers are important - but you'd be far wiser to buy a innexpensive digital camera for that purpose. It's key to remember that you can't take digital stills with a camcorder in freefall. Features that you might be wise to pay for are better performance in low light and no light, and long battery life. Make sure any camera you buy has both LANC and Firewire ports. USB is useless for video. Generally cameras with larger lenses perform better in low light. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.