parachutist

Have you ever tried a chins-eye-view? Chins look at other chins and shoulders and arm pits IMO. Not very epic the way I'm imagining it, but I could be wrong. Try it and post the vid. The "is my camera recording" question was dealt with years ago by tacking a small convex mirror to the alti. It lets people answer their own question

My Curv VC2 arrived today... with tuck tabs, but I like it anyway :) Hopefully I'll get to jump it tomorrow

It's not expected. However in any service related industry, if I feel like the people whom I hired are putting in 110%, I like to show my appreciation for their performance. Some work hard, some don't.

It depends on what you're expecting and what you're getting during that tunnel time. Recently Ive spend 4.5 hours in Ogden, intending to go from no freefly skills to learning hd. The instructors could watch me fumble around and give me a few pointers... that would be them doing their job. However the attention and effort they've been putting into my progression has been outstanding. It's a lot of work on their part. IMO 10-15% is appropriate for tipping in cases when I can't think of any criticisms about the coaching.

Interesting. I haven't seen these holes any more often with the black Ty-12 bridles than with kevlar. One thing I did notice with new bridles, that UPT didn't mention as fas as I know: the ty-12 stretches a lot. Kevlar didn't. That changes how one needs to measure the kill line when installing into the newer bridles. With Kevlar bridles you could use maybe 10-15 lbs of pressure when sizing the kill line, and that bridle would be fully stretched. It takes 30-40 lbs on the newer bridles to get a similar effect. If someone follows the old instructions for kill line sizing, the line will probably be 2-3" too short. Im wondering if that could leave you with a tight kill line after chute deployment, rubbing on the bridle til landing. Chris

GoPro hasn't given me a final answer yet. First week they said it must the battery pack, then they said must be the camera, now they're saying it may be a string of battery packs with certain serial numbers. SN on mine are both in this range: BBP2A0912000XXX The XXX part on mine are a little over 500 apart, so if it is the battery packs, a lot of them may be affected. These packs both work fine on my Silver, so the explanation seems odd. Chris

Another issue for the list: Hero 3 black + new style (black) battery bacpack + wifi enabled = camera won't stay off. If I press the power button on the camera or on the wifi remote, the Black shuts down for 3 seconds, then powers back up. I have a support ticket in to GoPro on this. So far in our 5 or 6 emails, its gone back and forth between camera being the cause vs. battery packs bring the cause. I have two of these packs, and the same issue happens with both. Chris

Great video. I'm up to about the 1:15 mark in your video progression... and your experiences up to that part seem like a mirror of mine so far. It's good to know progression is possible. Thanks for sharing that! Chris

Part of "taking care of the student" is making sure they can focus on their job in this new exciting activity. It's teamwork between the instructor and the student. When the student is preoccupied with aiming a camera, he's not as able to focus on the basics of arching and learning stable freefall. Besides that, it's free advertising when students post their videos online. I'd rather it be an enjoyable video that draws others to my DZ, instead of a haphazard home movie shot by a first-timer. Chris

No, unfortunately it's a photo once every 5 seconds at fastest setting, as listed in the gopro specs

Can you upload a pic of the mic attached to your glove?

Maybe you've only been seeing the dumbed-down WS teaching methods from the poor instructor camps. The FFC's I've been watching are very similar to FJC's. Much time is spent on the ground teaching what can go wrong and how to deal with issues. Students put on gear and practice their entire dives on the ground over and over. Focus of the initial jump is stable freefall and stable deployment at the correct altitude. Wait, am I describing FFC or FJC? It's hard to tell because they're very similar.

I agree Tom gave some good input and worthwhile things to consider. The harness adjustment guide has always bugged me. If there were adequate instruction provided by UPT, this thread would not exist. I wish I could tell the OP RTFM, but it's not a valid suggestion in this case.

UPT fashioned an ambiguous harness adjustment guide, and somehow I doubt you're going to receive more concise info on the phone or via email. UPT instructions say "Slide the chest strap vertically into the correct position and tighten." That statement, and most of the rest of the harness adjustment guide, can be interpreted in many ways by many people. In fact if you talk to a few different Sigma I/Es you'll get different explanations about how it should be done. Different I/Es will harness the same student in different ways. What's correct? Currently that's for each new Instructor to figure out on his own through trial and error. The real answer would be a video, produced by UPT, showing everyone how to harness a student. It would end a lot of misinterpretations, confusion, and arguments. I'd want it to be about 30 - 60 minutes. There's enough important material to fill that space. "This is what we do... this is why we do it... etc etc".

I've been using a Sony external mic. There are many mics out there for cheap, but they break easily. The Sony one is bombproof, and that's what you need for a handcam glove. No external power is needed. mic: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/334837-REG/Sony_ECMCS10_ECM_CS10_Stereo_Lavalier_Microphone.html sample video with this mic mounted to glove using supertack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVf6Qwejd0E&list=UUv7GKQYAgxd1xMFS6PurLsw&index=6&feature=plcp edit to add: btw, if you use this mic, wrap a piece of mic foam around it before mounting to your glove. You can get mic foam for a large mic at Radio Shack, then cut a piece to suitable size. Chris

What kind of lines did your Pilot come with?

And it looks like a PITA to remove the data card. Too many steps. So maybe just hook up a USB cable instead right? No, the cable slot is on the bottom so that's a PITA too. Maybe WiFi data transfer if connectivity is simple and reliable

Here's some good info about canopy volumes from Rigging Innovations/PIA: http://www.rigginginnovations.com/files/Docuemnts/Other/PIA%20Canopy%20Volume.pdf Chris

You can offset your upper body a little to the left, either by pushing off the student with your arms, or by spinning hard to the left. It makes a pretty good difference when you add a few inches this way. My arms are pretty long, but I learned this trick from a friend who's more vertically challenged. I use it when I'm taking big guys and I want their whole body in the shot. Chris

Inside Vegas, go to VIEW --> Extensions --> Production Assistant 2.0 --> Template Creator This should make the template creator panel visible inside Vegas. Inisde that panel is a Save As button. Click that when you're ready to save your template. btw, on my screen the Save As button for PA2 is about 1.5" away from the Save As button for Vegas... so make sure you're clicking the right one :) Chris

My thoughts are just like yours. The features are nifty, but not the selling point. When I tried on a curv I was amazed how well it moved with me. I just started smiling. It's like trying to explain to a student what freefall will feel like. You just have to experience it. I too am waiting for a larger size to be available.

Here's one of the videos from that China event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqx-sedugIM&list=UUv7GKQYAgxd1xMFS6PurLsw&index=2&feature=plcp Chris

Here's a site I stumbled across a couple days ago. They just opened shop about a week ago, and I think they have some music fitting our skydiving action: http://www.royaltyfreekings.com/store/high-energy-exciting-albums/ I bought the Modern Rock album and I'm happy with it. It's very similar to the Adrenalize album from VASST: http://vasst.com/store/audio/adrenalize-adrenaline-based-audio-content.aspx Adrenalize is half the price of the Modern Rock album, so it's a great place to start... but I wanted to add some more tracks to my collection, for additional unique video templates. I searched all over the net and couldn't find much else that I thought sounded great while still being within budget. The Royaltyfreekings' license suits our use well. A couple excerpts from the licensing description- "What are the limitations on using the music? You are free to use your purchased music on any of your projects, whether they be films, corporate videos, commercials, wedding videos, webisodes. There is a however a budget cap on film and advertising usage – up to $250,000. You can not use this music to create a new piece of music, nor sell it as your own, nor can you resell the music without our express permission. You also can not give the music to anyone else to use, other than within your own company. The license to use the music you purchase is for you alone." "Although you are free to use the same purchased tracks again and again, you don’t actually own the music, and you can’t re-sell the music or add it to your own musical elements and claim it as your own. You or your employees are the only people allowed to use the music that you license from us." Chris

MEL, There's one pattern I'd like to have that I haven't seen yet. Precision uses it on their tandem reserves for tacking lines to the stabilizer. It looks like 2 patterns overlapping each other. Have you added that one to the chip by any chance? thanks, Chris

I've read benchmark reviews of comparisons between the two. Yes the 2700k is a little faster, but a good bit more expensive, so it's a cost/performance balance. You'll see in some benchmarks the FX-8150 is right up there with the 2700k: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1751/6/ http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1751/5/ http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1751/7/ or beats the 2700k slightly: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1751/9/ In others the FX-8150 lags behind: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1751/10/ http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1751/10/ Overall I think the FX is providing the best output per dollar right now.