parachutist

Actually I believe she did what I've heard called "flash flake" where her arms moved so fast you could barely see them... then she dropped the canopy on the floor to neaten up the flakes

At my DZ we're using two systems with phenom IIx4 cpus that were built about a year and a half ago. With the automation that we're using, we can put out one DVD in about 12 mins, two in about 18, three in about 22... so your system specs aren't bad at all. I just didn't realize it was already built. Avg compensation I've seen for tandem vid edits is about $5 ea, however some places pay hourly rates, so it depends

Getting all the camera guys to shoot the similar clips really helps the editor. Just let them know that youre making their life easier, and you'd appreciate if they could throw you a bone or something. Sony Production Assistant 2 works as a plungin for Vegas 10 Pro, and it automate copying of files from a card to your HD, then dumps those clips onto a template. It makes editing much quicker. Or you could just buy our VASST NLE system, which comes preassembled with all necessary software loaded, configured, and with custom templates for your DZ already in place. All you need to do is plug it in and turn it on.

650 watt PSU is more than adequate. Take the $$ saved and put it toward a 6-core Phenom... not much more than a quad core, and the difference is worth it. We use Vegas for a few reasons. 8 gigs memory is plenty. Have fun building it :-)

Expected to be available in June is what I was told today at PIA. Yes it turns off after 14 hours according to the rep

I believe a major reason for this sudden drop in scores was that previous test questions and answers had been readily available for students to study and ace. All one needed to do was memorize the list of questions and regurgitate the answers. Chris

The problem here: I doubt many riggers are hanging all nylon reserves in a dry warm environment for an extended period of time to air them out. So it seems if everyone wrote "Air" in their log books it'd be much like pencil packing: a rigger stating that he's done something which he actually hasn't. Chris

It's good that you're asking, and you're in luck! All your questions have been answered here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3033162

I'm at about 3 out of 2,750. After the initial puke I felt sorry for the guy until we landed and his friends said "Dude you always puke on the roller coasters! We knew you'd do it here!" He never said a word about it during training or on the plane. %$##$*!!!! Chris

Consew's phone tech support has been pretty helpful for me. They might grumble a bit at first, asking if you're a technician or an end user. Once you convince them you can handle working on the system, they get right to the point... and they've seen it all before Chris

I like that. It's getting printed and posted on the wall at the DZ here :) [edit to add] Could you provide a higher version of that image, possibly PDF? This one's a bit fuzzy at 8.5 x 11" thanks!

Adding a new entry to this list: Jan 9, 2011 A Vigil II fired approximately the same time that the main fully inflated (The jumper estimated 2,500 ft AGL). This Vigil had been turned on by its owner the day before at a DZ that is 1261 ft MSL. The next day (today) he jumped at a DZ where field level is 88 ft. The Vigil was never turned off and back on to allow it to adjust for the new altitude.

This is our handcam charging station at the DZ. Both the single and double camera versions are available at Chutingstar, and they're the same model that Ron mentioned. We make them here in Lompoc, CA, so my opinion is probably a bit biased... but they're great for our workflow: We shoot a tandem video and/or photos, then drop one or two cards off to the editors and pick up fresh cards. The editors process the photos/videos while we're on the next jump. We have two editing computers, each running Vegas Pro with Production Assistant (VASST NLE systems). Those systems are on a LAN along with a NAS and one lightweight computer that's only used to upload spec vids/photos to the NAS. Also on that LAN are four WD liveTV Plus units, each hooked up to its own 32" LCD screen. We'll often shoot handcams of students who didn't order video, then our editors will show the vids/photos and often sell one or both (HD vids from a GoPro look great on a big screen). Sometimes the students will decline, but may call back a week later. They're all stored by date, so we pull them up & sell them. That whole system supports us running back-to-back PAC or Caravan loads all day while we're handing out finished discs to students in about 15 minutes on average Chris

N/A

Thanks for the input, Mel. I'll try your idea with the FF thread WW pattern + add bartacks over it. I was having the same concerns that Shlomo stated about larger thread, but since you've already tested the idea out, I'll go that route. regards, Chris

good point. I'll check those more often We periodically inspect systems, however parts get interchanged often when main chutes need a reline, or when somebody takes a d-bad/drogue out for some maintenance and another one gets subbed in, etc. This drogue may have been in storage for a while. It's attached to a recently relined main.

We've had a few of these cases where bartacks at the drogue handle area get damaged. See attached photos for the worst case I've seen yet. Usually we notice it before all six are gone, because one or two bartacks will get damaged and we can replace them. Either we missed the signs on this drogue, or all six went about the same time. The deployment result was same as a broken kill line on a Sigma: hard initial opening shock, then normal opening beyond that. Does anyone have a good solution to prevent this bartack damage from happening, or does anyone know the root cause?

Another point: experienced skydivers have jumped out of airplanes wearing wingsuits, oblivious to the fact their leg straps were not around their legs. On a normal tandem I recheck all straps on my tandem students a few times: during gearup, while boarding, starting jump run... but I probably wouldn't be able to do those checks for a student wearing a WS. The WS would likely obscure back strap, belly strap, and leg straps.

That's what the drogue is for... DUH!

I have several boxes from GoPro HDs and GoPro 960s here, with all the cables etc new in the box. I don't need those parts, so they're available cheap. I'll send you a PM

I have a Singer 69, and it looks very much like the 68 in this manual: http://parts.singerco.com/IPinstManuals/68.pdf Scroll down to Fig 2 on p4. If you move the G knob up, it should make the stitches skinnier... move it down to make them wider

Just order a few rolls of ripstop tape & you'll be set!

Are you ignoring the price tags for processors near the top of that list? Look at the corresponding prices and you might notice AMD Phernom II X6 1090T for $235 with no similarly low prices above its position.

Most performance for best price is what I'm looking for. To me that would be the 6-core 3.0 ghz AMD for $239 right now. Lower end CPUs will really bog down the render times. The i3 dual-core 3.33 ghz for $149 would work, but if you have the option to spend $100 more for a CPU that has three times the cores, then I think it's worth the extra 100. Compare prices for an i5 and you'll be spending about equal for a similar speed quad-core i5 vs x6 Phenom II. The i5 would perform a little better per core, but AMD has two more and I'd rather have all 6 cores firing

I've built several NLE systems. My input would be: 1) Go for two budget systems instead of one kickass system. Two budget systems is a faster choice than one awesome machine, and it provides redundancy in case of failure. A typical budget system these days: - 8 gigs budget but reliable memory - AMD Phenom II X6 cpu - $99 mobo that has everything onboard - boot drive - data drive - cheap chassis - quality power supply - two DVDRs 2) RAID is unnecessary because your bottleneck is going to be at the CPU processing instead of data throughput. Go for cheap drives in the system, store it all to an external drive at end of the day. 3) Boot drive dosen't need to be 10k. I prefer a fast SSD for the boot drive because they're more affordable now, seek time is 0, noise is 0, heat is low, and startup time is quick.