parachutist

I received a rig to repack. It had a moldy/mildew smell on the freebag, bridle, and reserve container. Most of the reserve container is black, so the amount of mold was difficult to tell there, however the freebag is yellow, and bridle is white.... both of those show quite a few black dots and splotches, and a few red ones. I washed the rig with Woolite and all the water in the sink turned dark black for 3 wash/rinse cycles. Mold stains on the bridle and freebag weren't affected, but the whole rig smells a lot better now at least, and looks cleaner. Unfortunately I didn't think to wear any sort of protection like gloves/mask while handling the rig. Several hours later my esophagus was annoying me while swallowing. I was feeling pain as anything progressed down the esophagus all the way to stomach. That night I developed a fever, and over the next couple days swallowing was more and more painful, with fever coming and going. I'm on about day 5 of this esophagitis, and it's finally improving. I don't know the mold was the cause of this, but chronology of events seems to support it. I went to see a doc today and he said I'd need to see a specialist who could put a scope down there to identify. Since it's finally mending tho, I think I'm going to wait it out. Has anyone else experienced some health issues like this while handling moldy rigs? Does anyone know how to kill the mold without damaging freebag/bridle/container. I don't know if Woolite kills it or not, and I'd rather not hand it back to the owner with live cultures present. Chris

I tried a couple more ways of bulk distribution with that canopy... final attempt was more like a G3, with no folds in the ears... just a little wispy fluff stuffed in the ear pockets. The rig came out a smidge better, but still has some of that warp in the right flap stiffener. The rig was packed with an even worse warp for 6 months before I received it, and it seems like that warp comes back easily now, like it won't stay flat when relaxed. I hate giving it up, but I've done all the mucking around with this one that I care to do. If I were in GA I'd bring it by and pay you to show me the trick, but thanks for the input... it did help!

Create a crossfade between two clips on your timeline (drag one over the other & you'll see an X showing where they overlap) Then go to the Transitions tab. If transitions tab isn't showing, go to VIEW --> TRANSITIONS. Scroll down to the Flash transition and click on it... then choose one of the presets like Hard Flash... drag it into the crossfade area between your two clips (right onto the X), clsoe the Video FX window that appears, and you're done

Thanks, Mike It's rainy here and I have all day, so I'll pull it back out & try packing it more like you suggest... we'll see how it goes

Could you render a 5 second clip from your timeline and send it to my e-mail address?

Mirage G4.1 M0 Aerodyne Smart 135 Vigil 2 AAD After packing this rig, there's a small bulge in the right reserve flap... I think it's caused by grommets sitting on the AAD cutter beneath. Does anyone know a trick to remove this bulge on a small Mirage G4? On a larger Mirage I can sink the PC into the pack job, and you never see that bulge... but on this one the PC spring is so wide that it sits more on top, and I can't seem to get the center line lower than the right & left sides. Anybody solved this with a G4 M0 + AAD?

There are a few places that could be tripping you up here. A) In Vegas, go to FILE --> PROPERTIES and make sure your project templatet is set to DVD NTSC WIDESCREEN B)When rendering your project, choose FILE--> RENDER AS and choose SAVE AS TYPE: MAIN CONCEPT MPEG2, then choose template DVD ARCHITECT NTSC WIDESCREEN VIDEO STREAM C)Render an audio file for this project too: FILE--> RENDER AS, and choose SAVE AS TYPE: DOLBY DIGITAL AC-3 STUDIO, use default template D) Now open DVD Architect Studio. Go to FILE --> PROPERTIES and make sure Video Format is set to NTSC WIDESCREEN E) This one's not necessary, but it'll help you when previewing the DVD. In DVD Architect Studio, go to OPTIONS --> PREFERENCES --> PREVIEW tab and set Aspect Ratio to 16:9 Re-render it to a new name... like if the first was John_Smith, make this John_Smith2. DVD Architect will get confused otherwise. I know.. you shouldn't need to, but it's much more reliable that way. I hope those ideas helped Chris

That quote makes me smile... it's a pretty accurate description. The difference is definitely there and CX100 wins in my book, but customers can be really happy with a vid from the HD Hero. I've been playing with both CX100 and HD Hero as hand cams on tandem dives. My impression so far: The Hero relies on TI technique to make it look good. CX100s do a better job at image stabilization, so the TI can be more sloppy with it and still get a good video. Hero, on the other hand, has no vignetting ring, so its image looks a little better filling the screen. We've been using Sony Vegas to edit & DVD Architect to burn

Seattle Fabrics is a pretty good shop... they aren't dirt cheap, but they have a great selection & deliver fast in my experience. I'd go with Spandura, but they have spandex too: http://www.seattlefabrics.com/stretch.html#Spandura

Looks a lot like this kit in your photos... just add chrome and LEDs http://www.tk560.com/cylonbuild.html

I'm on the same page here. Flying near others is great fun, however I see docked formations as requiring much more skill, and being more worthy of record status. Chris

- I pack an occasional round for a pilot's emergency rig

the amazing part is it looks good after only 6 seconds, with various crossfades/photo motion added... even auto-synced to music beats if you like

My R-Max is loaded at 1.6. I've had one opportunity to fly it, and it was great... that was at 4,300 ft field elevation. Plenty of flare for landing. No complaints :)

This student was so excited he forgot there was a TI back there

Those look pretty good. I'd like to see the new .3 you were talking about, used as handcam on the CX100, shot in 16:9.

Gonna post some examples?

everybody's got their preference. thanks for sharing yours =p you like the tunnel shot? I'm trying to get as much in frame as possible with the camera sitting on my hand. If I zoom in then I get less in the shot. It would be like buying a .2 and shooting with a .3. If I were to zoom in far enough to eliminate the black ring, then I couldn't fit all of me, the whole student, and background scenery into the frame. Right now there are no lenses I'm aware of that're suitable for this job, that can provide such a wide view without the ring. Handcam videos have sacrifices that are expected: either you get the ring and lots in the frame, or you get less in the frame.

everybody's got their preference. thanks for sharing yours =p

Here's a grab (off of youtube), is that not head to waist? Shooting with a .25 lens, but the TI has a 80" wing span. I have one of DSE's .2 lenses.. he loaned it to me a while back & I've been using it for handcams. Attached is a screenshot from that lens,

At skydive utah we set up an extermal hard drive that's connected via USB to the main editing system, That drive is shared on the network. At end of each day we move all raw footage frpm all computers to that drive for archiving. Folder structure is pretty simple and it works well. Example: \2009\September\14\Mike_Smith\ If the student Mike Smith needs a replacement DVD 3 months later and he knows the date of his skydive, we can pull it up quick. If he doesn't know then we can do a Windows search for his name and it comes up pretty fast too

I got advice from a TI soon after I got my TI rating: It's a good idea to disconnect lowers after main canopy opens, loosen them all the way, then reconnect them in case of need to cutaway at lower altitude. I started doing that. About 100 jumps later I deployed, disconnected lowers & loosened them, reconnected them, then noticed we had a right turn going. We had a big rip on top skin of our main. I was glad the lowers were connected. We cut away, skyhook deployed our reserve, everything went smooth. It takes about 4 extra seconds after I've landed to disconnect both lowers. I don't see reason for leaving them undone while under canopy

Thanks for posting those. I agree, the distortion is pretty extreme in .2 lenses. But it does let the student see the surrounding area, the instructor, student's whole body, all at the same time. So I think it's a 50/50 between the two... personal preference.

Only thing I dislike about the XSI is the fact Canon went to SD card. SD cards are fine. They work great. But the XSI has a flimsy door covering the card. If the cover pops open, there's a switch that turns off the camera... which of course sucks in freefall. Sure, all you gotta do is gaffer tape it in place, but I never needed to do that with canon's CF card covers. After about 300 jumps my XSI door's latch got loose & started popping open. After about 450 the bottom part of the hinge on that door broke. I'm not very hard on my camera either.

It's called a floor plate, and there are 2 versions of them that I know of. First was the original, which was thin and bent easily. A few years later (not sure what date) SunPath went to a thicker AL plate which doesn't bend in my experience unless too much force is used... so I think they did address that issue. Altico started with plastic floor plates & later moved to thicker AL ones like SunPath did.