parachutist

There was a photo of Jerry in Dec 2007 Parachutist - receiving awards for 9,000 jumps and 96 hours of freefall. He was a great guy. At the 2005 Canopy Formation World Record camp in Lake Wales, Jerry gave a seminar instructing those like me who had little experience with hypoxia or with O2. We had O2 masks on the lead plane and he wanted us all to use it safely. He was a good teacher and I'll certainly miss him.

I have a Carbon Captain sewn onto each of my jump suits. It's short enough to fit on a leg without getting in the way, it's strong, has 2 blades. Comparison images: http://www.funjump.com/photos/hknives00.jpg http://www.funjump.com/photos/hknives01.jpg The Captain is a little wider at the head, but sheaths are almost same size, so it doesn't take up more space on a suit.

I'd like it to provide an external USB plug so I can copy all the data from my CX7 without having to pop the memory stick out every time. The memory stick slot will wear out eventually I expect, and currently I need to open the lcd screen every time so the memory stick can be removed. It would be nice to have the ability to leave the camera on the helmet protected in a box all day. Is USB possible along with LANC control from the D port on these cameras?

Thanks for pointing that out. I was planning on doing it in the garage Your story reminds me of my first experience with finishing sheet rock. I'd sanded down the mud on the seams for our basement walls. White dust migrated to every part of the house & settled on everything. That was before I learned the beauty of wet sanding :) Chris

I received my new Vapor helmet last weekend. Overall I'm happy with the design, fit, and finish, but I haven't had a chance to jump it yet. It has no cutaway system. It seems a Bonehead Optik cutaway system would mount on here without a problem though... with the cutaway handle sticking out of the underside of the bone, releasing the ratchet strap's bolt if cutaway were pulled. The audile pocket is inside the helmet, it slides into a pocket in the left removable padding piece. It stays in place with no problem, more secure than the little cup area on my Optik. Minor finish point difference that I noticed between the FTP and the Vapor: The FTP uses a plastic molding piece around the face opening to finish the rough edges... same as on the Optik. The Vapor however, simply rolls the carbon fiber in so it's not a rough edge. It looks smoother than the FTP in that area to me. The fewer parts the better IMO if no functiionality is sacificed. I still haven't mounted cameras to the top plate or finished the top plate... any advice on the best way to cut down the plate to size after I get the camera placement figured out? I'm not sure what kind of saw works best for a smooth cut on this CF plate.

Manufacturing of an entire line set would be out of bounds for a senior rigger, however I disagree about replacement of 1 line being clearly in defiance. As written in the FAA Parachute Rigger Handbook, which is published on FAA's web site and which is listed in FAA-G-8082-15C PARACHUTE RIGGER KNOWLEDGE TEST GUIDE as a study resource which is of particular interest: Parachute Repair Procedure TITLE: 7.1.9 Square Canopy – Main Line Replacement NUMBER OF PAGES: 2 APPLICABLE PRODUCTS: Square main canopies. DESCRIPTION: Replacement of main suspension lines of square canopies. AUTHORIZED REPAIRMEN: FAA Senior or Master Parachute Rigger

It's a wired mic mounted to my helmet, so I only get wind noise in freefall, except for occasional muffled scream from excited students, but there's too much wind noise to make that worth listening to.

I just drill the hole large enough for the 1/8" plug to slide through, then take an appropriate size rubber grommet (available at your local hardware store) and put the plug through the hole in the optik, then though the grommet, then slide the grommet down to the hole and push it in place. I protects the wire and fills up most of the gap.

I stow my Lightning lines like in your photo, but with slider up at the stops, quartered before stowing the lines. I don't bother sticking the 1 bight in the pocket... it takes extra time & I've never had any problems with the 1 bight just lying there under the S-folded line.

It's been hashed already. See this thread: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2994338;search_string=sanyo%20hd;#2994338 Search this forum for models & you'll find a lot of suggestions on what to get, what not to get, and reasons for the conclusions

I bought that Century lens from B&H a few weeks ago (after my 5050 got knocked off the camera by a riser slap... it's in the woods somewhere now). The Century wasn't labeled as HD at the time, but I'd read some good reviews about the optics so I tried it out. I've been happy with the results so far, though I don't have too many other experiences with different HD-quality lenses for comparison. The image just looks good to me. And it's out of the way of riser, and it has threads on front for a filter, which I like. The solid metal lens cover seems a little awkward, but no big deal... just have to thread it on and off every time. I think it's a great lens for the price, and size is perfect. Compared to a Royal .5x, this Century lens does seem like a .55. I think the view is wide enough for shooting student jumps... as long as you know your helmet well enough to know where the camera's pointing at close range.

I think you're talking about the one on this page: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21305454/ In the "5 Thrill Ride Horrors" link

I loaded my Vision 117 at 2.0 all season doing about 300 jumps, most with camera. I've enjoyed it a great deal. Here's what I've noticed about the canopy: - easy to fly it through the openings to maintain desired heading. If it starts going left, a little body shift to the right brings it back quickly & vice versa. My only wing suit jump was under this canopy, & it opened on heading for that too. - middle-speed opening. Not snappy & not really slow opening. That's been good for camera work because no neck breaker openings. And if it's a long spot, I still have altitude to work with. - middle glide loaded at 2.0. I can squeeze some extra distance out of it with rear risers, but it's not as efficient as a velo, and gets a little less glide than I'd expect from a Stiletto 120. But I have a lot more fun landing it than a stiletto - light front riser pressure - middle recovery arc. Much longer than a Stiletto, shorter than a Katana. You do need to give it a little input to bring it out of the dive while you still have speed. - lots of rear riser play available. Typically I can pull about 6-8" of rear risers before I get to stall range. The one thing I haven't figured out with this canopy is how to land it efficiently on rear risers. It feels like I cause more drag with the amount of rear risers I'm pulling than if I'd just used brakes... seems like brakes provide longer swoops. That could just be my approach though. - New lines for this canopy are HMA (original line set was Spectra & that went out of trim over about 300 jumps). I haven't instalkled the new line set yet. It's not what I expected... it's large diameter HMA that's cascaded & the only HMA line sets I've seen thus far were thin & not cascaded. I'm not sure what weight the line is, but it's just a little smaller than 750lb Vectran & looks much like Vectran. I'm looking forward to trying out these new lines after they're installed. They shouldn't go out of trim as the Spectra did. The predictable openings have been fabulous. I sold my X-braced canopy because I didn't want to deal with finicky oenings while flying camera. I wanted the ability to do big-way RW without worrying about other jumpers in the vicinity during deployment, or low openings putting me too low. And on top of all that, it's fun to land. This canopy's been perfect for my needs all year.

You must've chosen gold zippers with bejeweled grippers & shipping from Italy

On my original Optik I ended up mounting the still cam on top, with vid cam 1/2 way between top and side mount. This makes a wide video camera seem about half the width. It's worked well for me on weight/balance, and the lenses are very close to each other, so they both catch pretty much the same shot in close quarters. http://www.funjump.com/photos/hdrcx7mic03.jpg Going by photos, it loos like that would work on the Illusion too

I remember feeling frustration similar to yours years ago. Bagging takes practice, patience, and some tips from your local experienced packers. Clipper was my initial canopy and I think it's fine for learning the basics of canopy control. Mine had some brisk openings, but that didn't bother me. I like a canopy that's definitely open when I deploy, rather than a snivelly one that takes ages to open. What rig are you trying to put this canopy into? Chris

Dude, that sounds waaay too convenient. I know how your thinking goes: "Hmmm... Decembbbbbbrrrrrrrr... no way... no need for skydiving. Maybe January? No still too freakin cold. Febbbbbbbrrrrruary? No way. March... maybe getting better but stil need to lose those pounds gained in the wintry months. So April it is! Yes April when the birds are singing and I'm not loading the velo at 3:1!" hehehe. See you in a few months

With some lightly loaded canopies you're not going to get any benefit trying a 2-stage flare because you need all the lift you can muster out of 1 strong single-stage flare. So don't beat yourself up over it if you're following all advice & not seeing results. It may just need to wait til you're flying a different canopy.

You only had a few seconds to capture the completed formation... so I'm impressed you got several stunning images of it, with the Lake Wales DZ in the background. That's what I was looking for and you captured it, so I'm ordering a large print soon! Chris

I think you're demonstrating one of the pitfalls that can happen when a low-timer buys parts online & pieces them together into a rig: You don't know gear well enough to make your own decisions yet. Who's advice did you follow to choose a stiletto 120 at 70 jumps? Flying a fully elliptical canopy makes everything more complex, and complexity is not something that a newbie needs in this sport. If you think I'm coming down hard on you here without even knowing you.... try doing a seach in the Incidents section for "stiletto" You'll get pages and pages of results... many of which describe someone going *thud* while landing a Stiletto. You should put that canopy back on the market & stick with something more forgiving for the next 150+ jumps. I expect your AFF instructors would say the same thing. Chris

Broadway Photos gets 1.88 out of 10 http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Broadway_Photo Some recent reviews: --------------------------- 12/5/07 11:28 AM SCAMMER,FRAUD,RIP OFF STORE. STAY FAR FAR AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!!! Any idea how to close down this store????? 12/4/07 10:53 AM Very bad store. They put up a low price but ask you to buy expensive accessaries. When I declined all, then they say item in back order and canceled the order. I next check their website, the item was still listed as available 12/3/07 10:52 PM Fast and easy shopping. Got my camera in three days. 12/3/07 6:09 PM Complete DIRT BAGS. Try to sell me stuff on the phone said no, all of a sudden my item was on backorder. Won't be available for 2-3 weeks. ABSOLUTE SCAM ARTIST. Stay AWAY FROM these Brooklyn RATS!!!!

I've been wondering the same thing. It'd be nice to hold a copy of one script to see what it's like & take some good ideas from it. I know I'm still doing a lot of mouse clicks that I should've automated by this point. $343 huh? Not bad. I'm still holding out for the 64-bit version that's supposedly sposed to get released by end of year.

I soldered a mic cord extension to the VMCK100 adapter & everything stayed in place this weekend with no issues. Photos of setup: http://www.funjump.com/photos/hdrcx7mic01.jpg http://www.funjump.com/photos/hdrcx7mic02.jpg http://www.funjump.com/photos/hdrcx7mic03.jpg I added a Sony ECM-CS10 mini mic, wrapped it in foam and zip-tied it to top of my helmet. It sounds better than the onboard cx7 mic to me. Short clip from a tandem video that I shot yesterday using this setup: http://www.funjump.com/videos/extmictest.wmv Chris

Haha... no I guess I'm not beyod that yet. I enjoyed it because I haven't watched a 3D flick in ages =]

I saw the 3D version this afternoon & found myself squirming in chair while spears seemed to be waving in front of my face, inches from my nose. It took about 10 minutes into the movie for me to adjust to the digital rendering of real actors, but I thought it was good after my perception adapted. I'd say go for the 3D one cause there are some good effects.