faulknerwn

Any canopy you want! The cool thing about the Internet jumps is that you can do them whenever is convenient to you. Use whatever canopies are handy and available as long as they are safe! W

And any CREWdogs who aren't already members can go to groups.google.com and join the group crwdogs :-)

Ours was a very informal test of just trailing the bridle around by the pc in the packing room (works for main pcs too if you get concerned about yours getting worn out.) The Infinity had mesh at the bottom which allowed a wider base that air could enter creating the effect of a large mushroom pilot chute. The Vector was long and skinnier and all nylon.

I've been informing the interesting posts from this thread to our rigger. We played around this morning with two of the rigs in for repack. The brand new Infinity had a mostly ZP skin but a wide mesh bottom. It had way more drag than the 4 year old Vector 3 pc had which was all nylon, no mesh, and only the small hole at the bottom to get air in through... For whatever that's worth. The Infinity PC has quite a good amount of drag...

I was just thinking too - when people talked about TSO testing - most of the big manufacturers have been around for years - Racer, Javelin, Vector, Infinity - their TSO testing was mainly done 20-30 years ago right? If I recall correctly, as long as they are only making minor changes to the equipment they don't have to do new testing. While I'm sure that they do their own testing, did they have to test a modern version of the rig? From what I've seen modern versions of most rigs have way tighter reserve containers than ones from 20-30 years ago.

We have had several tandem students in recent weeks ask about the Go-Pro! They wanted to do their own version of handi-cam. Scary!

The CX100 works great with the latest version of Imovie. That's the setup several of us have at my dz and there are no issues. If you use older versions of the software it may have issues, but as long as you use imovie 9 you should have no problems..

And I would seriously recommend going to a canopy more appropriate for your number of jumps (Vengeance loaded at 1.45 with a 140 jumps? Really?) A canopy that you have to pull high on because it scares you is not one you need to be jumping with other people in the sky. You ended up pulling high and underneath people because you were afraid of your canopy. I'm not advocating dumping in the basement, but 3500 is quite high when there is a crowd above you.

Yes. You normally catch the line from the front. What happened?

I'd rather see the raw data released. It could be months or years before a final report gets written, and more skydivers could die. If the majority of the incidents (I have no idea) were with one or two container brands, people need to be aware of that. If its an issue with small super-tight containers, people should be aware of that. I've seen some super-tight rigs that I would be nervous to jump for sure out there. If its an issue with where the AAD cutter is placed, getting the information out there can save lives. There may be more informal reports out there in the field too - my reserve seemed to take a little time to launch - or I had a reserve PC hesitation - or similar things that have never been reported. Its the beginning of the skydiving season - most people have already had their reserves repacked for the summer and aren't going to be doing those recommended tests till next fall or spring. That may be too late for some people if they have a rig with an issue. Maybe some folks with some time can start combing through old dz.com reports and see if some info is there. I doubt most of them list the rig type or size however. I did email safety@uspa.org and ask them to release the info they had. I encourage others to do the same. Wendy

Actually - YOU don't rely on it. If you read the Cypres Saves list - quite a lot of people have. There was another incident a few years back too - a guy who openly admitted that he wasn't sure how he'd react in an emergency and said he wouldn't jump without a Cypres. He was in a 182 that had an engine problem at 1000 feet. FYI, the Cypres doesn't arm itself until 1500 feet. He jumped out and pulled nothing but the cutaway handle. He was relying on it to save his life because he didn't think he could handle an emergency. And he died because he was relying on it to do more than it could.. AADs aren't perfect either. Adrian Nicholaus died when his fired during a swoop. The recent fatality in Poland might imply some issues where a cutter which didn't cut the loop could cause you to not be able to open your reserve. I seem to remember an issue with Mirages a few years back and cutters and they had to move the location in the reserve packjob. Depending on the location of the cutter in relation to the pin and the pilot chute, a jammed cutter could prevent a reserve pc launch on some rigs. AADs aren't perfect. They might save you, but they might kill you. Most people choose to have one because its more likely to save you than kill you. But there is a risk it could do either.. Don't fool yourself that there's not. I do wonder if people are more careless if they have AADs. I've got 6500 jumps and never once been kicked or hit or anything in the air where I even got faintly dizzy. Most of the knocked out in freefall incidents I've read about could have been prevented with better planning on the ground.

I need one! None of us here who live on the airport have gotten one at all! Apparently you have to wait till April 12th before informing the Census Bureau though to get one..

I would be curious to see a list of the container types and canopy sizes that have been involved in the fatalities. As containers get smaller and smaller, I have seen some really tight pack jobs, and especially for container types with lots of flaps and tight corners, I can't help but wonder if the tight tiny containers that everyone wants these days contributes to hesitations. Also was just thinking - wonder if any of these incidents were on older - say 10 years or more - containers or they all were newer. Modern containers are certainly having tighter flaps and covers in attempts to be freefly-friendly.

Its funny - I have the same concepts but in a different manner. I own like 8 rigs and can't afford $10,000 in AADs and just don't have any. I could put one in one rig or something, but I jump all of them on a busy day.. But I do always try to be a good example when it comes to canopy flying. Many (heck maybe most) AFF instructors give all these talks about flying patterns and 90 turns and stuff, and their students see them go up and pull off a 720 hook to swoop the pond. It gives the impression that landing patterns are for rookies. I'd rather have one of my students emulate me and not have an AAD but never start swooping, than have an AAD and start swooping. (A hundred jumps down the road.) Swooping is way more likely to hurt or kill them... I absolutely think AADs are good things and recommend them to students. But I think canopy discipline is far more important in keeping them alive.

Yeah his was at the very bottom of the page from last year. But I'd be quite surprised if the top 3 belonged to anyone here. Just because they didn't post a username doesn't mean that they work at other dzs. They might be, but I don't have the faintest clue who they are. They appear to describe an actual skydive there, so I can't help but think that it was someone who jumped there.. If I was the dropzone, I would actually check and see if the descriptions of the tandems matched anyone there that day because they sound like real people to me. I doubt any of our staff have even jumped at San Marcos at the past year - I haven't the faintest clue who is doing tandems down there these days..

Its funny you said that about Skydive Temple tandem masters and bad reviews. I didn't think that any of our tandem masters here actually read dz.com so I just went and read reviews of San Marcos and I'm sure none of the reviews are from our tandem masters (no usernames are even vaguely close) , and pretty confident none of the reviews are even from are from any of our regular jumpers cuz I don't recognize a single name on any of the reviews. I have not the foggiest clue of whether the reviews are true, but I can tell you that they are not just random dz competition stuff. And great aircraft doesn't always mean anything. I've been jumping for 20 years, and if I go to some random part of the country where I've never been to and know no one, I'd MUCH rather head to the small dz than the big one every day. Just cuz at the small dz I'll immediately be family, but at the big dz who knows. Some are friendly, and some you can have thousands of jumps and still do a solo..

Generally we had 2 weeks vacation and 1 day of sick leave per month accumulating.

If you don't know what the Bird Base Blues Brothers are show up and find out! We'll be flying the Pac 750, and have a helicopter on Saturday. The Anvil Brothers will be anvilating (yay!) and free beer as always. Discount wind tunnel time as well! Come on out and join in the fun.. Skydive Temple Salado TX 1-877-EXIT-282

I like the caves myself - there is one just north of Austin and one south.. There's always Six Flags amusement park in Arlington if you are into roller coasters and stuff. And like other people have mentioned - the Schlitterbahn water park. Go there during the week though - its packed on weekends. You can also usually get discount "coupons" to both parks on Coke cans during that time of year...

Occasionally I'll get some weird setting in IDVD that will make it take forever. Usually I somehow got footage in the background of the IDVD menus and that takes forever to burn. I have a default header/trailer that I use in all the videos so that saves time on import. Once I import the video (if you upgrade to a CX100 and record on memory cards in DV - the import only takes about 30 seconds.) I turn the volume down en masse on all the clips (select all) and then drag them up to the new project. Then I only turn the volume up, and ducking on, on the 3 clips or so which need it. Slow-mo the exit and opening, drop in some music and share. I can do the editing part in less than 2 minutes typically. Its normally about 5 minutes to share and 10 minutes to burn. You can have it do transitions and such automatically as well to save time. I have noticed that when my main hard drive starts getting full that things slow down so I clean it up regularly. Also reboot occasionally if things start slowing down - sometimes webbrowsing and flash and stuff can be residual memory hogs..

After about 10 minutes in the wind tunnel, Matt did level 1 today. He did awesoome! Video here: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=385475402245&saved

My old company used to have an office in Japan, and a coworker of mine had great fun translating things into Japanese and back. His name - Brad when translated to Japanese and back comes up as Shellfish hooked nail :-) It was a standard game to translate any emails to Japanese and back and see what happened..

We were checking out an old rig tonight, and I found the attached photo in the compartment for the pack and data card. I just need to know where to go for my free beer...

You might also join the google group crwdogs and ask there. Many folks are on there who don't read here.. W

Its not snowing in Canada where the Olympics are!