Newbie

have you experienced it bill? Sounds like you have. When and how did you do that? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

If you have a friend to hook up and play 2 player with, i can highly recommend Time Splitters 2 - it's crazy. Halo 2 is one to watch for, and Prince of Persia:Sands of Time you might like too. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

eh? How does a film questioning why so many Americans, compared to other western nations, kill each with guns, become "entertainment"? Thought provoking, astonishing, mystifying, sickening and bizarre perhaps, but i wouldn't call it entertaining. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

i hate the risk element to the sport, and i take solace in the fact it's a calculated risk im taking, and not one i've assessed lightly. I'm not a risk taker by nature but that's just me. What gets me buzzed is when i feel like i can fly like a bird, and that's why i started. A solo tracking jump, trying to beat the clouds was one of the most memorable of the few jumps i've made. Hell, even falling straight down the tube and being 2 miles up and just free, with the most beautiful view in the world is good enough to make me whoop for joy. Ever since i saw Superman i wanted to be able to fly and see the world as he saw it - when i put my hand out like him and tucked the other one under my armpit on my first tandem, i knew this was what i had dreamt of. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

this guy looks happy http://www.clusterballoon.org/cluste4.gif "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

30,000 foot jumps: *$325.00. 30 day advance deposit: *$150.00 *Money order / Cashiers check only ! quade is that the normal-ish price of a HALO jump do you know? I figure you might know seeing as you said price was the constraint, but i have no idea how much these normally go for. That's from the halojumper.com link someone posted... "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

LOL great story Bill! You guys were nuts back in the day...i love hearing those old stories. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

this probably sounds stupid, but when you say transplants do you mean full eye transplants?? I've never heard of that before, didn't even know it was possible. Do you have normal vision now with your "new eyes"? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Final Cut Pro 3. It's expensive and you need a good mac with a LOT of hd space, but i love it. Thankfully it was bought with a work budget for work related uh, work, but it's also proving very useful for editing skydiving movies I just finished my 1st project - it will be uploaded somewhere soon, so i'll let you know when and where - much like you, i'm just editing right now due to lack of experience, but it's great to get into that now, so when you do start getting your own footage you will be good to go (it will take weeks of use, if not longer before you are adept at making what you are happy with and would consider a good movie - i would estimate easily over 200 hours on this 10 min film i've made, but it would take me 1/10 of that time to do it again now that i've taught myself all the different techniques) Stroyboarding is important too, as is music selection. As my tutor told me, try to go against the grain by not cutting footage to the beat, try and cut the action to the beat instead - it makes for a far more vibrant and creative piece. As for music - there are lots of posts on this, search on "soundtrack" and "music" in All Forums, you'll get a few ideas! Have fun! Nothing like putting together a nice sequence with an experienced jumpers cool footage and a killer track that compliments the video well!Damn i need to get out more. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

bill were you a hippy in the 60s? Good post btw! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

no need to apologise man, i totally see your points, and yeah things do get misunderstood on here, but thanks for clarifying, i do appreciate that - and avoidance of these sorts of situations is something i spend more time thinking about and planning for. I still have a lot to learn and while learning about trying to prepare for a bad situation is important, i totally appreciate that avoidance of that situation is more important. I just want to try and cover both

LOL! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

what i find boggling is i put that note in about "not wanting to know this so i can recover from a swoop gone wrong" because i felt if i didn't i'd get burnt from people saying "stop posting things giving people ideas on how to recover from swoops when they shouldn't be doing them in the first place!".You really can't win sometimes "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

yeah i know the 2 out thing is different and whatnot, but muscle memory from practice might help, because then it's happening before you think about it, at least i hope it would, i guess that's what all training is for, to react without having to think? I like to think this is hypothetical and i won't be in the situtation, but if i am then i would have done some hardcore thnking before hand so that i hope i might react instinctively if it happens. Some people in the thread have made insightful comments and have given me a lot of food for thought. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

thanks Bill, some sound advice as ever. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

i don't understand this line of thought man. Like i said to Kallend im asking this so that i can better prepare myself for every eventuality and did you miss this: "I'm sure i could learn a thing or two more myself on this, so would welcome any tidbits of advice that the most experienced can give. " from my original post?? If that helps out someone else, all the better. I might be one of those people that bounces off the floor when i panic and forget to flat turn. You think i'm so high and mighty to ask this for other people's benefit? I'm not so naive as to think i cant make a mistake that could seriously mess me up and i hope i never get that way while jumping. Did they teach you about urgent recovery, or flat turns on your fjc because they didn't on mine. The first i heard of emergency recovery was from Chris Lynch on his canopy seminar - my fjc taught me how to flare and when, and how to plf, end of. Why this stuff isn't seen as something to throw into a fjc is unbeknown to me, and maybe you do in yours, and thats great, i never was so lucky to get all that covered so early. Anyway thats something else. I don't actually have any instructors now to ask, although i'm sure i could get 3 different answers from the one's i do know at the dz. I'm also reluctant to ask people there because some of the experienced guys/instrcutors still tell me to wait until the previous group is at 45 degrees for exit separation, when i ask them what the uppers are like. The reason i post here is because i can get the insight from a greater number of extremely insightful and knowledgeable people who i have known of for longer than i have any instructors at my dz and whose opinion i know i can trust. As for Parachutist, i rarely see that as i'm in the UK. Regardless, it's the opinion of people on here i wanted, which is why i asked maybe mod's or very experienced could help out. The best answer is avoid the situation as you said, but how many people (me included) might forget to do that and then want a plan B? Edited to add - i'm not having a go, i just want you to understand that us newbies want to learn as much as we can, even if the question might seem stupid or hypothetical to you more experienced guys. Thanks "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

nac i took Chris Lynchs' Wingtips canopy seminar this year - it was fantastic, i can't recommend it enough. I don't plan on being in this situation - i really don't want to get into swooping right now either, but that wasn't why i put this post up. I thought this post might be useful though to me, and anyone, who might find themselves in a situation like this, when they forget to flat turn for some unknown reason (panic in other words). Cheers! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

i don't know if they will become calm and clear headed - but some jumpers have said that in high pressure/anxiety moments, that they suddently felt calm and clear and even thought back to an article they had read on here (one guy i remember had read something on 2 outs i believe and went jumping that weekend and had a 2 out), and reacted accordingly to the good advice and thought that they had put into thinking about the situation on the ground. I know a radical low turn leaves little time for thought, but maybe if we were to read something here, spend evn 30 mins thinking about the technique and working out in their mind what to do, practicing up high on a few jumps, and getting some muscle memory down, it would help should we ever find ourselves in a situation like that. Who knows, i'm just trying to best prepare myself for any eventuality i guess, and i'm sure there are others that want to do the same. Didn't your scout master ever tell you to "always be prepared" kallend? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

thanks Derek, i didn't know to pull down on the other toggle rather than let up the one thats caused you to dive - i'm going to practice that up high next time. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

with all due respect, that doesn't solve anything for the hapless jumpers who do turn because they panic. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

i disagree - if only 6 people contribute and add in something useful, thats 6 potential pointers to help out people that might find themselves in a situation that, yes, they shouldn't be in, but are. People are doing this all the time, and a lot of the low turns seem unintentional and not swoop attempts gone wrong (although there are more than their fair share of those). I agree that avoidance is the best course of action. What happens to those people who forget this? Is it right to let them bounce off the ground because they didn't take avoidance into account? Human error is always going to factor in. I didn't post this for those jumpers who want to swoop or downsize before they should be - i'm talking about the regular jumpers, taking things slow and make a low turn out of pilot error - how can guys like that be helped out, when they forget to not do a radical low turn. I also think you underestimate how useful dz.com is for people when they find themselves in a predicament in the air. If you look around, a lot of people were thankful they read an article here before they went jumping on the weekend and it helped them out of a sticky situation. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

what about seeing the ground at "the wrong angle"? I heard that mentioned one time, is that when you are swung out like a pendulum, when you should be levelled out? Or "getting out the corner"? I know these are swoop phrases, but if experienced canopy pilots can relate their experiences to people who are not swooping, but find themselves in similar situations due to unforeseen circumstances and can help them out, then maybe some of these fatalities can become injuries, and some of the injuries can become sighs of relief and a dust off. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

because there are so many incidents of jumpers of all experience levels (but generally less exerienced jumpers) impacting hard under a perfectly good main, due to a low radical turn, i was wondering if some of the most experienced canopy pilots on here, perhaps a mod like skymonkeyone, or someone, could specifically advise what someone should do when they make a radical low turn and need to recover from it quickly and safely, when they realise they are going to impact the ground hard. This is not meant to be about giving people advice on how to go and make an emergency recovery from a swoop attempt gone wrong, it should be about how to get yourself out of a dangerous and potentially fatal situation when you have had to make a low turn due to unforeseen circumstances like emergency manoevering to avoid another canopy, powerlines, moving aircraft etc (and yes, we all know they should be spotted before going up in the air, or while in the air, but we all know that doesn't always happen). I was taught about emergency recovery while on my canopy course, and while i haven't had to use it, i think things like that are invaluable to anyone who might find themselves in this situation. I'm sure i could learn a thing or two more myself on this, so would welcome any tidbits of advice that the most experienced can give. Edited to add: flat turns are great for stopping these sorts of incidents, but in a high pressure situation im not sure if everyone will instinctively go into a flat turn. This should be about advice for those that forget to make a flat turn and turn hard, and realise they have got to do something quickly to prevent serious injury. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

hi all - has anyone had this problem? During playback of all my tapes i get about 4 thin grey lines across the LCD screen and eye piece viewer on all my tapes (although the video is still being played back, the lines cut through it). Some of my tapes would not even output the video i had recorded, even though it would indicate they were playing/ff'ing rew'ing etc). Also when switching to "Camera" mode, i got the "No tape loaded" icon flash up. Are the tape heads dirty or is this a more serious issue? Thanks all "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

jp you know if he made the record? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts