davelepka

No. The aged Cypres is an unknown. Maybe it will fire while you're climbing out of the plane. Maybe it will fire when another jumper is above you, or just too close for you to safely deploy. You don't know what's going to happen, but either one of those situations endangers others, and that's not a risk you as an individual jumper should assuming on behalf of others. Jumping without the Cypres also has many 'unknowns'. Will you be in a freefall collision, and knocked out? Will you hit your head on some part of the plane during an exit? Will you lose altitude awareness and go low? Nobody knows these answers either, HOWEVER, as a jumper you can take steps to avoid these situations, and furthermore you're primarily only risking injury to yourself in these situations.

Of course they are uncommon, nobody would jump the rigs if they were an everyday thing, but this is no reason not to be prepared for when they do happen. Students can and will pull handles at any time. Right out of the door, students have been known to grab handles. When the instructor signals the student to release the harness and bring their arms out is another time a handle will 'disappear'. I have never seen this first hand, but after seeing a video of a broken drouge bridle (which was brand new), I was impressed with how fast they picked up speed. If you were under them, you never would have had a chance. You say that a premature deployment on the camera flyers gear is rare. On a modern, properly maintained rig this true, but rare, and impossible are two different things. If you just stay out from under the tandem, the likelyhood of the premie is still rare, but the likelyhood of a collision with the tandem is now zero. If you read my post, you'll see the answer is simple. You can get close, but you need to slide along the outside edge of the tandems airspace. Just going straight under them is just stupid, and there's no reason for it.

That's what I was thinking as I watched that video. Maybe they didn't hear about the incident in Richmond a few years ago, but I'm willing to bet they did, and that they feel like they have it 'under control'. If you watch the other video linked to that post, you'll see the video guy slides directly under the tandem on the hill. Another big mistake that people pay no attention to all the time. If have the skills to backfly with the tandems, you have the control to slide by them a few feet off to one side or the other. It's just careless, sloppy flying in both cases.

It depends on how low you're talking about. With a wide angle camera lens, you have to be almost directly under a tandem to see only sky in the background. The wide lens can usually pick up a sliver of the horizon from some pretty low angles. You have to watch out for body position and type if you're going to go that low. Knees down, or a person who is 'less than fit' won't look that good from that angle. It's not flattering to the student. If you rotate up a few degrees, you end up viewing their body from an angle, and the exact 'hills and valleys' become harder to define. The case in favor of a low angle as compared to head on, is that head on is asking the student to look up. I don't mean not 'stare at the ground' type of look up, but physically to tilt their head back to look at you. When a jumper is belly to earth, looking horizontally is the same as looking straight up while on the ground. Not the most natural angle, and again, not always the most flattering to the student. A lower angle allows them to be in a more natural position with their head/neck, and this will produce a better picture of the student. One poster mentioned that he had a set routine for the freefall shots of his tandem videos. I personally only use a rough outline for my non-freefall shots, and no outline of any kind for freefall. Every jump and every student will present a different situation, and shooting that properly requires a different approach each time. The real goal is to record the dive for the student, so making them look good is really job #1. Don't sit tight and close to a student who won't open their eyes, focus on the bigger picture and go for the wide shots. Or if a student ends up with 'fluids' streaming up one side of their face, you need to stay on the other side so it doesn't appear on screen. Those are really the types of things that should dictate what sort of shots you'll get on a tandem video, not a set shot list, or even camera flyers preference (unless everything looks great, then the camera flyer can do whatever they want).

When I had 600 jumps, that's how I did it too. There is no baggy suit that will give you the range and power that a set of wings will. You may be able to get by with a baggy suit, but you'll never get the performance you'd have with a set of wings. It's not just for absolute fall rate. All that surface area let's you move and stop with far more authority than anyone else in the sky. If you see a shot developing, the best way to get there before the opportunity passes is a set of wings. I kow this thresd is about tandem, but if you ever do an AFF video, wings are where it's at. When things get crazy, you'll be right there, and not even trying that hard. For the record, I don't like jumping my wings. It's just another thing to worry about, another peice of equipment to check, and another thing to deal with under canopy. I always eyeball my tandems before the jump, and if their big enough, I'll freefly the jump in my freefly suit. But if I have ANY question in mind in terms of fall rate, or I'm shooting an AFF, I wear the wings. Even with a 220 lb AFF student, I wear the wings. I tried for years to say that wings were gay, but the thruth is that they are the best tool for many, many video jobs.

Maybe, but then you failed in terms of being a 'professional'. Anytime you limit yourself to one single position (or manuver) to stay with your tandem, you limit the shots that you can get. Given that every tandem is different, the best angle to shoot them from will be different. If this doesn't match the one option you have, your video will suck. This is where the wings come in. Even if the tandem does 100mph, the video flyer could do 90 with a set of wings, so the video flyer ends up with options. They can sink, or float, move left or right. Lots of guy can do 100mph on their belly with no wings, but they cannot manuver at those speeds with any degree of quickness of accuracy. I would love to see you shoot a tandem video with the wings in your picture. I think the best part about it would be after the opening, when you take a 30 second delay, and fly past all the open canopies from the load, and deploy right over top of the DZ.

This couldn't be more wrong. Wings are for going slow, and freeflying is for going fast. How does freeflying help you when your tandem pair is going 100 mph? It doesn't, but a set of wings will have you in your slot getting some great shots of a very light passenger. Freeflying can replace a weight belt, not a set of wings.

Many agree that even if money is not a factor, buying used for a first rig is a good idea. For starters, as already mentioned, if you should have a few 'questionable' landings, you won't mind a little cosmetic damage to a rig that wasn't perfect to begin with. The other idea is that you'll probably need a different canopy at 25 jumps than you will need at 75 or 100 jumps. Some folks will buy new stuff that they can cram a bigger canopy into for a while (which means it's hard to pack, and you'll be new to packing) only to replace just the main a little bit down the road. This may seem like an OK idea, but keep in mind that in addition to the packing issue, the reserve will be sized for the container, which is really designed for the smaller canopies that will eventually go into the rig. If you buy used, you can get a canopy that is sized for you, and will easily pack into the container, and a reserve that is big enough for your size and experience. Either way, buy as used set-up, jump as much as you can before you deploy for Iraq. Keep it in the closet while you're away. When you get back, you'll be un-current, and rusty as hell, so you'll want your beginner rig to jump and get back in the swing of things. On your first day back to the DZ, place your order for your second rig, which will be your brand new, money is no object rig. By the time your new rig comes in, you'll have a few months of jumping the old one, and you'll have the skills together to jump the new one.

That's hardcore, this guy really wants to jump. What about just doing AFF lv 1? He'd get the benefit of the ground school, and some 'hands on' time with a couple of instructors, all for way less than the full program. If that's too expensive, see what it costs to sit in on the ground school of the FJC. I can't imagine that it would be more than $50 or $75, and he'd be pretty far ahead of where he is now in terms of training. Neither of these is ideal, but it's clear that this guy is going to jump no matter what, so something would be better than nothing (provided you don't find an instructor looking to trade). Here's a question to ask your friend, what does he think he's going to do with his newfound 'skills'? Even if he manages to figure things out on his own, he won't be able to jump at a DZ without a license or a signed logbook. If he wants to jump only from private aircraft, that's one thing, but 'just figuring it out' on his own won't get him into any sort of organized DZ.

I would not attempt that climbout. With camera wings w/swoop cords, and all the cameras (and on/off buttons) on my head, I'm not getting in to any situation where I have to squeeze past anyone. I have always used the above mentioned SOP in a Cessna. As far as spotting goes, any video person with the experince to be jumping with AFF students should have the ability to spot a Cessna with one group exiting. It's not that hard. Having the student back-to-dash also limits the involvement of the reserve side JM. They are in the back of the plane, separated from the student by the main side JM. They are not able to participate in a review of the dive flow, or hand signals, nor can they play a part in any of the gear check. It seems like a much better use of available resources to have the student seated behind the pilot. The main side JM to their left, and the reserve side JM is facing them, allowing both to contribute during the ride to altitude. It seems like such a simple concept - load the plane in the oppposite order of the climbout. Last out is first in, and vice-versa.

If you can save money by taking a trip, and doing it all at once, then I'm not sure why you're even asking. Seeing as you've already made one jump, and you know that you like it, book the trip. Being able to make all of your jumps in a short period of time will assist with your learning. The more time that passes in between weach jump, the more you forget what you learned from your last jump. In the US, if you go more than 30 days in between student jumps, you generally end up having to that level over again. Here's a thought - figure out how much you will save by going to Spain, let's say it's $250. Now figure out how many fun jumps you can make in Spain (once the training is over) for $250, and plan on making that many fun jumps before you leave. And if you have a credit card, figure out how many jumps you can pile on that, too.

I'm surprised as I read this thread to see how many people are trying to cram too much stuff on too small of a helmet. What they end up doing is expanding outward, and creating a ton of leverage for their gear to either destroy their necks, or if their lucky, just peel the thing right off their heads. Whatever happened to using the right tool for the job? I hate to sound like an old guy, but back in the day all we had were Hi8 cameras (big) and metal bodied still cameras (heavy). Now that we have video cameras that don't even need tape, and still cameras made of lightweight plastic, so everyone buys the smallest helmet they can find, and mounts everything in the worst possible way. Bill Booth hit the nail on the head when he said that everytime you find a way to make skydiving safer, skydivers will find new way to make it dangerous again.

If both of these DZ are close to each other, I would guess that they know about each others program. Am I correct to assume that you have three tandems and one freefall with an instructor? If so, you may be closer to level 4 of the program at the new DZ, as opposed to lv 5 at your current DZ. Again, I would really look into this business with two instructors for 11 jumps. Keep in mind that an extra instructor will cost at least $30 per jump, so right there the new place will set you back an exrta $200, not including the extra level 4. Not that money should dictate your training methods, but provided that both DZ offer a safe operation, and complete program, it doesn't hurt to save a few hundred bucks. Are there other differences? How about aircraft? A Cessna DZ will limit both the alitude you jump from (generally around 10k or 11K) and the number of jumps you can make in a day. A DZ with a turbine aircraft (larger plane, holds 12 to 22 people) will get you up a little higher (12k to 14k) and be able to get you up quicker and more frequently due to higher capacity, faster climbing plane.

You may want to double check that the second place actually uses two instrucotrs through level 11. If so, this is very rare, and will cost you quite a bit extra to pay the second instructor for all those levels. For reference, most DZs on a straight AFF program will lose the second instructor after level 3 or 4. Aside from that, why the repeat for level 4? Has it been more than 30 days since your last jumps (or will it have been more than 30 days when you show up for your next jump)?

That's exactly it, and not that unusual. Either for the sake of just practicing, and pulling a live handle, or to combat the old wives tale that if you don't pull your handle, the rigger can just pencil whip your reserve, it's not that uncommon for jumpers to dump their reserve when they need a repack. Add this to an overly-excited newbie, and they certainly would just pull their handles in their living room. Along those lines, a note to others, don't dump your reserve in your living room. If you insisnt on pulling your handles, do it when you drop the rig off and with a rigger present. If there are any problems with the pull, having a rigger nearby to diagnose the problem is key to preventing it happen to others (such as this case). Beyond that, the safest way for you to transport your reserve and reserve compnents is with them securely in your rig. Having the PC, bridle, and reserve hanging out of your rig while you transport it to your rigger is just asking for trouble. Keep it together until you get where you're going, then dump it, then hand it to your rigger to take care of.

Yeah, that's it. There's a range of acceptable winds for jumping in. Let's say mine goes up to 30mph. From zero up to 10 or 12, that's nice, and ton of fun. Easy winds, the spot isn't that important, and you can get a monster swoop landing into the wind (no low pass of high pull with a downwinder needed). From 12 up to 20, it's not as much fun. The spot becomes more critical, and the swoops are shorter. From 20 to 30 it's just work. So anything up to 20, I'm willing to fun jump. I'll pay money to go up and have a good time. Over 20, I'm not going to pay to jump. It's just not worth it for me because I really like the swoop, and without it, the jump is less fun for me. However, my skills and equipment choices make it possible for me to safely make a skydive, and when the management and other staffers are counting on me to get the tandems out, I'll go up and jump. I think the key point to remember is that nobody is making an unsafe skydive because of the money. You reach a point where your skills will be above and beyond the conditions that you may consider 'fun'. It's like driving in a snow storm. You may know how to drive in snow, but that doesn't mean you want to go out just to browse at the mall during a blizzard. Now if you needed to get to work for an important meeting, you'd jump in your car and drive. One other point I'd like to make, some of the replies from the younger jumpers were, 'When the guys with 1000's jumps stop jumping, I know it's time to stop'. Do you really think that you should be takign your cues from a jumper with 10 times the experience you have? I agree that a 100 jump wonder should not be in the air when a guy with 1000's of jumps is standing down, but the truth is that the 100 jump wonder should have stood down long before. If you see a guy with far more experience than you stand down, and you were still planning to jump until you saw this, you have already made a mistake. You should take a hard look at your personal standards, and make some significant adjustments.

You can do your training at as many different DZs as you want. Having a clear and complete log book will certainly help you for sure, but you can always call the previous DZ if there is a question. One problem you may run into is time. You'll need to plan for a full day off to fit in a jump. Most DZs are an hour or so away from major metro areas. In Cleveland for example, the ice show is downtown, and the nearest DZ is just over an hour away. So figure two hours just to get there and back. By the time you're signed in, trained, jumped and debriefed, that could take anywhere from (aside from level 1) 3 to 5 hours at the DZ, depending on how busy they are. The one mistake you should never make is going to the DZ with a definite time to leave. It never works out, you'll always end up leaving late, or having to split right before your jump.

I don't know about that. If the seal thread was too long, and the seal could hang below the bottom of the pin, when you pull the ripcord, the seal could 'chase' the pin up towards the loop. I dont think the seal was fully under the loop, but if a corner of the seal caught the loop, the other end of the seal could wedge itself against the grommet. While the likelyhood of this happening is rare, it could happen. The good news is that prevention is a snap. Just make sure the seal is installed such that it hangs above the pin/grommet, and you're all set.

Have you been to Big Fun on Coventry? It's across from the parking garage, and they've got all the cool toys. Star Wars, Transformers, He-Man, Hot Wheels, Barbie, Stawberry Shortcake, etc. I'm sure you'll find something you like that you can pass off as being for Logan.

I don't know anything about RVs, but you seem to be in a big hurry to drop 60k to live in a metal box on a DZ. Like others have mentioned, there are many other options for less money, in fact I'm sure you find a very nice RV for half of what you're looking at. Keep in mind that you'r going to park the thing, so the running gear is not as much of a concern. If you wanted to tour the country for months on end, then that's important, but all you need to something to get you to Texas. In all reality, you could just buy something in Texas. I'd bet you could get a nice travel trailer for 1/4 of the price in TX and pay the dealer to tow it to the DZ. All you need is something with good electrical and plumbing systems, and lets face it, if you could save $30k or $45k, you'll have a few bucks for an eventual repair. You said your girl will be in shcool, and you'll be working at the DZ. Niether one of these things screams out '$60k RV' to me. It just seems like a big commitment to make when you could do just as well for far less. Just remember, you sprain your ankle, it's $1000 at the hospital and no work for a few weeks. Snap a femur, it's tens of thousands in medical bills, and no work for months.

I don't think you're getting my point. This doesn't sound like a good situaiton, and I'm not about to contribute to it. For example, this - - is part of the problem. In the US, this is not the case. The pilot will be held responsible if there is an incident and you have jumped in an area where you're not supposed to, jumped from too low of an altitude, or pulled at too low of an altitude. In any case, anything that is 'less than legal' will reflect on the pilots if things should go wrong. This is why I suggested you get the hard facts on what is, or is not, legal in your area. Additionally - It's not that you don't have every model and pack volume memorized. It's that you've made several contradictory statements that lead me to believe that you lack the fundamental gear knowledge to be jumping on your own. Adding to this is that fact that you want to use the gear outside of it's intended purpose. Freepacking into a rig designed for a D-bag for example. I'd leave the intentional mis-use of a rig to those with a more in depth knowledge of the gear and it's design. Of course I reccomend not doing what you've got in mind. If you choose otherwise, good luck, and be safe.

If you don't drift up or down jumprun, and you can get stable and pull when you want, then do whatever you want, it's your money. If you think RW is lame, then you don't need to perfect your belly flying beyond beign able to get stable and dump.

See how all of these statements don't really fit together? We both know that if you weren't doing anything worng, you'd have no problem posting every detail. Seeing as you're not posting the details, I'd say that you should be sure of what exactly is, and is not legal before you proceed. Furthermore, you're talking about freepacking, and other somewhat 'non-standard' rigging, and possible pulling low-ish. My thought would be that if you feel the need to ask on the internet for gear advice, maybe you shouldn't be involved in such 'grey areas'. Let's keep in mind that on a DZ there's a measure of control over what you're doing. The DZO, staff, and other fun jumpers will ususally speak up before you do anything too stupid. Doing off DZ jumps takes away 100% of that support. Let's keep in mind that you don't need to make a huge mistake to go in. Forgetting to put on your legstraps is a big mistake, and isn't going to end well. But even something like forgetting or mis-routing a chest strap can be the first link in an accident chain. Not cocking a PC, or mis-routing a bridle are other simple mistakes. On a DZ a pin check or gear check will pick these things up. Off DZ, a hanger full of helicopter pilots isn't going to be able to hepl you.

Your posts don't make any sense. You've made a lot of contradicting statements about size vs. performance vs. pack volume vs. rig size. You need to be more clear about your mission if you want input on what gear to use. Are you looking for a TSOd rig? For legal purposes? Are you also going to following whatever regs may apply to aircraft operations and pilot qualifications? What about the area you're jumping in? Do you have permission to land there, and have you notified any relevant authorities? Now to the jumps, what sort of exit and opening altitudes are you planning? How big is your landing area? What is the terrain like? What sort of experience do you have? What canopies have you jumped at what WL?

Mike, I've tried calling you a few times over the last few weeks, and of course you never pick up, or return my calls. I know, you're busy with your 'wife and kids', but I just see that as too busy for me. Either way, I just gave up on seeing you, but then you post these pictures online, and all the memories come flooding back. DAMMIT MAN!!! WHY CAN'T i QUIT YOU?????? If you really do need a hand with the move, I can make my self available to help out (or maybe just stand around and make sarcastic remarks).