davelepka

Truthfully, more than you need to film an intermediate or advanced four-way team. Those guys will be on the money every time. You know exactly what they're going to do, and how they're going to do it, with the only question being how fast will they do it. Beginner teams will create far more challenges as you have no idea how they're going to perform from jump to jump, and from point to point. It's not my seal of approval that you need. It's the teams approval when you supply them with usable video they can train from, and that can be judged in competition. It's your own seal of approval when you set your own personal standard for what kind of work you want to attach your name to, and then you honestly compare your work to that standard and see if you stack up.

The best option is to make it removable to point that you can always strip it down and have nothing more than a few bolt holes in your helmet. In the short term, then might be the neccesary option as you have no idea how to aim or angle the camera. Some of it will be 'common video-guy knowledge' and some of it will be dependant on you, what you're filming, and how you go about it. In any case, expect to make adjustments to things during the first 50 jumps, and if you don't, you're doing it wrong. There's a difference between the 'best' set-up, and one that you can 'work with'. The chances of a new camera flyer building a new helmet and getting it right-on the first time are slim to none. Even experienced guys will make adjustments to a new lid after it's all together and 'flight tested'. Even beyond that, what if you're flat-lock sucks, and you want to try a different one, or what if you want to switch cameras at some point? Or add another? Making 'permanent' changes to a helmet outside of a couple small holes is rarely a good idea. Quick occupational question, what kind of fumes does all this melted plastic produce? Do you guys ever crack a window or run a fan of any kind?

Camera flying skills?

Just to add another reason that this is not a great plan, consider the amount of time you have between break off and pull. I would say that 10 to 12 seconds is a good window to work with. Figure that it will take 2 to 4 seconds (on average) to turn and accelerate up to top tracking speed. Figure it takes 2 to 4 seconds to flare, slow down, and pull. That leaves you with 4 or 5 seconds of honest, top-speed tracking. Even if you're an ace tracker, and can transition to back-track and belly with zero loss in speed or angle, you're still trying to split up a very narrow window of time and build in scans of two seperate areas. What would you expect the quality of those scans to be? What about after you factor in 1/2 of a second or each transition? As mentioned before, the real answer is much further up the 'chain of command'. Solid planning, with a conservative and effective break-off altitude with the jumpers experience and pull altitudes in mind, good altitude awareness to stick to that plan, and solid tracking skills with eyes down and forward, followed by a strong wave-off and pull. .

That would be a nice first canopy for sure. See if you can get it shipped to your rigger for an inspection and so he can check the line trim (this will help determine the life of the lines). If they'll ship it without payment, great. If not, make sure they'll give you a one week money-back guarantee (minus shipping costs) if it doesn't pass your inspection. Now if it doesn't pass, you can always try to renegotiate the price, and maybe just ask for $100 back instead of returning the canopy all together, or whatever an appropriate refund would be based on the results of your inspection. Either way, assembling a rig peice by peice is usually a better way to go. I will take longer, but you'll end up with exactly what you want. Generally if you try to buy a complete rig, some part of it is not 'exactly' what you want, but you just live with it anyway. Peice by peice, you don't buy anything that's not 100% right for you, and end up with exactly what you want.

This is ill advised. First off, it's dependant on the jumper being able to perform those transitions cleanly and reliably during an imporant part of the jump. The better idea is to maintain the focus below, where the current danger is coming from. If everyone follows this plan, then the person above you will be watching for you and will divert when they see you below. If some people are watching below, and others are switching to back tracks, then the possibility of missing someone goes way up. If EVERYONE follows the plan, and EVRYONE breaks off with suffcient altitude to track, watches where they're going, and gives a godo wave off, you won't have these problems. This is the real cause of the collision. Hybrid jumps are vastly different in that when they go to shit, you have some freeflyers who are freeflying, and some belly fliers who are belly flying. Even with a solid break off plan in the case of a funnel, you still end up with a great deal of vertical seperation between the two groups. Carry that over into flat/steep tracks and short/long tracks, you can see that people could be opening anywhere and everywhere. Even when a hybrid works, and the break-off is clean (with the hangers dropping off and the stingers leaving on one wave, and the RW breaking off in another) it's not your 'normal' break off. I would question the organizers for not having a 'funnel contingency plan' and for putting a jumper with 150 jumps on a 9-way hybrid, with it's inceased complexity on the bottom end.

It's more related to the size of the PC, and the design and pack job of the canopy. You have to realize that the skydiving system you jump today is the result of years of development tyring to make mains open slow and reliably deploy at terminal. If you were to design a system for only subterminal jumps, it would be different than you see now. If you wanted a canopy that opens in 100ft and not 500ft, again, it would be different than the equipment you use now. Different jobs require different tools, it's that simple. Seriously, if you have questions about BASE jumping, click on the words 'base jumping', and it will take you where you need to be.

Trust me, you miss a lot. In terms of your helmet, if the bolts are secure, then when you do with the rest if it is up to you. Using a manufactured piece will be cleaner, and allow you to easily move or remove it, but if you want to 'DIY' the solution, it's your lid so do whatever you want. If anything you do is 'permanent', just make sure that everything is where you want to be before you 'lock' it in place.

Did you read the article? They clearly state the problem, which is clear to see in the video, they lacked the altitude to allow for the drouge to stabilize the capsule and then for the mains to deploy. Maybe of the rocket didn't nose-over after two seconds of flight, or if the skipped the drouge-stabilization and just got the mains out, they would have had more canopy at impact. If you pull low, you're going to bounce, you can't fix that.

Please do not try to re-stow a toggle under canopy. It's very difficult at best, and you'll induce a turn the other way while trying to do so. Think about it, one brake is stowed, so to fly straight you need the cats-eye (the hole in the sterring line the toggle goes through) needs to be right at the guidering to make it go straight. Now if you want to restow the brake, you'll need to pull it further down so you can get to the cats-eye with the toggle, and this will just make you turn the other way. Also, you would need to pull the brake line with your hand just below the cats eye to make slack in the lower steering line so you can get the toggle through the line. Not advisable for the most part. Any problem that takes two hands to fix is probably too much problem to be tyring to fix anyway. Use one hand to keep the canopy flying straight, and your eyes and the other hand to work the problem. If you really feel like your other hand is going to be the key to solving the problem, keep the toggle around your hand, and reach across. It will maintain most the input, and keep the turn rate low if the canopy does turn. Note- the toggle needs to stay above your thumb. Around your hand, but above your thumb. Do not let the toggle past your thumb down onto your wrist. It might make it easier to work the problem with your hand, but there is a very real possibility that you're going to cutaway, and a toggle around yoru wrist is another problem you don't need at that time. Above all, watch your altitude. RESPECT your decision altitude, and don't fall into the 'just one more second' trap. You are either in control or not when you reach your decision altitude, and you need to react accordingly without delay.

It's a terrible idea for the reasons you stated, trouble maintaining heading and track angle through the barrel roll. The other idea is that you're not going to see much on a barrel roll. You'll get a 'flash' of the sky as you complete the roll, not enough to scan the area and asses the situation. The rule in skydiving is that the low jumper has the right of way. With that in mind, that's where you're attention should be focused, the area below you. During your track, that's where you're going, and that's where you should be looking. When pull time comes up, and you have been watching the area below you during your track, you can glance over your shoulder, or just go with a good wave off. That's the procedure, that's how it works. The way you make it work is by 'learning' to track properly. Jumpers need to go beyond the AFF or A license training, and really learn to do a good, fast, flat track, where they can get up to speed quickly and have control over their heading. The next thing you do is establish a sensible break off altitude with your pull altitude and the size of the skydive in mind. Bigger jumps need a higher breakof, and you need to stick to it. Think about it people - imagine if EVERYONE was a strong tracker, and broke off 2000 ft before their pull altitude (for a 5 or 6 way max) do you think there would be any problems with seperation?

It's hard to explain the difference in performance between a PD-190 and a Sabre2 190. Even if you had found an original Sabre1 190, it would have been at least 10x better than a PD-190, but a Sabre2 is even several steps better than a Sabre1. One thing to keep in mind is that if you pay $600 for a Sabre2 190 today, and then jump it for a year or two and 100 or 200 jumps, it will still be worth $500 or $550 when you go to sell it. A PD-190, after you put 100 to 200 more jumps on it, would be worth significantly less than you paid. True story, my first canopy was a beat-down PD-190. I paid $100 for it, bought it from a guy who stalled it on landing and broke both of his wrists. He quite jumping after that, and I got the canopy. I put less than 100 jumps on it before I saved up enough for a 'real' canopy (a Sabre1). I ended up giving to another jumper for free later that year, I couldn't justify taking any money for it.

Just a few comments on that equipment - the PD190 is F-111, and unless your exit weight (your body weight + the weight of your gear and clothes, about 25lbs) is under 190, it's not going to be a great choice. F-111 loses performance with use, and when I say 'performance' I mean it's ability to flare before you hit the ground. If it's in brand new shape, you could get away with a 1.1 to 1 loading (an exit weight of 209). If it has anything over 200 jumps, 1 to 1 is going to be the upper limit (an exit weight of 190), and if it's much over 300 or 400 jumps, just take a pass. The Vector II is not going to be freefly friendly. You won't want to do any freeflying at all with that rig, and even if not, you want to invest in some good risers with Velcro-less toggles. One of the problems with the V II is the velcro riser covers, but even when the velcro is fresh, they're not that great (when the velcro is shot, forget it). Anyway, good risers with secure toggles will help to keep your brakes stowed when your riser cover blows open and your risers get out on the breeze. Without good risers, that wind will literally peel your toggle off your riser, unstow your brake, and leave you with a toggle blowing around 2 feet above your back, right where you deploying canopy is supposed to go (and it gets to deploy with one brake unstowed). If you do go with the V II, add the cost of some new risers/toggles ($125-$150), and replacement of the riser cover velcro ($25-$35) right off the top. You might also need a new BOC pouch based on the condition, and while you're at it, you could have the rigger install some velcro or a bridle protection flap between the BOC and the bottom flap. It's just like buying a cheap car, the purchase price might be low, but then you need to replace the bald tires, weak battery, and noisly wheel bearing, and then you still have an old car that just barely gets the job done.

Another aspect is that you're not going to be current at the time of your trip. You may be 'legally' current as per your A license, but you will be a month or more since your last jump. The people who suggested that 8 to 9 jumps a day is a lot were probably thinking about now, mid-August where everyone has been jumping hard for months. Try taking a month off and then banging out 20 jumps in a weekend, it will be a rough Monday morning for sure. Now try that for 6 days straight. So you've done 3 in a day? Try this next time it rains, unpack and repack your rig 9 times. See how you feel after that. Now picture it with dirt dives, door jams, boarding the aircraft, exiting the aircraft, 9 deployments and 9 landings. I'll echo the sentiment of just jumping and having fun, with the number of jumps being a non-issue. If you do want to buy a block of jumps, double check the policy selling/transfering the jumps before you buy. They may prohibit any transfers on block jumps in order to discourage people from grouping up to buy blocks all the time. If you could share block jumps, why wouldn't every local jumper team up with 2 or 3 others and split a block every month? They would get discounted prices for buying way less than 50 jumps each.

Aerohio is the closest, and you're looking at just under an hour from Case. Anything else with a turbine is going to be 2+ hours away.

Ok Einstein, quit your bitching about everyone shooting holes in your idea, and build a proof-of-concpet prototype, and doucment some real-world deployments on the thing. Until you do that, you can expect the masses to tell you it can't be done. Also, fill out your profile. Then let us know your qualifiactions for designing anything parachute related. Until you do those two things, you can expect very little respect for you or your ideas. I'm an experienced jumper with many years of high performance parachute flying, testing, and maintaining. To me, your idea sounds like bullshit, and not something that would come for anyone with any practical experience with sport parachutes. Prove me wrong.

Check with the DZ, and see if you can use a rental rig to demo canopies. You'll need to rent the rig for the day, and pay someone to hook up the demo, and then re-hook up the rental canopy at the end of the day, but if you have done 100 jumps renting gear I would think the DZ could see fit to help you out. Also, look around the DZ for anyone who has a rig that would fit you and a 190 main canopy. See of you can make a deal with them to use their rig on a day when they're not planning to jump. I would suggest offering to 'rent' the rig from them for the rate the DZ charges for gear rental, and offer to sign a 'contract' that you'll pay for any loss or damage as a result of the use. The other thing to keep in mind is that once you buy a rig, you can usually swap parts around for not too much extra money. Maybe just buy a Spectre 190 and a rig to fit, then you can demo whatever you want in your own rig anytime you want. If you find another canopy that you like more than the Spectre, sell the Spectre and use the proceeds to buy the canopy you like better. Depending on the deal you find for the other canopy, and what you get for your old canopy, you might be able to switch canopies for free (or maybe even make money on the deal). In the end, if you like the Spectre, just buy one to get started, and then go from there.

If you like the Spectre, buy a Spectre. If you can get a demo canopy, or borrow a rig with another type of 190, give it a shot and see if you like that one better. If you can get a demo canopy, you should be able to get the DZ to let you put it in the rental rig that usually holds the Spectre you've been jumping. In terms of reserves, look for a 190 reserve. PD makes a 193-R, and I'm sure Aerodyne makes a Smart reserve about the same size. For containers, anything that will fit your canopies and your body, and was built within the last 10 years would be a fine choice for a first rig. Look for something that will fit a 190 'easy' so it's easy for you (and your rigger) to pack. In terms of sizing, you do sound tall and thin, so you might have a tough time fiding a used harness that fits. One option is harness resize. If you find a rig that will hold your canopies but the harness is too small, get the serial number and call the manufacturer to ask how much a resize would cost. You'll need to have your measurements on hand when you call, but they can give you a quote, expect something between $250 and $500. It sounds like a lot, but if you can find a container for a good price, you can add the cost of the resize, and now you have a container with a new harness, built to your exact measurements. In the end, it will still be half the price of a new one.

Case in point for 'what you don't know'. You can fly over anything you want, but unless the winds are strong enough that your canopy is coming straight down, you're not going to land on that thing, you're going to land out in front of it due to the forward motion of the canopy. Beyond that, like I said, take the time to learn how to flat turn, and then you don't have to worry. You would have to be landing within 50 ft of an object to not be able to avoid it. The flat turn is one where your canopy does not pick up speed nor lose altitude in the turn, so you can make such a turn at a very low altitude. You may lose some of your flare power when you get to the ground, but nothing that a good PLF cannot take care of. The point is that you do have control over your circumstances, and turth be told, if you're going to hit the hanger, any WL is going to hurt and hurt bad. Again, if you really think about the circumstacnes surrounding flying so close to an object at such a low altitude with traffic present, you can see that you would have given up all control of many factors along the way to the point, and if you had retained control of any of those factors, you would not be stuck in the position you think you might end up in. It's a commonly known concept in skydiving that most incidents are the result of several errors, a 'chain' of mistakes, if you will. Breaking one of those links would make the incident a non-event. First off, I'm not sure if those numbers are correct. If it's the story I'm thining of, that would have been Scott Miller, one of the pioneers of canopy coaching, high performance canopy flight, and parachute test pilot for PD. As a goof, and to show people that it could be done, he did some swoops on a 200+ sq ft student canopy. I'm not sure he went 200 ft, but he was making the exaggerated point that any canopy can be flown well by a good pilot, in an effort to get people to become good pilots. Here's the rub, on virtually every other jump he did, he was on a Velo loaded at 2.0 plus and went much further and much faster. That's the falacy about your example with your 250 Ninja. You claim that you went faster than less skilled riders on faster bikes, which might have been true. The concept of what you're saying came from the track, where just like Scott, fast guys will go out on a slower bike to prove the point to the new guys that it's not all about the equipment. Again, the rub is that after they proved the point, they would get back on their high output liter bikes, and cut even faster laps. You see, it is important to learn the craft, but to leave yourself behind in terms of the equipment just becasue you think it makes you better is just wrong. Valentino Rossi won the world championship in 125 and 250cc classes multiple times. He proved he could go fast on a little bike, and then you know what he did? He moved up to the 500cc (and then MotoGP) to go really fast on a really fast bike. I'll suggest again that you're drawing an awful lot of conclusions based on not much expereince. Just like your 250 Ninja sucked on the highway, or long trips, or with a stiff crosswind, so will a canopy at 1 to 1 when you skills have progressed beyond that canopy. Especially when it comes to high performance flight, there are reasons that you don't see guys doing it all the time on a 230 Navigator. I'm not saying that your skills will progress that far, but most people's skills do go beyond 1 to 1, and for you to rule out anything past that is just the wrong approach. Keep an open mind to all of the possibilites that might come your way in skydiving. Closing yourself off to one idea or the other might slow your progression, or even cause harm or injury. Especially at this early stage, try to avoid coming to conclusions, and maybe try to 'come to questions'. Instead of making up your mind about one thing or another, make it your point to ask questions about those things and see what comes of that.

You do what to have everything you buy inspected by a rigger before making the purchase. Condition is part of it, but legality is another, and if something isn't 100% 'above board', a rigger won't pack it and then you can't jump it. As far as fitment goes, just get the serial number for any container you're considering, and call the manufacturer with your measurements handy. They'll be able to tell you if it will fit or not. There are different ways to handle purchases and inspections. The best for you is if a seller will ship something to your rigger, and then wait for it be inspected to recieve payment. One concern then is that if it doesn't pass, or you don't 'like' it, then you have shipping costs both ways that someone will have to pay. If the seller won't ship without payment, you can always see if maybe your rigger or local DZO knows the sellers rigger or DZO, and can vouch for them. If you don't think you'll get ripped off, you can pay for the gear and wait for them to ship it, just make sure you have a 1 week money-back guarantee if you decide the gear is not for you. Again, work out the shipping costs, and who pays them, up front. The last option is an escrow service. In the US, Chutingstar offers a free escrow service on used gear. The seller will ship them the gear, they will inspect it (you do pay for the inspection), and provided it passes, they will accept the payment and forward it to the seller, only shipping you the goods after the payment has cleared. It's an easy way for two people who don't know each other to do business with a good deal of security for both parties. For you it's a plus because it allows you to shop the US market without trying to get a private seller to ship stuff overseaes. Finally, none of the above plans include jumping the gear. Typically you don't jump gear that you don't own due to the possibility of damage or loss. The other problem is that the reserve will need to be packed after the inspection, so it would cost you another $75 or $100 in rigging fees to jump a rig you might not keep. So look up Chutingstar, and maybe send them an email to ask about the escrow service, and check the DZ.com classifieds to see what's what.

You're kidding, right? You have 11 jumps total, let's just be realistic, how many of those are on a canopy at 1 to 1? I know you didn't start with 1 to 1, so whatever it is, it's less than 11. Just to 'keep it real', you have less jumps than busy jumpers make in a day. My personal best is 14 in a day, and I once managed about 85 jumps in a 10 day run during boogie season. Focus on my advice, where I suggested that you're way to early in the process to be making any sort of long-term plans or desicions about much of anything, because truth be told, you have no idea how to make those decisions. I'm not being mean, just telling it like it is. You're going to learn more in the next 50 to 100 jumps than you're ever going to learn in this sport. You started off knowing zero, and by 100 jumps you're going to know more than most of the world will ever even consider is possible in skydiving. Slow your roll a little, and just be in this moment a little more than pontifcating about what's to come. Quick example about your scenario - don't fly towards a hanger, and you'll never have a problem with hitting a hanger. You don't need to fear that possibility, and decide with 11 jumps that 1 to 1 is enough for you, you simply need to take 5 or 10 jumps, learn to flat turn and then plan ahead and don't park yourself in a corner where you have no options. I'm not suggesting that you have to downsize, or that you'll even want to downsize, just that you might be making a mistake to rule out anything at this stage of the game.

It sounds like there's not much difference between the mil version, and the civilian version. I'm pretty sure we stole the idea from the army anyway, so it's probably the same thing. The only difference might be in the arm position, I've seen some guys 'flare' a round before landing, and in those cases their arms are up over their head on landing because you can't really 'flare' a round very far. On a square, your hands should be down in your crotch, at the completion of a good flare, with your elbows on to protect them.

Good catch, it's more like feet, calf/side of knee, hip, etc. You are right, that you don't want to smash your knees into the ground, I should have been more clear on my description.

Coming from someone shooting video long enough to pre-date mini-DV and SLRs made of composite (plastic) that's a valid comment. At the same time, the significant weight reduction of a set-up with a CX and Rebel w/ kit lens should be a significant relief for your neck. With that said, the majority of camera flyers today don't pre-date mini-DV or light weight SLRs. The 35mm Rebel came out 20 years ago, it weighed about a pound. So what we have is a generation of camera flyers who have never carried much weight as all, and thus can't cry 'long term effects/injury' to justify their Gopro bullshit, In fact, I would suggest that the camera flyers who are willing to cop-out and shoot two Gopros are probably the newest and least experienced of the breed, as any who pre-dates Gopros in terms of camera flying probably has a higher standard for themselves. Just like the money aspect, the weight is a red-herring at this point. Put a CX and a Rebel w/ kit lens on a scale, and compare it to a pair of GoPros. Sure, it might be double, but the weight of the Gorpros is almost nothing, so doulbe nothing is still pretty damn light. I would put my camera set-up, a Mindwarp, CX, Rebel w kit lens up against an old school hockey helmet or Bell motorcycle helmet, both of which were used for everyday jumping in the 70's and 80's, and I'd be willing to bet that my full camera rig doesn't weight that much more. Facts are facts. A video set up with 'full feature' cameras is cheaper, lighter, and produces better results than ever before, while camera flyer pay has either gone up or at least remained the same. It's more money for less work and investment. There's a concept called 'professionalism' and it seems to be disappearing from skydiving. It's called taking pride in your work, and holding yourself to a higher standard than 'what you can get away with'. It's not just in camera flying, but in coaching and instruction as well, and it's sad to see it getting further and further from the 'norm'.

As mentioned, it depends on the person, but when you say things like - -you might not be one to stay at 1 to1. Let's keep in mind that 1.2 or 1.3 isn't really 'high' performance, but it's quite a bit higher performance than 1 to 1. In terms of machines, consider that 1 to 1 might be the equivilant of a 4 cylinder car with 110 or 120 hp. It's a fine car, capable of highway travel, and serves the purpose of transportation quite well. A canopy at 1.2 or 1.3 would be more like a car with a V6 putting out 200 hp. It's no Corvette or Ferrari, but it has some get up and go, and can be fun to pedal to the floor from time to time. Back to canopies, also keep in mind that the landing is only one part of the canopy ride. When you bump up the WL, you also bump up the responsiveness of the canopy. The turns will be snappier, and the toggles more sensitive. Even if you don't intend to hook turn, a canopy loaded at 1.3 can get a nice 'turf surf' on a straight-in landing if your technique to good, and the winds are low. Speaking of winds, the WL of your canopy will ultimately dictate what sort of winds you can jump in. The lower your WL, the lower your wind limits will be. Floaty canopies with low WL will get bounced around sooner, and backed up sooner than canopies with higher WL. Remember that once your airspeed equals the wind speed, you're not going to be going forward at all. So if your canopy at 1 to 1 has a forward speed of 15 mph, when you face into a 15 mph wind, your ground speed will be zero, aka, going straight down. (Those numbers are all for example, you normally won't want jump in winds so high that you come straight down, but once they get close to that number, you lose most of your forward drive, and a gust can back you up). The long and short of it is that most jumpers will want to vanture up the WL ladder at some point. Not all, but given the nature of the sport, the type of people that it attacts, and the practical reasons for a higher WL, most people end up moving up at some point. THAT SAID - moving up too soon has proven to be deadly and injurious to many. Much like the car example above, flying a canopy will become second nature with experience, and you will be able to focus on the higher performance machine once the basic operations become a non-issue. In terms of gear, I strongly reccomend used gear to start with. Trying to buy one thing that you think you'll jump 'forever' just isn't practical. Look for an inexpensive first rig, with canopies big enough to be safe, and a container even bigger so it's easy to pack. Once you have 100 jumps, your skills, experience, and knowledge about gear and what you want from it, will be exponentially higher than they are now, and then you can re-evaluate your choices, and adjust them as needed.