davelepka

Say anything you want. All of the warnings you got previously were for being too far off topic for a certain thread. I gave your solution then, and I'll remind you of it now, start a new thread. The only things the mods do is keep things on track, and enforce the rules. They don't filter information, or choose what does or does not see the light of day. If you want some daylight on something, start a thread to that effect, and shine all the light on it you want.

These folks can slow you down http://www.bevsuit.com/

How many of those 100 sustained survivable injuries accept for a TBI? How many of those had a 'slight' TBI, enough that a DOT or SNELL helmet would have made the difference? No helmet can save you from an injury that would inflict a severe TBI, so again, it's a very small slice of injuries that would be prevented with better skydiving helmets, and that's at the risk of increasing another danger, canopy collisions, due to reduced peripheral vision. Even if you could develop (or just find) the technology, you still have the hurdles of reduced peripheral vision, greater weight, greater drag, and the (potentially) higher price point. If training and jumper awareness were better, and about ten other things had already been 'fixed' in skydiving, I could see perfecting the helmet as being on the 'to do' list, but as it sits now, with the very small percentage of incidents resulting in a TBI, there is time (and money) better spent on fixing larger, more immediate problems.

Lance, I hate to break it to you, but there are a large number of skydiving related injuries that no type of protective gear can save you from. The 'useless' skydiving helemts that you seem to be against to protect you from many, many injuries. Case in point, I would much rather be wearing my skydiving helmet than nothing if I was going to be hit in the head with a baseball bat. Why? Because it offers a level of protection. So let's consider that level of protecion, then let's consider the level of protection that a DOT or SNELL helmet will provide, then let's consider where the DOT or SNELL helmet will no longer help, because you're exposed to risks beyond what a DOT or SNELL helmet could provide on any skydive. What you're complaint appears to be is if you happen to expose yourself to an injury greater than a skydiving helmet can protect you from, but within the protective range of a DOT or SNELL helmet, you're fucked, and that is the truth. However, once you get into injury significant enough that a skydiving helmet cannot protect you, your level of control, or survivability, even with a better helmet, becomes very slim. If you hit hard enough that a skydiving helemt cannot protect you, what is going to protect your neck and spine? How is the extra weight of the DOT or SNELL helmet going to effect the outcome of the impact? You're fighting a losing battle here. The better option is to plan ahead, and train skydivers to act in such a way that injuries are limited to bumps and bruises, for which skydiving helmets provide outstanding protection. With no other 'drivers' on the road, no trees, rocks, or boulders, in the area of the activity, and all people in the environment being trained and involved in the activity, skydiving and motorcycling are dealing with two very different sets of circumstances when it comes to inhernet risks. If people behave themselves in freefall, fly canopies commensurate with their abilities, and are mindful of their hard deck, we can easily avoid the type of severe injuries that would exceed the protection of a skydiving helmet, but fall within the protective range of a DOT or SNELL helmet. Given the current state of skydiving, better visibility out of the helmet seems to be more important then upping the level of impact protection. There are no mirrors on a canopy.

This is where buying a used rig for your first comes into play. Buying your own rig gets you 'in the game'. It gets you jumping on a regular basis, learning more about the gear, it's features, and how they work for you on a daily basis. It gets your face out there to the point that you can borrow a rig for a test jump and see if you like it (rig manufacturers typically do not have 'demo' programs). It gets you a vechicle to jump demo canopies from the various manufacturers (most demo programs let you keep a canopy for a couple weeks, so you get a chance to 'live' with the canopy). More or less, a used rig is a way to further your learniing, and allow you to make an 'educated' choice about buying new gear. A used rig will experience very little loss in value over the course of 100 jumps, so you can get your 'education' for next to nothing, then order the new gear of your choice. If you buy a new rig, and then find out you would have preferred something better, you're going to lose $1000's on the resale. The chances of finding a buyer who wants exactly the rig you wanted, and is willing to pay almost brand-new price for a not brand-new rig is slim, so you end up having to chop the price to get a buyer to bite. There really is no way to say what will work or not work for you. People will have opinions about gear, but their opinions are based on the 'little stuff'. All of the rigs you listed will function and last a long time, that's the 'big stuff', but when it comes to why jumper A likes rig B better than rig C, it's in the details of the rig, and jumper A only found that out by jumping different rigs for an extended period of time, and developing their ability to 'rate' a rig on that basis.

Just to throw a monkey wrench in the 'the FAA is coming to get us' machine, there's an interesting piece about this very same FAA admin the lastest issue of Flying magazine (page 27). The title is "FAA Administrator Unveils Safety Plan", with the byline of, "Initiative aims at gradual general aviation safety improvement" Some excerpts - "Babbit has announced a 10 year plan to reduce general aviation accidents substantially and incrementaly, with a 10% improvement as the target" "The plan calls for the safety of flight to be improved through programs aimed at indentifying the nature of the risks. To home in on what those risks are the FAA kicked off nearly 100 countrywide 'Safety Standdown' meetings where pilots and the FAA worked together to come up with ways to improve the record." "Babbit expressed a general desire to move the FAA away from enforcement actions against pilots and more toward education and remediation." Some here are suggesting that this letter from the 'feds' isn't coming coincidentaly after one of the worst months in the history of skydiving for open canopy collisions and single jumper incidents, but as it turns out, it may be just that, a coincidence. It appears that the FAA is looking at all of GA to step it up, and become safer overall. This, of course, doesn't mean that we should 'relax' and not worry about it, it's a matter of us literally saving us from ourselves. What it does mean is that the FAA might not be poised to give us an old-fashioned 'smack down', and start throwing regulations our way. Maybe we take a lesson from them, and pick a day (weekend) when every group member DZ holds a 'Safety Standdown' and brainstorms some ideas for their own DZs and skydiving in general in terms of improving the saftey of those already under good canopies. If they then reported their ideas to their RDs, who could then organize them in to managable form and present them at the big daddy of all 'Safety Standdowns' where the RD report to the BOD what everyone has come up with, and see what sticks. There are bound to be come commonalities among the ideas, and these might be the more favorable and feasable ideas. If anything, it would be a way to really wring some ideas out of the membership (aka, the concerned party) and make sure that every idea that should be on the table, is. Of course, that would make sense, and this is the USPA, so just forget I said anything. I'm pretty sure the ISP be needs to be gone over with a fine toothed comb. Again.

Wow, that one sailed right over your head. Your comment was that you didn't think people would jump un-neccesarrily heavy or snaggy things on video jumps, and the response was that 'you must not have been jumping video for very long'. The response is not a commentary on your experience, but a commentary on the regualr practice of jumpers loading up camera helmets with 'stuff' for what seems like no good reason. Camera flying is one of the few areas in skydiving where you can jump the same top-quality gear as the pros do, very early in your camera flying career. A newbie jumper can't jump the same rig as a pro, the canopies are too small, and it would show in their performance (or lack of it). Newbies can't just jump a wing suit, or strap on a tandem rig. The one thing they can do is jump the same gear as Mike McGowan, and insist it's for the same reason that Mike does, the quality of the final product. In truth, 90% of the camera flyers out there cannot out-fly a basic Sony PC camera, and a digital Rebel with a kit lens. You could give them the best of the best, and the other 10% of camera flyers will still bring back better footage of the same jump with the 'basic' set-up. Who in their right mind would buy an $800 still camera lens to make $40 a jump shooting tandems, when the free lens they give you with the camera will do 90% of the same job? The answer is nobody in their right mind, just confused young video flyers thinking the gear will get the shot. True story, and I'll leave the names out. Two camera guys, one with 1000 jumps, the other with 4000 jumps (not me). Mr 1000 jumps is a certified gear-nut. He has every new camera/lens/flash/light the day it comes out. Mr 4000 jumps has a more 'remedial' set-up, like a Sony PC camera, and a digital Rebel with a kit lens. They are each filming a 10 way on back-to-back Caravan loads. Mr 1000 jumps goes first, and is reviewing his footage and pics when Mr 4000 jumps comes in with his stuff. The first words out of Mr1000 jumps mouth are 'The light in your pics is so much better than mine, what lens are you jumping again?' It's not about the stuff, it's about the skills. The #1 piece of gear that Mike McGowan or Norm Kent jumps with is Mike McGowan or Norn Kents brain. Those brains are what can outfly more 'pedestrian' camera equipment, and why they need the best stuff to make the most of their skills.

That's only part of it, the other part is knowing what to sew and how. If you do have a belt made for yourself, be sure to have a rigger take a look at it, both off and on you (with your jumpsuit and rig on) before jumping it, just to be sure it looks 'safe'. Try not to wait until you're on a 10 min call to do this, have it checked out before you manifest.

Is it just me, or does anyone else get the feeling that guy really likes looking at himself.....in slo-mo?

A 'nice' weight belt will be a well-built, well-finished product that should last for many years, and that you know is going to work. A home-made weight belt may or may not be well-built, the average seamstress is not used to building things 'tough'. May or may not be constructed of strong enough materials, and may or may not work right the first time. If you have to rebuild or redesign, that will cost extra. One of the main things to keep in mind is that a failure of the belt can send one of the weights, or the whole belt, crashing down to earth on top of what (or who) ever happens to be under you. You could try to make one, or you could consider that if you need a weight belt, you need a safe, reliable one that will last for many jumps. How much do they go for anyway? $100?

Check with Mike from Chutingstar, I know he used to de escrow/inspection services for private individuals looking to sell gear. Sellers ship gear to him, he inspects gear and if it passes, notifies the buyer and holds the gear awaiting payment. Once he recieves the money, he'll ship the gear and forward the money to the seller. I'm not sure if he ships international or not, but it's worth a check. Paul, known as 'Likestojump' on DZ.com does a ton of used gear sales, and a good portion of it is international. He has a good reputaion, and I know him peronsally as he lives 20 min across town from me. He's a good guy to deal with, and I wouldn't make that reccomendation unless I knew him personally. Others will back that up based on dealing with him, but I make it based on knowing him for years. You could also contact the big gear dealers in the states, they often times have good used gear in stock. Square One and the Sunshine Factory come to mind, both have benn in business for 15 or 20 years, and are safe to deal with. It's entirely possible to buy used gear internationally and be safe. The problem with Gary was that the deals were too good to be true. If you're dealing with a person or business with a good reputation, and looking to make a 'fair' deal, it can be done. If someone has the 'deal of the century', but it's across the world and they want you to wire money into their girlfriends account, then you might have a problem. Even if the dealer is local and the price is too good to be true, that's another sign that you might want to be cautious. Shoot likestojump a PM, tell him what you're looking for, and see if he has anything for you.

Yeah, I think when the question of harware came up with regards to your mock up, they might have been talking about electrical connections. If you're going to use a video camera controller, like a Hype Eye, that plug is going to stick out the right side of the CX100, right where your flash is up against the camera. I'm not sure where your still camera trigger connects, but it's probably on the left side of the still, again, right where your flash is. On a personal note, it seems like a lot of stuff to be hauling around. That 10-22, unless I'm wrong, is heavy as shit and the flash is just overkill on anything but a 'special occasion' type jump. You could realisticly just drop the video camera for the jump to make room for the falsh. Jumping it all just seems 'excessive'. What are you doing that you need all that stuff? My theory is to jump the least amount of stuff you can get away with. Most guys getting paid for video are either doing tandem/student stuff, or team stuff, and neither one requires that much weight (or cost, to be honest) on every jump. Take it from a guy who started when there were no small video cameras, and no lightweight still cameras, when it comes to camera helmets 'light is right'.

I know for a fact that my dad paid $500+ for our first VCR. Any thoughts what a circa-1983 VCR is worth today? Whatever number you're thinking of, that's about what your canopy is worth. E-bay will be your best bet where you might find a collector or person with no knowledge of parachutes what-so-ever who might be willing to pay more than market value.

Oh, my mistake. You've got it all worked out.

With 30-ish jumps total, and one previous jump this year, was a multi-person tracking dive the best choice? A tracking dive does have the one advantage to a new guy in that if you can't stay with it, everyone flies away from you. However, maybe try to focus on things more inside of your abilities until you have a few more jumps under your belt for the season. Currency is king, and one jump doesn't equal 'current'.

I read your other post regarding gloves, and this one regarding a jumpsuit, and I have to mention that these are standard items a DZ should supply to their students along with helmets and goggles. Don't know where you jump, but just an FYI for you to keep in mind, or maybe to prompt you to visit another DZ and see if maybe they have better facilities.

Look for used gear for a first rig. It's not 'skimping' on safety to buy used, just saving $1000s of dollars. Every rig out there needs to be inspected and have the reserve repacked every six months, so airworthy is airworthy. Ask your instructors what size main and reserve you should be looking for, and build off of that. You may find a complete rig for sale that will work, or you may buy seperate main, reserve and container to assemble your own (a rigger will do the actual assembly). You'll need a rigger to inspect anything before you buy it, so also ask your instructors to reccomend a rigger. Sit down with them and discuss what you're looking for and your budget. Maybe even go through the classifieds here on DZ.com with the rigger, and they can point out gear you should inquire about. If you find things that will work for you, in your price range, and still available, involve the rigger once again to make arrangements for an inspection before purchase. This may invovle shipping the gear to the rigger for inspection, or the rigger communicating with another rigger they know who lives near the seller. This other rigger can inspect the gear on your behalf. Expect to pay for the riggers time, but it's well worth it. You can spend anywhere from $2000 to $5000 on a used rig, look for the mid to low end of that range. In general, those rigs will lose little value after you put 100 jumps on them, so you can resell them with very little loss. You'll learn a lot in 100 jumps about jumping and gear, and be in a position to select a 'longer term' rig.

.....on every jump, regardless of the aircraft or seating arrangement.

Pulling the slider behind your head should be by choice, not because it just 'goes there' by itself. You're right that you need to pull it down fully past the toggles before you unstow them, but this should only be done after you collapse the slider and if you have a way to hold the slider down once it's there. The problem is that if it comes back up, it can only make it as far as the guide ring for the steering line, at which point it stops there, blocking your rearward vision. My adivce is to install the skink bumpers designed for keeping the slider off the risers, and just leave it up there. You should have gotten a set of the bumpers with your slinks, but if not, PM me your address and I'll send you a set. I got a fresh set of slinks with my reline, and since I do pull my slider down over the risers, I don't need them. You may be able to install them on your own, just make sure you fully understand the correct way to do/undo the slinks, and have a rigger or more experienced jumper check both the slink attachment and that your lines are still striahg before jumping the canopy again. If you don't want to tackle it on your own, someone familair with slinks should be able to install them in less than 20 min.

This disregard for safety will not serve you well in skydiving. Adjust that attitude before going to the DZ, or you're going to have a tough time being the 'new guy' at the DZ. The more experienced jumpers out there don't suffer fools lightly.

To be fair to all the 'hopefulls' out there, the other Dave is painting a grim picture. Even if you're not in the top 25, you can get gear sponsorship, to a point. You may not get free gear, but you might be able to score a discount, especailly if you buy for the whole team. Four (or maybe five) matching rigs is a nice order for a manufacturer, and if you're willing to have them logo'd, and agree to send in team pics, it's not out of the question to get a discount. You might end up paying the base price, and getting options free, but of course, you have to cough up the base price. You can also get discounted jumps from your home DZ (sometimes). First you have to be a 'regular' at the DZ, and not a regular because you're a staff member being paid to be there, but a regular who pays for jumps on a regular basis. Beyond that, you might have to agree to a min. number of jumps, and maybe even prepay for that number. So if you're willing to buy 250 slots at once, for 50 team jumps for your 4-way team, you can get a deal. Again, you have to pony up for the 250 slots in advance. So maybe the other Dave was right. There is no true 'sponsorship' for many in skydiving, but if you look at the point of sponsorship, it's not a surprise. A sponsored athelete has to produce more in additional revenue to the company than the company pays the athelete, or the sponsorship is a waste of their money (and that company will soon be out of business if that's the way they roll). What do skydivers offer in return for their sponsorship? How will the company benefit in the end, in terms of increased revenue or market share based on the sponsorship? The answers is nothing and no way. Without a commercial platform for skydiving to hawk non-skydiving gear, or some sort of massive increase in the size of the market, the opportunities are just not going to be there. Like I outlined above, if you are willing to put out an extraordianry effort and make a financial commitment yourself, some businesses in the industry will cut you a break and offer a discount in the name of 'giving back'. That discount will never be enough that the company is actually losing money on the deal, but they might be willing to cut their margins on the slim side for a motivated, dedicated, 'good guy' who knows how to talk the talk.

Let me make another point, which is that what others are suggesting is to wait and see what seems appropriate after we establish a frame of reference with regards to the OPs skills. You are making a blanket reccomendation that he should jump a 170, and belittling others, but the others haven't suggested one way or the other. Who knows, maybe after a 10 jumps we'll see that the OP is a heads up guys who seems to 'get it' and the 170 will be the clear choice. As an example, I have a friend who is coordinated, althetic, and smart. He's an ace on a skateboard, can walk on his hands all day long, and is a hugely successful attorney. However, you put him on a motorcycle or behind the wheel of a high-performacne car, and I would advise that you stay far, far away. he loves cars and bikes, and knows all the specs and models, but there's something about putting him at the helm of either sort of vehicle, and he's just doesn't 'have it'. He's had bikes, and fallen off all of them. He has fast cars, but doesn't drive them fast at all. The point is, you never know who is going to do what until you see them perform. This is why all students jump a canopy 10 sizes too big for them. Some students would be fine at 1 to 1 on their first jump, but again, you never know who that is. A pieice of advice about giving advice about skydiving, always lean towards the more conservative choice. You never know who you're advising, or what they intend to do with your advice, and they might end up dead because of it. Err on the side of caution, and even then, end most sentences with '...I don't know what you should do, that's your call'.

First off, there's a chance that people from his DZ might just be on DZ.com and contributing to this thread. Just a chance. Second, despite your years of experience training students, the hard truth is that skydiving isn't for everyone. Some people take longer than others to figure this out, but there are people who don't hold up well under pressure, and for those people, if they insist on jumping, a larger canopy is an asset to them. I have seen many, many landings that I was surprised didn't casue injury (or worse injuries) to the jumper, and extra speed would not have helped any of them. It's one thing to chime in with your own advice. That's your right under the freedom of speech, and even if others disagree, your point is still your point, and nobody can take that away from you or fault you for it. However, when you then go on to belittle the other, more conservative points that other people have made, you prove yourself to be a grade A shithead. Generally in life it works like this - if you're in the right, you can get away with being an asshole. People might not like it, but right is right, and you can't argue with that. If you're not in the right, you can get away with an alternate opinion or viewpoint, but you're not going to help your casue if you act like an asshole. When you're wrong and an asshole, you're sort of just an asshole because you don't have being 'right' to fall back on. At this point you're just an asshole.

The gear issue will become much clearer after the first 10 jumps. You will start off with a greatly oversized canopy, but if you prove to be handling it well, the instructors will give you a smaller canopy after a couple of jumps. This process will continue through your student training and you can expect to run through just about every size the DZ has to offer, keeping in mind that the smallest student rig they have is still on the larger size. As far as buying your own stuff, plan on used, and work with your instructors or a local rigger during the buying process to ensure that your choices are both safe for you and airworthy. Again, that process will become much clearer after 10 or 15 jumps, and spending some time around the DZ. It seems like a lot of 'stuff' now, but just reel yourself in and make a some jumps, then come back to the gear issue.

You, and those people, are both right. Each way has pros and cons, and you have outlined them clearly in your post. I will say that with a camera as light as a CX100, the weight being on the side or on the top should be of little difference. It really comes down to the 'worst case scenario'. if you should have a slammer of an opening, and your head is turned the wrong way, the weight on the side will be a disadvantage. If your head is straight but looking up or down, the weight on the top will be the disadvanatge. Nobody knows when that will happen or your exact head positionm, so the weight issue is a wash. You could also look at camera protection, but again, you come up with a wash. Side mount is more exposed to risers strikes on deployment, and top mount is more exposed to dinging the door frame on climbout. Pick your poison. Overall, you have a huge advantage in that your cameras are small and light, so some of the 'common knowledge' about cameras and where to mount them isn't so common anymore. Try it both ways and see what you like better, either way is just as good (or bad) as the other.