Zlew

I think I remember that!

I used to jump a Porter a lot, and wheel exits were common. From the wheel, you are looking right in the co-pilots window, and the tradition was to knock on the window and flip off the pilot, and get one in return. Sometimes the pilots would remind us who was in charge by letting the brake go while we were out there. Usually not all the way to make us fall... usually just enough to let it slip, and give you that "oh shit!" feeling. Good times.

I thought you guys might get a kick out of at least the first min of this video. The good news is that this was for my best friends birthday jump that I purchased. My pre-second time to ever fall off of an airplane without the intent of doing so. Editing has a few errors in it, but thats what I get for doing it at 2 a.m. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3pP4SF5GEk

That is badass! The situation is called a jumper (or student) in tow. We had to train for the civilian version of this when I got my SL JM. In this situation it looks like they rigged another canopy to the static line before the cut it, and hopefully saved that guys life. Didn't look like he was capable of saving his own life. I am sure there are some military JM's who can shed more light on this in here.

good call!

I have a 70-200 2.8 IS... and that isn't it. My guess is its an 800 or bigger.

Thanks. I really enjoy taking pics, and as far as the freefall photog goes... I am working on it! I learned to take pictures skydiving...then I got out of the sport a few years and learned more and more. I started doing the studio work/live music pics and all that on the side and for fun. Now I'm back in skydiving and back with a camera on my head. It's going full circle! I've been doing mostly video, and I just finished up getting my stills setup back up and running this week.

Man, you brought this thread back from the bottom of the pile! Last reply was in 2003.

fantastic pics

+1

The idea that because what we do is dangerous, we shouldn't expect or require maintenance to be kept up to federal and manufactures specs seems off base. We've come a long way to make this crazy thing we do somewhat reasonable and predictable in the risks and dangers we experience. Writing off this type of thing because we are in a dangerous sport and dangerous business is moving backwards (IMO).

Phil, you rock! Thanks for the education.

I think this will do it.... http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?upd_id=4750&SMB=YES

Are you guys shooting these ETTL or manual? When you flatten them out they usually hit much harder on ETTL (assuming it has to bounce), and I would think that would be too much when you are really shooting straight on.

This could splinter off into an entire other thread....but: Yes 7 cells fly differently than 9 cells. However, the newer 7 cells are much more similar to 9 cells than the "old" 7 cells. With tapered edges, zero P fabric, and good designs, it doesn't have to be that big of a difference. A Spectre is nothing like an old PD7, or a Parafoil for example. As I hinted to in my first post, there will be lots of differences (like glide, toggle pressure, they way they turn etc.) but most of them will not be that big of a deal. Most of what you will notice is things being faster overall. As to if going from a 260 to a 230 is a big jump...well that really depends on the jumper. IMO, going from a sub 1:1 260 to a 230 isn't "extreme" by any means assuming the pilot doesn't have his or her head all the way up their ass. The way the square parachute design evolved did make a big difference in 9 cells and 7 cells for a while. When I started, only the old timers were jumping 7 cells, and they flew and landed like crap and couldn't really be wingloaded. Then then they started making the Triathlon and it breathed new life into 7 cells. PD soon followed with the Spectre, Icarus with the Omega, around 2000. In the last 10 years there have been a lot of advancements that have pulled 7 cells into the "higher performance" world. After all, the FX and Velo is based on a 7 cell platform (hehe, did I just start yet another wild tangent for this thread?).

Not sure if it's available for free or not, but I have been real impressed with the free software that came with my cx150 (PMB). It can do a lot of things, but all I use it for are grabbing stills. http://www.flickr.com/photos/zlew/4945835553/in/set-72157624850949060/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/zlew/sets/72157624850949060/detail/?page=2 edit* link added http://www.flickr.com/photos/zlew/sets/72157624850949060/detail/

[reply What are things I should watch out for and what should I expect? Will toggle pressure still be the same? Do turns get tighter? I will lose a good bit of glide right? Thank you There are a lot of things that will be different when you get off of student gear. The main things you will notice is that everything will happen a little faster. There will be 50 other small things that will change too...but what you need to know, and what you would notice is that everything is faster and more responsive. Not yelling :) be careful, do your research, talk to people you trust and who know your skill level.

Kinda worries me how some people are writing off the importance of keeping up with aircraft maintenance. I am not a DZO, pilot, A&P or part of the FAA...but I have been around this sport long enough to remember the years that we have lost about as many jumpers in airplane accidents as in skydiving accidents. To me, the general aviation side of skydiving is very important (from pilot skills/training, aircraft maintenance, to quality of fuel...). Keeping up with this stuff isn't like a recommended maintenance on your car. Not changing parts after their lifespan is not like the guy at the oil change place telling you that your power steering fluid should be changed every so many miles. This stuff is federal law and very serious. It is also very expensive and I can see how people might think they know better...or want to put it off just a little bit longer. Even though they might be "ok" with that, IMO it is not fair for something of that level of importance to be left to a DZO to decide. There is a reason that the manufacture and the FAA make that mandatory. Just because "they" (general "they" not pointing out Bill..) is willing to fly or ride in something that is out of maintenance specs doesn't mean it is fair, or ok for them to make that decision for the jumpers who fly in their planes.

Sorry, just now saw this. If you are not pulling the PC out of the pouch, you should be fine. Pulling it out and not getting rid of it is super bad juju. Out of sequence opening, entanglement (foot, arm etc.), horseshoe>baglock combo are all in the cards when you play that game.

Horseshoe.

Agreed on the service...but you still need to get comfortable getting out and getting open quickly in a situation like that.

It's an oldschool technique for sure. Some of the GK's that used to jump where I started skydiving used to talk about A-B turns on their demo canopies. To be honest, I've never tried it, and not sure how a modern canopy (elliptical/crossbraced/and/or winglaoded) would respond to that. Might be time to try....

When I was getting my JM ticket, my pilot,mentor,JM friend did me the HUGE favor of doing a mock engine out at 1000ft. I'll not put the long story of what happened here, but I will say this much: 1000 Ft is a lot lower than you think in an engine out situation, and it was clear to me that there would be no way for me to get my students out of the 182 from in time from that altitude. At that time, I made my students keep their belts on until 1500. The DZ i jump at now has that as their policy for all jumpers, and I think it is a very good thing.

+1

That fixed it. I didn't realize that when you clear the settings back to factory it doesn't clear the Custom Function settings. I saw that noise reduction was on, cleared the CF's and it seems to work just fine now. I don't think I ever would have put those two pieces together (noise reduction and slowing cycle times). Thanks for the help!