Divalent

Yes, I psycho pack my Pilot 188. (Well over a hundred jumps since I started doing it; although I just recently put in a short 6" extender on the D-bag attachment). I like it for two reasons: 1) so much easier to get into the bag, and 2) you can check that lines, slider, and nose are where they should be after you flop the canopy on the ground, then you don't do anything that could mess them up afterwards (just fold gently, and roll it). Anyway, what do you want to know? BTW, I'm not sure a Pilot is any different from any other canopy in it's class/size in terms of packing method.

Fixed your link: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3709212

So what is your solution then?. What Popsjumper suggested in the opening post in the thread: have students practice the exit on a couple of altitude jumps before doing the actual hop-n-pop.

For a brilliant satire on the hackneyed tandem video formula, check this one out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQfp676lG2Y

It's not skydiving, but rather wingsuit proxy flying. Although I will never do this, it was probably the thing that got me to enroll in AFF course. http://vimeo.com/18150336 (Note: two of the flyers featured in this video, Ted Rudd and Mirko Schmidt, died last year in separate wingsuit base accidents.)

I think you should head over to Base Jumper.com (a sister site to DZ.com) and start a thread there on your problem. I think you'll find a much more sympathetic audience. (Those men and women are really touchy-feely types over there, and they will give you good advice). Good luck. I hope you get your friends back!

Maybe true for the first versions in the pre-Goldfinger era, but modern Spandex jumpsuits have that small rectangular opening right about in the small of your back that allows you to breath; just a little bit is all you need. (Just don't make the fatal mistake of wearing a Spandex undergarmet that covers this area; remember that chick?)

You can hook a couple of fingers in the lines where they meet the riser and pull down from there. (However, I wear gloves, and an instructor told me it might hurt if you did it with bare hands.)

Does this make you the camera guy? (From the guys comments on the video): "This guy was in my group (4 way) He was sit-flying while I was recording the group from different angles. I left the group and tracked away at 7k." Also, the wording is ambiguous, but it does seem he's saying that he also broke off well before the rest of them. (I hate it when someone just disappears from a group. I think if you do that, you better track like hell. But better to be there when everyone else breaks, so everyone know where everyone else is going).

But, it's right there in the teeny tiny type at the bottom: "Skydiving Fitzgerald is a popular search term for Skydiving in Georgia. Skydiving directly in Fitzgerald may not be available." (But they do say you should call them to "skydive near Fitzgerald", so that probably means they are just a town or two away; you know: "near".)

Scary. But why was the camera guy tracking off? Isn't the main reason they pull in place because he's out of the group, and so not in the circle of awareness of the group he's filming?

here's a start: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/dropzone/finder.cgi?lat=51.474540439419755&lng=-0.5712890625&rad=100&Submit=Search&search=addr

Here's another video using the Pivot head in a skydive (a Helo jump). Was posted June 26, a few weeks after the official release, so presumably this is their production run model. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srzXLCq7IhE

you are about a week late with the news: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4346744#4346744

I very much disagree with this. It's the same mindset that inexperienced people have when they say they'll just strap on a GoPro and forget about it. Having a camera, especially a helmet or hand mounted one, can have an impact on your deployment technique and emergency procedures, and can create emergencies that you wouldn't have otherwise. You can't just forget you have something sticking out of your helmet, you need to remember that, and adjust your jump accordingly. Good point. Perhaps it should be: "once out the door, forget about what the camera is recording, but be mindful that it is there." [I'll see if I can edit it still.] Regarding recording a handle/strap check, the point is to (at least initially) have a routine that you follow after the camera is rolling to return you (if you were away) to the key things you need to be sure of when making a jump. And by recording it, you can later confirm you did it. Many incidents in the "camera incidents" thread were of folks forgetting something important (like, a chest strap!) because they were thinking about their camera. The idea is to develop good mental habits.

Thanks for your feedback. I should have stated that my particular purpose is to have personal POV recordings; I have no intention of being a camera flyer for others. The mudflap mount sounds like a possible intermediate step to get comfortable with having a camera on the jump. Part of the reason (but not the only one) is to help me learn what I do, particularly under canopy. (E.g., do I really keep my head on a swivel? I know I do when I think about it, but do I really do it when I don't consciously think about it?)

[Edited to add: as I note in response to a comment below, my purpose for having a camera is for personal POV recordings, with no intention to move on to become a camera flyer.] I am approaching the point were I think I will be strapping on a camera (got a few dozen more jump to go). Although one can find lots of admonishments here to wait until you get 200 jumps, I haven't run across a good concisely-packaged list of advice for how to safely integrate a camera into ones jumping routine once they have enough experience. (There was, however, several threads where low timers were asking for such advice, and it seems like the only answer they got was "just wait or you will kill yourself; and when you have enough jumps, then go talk to someone who knows.") Anyway, after looking over the camera incidents thread, and talking to people I trust as thoughtful safety conscious folks, I thought I'd take a stab at coming up with something myself. Obviously I have no experience, so this is just a initial attempt, and might strike those of you with experience as either naive and/or downright dangerous. Please treat this as a starting list for someone who has the jump numbers and presence of mind to not get overwhelmed by adding a camera, but needs some pointers/advice so that they go about in a safe (or safer) way. Thus, your comments, additions, modifications, etc. would be appreciated. Additional things you might want to add are particular skill sets that should be mastered: IOW, things not directly related to jumping with a camera, but should be skills that someone with 200 jumps might not necessarily have picked up along the way before they consider jumping with a camera. Jumping with a Camera: dos and don'ts: - get a helmet cutaway chin strap. (and learn/practice how to use it). - get advice on mounting in a way that minimizes snag potential. - become thoroughly familiar with using the camera on the ground (on/off, image settings, mounting, charge, etc) well before taking it on that first jump. - Until you have a lot of experience jumping a camera, and are very comfortable with it being part of your jump routine, don't be (or pretend to be) a "camera flyer" filming yourself or others. Just think of it as logging your own experience. - Turn on the camera at the 2 minute warning on jump run; not later than that. - Do a complete handle check sequence and leg chest helmet strap check immediately after turning the camera on in the plane. (The idea is that you will record that check, so that it becomes habit, just in case thinking about camera led you to overlook something.) - If something isn't right by the time the door opens on jump run, just forget about recording that jump. (e.g., forgot/failed to power on, or adjust aim, etc) - Although one should forget about the camera is recording during the jump, do be aware that physically it is there, and be cautious when climbing out and when bunching together for a linked exit, etc. (But once out the door, forget about what the camera is recording, although be mindful that it is there.) - Do several solo jumps with it at the start so you can develop a routine without distraction. (Perhaps even a hop-n-pop to start if you jump at a busy DZ.) - Consider opening 1K higher than usual until you get comfortable with the presence of the camera. - Think about scenarios that might involve snags on the camera and how you should adjust your EPs to deal with them. Comments additions criticisms welcome.

When viewing the reviews for a dropzone, if you click on a reviewer's name, it takes me to a list of reviews *I've* done (I've done a review of a dropzone). When viewing the reviews of some gear, if you click on a reviewer's name, you get an error page saying no reviews found. Possibly the same problem, since I've never submitted a review for any gear. IOW, the problem might be that it searches for reviews by the person who clicks on the name, not the person who's name you are clicking on.

What is this, the DBCOOPER wannabee thread? so lame.

solo student jumps should be the same cost that any licensed skydiver would pay: lift ticket and gear rental. Coached jumps will probably cost you extra (unless you are a hottie female, then they are free).

If you know in advance that you are highly likely to end up tresspassing on *someone's* property, I'm not sure that your inability to know in advance which *specific* person's property you will tresspass on should give you any sort of excuse. (Just as not knowing in advance which person you will end up shooting with a gun excuses you if you fire into a crowd of people.)

The least "snaggy" mount I've seen for the go pro is this one: http://www.chutingstar.com/newgear_en/square-one-gopro-top-mount.html

I was at the farm yesterday for first time in 2 weeks, and noticed your absence, and when I asked where you were and they said you departed to wander the world. Then I found this thread. I sorry that I won't be seeing you at that farm anymore: you were one of the fixtures that give it a sort of balance, and it won't be the same place with you gone. And I want to thank your for all the help you have given me, and many other students / low timers; we will certainly miss you. You have given me so much (and for so little in return: a few 12 packs of coca cola!) More so than any other instructor, you forced me (and us) to think about things when questions were posed to you, and for that I thank you for helping me become a smarter skydiver. For those of you that don't know Andy and his teaching style, if you asked him a question that you thought required just a simple answer (e.g., "what altitude should I go straight to reserve on an emergency exit?"), you never got a definitive answer. Instead, he'd engage you in a dialog, usually begun with one or more questions fired right back at cha (e.g., "What are the differences in a reserve and main that might be relevant to this situation? How might an AAD factor into your decision?"). In the course of the conversation, if you weren't aware of something relevant (e.g., mains open slower than reserves and/or reserves less likely to have a mal) then that would become the focus of the conversation (e.g., "what happens when you deploy your main, and what happens when you deploy your reserve?"). Maybe eventually he'd get to the bottom of your knowledge and explain something you didn't know (e.g., opening times for mains vs reserves) but only enough to return you back up to the next level. In the end, he often didn't give you an answer to your question, but left it up to you, knowing that you now had the knowledge base to figure it out. (But, he would tell you to rethink if you decided, say, that 700 ft might be a good cut off.) IOW, for Andy it was much more important to understand what was needed to answer the question than knowing the answer. Because if you have the former, the latter should be easy to work out. And the knowledge needed to answer that question would be useful for addressing related but situationally different questions (e.g., "What altitude should I go straight to my reserve if I find myself low in terminal freefall?") Andy's was much better way to teach than either giving an authoritative answer (leads to no understanding other than a factoid), or a quick lecture on the topics with the answer (a more common teaching strategy, which is okay except there is no assurance the student really understands the factors at play). As skydivers we operate with many "rules of thumb" (opening altitude, hard deck, emergency exit procedures, group breakoff altitudes, breakoff tracking times, exit separations, pattern directions, countless "dos" and "don'ts", etc) that anticipate and pre-decide what should be done in common situation (often when there would be no time to work out the solution from first principles), and although I suppose an instructor is producing a competent skydiver by just giving a brief lecture and then stating the rule, IMO they are producing better skydivers if they ensure their students understand the basis for those "rules of thumb". (It is a more time intensive method, and I understand that instructors have limited time during the day to deal with some questions, particularly from more advanced students where they are not really compensated.) Andy, I will always consider myself your student. Although I will miss you, I wish you the best in your adventures.

PayPal is NOT safe! User uses stolen credit card to link to Paypal, makes payment (to your PP account), you ship canopy, credit card issuer refuses charge, PayPal comes back to you for the money. In this case the scammer gets the canopy. The Cashier check scam often they don't want the thing you are selling (but it works that way, too); usually they send you a check for more than the sales price, and you send them back the difference. Later on your bank lets you know the check is no good. (And the guy who was supposed to pick up the canopy never comes by for it).

That perplexed me, too. Only thing I can think of is that as a retro fit, maybe on some helmets the chin cup might not be as secure, so the strap is an extra level of assurance it won't fly off in freefall. I wonder if the strap is easily removed?