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Mark.Carroll

Need advice on carrying a sign in freefall

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Hey everyone, I could use some advice, tips, warnings, etc. on carrying a sign in freefall. I’m thinking of the typical “Will You Marry Me?” type sign (though my wife might insist that it say something else – ;)). So questions:

1) What material? I’m thinking the thin, lightweight corrugated plastic with rounded corners so it’s not dangerous if it gets dropped.

2) How big is manageable? I’m thinking 24” wide x 12” tall, with oval holes in each end for handholds.

3) How do you exit? Holding the sign with two hands or one? Where do you hold it – against your stomach?

4) How difficult is it to keep the sign vertical in freefall while staying stable?

5) What do you do at pull time? Drop it (seems like a bad idea), hold it in your left hand, or what?

6) I assume you need to exit last so there’s no risk of someone colliding with the sign if it gets loose?

7) Other safety / logistics concerns?

In general I’d appreciate thoughts from jumpers who have done this or assisted others in doing it. Thanks in advance.
--Mark

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Easy, make the sign out of old F111 fabric (find an old canopy with enough white in it as background, and sew on the letters or whatever on top.

Make sure to sew reinforcement on the edges (fold in the edges with reinforcement tape in between for example), otherwise the fabric will rip itself to shreds in freefall.

I would imagine it won't add that much drag in freefall that you can't compensate for it, but since my last freefall was half a year ago (a pure necessity because my main refused to open), someone else might want to pitch in on that.

On pull time, maybe ask a freeflyer that has experience flying with tubes on how to best handle that.

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Enrico and IJ,

Good thoughts. I was indeed wondering if a rigid sign would hold up and how to deal with it safely. And I hadn't thought of a fabric sign because I thought it would be hard to keep it flat and legible while it's flapping around. Perhaps that's the ticket.

Hopefully some people who have actually done this will chime in. And you're right -- freeflyers with tubes would have good experience with what to do at pull time.
--Mark

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Mark.Carroll

And I hadn't thought of a fabric sign because I thought it would be hard to keep it flat and legible while it's flapping around. Perhaps that's the ticket.



That could very well be the problem with fabric. But the best way to find out is to test it. Easiest test would be to grab a piece of fabric, sew the reinforcements and handholds to it, write some gibberish on it with a permanent marker, and jump it with someone else filming it.

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Is the sign something that you want to communicate during the jump, like "will you marry me?" or something for a photo, like "people are jumping to eat at Joe's"? If the latter remember, Photoshop is your friend. I've managed to take photos with advertisements on the t-shirt taken in freewill and fill in the missing spots so that it doesn't look touched up but it's easily read. Otherwise you can make a lot of jumps trying to get a shot with the entire text legible.

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Bob_Church

Is the sign something that you want to communicate during the jump, like "will you marry me?" or something for a photo, like "people are jumping to eat at Joe's"? If the latter remember, Photoshop is your friend. I've managed to take photos with advertisements on the t-shirt taken in freewill and fill in the missing spots so that it doesn't look touched up but it's easily read. Otherwise you can make a lot of jumps trying to get a shot with the entire text legible.



Bob,

Nope, not thoughts to be conveyed during freefall, but it does actually need to be a video for best emotional impact, so photoshopping not an option. And what you mentioned ("a lot of jumps to get a shot") is what I'm afraid of (along with safety issues). Though I suppose having to make a lot of skydives is not a bad thing -- would be fun. To avoid wasted videographer jumps, my wife could just slide back 10 feet and see if she can read it in freefall. Keep doing that till we get it right, THEN hire a video guy to do it. Appreciate the photoshop suggestion.

I still need advice on the ideal ways to handle exit, pull time, etc. Though if it's a fabric sign I suppose that solves most of those problems.
--Mark

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I made a jump over Elsinore with a copy of the wall street journal. the front page was glued to a piece of cardboard that had cutout handles on each side. The other guy held it close to his chest on exit me holding onto his shoulders, when stable I reached in and grabbed the handle and we presented it to the camera. went well on first try he held onto it during deployment, but even if dropped it would flutter down pretty harmlessly.

The cardboard was double layer.
Handguns are only used to fight your way to a good rifle

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BD,

OK, that's super useful info. I'm surprised double-layer cardboard would be strong enough, so that tells me a lot about how strong a rigid sign would need to be (not as much as I thought). Also very useful to understand the exit and to know that your friend was able to hold onto it at pull time without fouling up his body position for deployment. Thanks for the input.

Thoughts from others who have done this?
--Mark

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Ponder the effects of flight of the sign if one grip is released. Basically, one would have a helicoptering blade at shoulder and head level. The other risks pale in comparison. Do the flag and/or photoshop would be my advice. Wear good gloves if skydiving either method.
I hope this helps.
Take care, space

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Considering how cheap digital printing is, wouldn't you be better (and safer) off with a custom flag or banner? Maybe with something like a broomstick sewn into the bottom to keep it straight in freefall? If you happen to drop that, it is just an oversized streamer.

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Cloggy,

Perhaps. The fabric option (of some sort) seems a lot easier to manage all the way around -- if I can keep it flat enough to read. Ideally, I'd just attach something like tennis balls to the bottom corners and pull it taut that way to avoid the rigid stick/rod at the bottom and make pull time safer, and safer if it gets dropped.
--Mark

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Cloggy

An example of a flag jump https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0s6WWl_ij8
And just two loops at the corners should do the trick.

Here somebody is jumping with a stick at the bottom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OrmMKXZW94



Great video of the flag jump. Very helpful. The only thing that gave me pause was at pull time when he had that long trailing flag as his pilot chute and d-bag were moving past it -- I wonder if that's an entanglement hazard?
--Mark

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Mark.Carroll

[quote "Cloggy"- I wonder if that's an entanglement hazard?

. No need to wonder if for damn sure is
i have on occasion been accused of pulling low . My response. Naw I wasn't low I'm just such a big guy I look closer than I really am .


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I did this in 1999 and still have the sign hanging in garage. It was maybe 14x24 cut hand holds.

Half inch plywood I think I can take pic in the AM

Long time ago and was in Elsinore

“Christina I love you will you marry me”

Kicker is it was like jump 27 for me. Did with an instructor and he exited with the sign, passed it to me and took it back close to break away time..

Video tape is currently missing but in storage somewhere

Still married and after a 15 year pause just started jumping last year

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