Music While Skydiving

[Monkeyb 0]

Hey guys, I know this is a very newbie question to ask as I'm sure this has been discussed many times, but... is it possible to somehow have headphones when you jump or are there any helmets with auditory plugs that support mp3 players and such?

I'm new to diving, I've gone on one tandem and just passed my level I freefall a couple weeks back, but I plan to go all the way and get my license, I'm in love.

I imagine the combination of music with freefalling makes for an amazing experience and would like to try it one day.

[dreamsville 0]

You could, but there are some considerations:

1) Ability to hear audible altimeter as additional altitude awareness aid, even though you should not solely depend upon audibles.

2) Ability to hear others under canopy in case of a potential near-collision. When doing canopy relative work(CReW), hearing others has added criticality.

3) When freeflying, change in wind pitch with body position can be an interesting indicator, although that's more a matter of interest than safety.

4) When flying in very close proximity during free-fall or exits, you can hear each other yell.
|

I don't drink during the day, so I don't know what it is about this airline. I keep falling out the door of the plane.

Harry, FB #4143

[towerrat 0]

you could use the insert type of earphones and put the playing device in your jumpsuit.Honestly though it's the last thing you should be concerned with while plummeting to earth at 120 mph or better. Some people use audible altimeters that slide in a small pocket of the helmet. You can hear them in freefall just fine.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[dsbbreck 0]

I thought about this once, but gave up the idea do to the difference in volume you'll experience from freefall to under canopy.

How often do you turn down your radio in the car when you come to a stop. The music suddenly becomes very loud without the road noise. Now imagine it without the freefall noise. I don't want music blasting in my ears once the canopy opens, especially if I might have to deal with a malfunction.

David

"Socrates wasn't killed because he had the answer.......he was killed because he asked the question."

[dterrick 0]

Quote

I imagine the combination of music with freefalling makes for an amazing experience and would like to try it one day.

You'll hear nothing worthwhile at terminal velocity, I'm afraid.

I've got a Yepp and have used it, infrequently, for skydiving. Besides what others have said about the danger of being distracted, if you're doing a cross country (hop n pop from full altitude) it's a FANTASTIC experience - I did one this weekend and while the music I imagine is good, the music I could hear was even better.


Using the Yepp was also a good indicator of how loud it REALLY is in a Cessna ... I set the volume on the ground and could barely hear it inflight. More experienced skydivers swear by earplugs than MP3's ... but that could also be a generational thing. Discmen are too bulky and they'd REALLY skip on deployment

-Dave

Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

[smak 0]

http://www.etymotic.com/musicians/more6.asp

+

http://www.iriveramerica.com/products/iMP-550.asp

=



if you're really a fanatic you can spring for the ER-4's but thats really stretching the budget.. better attenuation though.

[quack 0]

Quote

***Discmen are too bulky and they'd REALLY skip on deployment

-Dave

Discman? Isn't that like an 8-track now??

But you have to understand, mental illness is like cholesterol. There is the good kind and the bad. Without the good kind- less flavor to life. - Serge A. Storms

[dterrick 0]

Quote

]Discman? Isn't that like an 8-track now??

wha'chu got plugged into your home stereo? ... in your car ? Unless it's MP3 (which, likely also supports CD) you're busted on that one . If you do, you'll know I agree with you in principle (Alpine decks rock except for that stupid yellow book protocol thingy that makes me include the track number before the cut title .... rrrgh). My home CD player dies 2 years ago and has not been replaced. I bought a sony Discman at BestBuy only because it was a warranty return and mis-priced ($26, like new ...
Tech has progressed sooo fast that I'd give the CD format the same status cassetes had in the late 80's, but unless you have an iPod, any MP3 player that can hold a decent tunage without a visit to your home puter is as big as a CD player. I can' t wait to upgrade my wimpy lil 64k MP3 player that only takes 45 minutes of tunes ... but I had to have one when that was the standard... o well...

-Dave

Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

[michaelflying 0]

Get video and add music

www.skydivekzn.co.za

[Monkeyb 0]

Nice. Those earphones will work wonders hehe.

I know safety is a concern. I'm not saying I will or won't do this, I just wondered if its a possibility. Good to hear all the different feedback from everyone though.

Once I go through my first 50 jumps I'm sure I'll be able to assess the risks myself, and at that point in may be worth trying, for now I'll let the idea pass :)

[AggieDave 6]

I used to take my MP3 player with me on solo jumps fairly often, I could hear it in the plane, I could hear it in freefall and I could especially hear it under canopy.

I quite, though.

For one, the safety concerns under canopy, but mostly I was worried about damage to my ears. I had the volume very very LOUD so I could hear it in freefall, that can't be good for the ears. I'm an avid musician and if I lost my hears, I think I'd go insane.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Alambic 0]

I tried it once, but even with the sound quite loud, I couldn t hear anything while in Freefall... Yet under canopy I was almost surprised of hearing it because I had almost forgetted it...

Alambic

[ypelchat 0]

If you want to listen to music while skydiving, I recommend that you look for a RCA Lyra2 MP3 player. There were two RCA Lyra2 models sold on the market: The RD 2209 and RD 2211. You can find both of these model on Ebay. I bought mine ( RD 2211 ) about 2 years ago. The player came with a nice wired remote control, and a 64Mb compact flash memory card. But soon, I got tired with the 1 hour limit the 64Mb card provided, so I recently bought a 512Mb compact flash memory card, and I can now enjoy about 8 hours of uninterrupted music ! The advantage of flash based MP3 player is that they're immune to high G shock sports, such as jogging......and skydiving. I also have a 20Gb Nomad Jukebox, and it's skips when I walk rapidly.....so, for skydiving, forget it. Don't think about a hard drive based MP3 player, and get a flash memory based player instead.

(A friend of mine had a 512Mb card, and I asked him if I could try the card, to verify compatibility before I shell the big bucks on a useless card. It works perfectly, but I found that the Lyra2 has a 100 song limit, regardless of the available memory. So unless you're willing to record entire albums as a single MP3 song, You'll be limited to about 450Mb worth of music (100 songs). So with careful "memory management", you'll be capable of filling the entire 512Mb, just as I did. I'm pretty sure the player would function correctly, even with the now available 2Gb Compact Flash card)

As a side note:

IBM Microdrives are extremely sensitive to rapid barometric pressure changes, so they're definitely not recommended for skydiving activities (digital photography or MP3).



Yves.