costanza

Hey Bob,

Interesting project you're working on.

I used to do parachute R&D/acquisition for the Army, and actually worked with I-a-I on a project. I wonder if the resident knowledge has left the company, or maybe the connection hasn't been made yet.

Also, this type of trainer in part already exists, and the DoD owns them...hope the Navy knows. Not trying to kill a SBIR proposal.

I get down to Hawaii a lot and bring my gear to jump as well. Pacific is the only option of the two, and I've had decent experiences there. The view is quite possibly the best of any skydive I've ever done, maybe except a tandem over Fiji.

couple things for you to think about:

the dz is an early one. first load is anywhere between 0630-0700 and they finish just after lunch time. the wind picks up, so it's a great time to go head to the beaches on the north shore.

tandems take priority. I did sit a couple days all day waiting to get on a load, and only got one slot on the last load of the day (about 230 pm). be prepared for that, but you are hanging out in Hawaii and it's beautiful, so...

talk to the video guys about landing patterns and flight patterns. they know what's up and won't steer you wrong.

bottom line, awesome people, totally worth it, bring your gear, visual orgasm during your jump.

Greg Windmiller does too, plenty of experience as a recently retired Golden Knight

Allergic to latex too, but I have never had a reaction handling the bands, and I just get hives, no anaphalaxis thankfully.

Also might consider talking to folks at your dz about a stowless dbag. that would cut the number of potential encounters down too.

nitrile/latex gloves over or under your regular gloves are there mostly as a wind stopper. the only advantave I've ever seen of putting them on over your existing gloves is you don't have to take your regular gloves off. make sure if you go over the top you get a large enough size, and check if you have velcro, etc. that will snag those. once they tear, kind of useless.

the last jump I did here in Alaska was about a month ago now before the dz shut down for the season. was something like -9F at 10K, and not much warmer down closer to the ground. I jumped with a pair of dakine ski gloves that had a rubberized palm I use for ice climbing. worked fine for me, but was cold.

biggest thing to do if you are going to try using winter gloves is try them on and see if you can grab and engage your toggles and BOC. I put my rig on and did practice touches for about 20 min, and then 3-5 min before each jump with my eyes closed. Your hackey will likely feel quite different with a glove and can cause issues.

regardless of what you choose to wear, if it's winter jumping and sufficiently cold at altitude, your hands will be cold. keep some hand warmers in your gear bag for after you land. arm position and moving through cold, low moisture air will just suck the heat from your hands and body. not much you can do but minimize the suck factor.

NickyCal

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Is the canopy/bag twisting up right off your back as the dbag leaves the pack tray (you can feel this but not see it) or is it spinning up during inflation?

It is spinning up during inflation. After it hits the back of my head.

that's an interesting bit of information. where are you experiencing getting hit? is it on the side in the back of the head, or dead center in the back?

I wonder, because the G3 is slightly pointed in the back, if you are getting hit dead center in the back of the head, have someone film your openings and make sure to get your leg position. Maybe you're starting to backslide just as the deployment bag leaves your container, and you are sliding into it, which could easily cause it to start spinning.

I looked at those gloves, or something very similar at least, for work a couple of years ago. the big things you'll want to note:

how fast do they warm up?
how warm do they get?
what is exposed (cabling)?
what are the power requirements, and how long do they last?

for most jumps, if you wait until you get to 1-2k before jump altitude and put on nitrile gloves underneath what you normally jump in, those cutting the wind helps a lot. I know for me, once I get out, I don't notice the cold. I did a jump here in Alaska last weekend and didn't really realize it was cold until maybe at 1000 feet. I have done jumps in AZ and ME where it was painful the entire jump though.

back to my original 4 thoughts, those should help you figure out if it's worth getting them, or toughing it out. For me, some good insulated winter gloves (another story for another day) and one of those chemical hand warmer things when I land seems to be sufficient.

looks great in straight-line, calm, no malfunction flight. when do we get to see the mannequin test of the spinning mal?

have had this thread booked marked for ages, just got my new tonysuit in the mail yesterday.

put the shoegoo on with the shoes in the suit, to get the right shape? not with me wearing the suit right? I got the airspeed stye booties, and I think I could fit my shoes into the suit without wearing them.

how critical are the shoes you use - does the shoegoo move at all after curing or would it crack? what I mean is if i used more pointed shoes opposed to rounded cross trainers or something. I'd hate to have the stuff peel and break off after a while.

good to know about the liner, I had thought of ask them that.

I was talking to Nick from Cookie about washing mine too. It definitely smells like me, and it's kind of gross sometimes haha!

He mentioned you can take the visor off, all the mechanical parts, remove all the removable parts of the liner (the chin piece at least), put it in the dishwasher and run it with just a tiny bit of soap. No heated drying though!! I'd probably see if i can run it on a cold cycle somehow myself, just to be safe.

Some of the spray ideas are nice, but how will that get the sweat already in there out, as opposed to just masking the funk?

I had the same concerns when I was shopping for my current helmet and was going to be wearing glasses. The best thing for me was to go to Chutingstar, and try on helmets with my glasses for about 30 min. Some of them fit well, some I couldn't close the face shield without my glasses being smashed into my face. Others the temples were being squished to my head.

Even if the website says it can accommodate glasses, most can. Things to remember though - everyone's head is different. Everyone's glasses are different. It could be that the combination of your head and your glasses work with a Rev2, it could be that they work with a different helmet. I'd recommend trying a bunch of them on if you have the chance. Or at least trying on your friend's helmets.

for those referencing a VR simulator, it's called PARASIM http://www.parasim.com/

I try not to spend too much time understanding what Chris D writes, since I don't want to cause a brain aneurysm, but I'm sure his version of reality is quite nice.

as far as price, pretty sure that's exactly what I paid to send my suit back to bevsuits and have them put the booties on.

I use www.weather.gov

www.weather.gov -> enter my city/zip in the upper left for local weather -> scroll down to the Hourly Weather Graph on the right side near the bottom of the page.

for SNE, I get results that look like http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=43.39444&lon=-70.85083329999998&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical

I just saved the page to my phone and use that to check the weather. Another site I use when I'm at the DZ is www.windsaloft.us. It pulls in the GPS from your phone or web browser and gives you wind conditions at that location.

Doug is a stand up guy and knows his shit. I wouldn't expect him to put out a product to jumpers unless he was 100% confident in it. Definitely what you want from a mftr.

it's definitely an interesting idea, but sometimes technology doesn't transfer across sports as easily as we'd like.

the idea of an airbag like that is compelling, but let's look at a few things just for conversation:

-what are the most common types of injuries in skydiving? is this going to reduce that number enough to make it desirable?

-does the current design of that device fit in with skydiving mechanics? that is, could wearing it make our sport less safe resulting in further injury, prompting a redesign for a skydiving version? It looks quite bulky as it is. In skydiving, opposed to cycling, we move our head in more directions more frequently. Anything that could be perceived as inhibiting head movement could cause a dangerous scenario, or people to not want to use it.

-how would you change the activation parameters? the video looks like it activates after impact. I'm sure that's not how you want this to work for skydiving :)

just some food for thought...

god damn you and your slugs.

Though I don't ride a motorcycle, one of the biggest issues I could see would be visibility. I had a bonehead Havok I used for the tunnel, awesome in there btw, but after 1 jump, I noticed I couldn't see anything above me and made free fall terrifying.

One thing you could do is if there is a showroom for the motorcycling helmets, go and try some on, and lay on the floor and pretend you're in free fall. Sure you'll look like a weirdo to the folks there, but that might show you some of the pros/cons to using one of those helmets.

Also, the sharp edges comments make sense, but also think, could my suspension lines get wrapped around something? If so, could I get this helmet off quickly?

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You may already have it.

Most homeowners and renters insurance has a provision for personal property that is "off premiss". This covers pretty much anything you own that is lost/stolen etc. outside of your house. It is subject to your deductible, but you can work around that.

I actually just changed my homeowners insurance and increased my personal property off premiss coverage, and had my deductible lowered from 1000 to 500. I now have enough to cover all my gear if the dz burns down with my gear in the locker...recover a chopped camera helmet/canopy, or cover the difference if teh airline loses my rig (they usually only pay about 500 tops for lost luggage).

this. I increased my renter's insurance to cover the replacement cost (as requested by liberty mutual) of all my equipment.

Not being able to attend this year, I was glad to see the videos that were put online, but do wish the seminars were as well.

Maybe this is something the community at large could take up, instead of relying on PIA - though you do lose some potential standardization.

The previous comment about more cameras being in skydiving than skydivers could easily be explored. Not that it solves all the steps, but I'm sure if there was a camera set up at the back of the room, prior to the speaker starting their seminar they could ask for a camera operator volunteer. I'm sure someone would volunteer. That doesn't solve any issues of making sure there is a camera in the room, or the editing, but I'm sure we could get more people to step up and volunteer. At least for filming.

Interesting to see some of the comments on these. I evaluated the gen 1 goggles for work, and at the time was told they were thinking about developing a set for skydiving.

The big issue with the original set was the goggles they were paired. Nothing against them on their own, but it made for an uncomfortable fit, they were huge, and there were the same issues with the looking at the HUD made you take your eyes off the slope.

I do remember seeing some images of just the HUD without it attached to any pre-made goggles. Looks like it is for sale http://shop.reconinstruments.com/product/mod-live-na/. I would be curious for people who have jumped the goggles, if you think the solo HUD that you could integrate yourself would be a better product?

Not that I'm going to buy either, just musing here in another snowpocalypse in NE.

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Especially with helmets, it's great to try before you buy since head size/shape can impact comfort.

this 1000% too. remember if you wear glasses to try the helmet on with those too.

I agree getting hands on is a huge benefit. Since you're still working towards your A license, on your next jump, talk to the coach before and after. Ask him/her about his/her gear, why they chose that container over another, etc. See if they have some time if they can walk around the dz with you and introduce you to some folks who have different gear. You can always walk around yourself and strike up conversations with people. I'm sure most would be happy to chat. Another good resource would be the packers. They will let you know which containers and canopies they like to pack, they don't, etc.

As for trying before you buy, there will be a difference between something with 1000 jumps and something with 0. That said, if you might want to find out the next time there is a boogie or big event at your home dz, or perris, and hop on by. There are usually a bunch of manufacturers there with demo gear you can jump, and most certainly try on. They are also a huge resource.

Sadly, there is no real showroom like there are for cars and no large scale department stores. Remember, most of the gear is custom/hand made.

long story short, id say your best bet is to bring it up with your coach/instructor your next jump and see how they can help.