chemist

the squirrel swift shook up the whole system

jump a lot

I don't think anyone thinks it's a good idea to fly canopy in the cloud. He means free falling in cloud, which is awesome and not dumb. Def if the cloud base is 5000' or less it's not a good idea to jump.

the best place for cloud jumping is in Australia in the summer months (octoberish-marchish). It has to be at a fun jumper DZ a bit inland, most DZs near the beach only do tandems and don't get frequent cloud cover anyways. The only time there will be a cloud hold is if there is a sheet of cloud at 3000'-5000' as that creates a danger no matter what precautions you take since that is the height everyone on the load opens at. Otherwise there are special rules in place the DZ follows that allows them to run loads through clouds. In fact it would be impossible to run a business if you couldn't jump through clouds since there's always big puffies to fall through : )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiWgDS_KRxg ok question answered!! haha

anyone tried a microphone with an open face helmet? For those of us who don't want to get whole new helmet setup for bluetooth..... I got motocycle speakers in already which work good for music. I seen videos of guys with mics on open faces but no way of knowing how well it works since the video didn't include sound from it also anyone know any iPhone apps that can connect to non-iPhone bluetooth systems? Then all I'd need is the microphone to be set. I am imagine the bluetooth on the 6/6+ must have a pretty good range and reliability by now

that might happen. But consider this, do you think an airplane would be more unstable if you suddenly removed the tail wing or front wing? And by stability I mean not rotating about a flight axis, in both instances the airplane would begin free fall but if it is the tail wing that's removed it begins a violent rotation into a nose dive, whereas if the front wing rips off the plane enters free fall without much rotation about the longitudinal axis

well we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Perhaps there are many factors at play like type of suit, height, weight, and canopy... where one configuration of factors will favor one method over the other. For me pulling in flight is always more stable, softer, on heading and predictable. But it could be because of the combination of my suit, weight, center of gravity and height that makes it the better position to pull in.

if you told me pulling in flight increases risk of pilot chute in tow cause you're not breaking up that burble as much I Could listen to that. If the student position is so much more stable how come BASE jumpers don't use that method where there is a lot less room for error?

A blanket rule is never good, because there will always be a situation where the safest thing to do is more than 90 and on top of that it only takes a 90 degree turn for a canopy collision if you are not aware of your surroundings like turning onto base when someone on final, etc...

I found out it's much more stable to pull in flight after I finished my coach jumps

For those TIs who see new camera fliers coming on the job, what are some of the characteristics of those who succeed in breaking into this kind of position? For someone like me with 270 jumps what should I be doing now to make my goal a reality? Will the fact that I can only work weekends work against me? Do I need to start doing a lot of belly flying? All I do is freefly and now wingsuit in my own time. But I also like to film belly formations as an outside cameraman

I was recently at one of their factory's in Brisbane to buy some accessories and I got a glimpse into a bit of product development, they are actually working on a flatmount designed specific for the fuel. I imagine it's going to have a riser for the mount so you can keep your gopro on the front. Might be worth a wait

so how's it been? On MArs, i mean Lodi??

they should be fit enough for a full day of jumping after a heavy night of drinking

damn bro this really upsets you ehh? with a skyhook RSL you may find you are under reserve faster than you can reach silver. It does not mean you're stupid besides you should be aware of altitude that you're cutting away at, if it's mal on opening at 3500' there is plenty of time. Whereas if you have a low altitude canopy collision then ya going through all your procedures is more important

Just curious what peoples thoughts are on this. You see videos all the time that include jumps falling through clouds. This poll obviously only refers to jumps made where it is illegal or against the rules to jump through a cloud. EDIT: if answering choice 3 you can assume the video you are sharing doesn't include things like tail#

Doesn't seem to be a necessary rule. Although I have heard of some people wingsuiting elliptical canopies, I think it would be extrememly rare to find a WS instructor to let a student do a first flight with an elliptical, rendering the rule obsolete.

Can you ask those questions again, specifying who "it" and "they" are? I don't think anyone can answer the questions properly without that. Remember, we are dealing with at least 3 different entities (in the US): FAA, USPA, tandem manufacturers. By the way, changes to the FAA medical for flying aircraft may not change anything with USPA's requirement for a medical (of some kind) for tandem. what I meant to say is the USPA/tandem manufacturer's require 500 jumps, 3rd class medical and reserve requirements etc... yet the FARs only states the requirement is 500 jumps, reserve, etc... but omits the 3rd class medical requirement. I think we can all agree it is not a crime to jump a tandem w/o a medical (and I don't even know if violating an FAR is even a crime or only results in a fine or suspension?) The only question is if anything were to go wrong could a lawyer sue the DZ for a company/TI violating BSRs or tandem manufacturer suggestions. People with DUIs have paid their debt to society as per the criminal law, this is America where we don't have double jeopardy. You are punished once for your crime. Not over and over again by some bullies, USPA should know better

But it does say you have to do the manufacturer's course/meet their requirements and SIGMA states you need a 3rd class medical. The question is why would they omit the medical requirement and list the other requirements like 500 jumps, properly rigged reserve etc... which are also requirements as per the manufacturer? Hopefully this will no longer matter once the 3rd class medical exemption law passes in early 2015

7K for 13K is pretty bold, I've never seen it that bad. Are you based in Australia by chance?

so this just happened a second time this summer to me, I introduced myself to with someone was about to jump with and we jump etc... then a few days later I am looking over some old footage and lo and behold I had jumped with the guy before! (albeit months ago, but less than a year) It was weird both times just seeing a pic or clip of an old jump and there those guys are jumping with me. On one of them it was even kind of a more of a memorable jump for me not just some rando 4 way so I was surprised not to remember Does this ever happen to anyone often? I feel like an ass just introducing myself because they might be thinking what the hell doesn't this guy remember we jumped before? haha Also worried about my memory deteriorating at such a young age, or maybe it's natural when you meet 100s of people a year to become desensitized to remembering everyone you jump with?

lmao, don't take this personally but that's a really stupid idea. In many places outside the US it's 100 jumps to have camera anyways

lmao... "your Honor I was 'holding' a license!"

I think what he is getting at is that in any discussion regarding a particular skydiving incident eventually someone will claim that a skyhook would have prevented the injury or fatality, in the same fashion that in a heated political debate eventually someone will call their opponent a Nazi. With that said I have yet to hear of a fatality caused by a skyhook. But many fatalities could have been prevented with the use of a skyhook.