hoym

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Everything posted by hoym

  1. Oops, the 10 second note was a typo. The math was right though, 9 segments of 20 seconds each equals 180 seconds. (I've fixed that in the other post.) As for the 1/2 mile for a two way, you may be right. Here is what I said... My post was long enough the way it was. I just used a half mile example throughout for consistency sake. There are a lot of variables as mentioned, and as you suggest, that should be added into the equation to determine the appropriate distance of separation between groups. Size of the formations, type of formations (big way rw, small way rw, freefly, tandem, aff, crw, wing suit, etc.). That would be quite an administrative task to try to get each type of skydiver to know the subtleties of exit delay calculations to the extent of knowing... IF you are a two way and following another 4 way or smaller (which is NOT a skysurfer or wing suit flyer) THEN take a 10 second delay BUT if you are following an rw group of 5 to 12 then take a 15 second delay or 12 or larger then take a 20 second delay, blah, blah, blah, , blah, blah. (Again, don't use these number, its for discussion. Make your own decision.) It seems that it might be more simple for the operator to post a note someplace like the loading tent or near the door of the aircraft that for today the delay is X. Remember one of the things I said was that you need to determine what distance you want and then the math will help with determining the amount of delay. If you don't know what distance you want for separation and you don't know the ground speed, you will never be able to know how many seconds to delay between groups. Who knows how would be the best way to implement a safe delay between groups. Continue researching and teaching I guess. (Thanks for finding the typo/mistake.) -mh.
  2. Okay, in the past I've scanned the discussions about exit order and spacing between loads. I decided to try to play with some numbers just for fun. Someone one reading this can tell me if my math is correct or if this has already been considered. BIG DISCLAIMER! THESE IDEAS ARE FOR DISCUSSION AND THEIR ACCURACY HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED!!! I think the most important thing for skydivers to understand is the concept of ground speed (GS) and also the variables that affect GS. (IAS, TAS, wind direction, direction of flight). Most pilots measure airspeed in knots (nautical miles per hour). Most skydivers understand statute (normal drive your car type of) miles so my calculations take this into consideration. One nautical mile is equal to 1.15 statute miles (the unit of measure most of us state side folks use). What we need to know in advance. Ground Speed in Knots (GSK). This should be supplied by the pilot. Distance desired between groups of skydivers. This should be dictated by the DZ, DZO or S&TA. What we want to calculate. TIME in seconds. The amount of delay needed between each group of skydivers to give the desired distance between groups. With the GSK and desired distance information, we should be able to calculate the amount of delay needed between each group of skydivers on a given load. A knot is a measure of nautical miles per hour. Because we want to calculate time of delay between groups in a measure of seconds, the first thing to do is convert the GSK (ground speed in knots) to a measure of distance of statute miles per second. So …. If the GSK is 80 then 80 * 1.15 = 92 miles per hour 92 / 60 = 1.5333 miles per minute 1.5333 /60 = 0.02555 miles per second Or… 80 * 1.15 / 60 /60 = 0.02555 miles traveled per second. Now for discussion purposes, let’s say that you want .5 (one half) mile(s) between each group of skydivers. And here is THE BIG QUESTION (for all of us Jaywalk Allstars)… How many seconds do we wait to get a half mile of separation between each group of skydivers? Take the distance desired and divide distance traveled per second and it will give you the amount of time the next group should wait before exiting the airplane. .5 / .02555 = 19.569 (or about 20 seconds) Let’s look at two more examples with a hypothetical headwind and tailwind component put in to change the groundspeed. To try to keep it brief, I’m not going to change the desired amount of separation distance. You can decide to use whatever you want there. So for this example, consider a 30 knot headwind so that now our airplane has a 50 knot ground speed. 50 * 1.15 / 60 / 60 = 0.015972 And (for half mile separation distance)… .5 / 0.015972 = 31.3 seconds of delay between groups. And now turn the airplane around so that there’s a 30 knot tail wind (110 knot ground speed). 110 * 1.15 / 60 / 60 = 0.035138 And for half mile separation distance… .5 / 0.035138 = 14.2 seconds of delay. Now, let’s go back to our 80 knot GS, half mile separation example where we need 20 seconds between each group. Let’s say that there are 10 two-ways on this twin otter. If every group takes exactly 20 seconds between each exit, that should be 180 seconds of jump run from the first group exit to the last group exit. If the plane with an 80 knot ground speed takes 180 seconds and it travels 0.02555 miles per second, then the jumpers will be spread out over 4.6 miles. Just some ideas to consider. If anyone would like to verify the math, that would be great. BIG DISCLAIMER AGAIN! THESE IDEAS ARE FOR DISCUSSION AND THEIR ACCURACY HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED!!! (Edited to make the incorrect 10 into a 20.)
  3. I have no knowledge of the pilot Mr. Hill or any knowledge of the Cushing dz. My comments are general observations about the industry and have no reflection of any specific dz or operation. This is not true. Every dz pilot must at some time fly their very first load with actual skydivers on it. Flying skydivers is different than other types of flying and dz pilots should receive appropriate training before flying jumpers. It is unusual for any pilot outside of skydiving to gain experience flying under the conditions that jump pilots fly in. Very heavy weight at take off. Slow flight speeds at heavy weight. Moving cargo / shifting center of gravity. And then suddenly very light weight for decent and landing. Also, during all of the varying flight characteristics, the pilot communicates with the jumpmaster in the plane, the enroute or approach radar controllers, the local CTAF, all at the same time as monitoring the flight and operation of the aircraft. This is not true. There are many dz's that will not pay their pilots enough to hire very experienced pilots because the very experienced pilots will not work for the rate (sometimes nothing/free) offered by the dz. This is true. But, a person can get a commercial pilots rating with only 200 hours of total time. Of that, at least 40 hours and usually more was logged as a student pilot. This is not true. As mentioned before, spin recovery is not required training for a private or commercial pilots rating. Also, in a situation of severe aft center of gravity, this can make it very difficult to recover from a spin even with extreme competence and appropriate pilot reactions. Also, jump pilots fly in an environment of heavy weight and low speeds. This alone is a recipe for trouble. While it should be taught, it is not drilled into many student pilots enough about the relationship between weight of the aircraft, density altitude (temperature) and stall speed. If the weight of the aircraft is close to or over the aircraft maximum gross takeoff weight, the stall speed will be higher. Add to this situation where you have a student on the strut and suddenly he drops off and then the JM moves toward the rear of the plane in order to make room for the student sitting with his back to the pilot to slide over to the student exit position, and suddenly the plane is placed into a very rearward center of gravity situation. This also will increase the stall speed. It takes an experienced and trained pilot to manage all of these variables and most new jump pilots do not receive sufficient training for these flight conditions. Just some thoughts and observations. This is not an attack on gerrgoin. He simply provided an opening that allowed for adding some of my opionions to an important topic.
  4. Answer: Climb Ice. Don Briggs who jumps at Paradise skydives in Vinton, Iowa has put together one of the best ice climbing facilities in the midwest. A competition was hosted last Saturday sponsored by Red Bull. It was a lot of fun. The tallest of the four silo's is 75 feet tall. Here are a couple of over 200 pictures that I took there this last Saturday. Between Doc John and I, we also took four and a half hours of video that we're going to compile into a documentary of the event. (Still waiting for summer though), -mike.
  5. Some time ago, Quade posted a link to a site with a lot of information on flash. http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/ I have the 420EX and it won't rapid fire multiple frames without taking too much of a delay to re-charge. This is an excerpt from the site... "Flash units with rapid-fire capabilities: Speedlites 160E, 300EZ, 420EZ, 430EZ, 540EZ, 550EX, 480EG. Flash units with no rapid-fire capabilities: Speedlites 200E, 220EX, 380EX, 420EX, ML-3, MR-14EX, MT-24EX, 300TL. " I am buying the 550EX (maybe two of them) before the spring season starts. I have an unused 420EX for sale. -mh.
  6. Found this to be an informative article. http://www.danheller.com/model-release.html#2.1 Hope the clicky link works. -mh.
  7. I logged the time in all of the different aircraft and the crossings while working for an aircraft sales company. The Pacific crossings were done once in a Piper PA-31-350 Chieftain to South Korea and twice in a Cessna C-303 Crusader from Japan back to the states. This is off of the top of my head but the Atlantic crossings were done in Piper Malibu's (3), Piper Seneca II & III, PA31-310 and 350's, Cessna 303, 310, 335, 340, 414, Beech Barron, Duke. There may have been something else but I think that is it for the crossings. At the time, the trips were such an adventure you don't think you'll ever forget any detail. However, if I could do anything over again, I would document the trips better with a journal and more pictures. It was a great two year adventure. -mh. edited to add: I agree with your comment about ditching under canopy. I regularly carried my rig with me.
  8. Commercial, Multi, Instrument. Never got an instructors rating. Just over 1,000 hours multi and just over 1,000 hours single engine time. Almost all piston, less than 50 hours of turbine time. Time logged in over 65 different models of airplanes. (This is kind of a stretch or opinion as C-182, C-182RG, and Turbo C-182RG were counted as three different models.) Almost all different models of Cessna, Piper, and Beech piston singles and twins. Flown 26 Atlantic crossings and 3 Pacific crossings. Still log about 100 flying hours a year but haven't done an ocean crossing since '95. Current Skydiving ratings: AFF-I, Tandem-I, D12622 Former Skydiving ratings: S/L-I, IAD-I, Pro, S&TA
  9. Okay, when can we see the pictures of this new rig? You've described exactly what I'm planning to do. I don't have the 550's yet but I'll get them ordered soon. Did you need to do anything special, or need any special equipment to get the two flashes to communicate wirelessly?
  10. Yeah, every server that we put together here at work, we build as scsi raid 5. I like it a lot and as poor a job as I do at home backing up (like never), I really like the idea of having that reduncancy.
  11. I saw that Sam's club had a 200gb internal drive for $150. http://www.samsclub.com/eclub/main_shopping.jsp?n=0&oidPath=0%3a-23542%3a-33761%3a-33794%3a-33796%3a725404&coe=0&BV_SessionID=_SC_1974990145.1074209706_CS_&BV_EngineID=cccladckfljgfjgcfkfcfkjdgoodflg.0
  12. This is what I spec'd out today. I'm considering buying this to upgrade my home computer. Does anyone have any experience with something like this? If it works the way I understand it, it would provide 500gb (half terabyte) of Raid 5 disk space for only $856.00. Raid 5 provides redundancy so that if one of the drives fails, no data is lost and the drive can be replaced and the raid system will re-stripe the new drive and restore the redundancy. PROMISE FASTTRACK MODEL SX4000 RAID5 ATA http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=sx4000&searchdepa=1 1 @ $141.00 Western Digital 250GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=wd2500jb&searchdepa=1 3 @ $209.00 Kingston ValueRam 168 Pin 256MB 1 @ $67.00
  13. I've been using BreezeBrowser for RAW conversion. This software, developed by Chris Breeze, was created using the Canon SDK (software developers kit). http://www.breezesys.com/ The software also has a lot of other nice features for cataloging and previewing photos, creating web pages, sending pics as email attachments and more. You can download and try it and then buy it later if you like it. later, -mh.
  14. Jenifer, We said some prayers for you tonight from Iowa. Wishing you a speedy recovery. -mike.
  15. Congrats!!! Wish we had cable/history channel so we could see it. We're too far out in the country and we don't watch enough tv to justify the cost of a dish.
  16. Deuce, I'll bet that you are right. I just haven't tried it before. I'll try it as soon as I get a chance. It might not be until the spring though. Jump season has pretty much come to an end here in Iowa. There is a small, small chance that I might get a day or two in Eloy at Christmas time but that is very tentative at the moment. Even if I do make it, I'm not sure if I'll haul my camera gear with me. Later. -mike.
  17. As far as I can tell from the add, it is a full version. I bought a different Pinnacle product, (the Pinnacle DV200), a couple of years ago for just over $200 and it included a full version of Premiere 6.0. I don't use any of the dv200 tools anymore but the dv200 firewire card works with the Microsoft firewire drivers and Premiere can use that card just fine.
  18. The best way to get a cheap copy of premiere is to buy it bundled with some other manufacturer's firewire card. A quick search found this card from Pinnacle bundled with Premiere 6.5 for $200. I've bought regularly from B&H and never had any trouble there. Edited to add clicky link. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh5/controller/home?O=&A=ShowProduct&Q=&sku=296427
  19. I typically have not used the 'sports' setting. How does this make for better slow-motion shots? My guess is that it would be analogous to a higher shutter speed which would requiring a larger aperture resulting in a smaller depth of field. Do you know how this setting will affect depth of field? (I'm just beginning to grasp these concepts with still photos and not sure how they apply to video.) I sometimes set my video camera focus on 'infinity' to avoid the changing of the focus to a non-subject object during a skydive. With 'infinity' focus set on my video camera, I've had good luck keeping the primary subject in focus even at a very close distance. This has worked well for me. Does anyone else do this?
  20. Wow. Amazing examples of before and after. You said that you now have all of the supplies for cleaning the sensor. Could you give a little more detailed information on what supplies you have / used for cleaning? Thanks. -mh.
  21. I had my 20th 'birthday' this fall. Sept 9th, 1983 was my first time.
  22. A search on www.dpreview.com in the 300D forum finds a lot of error 99 complaints. Most but not all, point toward Sigma lens problems. http://search.dpreview.com/forums/search.asp?query=error+99&forum=1031 Good luck and let us known what solves the problem for you.
  23. When the 10D came out, there were a lot of new camera owners that were getting errors that could only be re-set by taking out the battery. From what I read at the time, most of these errors were caused by older Sigma lenses that were not compatible with the new Canon camera. I had this problem as well and I ended up buying a new Canon lens for my 10D.
  24. I am able to make a little bit of money by shooting video of tandem passengers. As long as my local DZ is in business, I can work on the weekends (which I enjoy) and I only have to drive 45 minutes to get to work. If the tandem passenger pays $75 for the video, I don't mind paying more than the $20 for the seat on the airplane. Anything I can do to help the DZ stay in business is good for me. I look at any amount that I might pay over the $20 jump ticket as my contribution toward advertising or just as a way to say 'thanks' to the DZO for taking the financial risk of buying the airplane. (I've owned an airplane before. Believe me, it is a financial risk.) While I do NOT have a partnership interest or financial investment in this DZ, I try to approach it with the attitude that it is a partnership. If he stays in business, then I get to stay in business and I get to keep jumping. Now I also believe that it is important to be fair. I don't want a DZO to take advantage of me and I try not to be too greedy and ask for too much from him. The quandary is that most people have their own opinion about what is fair. If this DZO started taking too big of cut, at some point, I'd have to drive to another DZ that would let me work there. Or, I'd have to buy another airplane and get back into the business. Neither of those are very appealing to me. I've got it good now and, if at all possible, I want everything to stay just that way it is. I would enjoy paying just the $20 jump ticket and keeping the remaining $55 for myself. I don't think I would consider it fair to if I could only keep $20 out of the $75. Hopefully, somewhere in there is a happy medium where a DZO and employee can be able to agree. Like others have said, I have a lot of money invested in a lot of gear that is needed to produce the product. And, I've made a lot of jumps that allow me to be fairly consistent in what I produce. Forget about the sunk cost of the equipment and don't even think about trying to calculate the cost of making so many jumps over so many years to get the flying skills. If I only added up the amount of time that I put into a single tandem video from shooting the pre-jump gear-up to post jump interview to packing my parachute to editing the video (at home w/ Premiere), etc., from an hourly rate, I probably don't get paid enough. But... (And this is what it is all about) it sure is fun.
  25. and mailing $3.85per video. ---------------------------------------- The US Postal Service will deliver video tapes under their 'Book' rate or 'Media' rate price schedule. I put the tape in an envelope, write 'Media Material' on the side and put $1.44 worth of stamps on the envelope and drop it in the mail box. I went to the post office first to have them weigh the package and tell me how much I needed in postage. A friend of mine mails his in a fancier box and he needs a little more postage. --------------------------------- It seems that there are several types of arrangements available for camera flyers to work at a dz. 1) Employee, (dz provides a paycheck w/ tax withholding) 2) Contract Employee, (dz pays w/ no tax withheld) 3) Freelance (Self employed /Customer pays cameraman directly) There is quite a difference in how a DZ might operate a camera concession. A DZ might provide the camera, editing equipment, people to do the editing, tapes, etc. and own the entire operation and have much more control including control over who is allowed to be a camera operator. Another DZ may allow any independent cameraman to peddle their wares so to speak and set their own prices and product differentiation from other camera operators. Most probably operate somewhere in between these two examples. I don't have any problem with a DZO charging the camera operator for the slot plus a little bit more. They have done all the work to get the customer there. We don't have to do any advertising. Just show up and our customers are there, all thanks to the DZO and the work they've done and their investment in the planes, etc.