Meanee

Those two things don't add up to me. Either - your footage is actually crap - well, maybe it's useful to show to wuffos "hey, look! I'm a skydiver!"; - you're actually paying more attention to it than you claim that you are; or - you don't know what good footage looks like. You are not wrong here. My footage may be crap and I only took it twice on a solo jump. I focus more on my own flying than pointing camera at others. I liked the video I took. So did others. And I actually held on to my principle of not paying any attention to the camera after door is open. I am sure better camera work will come with experience, but nobody really wakes up one day and thinks "Ok, I am experienced and my footage is awesome" so I am ok with shitty videos in the beginning.

I first jumped my camera when I had 120 jumps. DZ doesn't care. I made few rules for myself. Once in the plane, camera does not exist. Once door opens, I push one button. No matter what happens (beep, no beep, whatever), camera does not exist. It's a normal jump, as far as I am concerned. What does exist, is proper gear checks and jump planning. If camera does not work, does not turn on, does not film, oh well. I also agreed with myself, in case of any entanglements, I will break off the camera and toss it. Or I will undo the helmet and toss it. Sure, it's expensive, But I can afford a new one if I need to buy it. Jumps were pretty uneventful, camera footage was great, and I did not touch it until I touched down on the ground.

Lost mine last weekend. Was a sit-fly. I thought I slammed it all the way down, I guess I was wrong. Buddy of mine said he saw the visor starting to vibrate and then popped off. He thought it was hilarious. Me, not so much. In fact, I am surprised neighbors didn't complain about hearing all these 4-letter words coming from the sky. One thing that was weird before it popped off, visor won't stay in Open position, it would just slide down. I have GoPro mount on top, so it doesn't lock in place, but friction alone held it. My new visor (dark tint, looks badass as hell) stays open with no issues. So, I'd say, if you feel that there's not a whole lot of friction, double-check mechanisms on both sides, re-seat if you have to. And confirm that both sides are locked before exiting.

Jumped with them. Great group of people. I was pretty nervous about balloon and landing out, but organizers are top notch, gave me enough instruction.

So, would me stressing about my 260 Navigator main be a bit stupid? I am 233 out of the shower. And I keep thinking that at 29 jumps, 260 may be a bit too small...

And here I am, scared shitless just thinking about going from Nav 300 to Nav 260, having total of 28 jumps.

I have to say I am also pretty freaked out by AFF 1. I never jumped before, and come this weekend, I will do tandem, AFF 1 and AFF 2. I was supposed to jump last Sunday. Took FJC, and will be practicing PLFs in the gym today. Thanks to rain, I didn't jump. I practice at least 30 minutes a day with arch, dive flow, using an app on my phone to give me fake altimeter. While I can probably be woken up at 3am, and perfectly repeat 3 Cs and 4 S's, give perfect dive flow steps and so on, the fact that I will be tossed out of the plane at 13500 feet is still unnerving.

Legality aside, you are more likely to hurt yourself. It all depends on type of plane. Biggest hurdle is opening the door. Most planes have "car door" types. They will open just like in a car. In order to actually being able to open the door, pilot must slow down the aircraft significantly, and maybe even do a forward slip. Once door is opened, aerodynamics will change and plane will start turning into the direction of the open door. Since plane is in slow flight or slipping, you may enter a spin. Let's say you got the door opened. Climbed out. And then what? If you are flying a low-wing aircraft. chances are the door will be a bit in front of the wing. Now, you must close the door, and somehow jump safely, avoiding tail. A bit easier in T-Tail, but not conventional. Low wing aircraft do not have a spur to hold on to, like Cessnas. So, short answer: Even if it's legal, without proper equipment, and a trained pilot (just having PPL is not enough) it is dangerous and stupid.