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Larry Chernis bought his patterns. https://www.skydivestore.com/collapsible-pilot-chute-by-chernis-custom-zp-colors/ https://www.facebook.com/ChernisCollapsiblePilotChute/ http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4673910;search_string=Larry%20Chernis;#4673910 Larry does post on here. I do not know his handle. Jerry Baumchen ETA) Larry Chernis 18718 CR5739 Castroville, TX 78009 210-313-6342 [email protected] I have one of these and am very happy with it.

It's really a matter of wear you want to go. Don't feel like you have to get caught up in the downsizing game. I have been jumping a 190 (loaded about 1.2) since jump 14. Occasionally, people will make comments about my "huge" canopy. I really don't care. It's my body that has to land under this canopy and I'm not itching to up my risk factors for injury. I think many people race to downsize without first fully exploring what they can do with their current canopies. Just my opinion.

I have recently come back from a similar time off. Stopped just under 150 jumps. Was planning on pushing through to the 200 jumps for D license at the time, but life got in the way and jumping stopped for me for 15 years. About a dozen jumps back in and loving it. Did a little time in the tunnel too, so my first jump back I felt very confident.

I put over 150 jumps on a Z1, but then I started wearing glasses. My glasses won't fit in the Z1 as it is too close to my face. There is room to spare with the Aero. It is also a great helmet and the carbon fiber makes it light.

Thanks for the first hand report. I've seen a few too many lazy controllers over the years. A privatized worker may have NO incentive to stick his neck out for jump operations. That situation SUCKS. Once in the U.S., in Class B airspace, we got crap service. After landing, I called the facility and lodged a complaint. Next load up, new voice, great service. As a govt. agency, they are mandated to serve ALL of the public. As a private corporation, I shudder to think. Even with the current situation things can be difficult. I live under the traffic pattern for a small untowered field. I have been talking to the airport manager recently to just feel her out about the possibility of some skydiving operations there from time to time. The response was that anyone operating on the field needs a $1M liability policy that names the town as an insured. I'm certain that this policy is not enforced for everyone on the field (including some powered parachutes), but this is the kind of things you are up against now when local governments control the airfields. If you throw a private company controlling the airspace on top of that it will surely not make things better.

Above the Poconos Skydivers in Hazelton, PA (KHZL) is holding a canopy course with Brian Germain as the instructor on October 28-29 (Saturday-Sunday). Limited seats are available. More info at http://paskydive.com or https://www-1554b.bookeo.com/bookeo/b_paskydive_start.html?ctlsrc=1507575088504&src=02b Disclaimer: I'm attending this class and have just posted this here without asking or being instructed by the DZ to do so. Just thought some others in the area might be interested.

I've had lots of experience buying, selling and using Dolphins. They changed somewhat over the years. Newer ones at least have bridle cover flaps, but they still lack handle security. FF friendly containers have much more secure pin protection and much better riser covers. The lack of these protections make Dolphins unsafe for FF. I'm not telling you not to try sit jumps with yours. I'm merely trying to make sure that the OP or anyone searching the topic in the future does not rely on your advice. Many of these lessons were learned they hard way. I really hope that does not happen to you. I would agree that if you are going to do any serious head down flying a FF handle for the PC is a must modification. I would point out that none of the more expensive "mainstream" containers ship with a FF handle by default. If you are doing some sit flying and your rig (including the Velcro) is in good condition the protection offered by the newer Dolphins seems about the same as that offered by the other containers that don't have the FF handle modification.

I can say from personal experience that the reserve deployments on the Dolphin works just fine. No experience with the Wings.

I do not know what you are a professor of. But your sample size of one is not adequate to rate the free fly performance of a Dolphin. Dophins are not considered FF friendly. Period. They in fact ARE inherently unsafe for ff skydiving. Why are they inherently unsafe? What scientific study have you done to reach that conclusion? Do you have any personal experience with them? I'm just saying that in the world of aviation (not just skydiving) there are many opinions that are based on absolutely nothing. No exposed bridle on the Dolphin and a good patch of velcro holding it in place. Just sharing my personal experience, not just random wisdom with no basis on facts.

I have a Dolphin from 2000 and have never had any issues sitflying with it. Your mileage may vary, but I would be careful about opinions from people who have never owned and/or jumped one. Yes, they have a lot of velcro which must be maintained, but that doesn't make them inherently unsafe. I will say that the only time I ever had a problem with mine was when I paid someone else to pack it and they did not follow the recommended pilot chute packing procedure which allowed the PC to start working its way out a little (maybe an inch) on a jump from 23k.

Any recommendations for a DZ around Austin? Seems like there are 3 in different directions. Trying to squeeze in a quick jump or two on a trip.

I was in the area for a conference this weekend and managed to convince 3 friends to go for their first jump. Found QC Skydiving was the closest to them. We reserved some spots for them early on a Sunday morning and were able to get them in and out very quickly before brunch. This is easily the smallest dropzone I have ever visited. The packing area is the middle portion of a standard sized T-hangar (it is carpeted, but does house their Cessna 182 when they are closed). The landing area is a bit on the small side with corn on 2 sides, hangars on 1 side, and the grass runway on the other. Not an issue for tandems and experienced jumpers, but just be aware if you are a newer jumper that you will likely be approaching over hangars or corn. They have an unmodified Cessna 210-5 which is capable of taking up to 5 jumpers on a load. Plane was well kept. My friends were warmly welcomed. The tandem instructors were very professional. They went through the jump with them. At this DZ they have tandems pull, wear an altimeter, etc. I only bring this up, because at many larger places tandems are really just passengers. One of my friends had to have the instructor place his hand on the handle before he woke up to realizing it was pull time (don't worry they pulled well above the minimum). They all enjoyed the experience and at least one of them is seriously considering going back to become licensed. There is a distinct lack of signage at this airport. If you go straight back from the entrance you will run into a hangar with a people door on the end. Go around to the far side of that hangar and you will find the landing area, etc. In summary, if you are in the area and looking for a place to do your first jump this could be a good choice. I personally prefer to send first timers to a smaller DZ. If you are experienced and can land consistently close to your target you might want to stop in for a jump as well.

Thanks for the compliments :-) But no, I don't want to sell these, I don't have the time right now. Maybe in the distant future. On the other hand, I would be happy to share the design and the software with anyone who wants to try it. Its not hard, it just takes some DIY skills and time. So just let me know if you are interested. I would love to see this as a starting point. Did you use an ESP8266 for this or something else? I'm also happy to share designs for things like this. I was just trying to see if there was interest beyond my DZ for a product like this for those who are not into DIY. This is going to be the next project for my daughter and I on her Daddy & Daughter Electronics YouTube show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHqar1f7oQY I would love to take what you have and add an automatic mode as well.

I'm wondering if the pressure changes very much when you open the door, to be honest, I don't think I can even see this on my altimeter. Second problem is the time it takes for a GoPro to make a Wifi connection and turn on, this can easily take half a minute, maybe enough to miss the exits. Unless you keep it switched on, but that drains the battery. There should be a pressure spike when you open the door as the pressure is lower outside the plane (due to the curvature of the fuselage). I know that I could do a microswitch on the door, but we want this to be totally portable and unattached in order to make the FAA happy. Our strut camera mount is actually STCed and the DZ owners would not want a microswitch in the door that had to be installed every time so as to avoid the regulatory hassles of having this permanently installed. You may be right about the startup time for the camera. Perhaps the camera should come on before the door opens and then we could start recording a bit later. Have to give some thought to that. It is not unusual for us to let people out at different altitudes either.

The whole idea is to make this automatic. If the smart phone app could do this I would be super happy with that, but as far as I can tell it does not. If I'm wrong please tell me so. There is enough going on at our DZ that a significant amount of the time the camera doesn't get activated because the pilot is talking to ATC or one of the other airplanes at the exact wrong time.

I like your solution. We're trying to make it automatic where I will detect the opening and closing of the jump door based on pressure changes. Pilots don't record all the jumps because it is low priority and radio calls, etc. seem to happen at just the wrong time...

If someone were to sell an automatic GoPro remote that would turn on a GoPro camera after the door was opened on a plane and turn it off on descent what would you pay for such a device