velvetjo

It says a lot that the FAA won't allow a student airplane pilot to solo without having first practiced stalls & stall recoveries. It's simply a mode of flight, and one that needs to be experienced early in a student's progression. Lance

Are you sure you want to do this? In an emergency, you're better off getting out and letting the pilot do his or her thing. That may range from riding the plane down to a forced landing (what I'd do flying a 182 once everyone else was out) to an emergency exit. Either way, unless you're a very skilled (heads-up AFF instructor?) individual who's rehearsed some kind of exit drill already with the pilot, you're just going to be in the way. Let the pilot get out and pull silver in clean air. Lance

PLF is the student's standard position for crosswind landings at our DZ. Because of the shape of the landing area, they get a decent amount of practice landing crosswind. My understanding is that the DZ policy is at least one good PLF landing during the student program to get signed off. It's nowhere near the equivalent of some quality time on the SLT at Ft. Benning, but it's a start. Not teaching and/or evaluating PLF's in any student program is short-changing the student. This is a true survival skill that doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. Lance

My PC running Windows XP Pro wouldn't recognize my camera at all with the onboard 1394 ports. Tried everything I could find on the net to fix it, but no luck. I finally got a PCI 1394 add-on card out of desperation and it worked first try. For $30, it's probably worth a shot. Good luck with it. Lance

If you ever need an aviation attorney, check with AOPA on their website. It's a good organization for anyone with an interest in general aviation. They deal with issues from medicals (important for TM's & jump pilots) to airport acess and lots in between. With all of that said, I hope you never have need of an attorney for skydiving, especially as someone bringing a suit. That would be a damned shame. Lance

Here's a good reference. Ars Technica usually has some pretty good info on this type of stuff. Lance

but why? what for? when I put it to the box I will swith it on and put it off via cameye when it's in the box, the swith is on and I can operate it with cameye (on, off, rec, standby) the hole is no good in clouds Cameye instructions tell you it's bad juju to insert or remove the device from the LANC port with the camera powered up. So, unless you plan on keeping your Cameye permanently attached to your camera (not practical with a most setups), you'll be unplugging it. If you're like a lot of folks that tape or otherwise attach the Cameye to your helmet, you'll need to mount the camera before plugging the Cameye into the LANC port. After that, you'll need to turn on the camera with the switch mounted on the body before the Cameye will be useful for on/off & record/standby functions. BTW, the Cameye II can do both. Lance

A cute little blonde elf of Santa's brought me a Rebel T2 35mm. Gotta love those elves! Lance

The concept of the "Jesus nut" is pretty scary, but if you can get your head past that, the Chinook seems like a great aircraft. On a related note, does anybody know if there are any Sikorsky Skycranes that might still be able to drop jumpers? I remember some older Army aviators mentioning dropping jumpers from a box that kinda worked as an add-on fuselage for those birds. Lance

Hey Rich - let me know if you're dead set on trying it and I'll take you up sometime at HZL in your bird. Sounds like a good excuse to get checked out in a Cherokee 140 if you're up for giving a little dual. I've thought hard about having T drop me from the 172...some day. Been working on tailwheel lessons up here in NY - pretty fun. Challenging too. See ya at the DZ, Lance

pics

Yeah, that's why F111 is all the rage nowadays. Don't get me wrong, I liked my PD230 a lot at the time and I learned a lot jumping it. Hell, it even landed fine overloaded if flared properly. On the other hand, I don't regret selling it a bit. I watch our students now on Sabre 230's and wonder why it took me so long to switch to ZP. But then again, a round lands just fine. Lance

I put about 250 jumps on my PD 230 back when I weighed about the same as you and had just gotten licensed. Sounds like a reasonable match for your weight & skills for an all F111 canopy. When you finally get tired of watching how much nicer your buddies' landings are with ZP canopies and try one, you'll be amazed at the flares you can get with ZP compared to your PD230. Lance

I've seen a very effective teaching program that uses this sequence: - 2 x tandem - 3 x IAD - AFF until cleared for solo - solo & coached jumps until licensed IAD is very similar to static line, and it does a nice job of letting the student focus on exit stability & canopy skills before complicating things with freefall skills. Static line could be used in a similar application. I started on the dope rope, and still think that both SL and IAD can be great methods depending on preferences, equipment, and weather. With that said, it seems that IAD is simpler from a rigging standpoint for student gear transitions and prep than SL. I agree that you should try one of these methods to see what they're about. Can't hurt. Might be interesting. Lance

You'll need permission from the land owner of your intended landing site, even if it's not an airport. Also, the pilot needs to be in contact with the appropriate ATC facility working that airspace. The best bet is to find a DZO, jump pilot, CFI, or some combination of those folks who are familiar with your area and jump regulations. It can be done pretty easily, but there are a lot of little steps involved in keeping it legal and relatively safe. The SIM and FAR's are good references. Don't forget to go through the entire jump plan & exit procedure physically on the ground with your prospective jump pilot and fully brief the jump run & spotting signals. You'll want to find out if the particular AC you're using has any peculiarities too (will you need 1 notch of flaps to help prevent a tail strike?). Ethically, it's a good idea to talk to the pilot about the implications of jumping on their insurance policy if something does go wrong. Have fun & hope you pull it off. Lance

Congratulations, Chris! Glad to hear that everything went well. Lance

Unless your boss is yelling in your face that it looks like you shined your shoes with "a chocolate bar & a brick", I wouldn't worry about it. If the boss is yelling at you about your shoes, you've got bigger problems than you realize. Lance

Peter, are you looking that pasty lately? You'd better get some sun down there in Florida! Three T-10 jumps for me, and I'm only mid-thirties. Great motif for a kid's room, though. Complete the "Young Ranger" collection with a Ka-bar wall display and red-light readable wallpaper and he'll be all set... Lance

The HC-40 does not use a docking station. It has a firewire (1394) port and a Sony AV port onboard. Both seem like good, solid cameras overall. I've been using an HC-40 with a Stealth 0.5x lens for a full season, and it's performed very well. Lance

Try ADDS. It's my favorite for aviation weather & forecasts. The java tools are very nice. Lance

They sure are. Do a search on here for exit techniques if you're interested. Also try skydivingmovies.com, I posted a couple of movies of an exit on there a while back. Lance

LOL! Good luck with that. Do a search on this forum and you'll come up with many recent threads that address your questions. BTW, are you talking video or stills? Using it for anything specific? Lance

Just a couple of thoughts on the idea of releasing the brakes being helpful: - releasing brakes decreases the AOA of the entire wing - line twists would initially induce a "turn"; "spin" is generally reserved in aeronautics for a condition where at least part of the wing is stalled - if the initial turn induced by the line twists evolved into a higher-speed event with increasing load factor, there's a pretty good chance that at some point the "turn" changes into a "spin" because of an accelerated stall of part of the wing - so, if part of the wing is now in an accelerated stall (see definition below), wouldn't reducing the AOA (releasing brakes) help with recovery? this seems analogous to neutralizing the controls in a light A/C - remember that we don't have rudder to consider with a parachute wing - releasing brakes is mostly like the elevator, since the ailerons (brakes) are effectively at the same setting (think flaperons) - if the wing recovered from the accelerated stall in this manner, it seems like it would seek a stable (non-turning) condition because of its design characteristics Again, just some thoughts about what might be going on here. Lance ---------- Definition from Answers.com: Accelerated Stalls A type of stall that is related to the ordinary stall is the so-called Accelerated stall. This is a condition where the wing cannot produce enough lift to support the aircraft's weight and centrifugal force, in spite of otherwise flying at a reasonable airspeed and angle of attack. This can occur when an aircraft is in a tight turn, a high-G pullup, or other manoeuvre where directions is changed with a significant amount of acceleration. This additional acceleration results in a high force that must be borne by the wings. In recent years there have been a number of accidents arising from Accelerated stalls in high-performance aircraft (e.g. the Jet Provost) that have been sold into the civilian sector from the military. Turbulence can cause an accelerated stall if the aircraft is flying below Vno (maximum structural cruising speed. If flying above Vno, turbulence can cause structural failure. Note that all manoeuvres increase g to some extent - a 60° bank level turn will produce 2g, which will raise the stalling speed by 1.4142 times, or 41%. Quoted aircraft stalling speeds must be taken as the 1g stalling speed (i.e. straight and level flight).

BevSuits did a great job of this exact mod for me about a year ago. They converted my RW suit with booties (with afterburners) and camera wings, plus they added an outside pocket that I requested. Looks & flies great! Lance

Ditto on the Rod Machado books, they're great. I've found them useful as references after the ratings too. Either the King or Sporty's video courses are a good substitute for ground school if you're reasonably self-motivated. The King checkride videos are great for knowing what to expect, and the ASA Oral Exam Guides are a must for checkride prep. I read & posted on studentpilot.com for a while when I got started flying. It's a good resource, but the regular posters there seem to have a stick up of their butts at times...it got old after a while. MS Flight simulator can be really handy for learning navigation concepts. You can't log time you spend flying it, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper to learn how to intercept a VOR radial on your PC than in the air. Instrument procedures are where it really shines, but don't expect to learn squat about takeoffs or landings from it. As for instructors, try to hook up with someone whose teaching style works with your learning style. A good variety of experiences in an instructor helps too. If you can find a CFI who flys turbine AC for a living but flies small vintage aircraft for fun, that's probably your guy. Don't worry too much about how an aircraft looks. The engine & avionics are a lot more important than paint & interior when it comes to safety & learning. Besides, if you found the right CFI, the AC is probably mechanically sound too. I just had my first tailwheel lesson today, and it was a humbling experience. Boy, was it fun to feel like a student pilot again! Remember that there's always something new to be learned everytime you fly, and you'll do fine. Have fun! Lance