petetheladd

I came across this paper that did some studies on peoples ability to rate their own abilities. It brought to mind the current problem in skydiving of people tending to fly canopies they are not competent to fly and not inclined to listen to their wiser peers about the danger they expose themselves too. Heres the Abstract Abstract People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. Across 4 studies, the authors found that participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their test performance and ability. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd. Several analyses linked this miscalibration to deficits in metacognitive skill, or the capacity to distinguish accuracy from error. Paradoxically, improving the skills of participants, and thus increasing their metacognitive competence, helped them recognize the limitations of their abilities. Perhaps the best illustration of this tendency is the "above-average effect," or the tendency of the average person to believe he or she is above average, a result that defies the logic of descriptive statistics Tell me if that does'nt sum up the aggressive canopy situation to a Tee The study made and substantiated the following predictions. Prediction 1. Incompetent individuals, compared with their more competent peers, will dramatically overestimate their ability and performance relative to objective criteria. Prediction 2. Incompetent individuals will suffer from deficient metacognitive skills, in that they will be less able than their more competent peers to recognize competence when they see it–be it their own or anyone else's. Prediction 3. Incompetent individuals will be less able than their more competent peers to gain insight into their true level of performance by means of social comparison information. In particular, because of their difficulty recognizing competence in others, incompetent individuals will be unable to use information about the choices and performances of others to form more accurate impressions of their own ability. Prediction 4. The incompetent can gain insight about their shortcomings, but this comes (paradoxically) by making them more competent, thus providing them the metacognitive skills necessary to be able to realize that they have performed poorly. So would presenting this kind of study make people review their canopy choices ? i.e. make them more competent. A corolly effect seemed to be that competent people can tend to underestimate their abilities. How often have you heard people with thousands of jumps saying they still dont know Jack while the 300 jump wonder believes he has the inside track. Heres the actual link for anyone that wants to read the whole article. http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp7761121.html I am interested to hear what all the "above average" canopy flyers think about these results P.T.L No, Not without incident

I think this list is something that is pushed to the fore front of the minds of both students and low time jumpers by the more experienced/instructor crowd. The idea being these jumpers are more likely to need a definitive plan up front[due to lack of experience] if things start going wrong. Additionally, I believe more experienced skydivers implicitly try to keep this in the back of their minds because when the poop goes down and we are maybe innovating someway to fix a situation[ maybe under high stress ] we have something relativly simple to reference back on [ similar to something like the hard deck concept ]. The list was something that goes way back. I'm just pondering the value of updating this list as skydiving has evolved so very far from when this list was initially concieved. PTL P.S. Pull will always be numero uno, without the pull, your number is almost always, as a certainty, up No, Not without incident

We have all heard the "in order of priority" list of 1) pull 2) pull at the correct altitude 3) pull at the correct altitude with stability However should'nt this have a forth variable i.e. speed added and the list amended to look maybe like - 1) pull 2) pull at the correct altitude 3) pull at the correct altitude after slowing to the correct speed 4) pull at the correct altitude with stability after slowing to the correct speed or maybe get rid of 3) above and replace it with 4) as we tend to like lists of 3 items apiece Let the debate begin ...... PTL No, Not without incident

I will take a blizzard of backwash for this but here it goes. In this day and age it seems, expressing an opinion with any judgement attached to it is seen as inherently wrong. Phrases like "you cant judge .X.. because you cant know ..Y. " I did not know this man or his circumstance but i do know what he did. Fact : It did no favours for either his friends/family or skydiving. We dont need it in our sport and trying to cast any good kind of light on the actions he took is absurd. Not that its worth spit, but from my selfish skydiving perspective, I would have preferred he found another way out than tarnish our sport. I only hope Joe public sloughs it off as a suicide and not as skydiving behaviour. My Condolences to those he left behind No, Not without incident

I played about with topofusion and was able to pan around the 3D track from all angles. I have added some more jpgs of this but they will be approval pending for a day before you can see them. No, Not without incident

About 7 weeks ago though it was claimed to 'not have a single jump on it' No, Not without incident

I have been using the garmin forerunner to collect GPS data on wingsuit jumps. Here are photos/data of 2 jumps I did on Sunday. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/gallery/imageFolio.cgi?direct=Personal_Galleries/petetheladd/Wingsuit1 Both were in a pretty cloudy sky(ground obscured by 1000 ft of cloud) where I was using the sun as my main reference point as to what direction to travel back to the DZ esp on the 2nd jump. This is by no means a max track as I did not get the pilot to take me out so far I could directly track back consequently a large amount of the track was cross wind. I am still browseing around for a gps analytic program to get more information from the gps data. Having x,y,z co-ords plus time just means simple trigonometery to calculate distances + velocity (vert + horz.) I intend to check out gartrip and topofusion in the coming weeks P.t.L. No, Not without incident

Hmm .. again the same type of question I had. My issue was not wanting to wait I decided to ring up the source give them my weight, height and build and ask 'do you have a new GTI lying around that would fit me'. The answer was 'Yes' and As it happens Yari is about my size,weight build. As a bonus I had the man himself "Yari" model it for me. This baby is now all mine and I got a stock discount to boot schweet No, Not without incident

I had the exact same question and ended up getting the GTI. I dont Birdman full time so did'nt see the need to fork out an extra $500 dollars on an ego trip. I'm getting around 2:20 freefall times doing solos and over >2.6 mile tracks from 14,000 grand pulling at 4500 and I am loving it. Due to me parading around in a wingsuit for a while, I am starting to find people who have wingsuits I never knew had them and people keen to try a wingsuit out. As I have access to a 2nd classic 2 I took 2 people BM'ing this weekend I thinking the flock will start to grow this season. See my similiar thread http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=763977;#763977 No, Not without incident

Just a few thoughts ... I am currently using the forerunner 201 for wingsuit GPS and dont really see the problem being the hardware although it would be nice to up the sampling rate. Keeping GPS lock while in the plane is a hassle and involves perching the unit right beside a window all the way up to altitude and not really moving it from there when you put it on your wrist. A unit integrated into a wingsuit would be more difficult to keep in an open area to hold the lock. That is unless people were willing to hang on the plane for a while as it tried to acquire a lock. To me, the GPS tracking software does not currently meet the needs of the skydiver and seems the bigger nut to crack. i.e. being able to 3D view the track and get more vertical speed information. PtL. No, Not without incident

At our DZ, Track dives are the last funjumpers to exit with one caveat. Tandems are after that and of course the wingsuiters the much lastest of all. P.t.L No, Not without incident

I recently got the garmin forerunner 201 GPS for use mainly on wingsuit flights. I have now some jump data but the logbook software is really limited and does'nt show a lot. I have also taken the GPS data and pushed it into USAPhotomaps software and so can see the wingsuit track superimposed on aerial photographs of the DZ - all pretty sweet. However, I would really like to 3d view the track profile. What software are the GPS birdmen using to glean/view tracking information? I'm gonna take a look at topofusion and wissenbach 3dmap but would like a heads up if anyone has done similiar. P.t.L No, Not without incident

Yo MB, I agree with most everything you are saying. Its just that pulling the legstraps out and putting your legs in them then stuffing your legs into the suit would kinda gaurantee the straps are around your legs. How do BMI's do it ? PtL No, Not without incident

This really baffles me and leaving zippers open specifically so people can catch mistakes is naff. Get a gear check. I dont know how anybody else does it but I lay my suit, face up, on the floor. I sit down on it, lift the legstraps out of the leggings and put my legs through them and then stuff my legs in the wingsuit. It beats me how anyone can just stuff their legs into the wingsuit leggings and hope they've lassoed a leg during the process. It would seem like the most elementary thing to teach a new flyer, how to properly don the suit. Even doing it this way, I still do a feel and stretch to make sure both legs are in the harness and the straps hav'nt loosened on the ride up. P.t.L. P.S. I do not leave chest zippers open so others can check me over in the plane No, Not without incident

Yea, it happened to me when I first started jumping rigs with the excess brake line flopping all over the place http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=489641;#489641 Teachs you A) look before you unstow B) Should'nt have loose string flopping around in the breeze Beats me why riser manufacturers dont give you someplace to stow it. No, Not without incident

But it specifically says it tracks elevation Quoting from Amazon.com I am no GPS expert but triangulation on 3 sats(and it claims to contact 12) would have to give you altitude or have I the wrong end of the stick here. If you mean, there's no real time altimeter then thats fine, I will continue to use my chest strap mounted alti2. I ended up ordering it so I will see what it can do when it arrives. No, Not without incident

Jumping on saturday for the first time with my brand spanking new GTI - about 25 jumps on a borrowed used classic before this. On my second last jump of the day, I was talking to the pilot about the last jump run being a bit short even after waiting a good bit after the tandems -Turned out I was 2 miles out so he said he would power the plane back up and take me 3 miles. Got out there and nice close view of the mountains at 3.2 miles from the DZ Woohoo, longest track for me and the uber cool part was I was able to race a car along a road for the first time at around 9500 ft. Well you dont do something like that just once so I did the same again however no cars on the stretch of road - well maybe next time. Now its just a matter of creating a flock at the DZ PtL No, Not without incident

The vista looks bulkier(handheld) and more expensive than the forerunner(wristmount) Would'nt this (assuming all else is equal) make the forerunner a more flock friendly tracking device? Anyone got a better recommendation for handheld GPS? Is the altitude data similar to the protrack/neptune plots or are they much coarser? No, Not without incident

I am with cc24 on this one. I too prefer a brisk opening and did about 500 jumps on an unmodified sabre 170 with mostly smart openings. These days, it seems anything other than a mild jolt over about 700 - 1000 feet is seen as a slammer and most canopies seem to have designed in snivels for the more refined jumper these days. Most of the time, my sabre let me know quickly and emphatically that I had an open canopy above my head. Of course, I had a few hard openings that felt like a hammer fist to the midpoint of my shoulder blades driving the air out of me but very few and not something that broke me for a weekend. No, Not without incident

Yes I do, It doesnt seem all that much different as far as wearing it goes. However I have only put about 40 jumps on it(with no rolling about on the ground) so durability wise I can not say yay or nay to the long term wear So far so Good - no threads/wearing etc. No, Not without incident

A fall has basically two directional components - vertical and horizontal. The general idea of falls / rolls in any discipline is A) To shift impact/kinetic energy away from vital/fragile areas to extremities/stronger areas. E.G. From spine/head to legs/arms B) To spread the kinetic energy over a large area E.G. Instead of point impact, smear it out over a distance The PLF does this by A) Shifting impact from just a single dangling leg for example to a staged fall with whole body. B) spread Impact from a point to along the whole body plus a half turn at the end if needed. The PLF is geared towards a predominantly vertical landing. The butt slide A) concentrates all vertical energy onto heels B) spreads the horizontal energy along the slide. The butt slide is geared towards a predominanly horizontal landing. Your vertical component better be low and it better only be your heels and not your head that uses up the energy. Of course, the happy jumper uses a PLF incorporating a roll component to dissipate the horizontal energy. The Cast-In-Training guy uses the butt slide until he gets his cast or modifies the butt slide into a PLF Roll. Anyone that was in the sport long enough to get extensive PLF training will swear by it and can cite personal examples of people who could have saved some limbs using it. I hear less/no people saying he broke his leg but a good butt slide woulda saved him Of course if you can get both your vertical and horizontal components down to zero at zero ft AGL, the stand up can be used. PTL No, Not without incident

Dont suppose you actually used the golden measure in its construction ? ala --> http://www.phinest.com/ No, Not without incident

First jump was on a classic at about 800 jumps. I was in the pub talking to a fellow skydiver when it emerged he had a wingsuit he rarely used - well after a few more pints It was agreed I could try it out. He briefed me throughly on procedures, showed me how to hook it up and had me do a practice pull with stripping away the wing release. Did a track jump as if I was wearing a suit and then jumped the suit afterwards. I'm still jumping his suit today(I owe him a few more pints) but I am ordering a GTI for the new season. Yes, I have resisted the - I'm so cool - factor of the SF3 I have always worn a helmet for my dives. Suit was a little tight length-wise and my biggest problem has always been getting the booties on and off my feet No, Not without incident

1 stone = 14 lbs 11.5 stone = 161 lbs + 20 lbs gear = 181 WL = fully suspended weight/sq footage = 181/135 = 1.34 Is the blue track elliptical ? Aggressive for ~200 jumps esp if it also encompasses a change from square to elliptical Be carefull No, Not without incident

Hmmm.... Putting expense to the Side, I still think Many people get the SF3 because it has the 'highest performance' aura and hence the I'm jumping the coolest gear effect. Are most SF3 people breaking the limits of Wingsuit piloting -- prolly not... On the Whole, I think. I'll break with the current trend and get a GTI and wait for the SF 4.5 turbo No, Not without incident