lintern

Haha I wish I was a lawyer (instead of an engineer) then I would be able to afford to use the Windtunnel and progress

The video was shocking and showed what can happen and how things could have ended very badly but fortunately didn't.

The reason for trying to find the footage again was because when I was jumping with friends yesterday, myself and someone else noticed that one of the jumpers in our group had the metal housing (where the cables go through) hanging out because it seemed too long. I told them about this footage where the rsl snagged and deployed the reserve but none of them had seen the footage. So I wanted to show them the footage for learning purposes.

Always like to be watching out for others especially those I am jumping with.

I remember watching a video (some years ago) where the first shot starts with a skydiver filming from inside the aircraft whilst another skydiver climbs out onto the step / strut of the aircraft. The skydiver on the step snags their RSL/skyhook, the reserve canopy deploys and pulls the skydiver off the step. The reserve canopy hits the aircraft tail/stabiliser becomes and the reserve becomes a ball of crap.

The next shot shows the skydiver with the tangled reserve canopy above his head, desperately trying to fight to fix the reserve but theres no chance of that. After sometime he then throws his main pilot chute and his main cleanly deploys.

Does anyone know where I can find this video ?

In the event of two canopies out in a side-by-side configuration (as shown in the OPs video) should you not cut away the main ?

The Break Away DVD (Pier Media) recommends that with a side-by-side configuration you should cut away the main.

Also, I was of the understanding that with with a total or PCIT malfunction, the advantage of performing a cut away before going for the reserve is that if the main starts to deploy whilst the reserve is deploying, the main will simply release.

So what is the disadvantage of a cut away in the event of a total or PCIT, besides the additional time it takes to cut away ?

The Breakaway DVD recommends 'touching' all your handles when in freefall to learn where they are located whilst belly to earth.

There is footage in the DVD showing a skydiver doing this.

I tried it once and think its a good idea. Not just to reassure yourself that you can find your handles, but also that you can remain stable when doing so. Remember the first thing you should do is 'look' for your handles.

Its better to to try touching your handles whilst high up, rather than at pull height with a total malfunction.

Here is a link to the DVD....

http://www.dzsports.co.uk/survival-series-136-p.asp

It also explains how to deal with all malfunctions, including the dreaded horse shoe mal or two canopies out.

Have a look at this video and it will make you think about landing on rear risers...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0YlMrwP7RI

Like the OP, he had a brake toggle fall off so he tried to land on rear risers, but he stalled his canopy and broke his leg.

You can see this from about 1m 50sec into the video. It aint very clear fottage but you get the idea.

If you're going to attempt a rear riser landing, make sure you have tried it up high before hand and are confident about doing it.

1. 630
2. 2
3. 1 was a lineover and 1 was a brakefire

My rigger is a very good rigger and very highly respected, so he knows what he is talking about.

He did an inspection of the main when my reserve was due a repack a few months back.

But I dont know exactly how he inspected it.

When I told him about the slider problem he did another visual inspection.

Could someone please explain to me why exactly the slider gets caught up when the lineset becomes old ?

I cant remember what lines mine are - someone did tell me but I forgot.

I know he said its the type that stretch.

He told me about another type which dont stretch but snap when they reach the end of their life.

Dont know if anyone can tell from that what my lines are ?

Just out of interest what would happen eventually if the line set was not renewed - would the slider get permantley stuck up ?

Looks like im going to need new lines then.

Even though I cant afford it, my life is more important.

I always look after my gear - my AFF instructor always told us to "look after your gear.... and your gear will look after you"

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i think you've answered your own question; might want to look into a new lineset every now and then..

My rigger has looked and said the lines are ok at the moment and dont need replacing just yet.

I couldnt afford a new lineset at the moment either.

Just lately my slider keeps getting caught up on opening and i have to get on the rear risers and shake them to get the slider to come down.

Any ideas why this might be happening ?

The canopy is an Icarus Safire 2, 145.

It has between 500 and 600 jumps on it now.

I have lost a bit of weight lately (not been eating properly) so could this be to blame ?

Thanks for everyones replies.

Im thinking of giving lake wales a miss then from peoples opions on here.

Looking at the review of Lake Wales on DZ.com, it sounds nice and is close to Orlando where we are staying, but it also sounds like a tandem factory.

Me and my girlfriend freefly so we want a friendly DZ where there will be other people to jump with, as we will have to take it in turns to jump.

People in the UK have given me the impression that Deland is mainly flat flyers - is this true ?

We are also trying to work out the best time to visit - weekdays or weekends ?

I get the impression during the week most places will be very quiet.

Not forgetting that we will be taking it in turns to jump and pack, so there needs to be a reasonable number of lifts for us both to get a few jumps in.

Me and my girlfriend are going to Orlando for the first 2 weeks in September.

Where are the best places to jump ?

Is it Deland, Sebastian and Z-Hills ?

I went to these dropzones a few years ago.

What's Lake Wales like - I have never been this one ?

We want somewhere that will have lots of lifts and people to jump with.

We have a 3 year old daughter so have to take it in turns to jump.

I never had this problem, but when doing AFF, a friend of mine had problems with uncontrolled turns and spinning.

When he started jumping solo, I heard my AFF instructor tell him that if he starts spinning, to go into a 'slow' track (providing he had altitude to do so).

Slowly straighten your legs and bring your arms by your side to track, then slowly go back to the neutral position.

Only do a short track, in case you end up going up going up or down the flight line.

By going into a track position, you are changing whatever is causing you to spin whilst in the neutral position (i.e. arm or leg).

I dont know how well this works, but its something you could try, providing you have altitude.

Uncontrolled spinning should not be happening, so as said before, it would be wroth getting in the tunnel.

At least you did the right thing by pulling on this occasion.

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You need to move out of the UK and go somewhere you could be able to jump a lot more often.

Tell me about it, I would love to emigrate and me and my girlfriend have talked about it for years.

The weather is always sh1t in the UK and everything is too expensive... everyone is out to rip each other off.

I thought of emigrating to oz, but when I went there I had my hopes built up and was dissapointed in the end.

I fancy spain, but dont know what I would do for work.

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if you can't stand your job then why not move and get a better job?

Dont even get me started about my job. Its a big problem, especially recently.

I desperately need a career change but dont know what to do.

Well thats not quite true, I would like to be a pilot but I failed the application for a sponsorship course and dont have £80,000 to pay for training myself !

My career path has gone down the pan and I dont know what to do, all my training and limited experience is in engineering.

But I hate it and the pay aint worth anywhere near all the hard work ive had to put in.

Ive felt like this for ages, but if I didnt jump then I wouldnt do anything else with my life, other than work... and I HATE my job.

I have additional difficulties compared to most jumpers:

1 - My girlfriend also jumps and we have a young child. Therefore we have to take it in turns to jump AND pack.

2 - Finances are tight because my girlfriend only works occasionally and looks after our daughter most of the the time. Therefore my income is well over stretched.

3 - The weather is terrible in the UK. This is our 3rd bad summer in a row. I would love to be able to go jump in Spain, but problems 1 and 2 mean this is not possible.

4 - I only average 80 jumps a year and these are very spread out. Considering I spend most weekends at the dropzone (providing the weather is jumpable).

5 - I have been sitflying for over 3 years and Im bored of it. Flat flying does not interest me. I would like to learn headdown and I have attempeted it, but I find it very hard. Problems 1 and 2 make it even more difficult. You cant learn headdown doing 1 or 2 jumps a weekend.

So ive hit a brick wall with jumping.

I am not progressing and havent progressed for years.

My girlfriend is obvioulsy in the same position.

Shes only just got her FF1 and thats taken her 3 years.

Last year she only did 40 jumps.

We both used to love jumping and also like the social side as well.

But we have both been getting very frustrated and bored of it lately.

We have talked plenty of times about giving up.

But if we did then we would have nothing to replace it with.

Ive always hated my job and jumping used to take my mind off things and allowed me to let off steam.

We live too far from family to have the luxury of babysitters for nights out etc. Even something simple like the cinema.

At least with jupming we could take it in turns.

My girlfriend has now got a job working nights and weekends.

So its likely I will have no choice... I will have to give up jumping.

This might shock and suprise you....

When I was taught my emergency procedures, I was taught the 2 hand on each handle method.

Look for the cutaway pad, grab with both hands, peel, punch.

Look for the reserve handle, grab with both hands, pull, arch.

Whilst still on student status, I went to a different dropzone who checked my reserve drills.

However, this dropzone used the other method of 1 hand on each handle...

LOOK for your handles, LOCATE cutaway with right hand and reserve with left hand.

PEEL cutaway and PUNCH.

PULL reserve and ARCH.

I was told the advantages and disadvantages of both methods.

But I was told to stick to the method I was first taught so as not to cause confusion - i.e. 2 hands on each handle.

My first mal was on my 25th jump (static line DRP - dont ask!)

The mal was a line over and line twists which would not come out.

With the adrenalin pumping, which method do you think I used for my emergency procedure ?

It wasn't the method I was originally taught (2 hands on each handle).

Suprisingly, without even thinking, I automatically used the method with 1 hand on each handle.

Due to adrenalin and stress, I did not peel my cutaway handle and it slipped out of my hand as I went to pull it.

Fortunately, the main had not yet cut away yet.

So I grabbed the cutaway handle again, pulled it all the way and then pulled the reserve.

Amazingly, I kept both handles AND even the DRP handle without even thinking about it.

I cannot explain why I did not use the emergency proceudre I was originally taught.

Maybe the 1 hand on each handle method felt the most reassuring during that intense situation ?

I had another mal a few hundred jumps later (brake fire and spinning) .

I performed the same emergency procedure again and without any problems (1 hand on each handle) .

One thing to consider with the 2 hands on each handle method, is that when you cutaway from your main you go into free fall.

Whilst in free fall, with the adrenalin pumping and seconds to spare, you have to look for your reserve handle and pull.

Maybe this is another reason I used the 1 hand on each handle method autotmatically, without even thinking about it.

Because it felt more natural and reassuring.

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Any thoughts on using the 'flex' pin arrangement to reduce this possibility? I see them on Tandems, S/L rigs, and I recently heard an older skydiver suggesting to a young free flyer that a flex pin was the way to go for container security.

When you say 'flex' pin, do you mean teflon cord (normally yellow in colour)?

I asked my rigger about teflon cord after my partner had her main bag and lines fall out on the plane during run in, because her closing pin came out

Scary but luckily someone recognised the problem in time.

My rigger said that with teflon cord you can get ridges in the cord which can stop the cord coming out becuase it gets jammed in the closing loop.

You also need to replace the cord quite regulary.

He said that as long as the closing loop is in good condition and not too loose, then its best to stick with a closing pin, rather than change to teflon cord.

My friend has a High Definition Sony CX7, where as I have a Sony PC105.

Whenever I've transfered video from a Standard Definition camcorder I've used firewire.

I also use firewire when transfering to my laptop.

I don't know anything about these new HD camcorders.

If I want to transfer footage from my friends Sony CX7 to my PC105 or laptop can I use firewire ?

How does it work because the CX7 footage is in HD ?

Will it have to convert to SD ?

I am thinking of using Adobe Premiere Elements 4 when transfering onto my laptop.

What is the best way of learning head down ?

I want to learn headdown but I have only had a few goes at it.

I have done around 200 or more sit fly jumps.

I've had a few coach jumps from one of the best (Tim Porter) who taught me to transition into headdown from a sit position.

But I am finding this very difficult and end up on my back everytime.

The transition happens so fast and I find it hard to go from almost a ball position to a straight body position with wide open legs in such a quick time.

I end up de-arched and on my back, but quicky get back into a sit to try again.

I have only done about 5 jumps trying these transitions so I know its early days.

But I just wondered if anyone has any tips ?

Going into headdown from a track seems easier, but is more dangerous in case your heading is wrong and you end up flying up or down the flight line.

I don't know what headdown feels like either which is another reason why Im finding it difficult to transition from a sit into something Im unfamiliar with.

I have tried some 2 way shuttle cock exits (hand grip or riser grips and legs wide open) into headdown and even found this difficult.

Oh and I did google it (JFGI)

Ive spent hours looking but there are so many packages out there.

Adobe Premiere Elements 4 or Pinnacle Studio 12 or Ulead VideoStudio all seem to get mixed reviews, depending on which website you look at.

Im thinking of going for Pinnacle Studio 12 simply because Ive used an older version of Pinnacle to do a simple video.

It didnt seem very stable tho (crashed alot) but this may have been because it wasnt a legit copy or the fact my old laptop was not powerful enough ?

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So do you want best or do you want what most people use?

Best and within my price range.

I want to buy a video editing package but I'm not sure what to get.

What are the best packages out there for under £100 ?

What do most people tend to use ?

I want to use it for general purpose video editing as well as skydiving footage.

I have a Sony PC105 camcorder and want to edit video on my Dell 1520 laptop, which has the following specs:

- Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB)
- 2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
- nVidia GeForce Go 8600M GT with 256MB DDR2 dedicated graphic memory
- 160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
- Windows XP Professional
- 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
- 15.4" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT Display with TrueLife

I have a Cookie MXV camera helmet with a side mount box (for a Sony PC105) and cut away chin strap.

I have a cam eye 2 which I want to fit to the helmet, but there are no holes in the helmet to fit the cam eye switch.

This means drilling a hole in a very, very expensive helmet

So I want to make sure I get it right !

I have already had it mounted in two positions on the side mount camera box - first at the back of the box and then on the side.

The thinking behind mounting it on the the camera box was that its cheaper to replace the box if I made a mistake when drilling or positioning the hole !

The problem was the switch often got knocked, either by riser strike (when it was mounted at the back of the box) or simply knocked (when mounted on the side of the camera box) because it protruded more.

So I am now thinking of mounting it directly to the helmet itself, on the right hand side of the helmet (the side opposite to where the the box fitted).

The audible alti pouch is also on this side so I'm concerned the switch might get in the way of my pro track.

Where is the best place to mount the cam eye switch on these helmets ?

Does anyone know where Cookie normally mount the cam eye switch ?

This is my dissapointing experience of Picton (and skydiving in australia in general)....

We went to oz in October 2006 for 3 weeks.

We were in Sydney for 3 days.

We wanted to jump at Picton and from experiences with previous dropzones around brisbane we decided to ring up before turning up at the dropzone.

We rang the night before explaining we were from the UK and wanted to do a few jumps at Picton.

They told us they have 1 (yes ONE) lift going at 8.30am in the morning and there are a couple of free slots available (the rest of the lift was tandems).

I couldnt believe they only had one lift ?

I asked if they were likely to do any more lifts that day and they said that was the only lift they were doing.

So I didnt bother going because my girlfriend also wanted to jump and we had our 6 month old daughter with us, so we have to take it in turns to jump as well.

That would have meant only one of us would have got to do one jump !

This was mid-week so weekends might be more busy ?

Saying that, someone at my local dropzone did his AFF at Picton and he said it was quiet when he was there.

He had to wait around alot and try and get on loads with tandems.

Just a warning, but you might want to check how busy they are likely to be.

Especially if you are hoping to jump in the week.

I cant decide which boogie to go to.

Ive been to empuria a number of times but never seville.

I really like empuria, its a dropzone in a holiday resort so there are plenty of places to eat and drink.

The dropzone and facilities are nice and the views are spectacular.

I have been to Lillo before and didnt like it at all.

Its in the middle of no where with hardly anywhere to eat and drink.

The dropzone and facilities were no where near as nice as empuria and the view is just desert.

I get the impression seville is alot like Lillo but alot of people seem to go to seville rather than Lillo.

Maybe I am missing something ?

thanks skymama !

when does the summer end in florida ?

it bugs me a bit when you say some DZ's might be closed in the week

last year we went to australia with high hopes and were thouroughly disappointed with skydiving out there.

we lugged all our equipment out there and only did 4 jumps each.

there just isnt the demand for skydiving in oz.

alot of the DZ's in oz were only open weekends.

or werent actually a DZ but just a beach landing for tandems who took off from a nearby airport.

we were in sydney for 3 days and planned to visit Picton, one of the biggest dropzone in oz.

I rang them to check it was ok for us to jump and they said they had a lift of tandems going at 8.30am the next morning, with 2 spare slots on it.

I was shocked that was all they were doing that day... 1 lift !!

I expected something like empuria with 20 or 30 lifts.

So we never went to Picton in the end because me and my girlfriend have to take it in turns to jump anyway, because one of us has to look after our daughter.

if we had gone only one of us would have got to jump.

its only because the equinox boogie was on at toogoolawah that we managed to get any jumps in at all !

i hope we arent going to find alot of the DZ's in florida are shut in the week as well ?