lintern

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 ?

I am going to Florida in 2 weeks time for 14 days Ive always wanted to go to Florida and this is my first time. Which dropzones should I visit ? At the moment I am thinking of Zephyhills, Deland, maybe Sebastian and maybe the Space Centre. I have over 400 jumps and my girlfriend has over 200. Both of us are into freeflying. We will be there with our 18 month old daughter... who is a DZ bum

thanks mrwrong but the manual only talks about the manual focus button being on the side, not via the LCD touch screen. seems you cant activate the manual focus via the lcd touch screen ???

Thanks Talonsky ! How do I access the manual focus from the LCD menu screen ?

I have had my Sony PC105 video camera for about 18 months now and bought it brand new. About a month ago the manual focus button (on the right side of the camera) stopped working. When I press the button nothing happens. Very occasionally it works again for a short time, but then it stops working. Has anyone else ever had this problem ?

The trouble is if you leave it too long in the door you get people behind you shouting to get out. I can imagine that if I had waited 15 seconds in the door the people behind me would have been going mad ! It also means that people exiting towrds the end of the jump run could be deep. (at the DZ where this incident happened the rule is that freeflyers exit before flat flyers)

This is the power point presentation with the video clip explaining why the 45 degree rule doesnt work. This is what I was refering to in my original post. Didnt quite understand the video clip though. So is the 45 degree rule a load of rubbish then ?

This is something I am going to have to pay more attention to. The ground speed wasn't very much, maybe 10-15 knots. But I dont know about the uppers. As for back sliding, when I have jumped with other people in sit i have never had that problem and tend to fall relatively straight down the tube.

I did a solo sit jump at the weekend and came very close to another canopy during deployment. I have been sit flying for a year now and never came so close to a collision. The group before me was a 2 way freefly. After they had exited I left 5 seconds (counting 1 thousand, 2 thousand etc) before I jumped. I did little in freefall, a few turns and a side flip. There was a thin layer of cloud from 4000ft to 3500ft and I deployed just under 3500ft. Just as I felt the lines and bag coming off my back I saw a canopy suddenly open below me, about tens of feet away to the side. Its hard to judge distance in the air due to persepctive (especially when falling past a stationary object during freefall!) but I estimate the canopy was probably 20 ft away. Anyway, it was too close for my liking and the person under this canopy was also uncomfortable about how close it was. If they had had an off heading opening it could have been closer still. It was too late for me to track away from this other canopy because my deployment had started. And I couldnt see anyone below me just before deployment because the cloud was from 4000ft to 3500ft. My question is, I have always left at least 5 seconds seperation and never had a problem, so why this time did I come so close ? I have heard of the 45 degree rule but this is a controversial topic. Some people say it works, other people say it doesnt work and not to use it. I remember finding a power point presentation on the internet about seperation, which showed a video clip of why the 45 degree rule doesnt work. I cant remeber the link but I can get hold of it. So how long should I leave between seperation, if last time 5 seconds wasnt enough ?

What do you mean by inside video and outside video ?

I have a Sony PC105 camcorder and a Cookie camera helmet. All I need now is a wide angle lense. I am considering buying the Liquid wide angle lense but I am not sure what lense size to get. See website... http://www.cookiecomposites.com/products.php?id=6 The lense comes in two sizes - 0.29x and 0.45x. I am more into freeflying so will be using the camera to film freeflying rather than large RW. But I would also like to be able to film the occasional RW. I know the thread size needs to be 30mm for the PC105. But can anyone recommend what lense size would be best for my needs ? Also, does anyone know how much the import tax would be if I bought the lense direct from Cookie in Australia ? I live in the UK. Thanks.

On sunday I had a malfunction. I was doing a hop and pop from 6k and pulled at 4k5. I had a poor opening, it spun me 180 degrees then suddenly spun me again another 180 degrees. I thought it was going to induce twists but it didnt. For a short time everything seemed to be alright after that - the left end cells werent fully inflated but they soon inflated. I just thought to myself it was a bad opening. As I went to reach for my toggles the canopy suddenly dived to the right before I had chance to unstow them. Because of the strange opening and because it was uncontrollably diving to the right I knew something wasnt right so decided to chop. I cut away and pulled my reserve without further incident. When I landed an instrcutor and myself inspected the main and saw that the left toggle was unstowed, therefore concluding it was a brake fire. The instructor said it sounded like a brake fire before even inspecting the main. If I had realised what the problem was and reacted quickly enough I presume I could have unstowed the right toggle and wouldnt have needed to chop ? But at the time I didnt know what the problem was and wasted no time in getting off it. My question is, how did the toggle become unstowed and how can I ensure it doesnt happen again ? Afterall, I had packed it ! Thinking back to when I packed it, I remember the left toggle seemed to be stowed a bit strange, but after a quick look it appeared to be alright. So maybe I didnt stow the toggle correctly afterall ? But people have also said its can be just one of those things and that sometimes on opening a toggle can become unstowed, especially on toggles without velcro. I will obviously pay closer attention to my stowed toggles in future. I tend to stow my toggles when I land so as not to induce twists in the brake lines. Has anyone had any similar experiences or can anyone offer advice to prevent this from happening again ?

I am more into freeflying then RW so I just want to film shots where I am freeflying with others. I dont want to be far away filming the jump like Im doing a solo ! It would be for more casual filming rather than serious professional filming. AndyMan, what do you mean by "temporary line-on-electronics contact" ?

I have a Sony PC105 and all I need to get now to complete my setup is a wide angle lense. People have told me to get a 0.3 to 0.5 wide angle lense. But I have no idea of good makes and models of wide angle lenses ? I have seen cheap wide angle lenses on other peoples cameras for around £30. But they are suprisingly bigger than the more expensive lenses, so the lense protrudes out of the camera housing alot more. The more expensive lenses I have seen on other peoples cameras are much smaller, but cost around £100 . Can anyone recommend a wide angle lense for the Sony PC105 ? A make and model would be helpful in addition to where to get them from without being ripped off. I cant afford to spend £100 but then again I dont really want a cheap bulky lense. PS. I live in the UK Thanks

I have recently started jumping a camera (Sony PC105 in a Cookie side mounted camera helmet). Before jumping it I seeked advice from people who jump with cameras - they told me that on deployment you should turn your head to avoid the riser / lines catching the camera box. I have tried this and can even see the pilot chute come off my back, from the corner of my eye. However, most of the time the riser / lines catch the camera box. There is no training for jumping with a camera, which seems stupid considering all the other rules and regulations (some of which are daft). Just like there is no training on how to use your hook knife but as soon as you are A licence you must wear one ! How can I avoid the riser / lines catching the camera box ? And how dangerous is it when this happens ?

I am hoping to go to Australia in October this year and want to jump at some dropzones over there. I currently plan on going to Brisbane, Melbourne, then Sydney. Can anyone recommend some good dropzones to visit ? I found a dropzone on the Sunshine Coast but I was dissapointed to find they only have a Cessna 182 available for experienced skydivers. They have a Cessna Caravan but only allow tandems to use it I was going to take my rig with me to Australia - I presume this wont be a problem ? Has anyone taken their rig with them to Australia ?

Thanks Fido, But Ive had a look at the 'Airgun' model. It doesnt have a camera mount on it ? So how would I go about mounting the camera ? Or are you refering to a different model ?

I was looking at getting a used camera (something like a Sony PC105 for about £250). But like everything in skydiving (and life!) its all just so expensive ! I have a bonehead gunner helmet, so if I got a camera I would need a new helmet. The sides of the bonehead gunner are curved so it doesnt seem possible to fix a bracket onto the side of the helmet. Unless anyone knows differently ? So that means getting a camera helmet in addition to the camera. But for some reason camera helmets cost as much, if not more, than the camera itself ! I was advised to get something like a Cookie camera helmet which has a chin strap and a cut away. But this is over £400 !!! So I am now starting to decide against getting a camera altogeher. Can I modify my bonehead gunner helmet or is there a more reasonably priced camera helmet out there ?

Which model is newer and better ? The PC9 or the PC105 ? I cannot find anything on Sony's website about the PC9 ? I am looking to buy a second hand camcorder and I have seen both models for sale, but I dont know anything about the PC9 model.

Thanks everyone for your replies. From what I recall I pulled the toggle about 3/4 of the way down. I pulled it to the point at or slightly above my waist line. I have heard about this before so I am more cautious when I do it. I let the speed of the canopy increase to full drive before I turn in the opposite direction. From what I can recall: 1. I was about 2.5k when I initiated the spiral. 2. I was just under 2k by the time things got back under control. I remember doing no more turns for somtime after the event and just faced into wind, before starting the downwind leg. Someone who saw what happened from the ground found it amusing that one minute I was burying the toggles doing these spirals, but then after the problem occured I only dared to use small toggle inputs! When the problem occured, for a split second I did think I was about to get wrapped in my canopy. Could this have happened if I had held the toggle down for any longer ? It felt like I was about to fall into my canopy which is when I knew something was seriously wrong and immediately realesed the toggle. If a wrap had occured, then it would have been very difficult to do a clean cut away and to make things worse I had little altitude to sort things out YISkyDive, I would like to see this video as well. If you get it posted could you please let me know ? Or if anyone else has video footage of a similar incident? My email is [email protected] Thanks. Im not sure if they allow this ? Ive never seen or heard of it being done at any dropzone Ive been to. Is there a chance you could have an off landing by deploying so high up ? I think what I would really like to do (and should do) is a canopy course. I never realised you could stall half the canopy using one toggle ? Is the stall point when using one toggle the same as the stall point when using both toggles ? When I first started jumping the canopy I practiced several stalls up high to find the stall point. I did this by pulling both toggles down until the canopy started to fold towards the rear and everything started to go quiet. I could feel the forward speed of the canopy decrease. Then I slowly let the toggles back up to full drive.

I have done about 160 jumps on my Icarus Safire 2, 145. But yesterday I had an intersting and scary experience.... I deployed at 3500 ft and had a good canopy. Then I did one 360° spiral. I waited for about 5 seconds, then pulled down hard on my right toggle to do a 720° spiral. Half way through the second spiral (i.e. 360° + 180°) I felt myself 'out of synch' with the canopy. It was spiraling faster than my body was spiraling (or vice versa - I can't remember exactly) and the canopy felt like it was diving below me. I instantly knew it didn't feel right so instantly let the toggle back up. The canopy eventually leveled out and I got thrown about. It induced several twists but fortunately I managed to kick them out. For a second though I was almost ready to get off it because I had no idea what was happening but knew it definitely wasnt right. Im sure that if I had held the turn for any longer I would have been in serious trouble. Quite a few people on the ground saw what happened and said thats what happens when you do a "radical" turn. The DZ controller had a word with me and commented how I won't be doing that again. I weigh 10 stone (65kg) so I'm only loading the canopy at about 1.1. When I bought my rig 15 months ago other people always told me not to be afraid of pulling down hard on the steering toggle and have some fun. They all said that its completely safe and often used the term "bury the toggle". I have only been doing 720° spirals for about the last 3 months (I used to just do 360° spirals). I have watched other people do at least 5 consecutive spirals, so I was suprised when I nearly got into serious trouble yesterday. From that experience I now dont feel its safe to 'bury the toggle' or do more than one 360° spiral. But I would like to know for next time why it happened and how to avoid it. - Did I pull the toggle too far down ? - What is the safe limit to pull the toggle down to ? - Was it because I did more than one 360° spiral ? - Or was it the combination of all of these ? - Or is it to do with my wingloading (under loaded or over loaded ?)

I know that skydiving is generally more expensive in Rightpondia, but that seems like a lot - it's about US$90. The _retail_ cost of still+video for a tandem runs something like US$75 here; I don't know how much of that the cameraman usually gets but I'd guess US$50 plus or minus. They charge £90 for a tandem video and from what the cameraman was telling me he makes £50 from it. £90 is about the going rate for tandem videos in the UK. I hate doing electronics and I especially hate doing electronics for my particular firm. I finished university (part time) with a 2.1 honours degree 5 years ago, I've been in full time employment since the age of 16 yet I'm on £20k gross. Its extremely unlikely Ill ever get anymore than that. They dont even give the yearly cost of living rise of a few percent. My job sucks and it definitely hasnt been worth all the hard work its taken me to get to this stage (i.e. qualifications and experience). I utterly regret getting into engineering. For the past 3 or 4 years I've really wanted to be a pilot but cannot afford £80,000 for the training ! I got a rare oppourtunity a few months back to go through a selection process for sponsored pilot training, but I failed on level 2 . The application itself cost me a non refundable £165. The pass rate for the pilot sponsorship is 2%. Its hardly surprising they want "the best of the best of the best of the best" considering they are paying £80,000 to train each pilot. At least that would be more interesting than what I do now, but how difficult would it be to get into those companies

I "HATE" my job (in electronic engineering) but skydiving is something I really enjoy. So I've often thought about a career in skydiving. I'm not able to be an instructor yet. But I got talking about filming tandems last weekend. I've tinkered about with Pinnacle Studio with some of my own skydiving footage and I enjoy the editing side of it as well. The cameramen I was talking to at the weekend were telling me they make £50 for each video. I'm not sure if they have to pay tax on their earnings ? Anyway I worked out the number of videos I would have to do per week to earn the same as what I earn now. Presuming the worse case scenario, that I have to pay tax on my earnings, I worked out that I would only have to film 9 tandems per week (in fact I would actually earn slightly more than I earn now). I would seriously consider quiting my job to be a tandem cameraman, but at the same time I have some questions and concerns. - would there be enough work for me all year round ? - how would I cope earning nothing due to bad weather ? - are there even any dropzones that employ full time cameramen ? - if there are any dropzones with full time cameramen, then is it even likely they would have a a position for me and be interested in me ? I would have to get my own equipment for filming (camera, camera helmet, wing suit etc.) and get some practice. I was just wondering if a tandem cameraman could be a full job ?

I got my FS1 the other day and I was just curious... Does FS1 allow you to jump with tandems (in the UK) ?

Augusto, could you please explain why it does matter, leaving around 24 inches of line between the last stow and the risers ? Thanks.