pilotdave

No clue... I just googled. Dave

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.modocharlie.com%2F2007%2F11%2Faterrizaje-de-emergencia-en-cercanias-de-melipilla%2F&sl=es&tl=en Dave

I was disappointed with the quality of my Z1 when I bought it. 7-8 years later, I'm still jumping it. If it needs to be replaced for some reason, I'll most likely buy another Z1. Paint quality isn't the Z1's strong point, but if that doesn't bother you too much, it has a lot going for it. Haven't found anything else with such a good visor. Would be nice if it had a way to cinch down to your head... seen a few of them get lost on opening, but never had any trouble with mine. Course now I will next weekend. Dave

http://www.sportvue.com/skydiving/ Dave

There's still a big difference. You chose to go to a travel agency. You knowingly used their service so you wouldn't have to go through all those steps. Skyride is the travel agency that pretends to be the airline. Proskydiving isn't quite there. They don't pretend to be something that they are not. As a software company that provides a service, fine... let DZOs decide if it's worth the money. My DZ has online tandem booking and gift certificate purchases already. We have no need for the software company. But proskydiving is also a marketing company. If they want to be useful to the world of skydiving, they need to increase the number of tandems being done across the country. Otherwise they are doing what skyride does... directing existing customers from one location to another location. That's useless in the big picture. A national marketing campaign could be useful. It could increase tandems everywhere. But I think that'd take another Point Break. Not a car driving around chicago that says PRO Skydiving on it. I think proskydiving needs a focus if they don't want to become another skyride. Either they do software or they do marketing. I'd stick with software. If that's the plan, they don't need the fancy website that proudly lists their members and not so proudly lists "others." Dropzones should buy their service like they buy manifest software. But it looks to me like their entire setup is designed to intercept web searches and sell tandems back to dropzones that would have been otherwise found if the web search hadn't been intercepted. DZ's better sign up to get a nice listing or they will look like crap to potential customers. And eventually we all find our dropzones in the same shoes as CSC... can't dump proskydiving because our competitors use them. Dave

You can always find oddball situations, but on average it doesn't work that way. Time in sport is meaningful. It's not everything. It's not a substitute for experience. But it counts for something. Dave

135463 + 1850 = 137313 230+0 = 230 137313/230 = 597.01 Dave

The SIM is a great reference for skydivers around the world. There's nothing in the camera flying section of the SIM that doesn't apply to skydivers around the world. USPA has no rules for camera flying... they're all recommendations. Recommendations apply to everyone, everywhere. And even if they were rules, it's still a great resource. If somebody in Norway thinks there's nothing wrong with jumping a camera at 100 jumps because it's allowed in his country, he might possibly be surprised to read reasons why it's a bad idea. If Australia had a 1000 jump rule for cameras, it'd be a great idea to quote that too. Norway has much more stringent rules regarding camera flying than the US does. Hope that changes. Trying to get my DZ to require 200 jumps. Dave

Your dropzone and all of the DZs around you that work with skyride would be better off if skyride went away. They are stealing your business and selling it back to you. But you feel stuck with skyride because your competitors use skyride. Your competitors are thinking the same freaking thing! They want out of skyride as much as you do! Now you can't just call your competitors and agree to dump skyride... that's probably illegal and if skyride has any money left in their lawyer piggy bank, they might sue. So your other option is to lead by example. Dump skyride. Your competition will finally be free to do the same. They will never go away as long as they have you convinced you need them. You existed before skyride, you'll exist after them too. Skyride did not introduce the twin otter to skydiving and they won't take it away. But I definitely do see a comparison between skyride's tactic in this area and yours. You want DZs to believe that they need to join you or they'll get left in the dust. Once one dropzone in an area joins, all the others better join too. Dave

HA! Tell my windows 7 computer that. It's the least stable machine I have ever used. Not the fault of win7... I have some kind of hardware issue. Maybe bad memory but it passes every test. I get blue screens nearly daily. Apps crash allllllll the time. It's the most awful computer I have ever used even though it's the fastest and most powerful. That's what I get for building it myself. I get MEMORY_MANAGEMENT and PFN_LIST_CORRUPT blue screens most of the time. Any ideas other than trying new memory? It's an intel i7-920 with 6 gigs of ram. Dave

I wondered the same thing a while back. I stow my toggles (but not set my brakes) after landing. I don't twist em when I unstow them, I don't twist them when I stow them, so where the heck were my twists coming from? I realized it was all about which way I turned the cat's eye when setting my brakes. I guess I turn them one way more than 50% of the time. Doesn't seem like that would do it, but I guess I manage to twist the line when setting the brakes. Dave

You don't want to be compared to them, you created a business to compete with them, and yet you continue to partner with them? You know who they are, you know what they have done and continue to do. You know their business model has depended on lying to your customers. You know what they are doing is wrong because you know they lost a massive lawsuit. You know that what they're doing is criminal behavior and they will probably end up in prison some day. And you continue to be their partner in business and crime? If proskydiving can outdo them, PROVE IT. Dave

Just curious... where's it listed? I can't find it on the order form or their website. Dave

I couldn't make it past the 3rd paragraph. I just couldn't follow it. Or couldn't get myself to try. Was it good? Should I try again?

Need to be careful with dropzones making agreements with each other. Could be viewed as anti-competitive behavior, like price fixing (though different in this case). It's up to skydivers to encourage their dropzones to avoid unnecessary middlemen and not let these companies bully our dropzones into paying for these things. Dave

You're completely missing the point. Making the annoying sound go away is not the purpose. That flop flopping of the slider wears the lines where the slider is sitting. Collapsing it reduces line wear. A quieter ride is a nice side effect. Dave

Just curious about the guys using memory card cameras... How often are you taking your cards out of the camera? I have a CX100 (which I haven't jumped yet), but only one memory card. I'm not assuming I'll need any more, but time will tell. The only reason I'd pull mine out is to use it in a card reader, but I don't have a memory stick card reader anyway so I'll be plugging in the USB cable. I just don't see that a bottom-access memory card would bother me. But we'll see what happens when I start shooting. Dave

Off topic, I know... but the USPA only suggests that the instructor leave the plane with the student to observe. It's not required. I laughed when I read that part of the IRM for my IAD course. Dave

Online booking is a smart thing for any DZ to do. People buy everything online. I am willing to bet some people choose a dropzone because they could book online at one and would have to call the other. If everything else was equal, I'd probably make my decision that way. I have no problem with a business that provides online booking for dropzones. I haven't looked into what exactly they're offering, but if it integrates into the DZ's website, it might be worthwhile. But at the same time I think it would be incredibly silly for a dropzone to pay per tandem for a service like that unless there was real marketing involved. It would probably be considerably cheaper in the long run to pay someone to set up a custom reservation system on their site... if they can't find a volunteer! Dave

Jim was in CT less than a week before he died. He visited his mother and attended safety day at CPI where he was able to see many of his friends. Never saw him happier. Dave

So your business depends on lying, cheating, and stealing? Skyride won't go away until dropzone owners make the hard decision to make them go away. I can't even believe you're building a legitimate competing business and continue to use skyride. When your dropzone stops using skyride, maybe my dropzone will start using proskydiving. Shit, I'm more inclined to start using skyride since you're doing a better job advertising for them than your own product. Dave

I have trouble checking my histogram in freefall.

Do you use manual focus? If not, why av mode? The problem is unpredictable shutter speed. If you just set your camera to your desired shutter speed, the worst thing that can happen (in decent light) is you get a wider aperture. I assume if you use f/10 you are on manual focus, trying to maximize depth of field for acceptable focus. But if that means occasional blurry shots due to low shutter speeds, you might be better off with AF. You ideally want the viewfinder blocked. It is normally blocked by the photographers face. Canon provides a viewfinder blocker on every shoulder strap for these situations. Light entering can throw off the metering. I have ruined many shots of ny own shadow...sun directly behind can cause severe underexposure. And I love zoom. I change zoom in freefall and under canopy all the time. Dave

And I just did it once again when I dropped my phone. Doh! Dave

No I don't mind a little blur like that. Just pointing out that even 1/640 isn't enough to stop all that jumpsuit flapping, so I don't see how 1/320 is... unless it's a tight jumpsuit! But I do think it can get excessive at slow shutter speeds. Dave