pilotdave

Game Show Network had a show on today (repeated again at 2:00am eastern if you're still up) called Who Dares Wins. It's from Australia. A guy was dared to go skydiving. He won a vacation or something by doing it. It was an AFF jump, but with a little twist. He'd do it as part of a 45 way out of 3 planes. They left the plane first and the formation built around them. Just a little added pressure, huh? I've never seen the type of student equipment he used before. I guess it was an SOS system. Had the main ripcord on the right lift web, and the SOS handle on the left. Looked like a soft handle made of a loop of webbing or something. The student even points out before the jump that he has trouble reaching it. The instructor replied that his arms will stretch from adrenaline if he needs it. I'm sure it works, but I sure wouldnt want to have to remember that my cutaway handle is where my deployement handle used to be when I stopped using student gear. Cool TV show though! Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

I don't really know how it works (just read a short article about it in a magazine a while back). Couldn't find anything on the Gulfstream website. I just remember the article said that over 60 governments use Gulfstreams to transport VIPs so they wanted military style defense. I'll see if I can find anything about it. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

Missile defense is an option on Gulfstream business jets now. Maybe it'll make its way onto airliners. Or else we better start saving up cause G-V's aren't cheap!

I think the first time I heard about AADs was on Road Rules (or was it Real World?) on MTV when they went skydiving as one of their "challenges." One of the tandems supposedly had a double total malfunction and was saved solely by the AAD. I doubt thats how it really happened, but thats what they claimed. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

I spent $85 on 2 jumps yesterday. Jumps were $20. Did one with a coach so I payed for his slot (but the coaching was free), and there was a $25 registration fee because there was "free" food, beer, and a band at night, and an organizer. I thought $25 was just a tad excessive, especially since I couldn't stick around at night and didn't use the organizer. But whatever, I had a good time so I guess it was worth the money. Definitely not a cheap sport, no matter how you look at it. But I think it's worth spending excessive amounts of money on.

0:2:0. Thank goodness my summer job doesnt start for another couple weeks. Gotta love jumping on a random wednesday. Went to Connecticut Parachutists today, made a couple jumps, and watched a 3-plane 39 way. Not the biggest formation ever, but wow, that's a lot of people! I think it's the CT state record too. Very cool. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

I wrote about mine not too long ago, but here's the quick version. Jump #51, my 9th or 10th on my new (used) rig. Pulled, waited, waited, hmmm.... look back... "shit shit shit shit." Pilot chute in tow. I could see it trailing behind me, fully inflated (it was cocked). Before I had time to even think about what to do (to cut away or go straight for the reserve), I found myself tugging on the bridle. I don't remember thinking about it at all.... I just reached back and it was in my hand, then I pulled it all in one motion. I could feel the bag come out, but I was rolling over onto my back. The bag bounced over my side. I could see the lines stretch. Then it flipped me back over, canopy opened, and I had a few line twists. Cleared those by 2000 or so and was able to finally lift my head, just in time to see someone else's cut-away main going by. Landing was uneventful and actually one of my most accurate landings, about a yard from the target. Problem seems to have been a shrunken kill line not allowing the pilot chute to inflate fully. The other day I had a few people look at it and there wasn't much agreement about the kill line so I just replaced the whole pilot chute. Speaking of that, I have a used 28" pilot chute for sale.

See !codecs.txt in the public folder at http://www.skydivingmovies.com. You can download a single file which will install just about any codec you might need. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

If you get the Discovery Wings channel, look for a show called Free Fall. It's about the development of skydiving. It was on last night and is on again right now. I'm sure it'll be repeated a bunch of times too. It's a pretty good show that covers lots of aspects of skydiving. Also lots of stuff with Bill Booth, including tandem jumps over the north pole. Interviews with him and lots of other big names in skydiving. I recorded it onto tape...no way to get it on my computer at the moment, but I'll try to later. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

Just got my first car yesterday! Today I started stickering. Maryland Skydiving in the back window, EAA on the side, and USPA on the back. I'll stick an AOPA sticker on too when I find one. I think I've had the EAA sticker since I joined in '95. Never had anywhere to stick it before. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

I'd go with the Wings. Sounds like a really good price, and I've heard lots of great things about Wings containers. I jump a Reflex and like it, but I've heard Wings containers are quite a bit more comfortable and they're really nice looking too. I've also heard too many stories about hard openings on sabres to ever think about buying one myself. You'd save some money with the reflex, but $3200 is not at all unreasonable for a partially new, partially used rig (I assume the canopies are used). Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

http://www.skydivingmovies.com will take ya there in your browser. No need to know anything about FTP. Definitely check out the "stupid student tricks" video in the /students folder. I'm on a 28.8 modem at the moment so I cant easily find other good ones, but there are a bunch. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

Yep, and it looks pretty much like the Cresco. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

Here's another. Sorry I don't have the source...

Pacific Aerospace Cresco. Made in New Zealand I think. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

Never done a tandem myself, but I've heard some cool stories about that kinda thing (from the people that did em). One friend of mine went up with a TM that needed recurrency. They left the plane at 14K, deployed the drogue at 7K, and tumbled for fun in between. They got it on video. It's supposed to be pretty wild but i never got the chance to see it. I heard from another TM about a jump he did years ago... A tandem 2 (or is it 4?) way RW jump. No drogues either. He said he considers it about the stupidest tandem jump he's ever done. He's done some stupider non-tandem jumps though.

You're my new hero! That fixed it. My own server will only be up for a few more days (till friday), but if anyone wants to do any searches for movies on the skydivingmovies.com ftp server, you can still do it at http://129.2.156.19/phptest/view_data.php. Perhaps we can get that running on AndyMan's server or somewhere else. THANKS!!!! Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

Running in mySQL 3.23.49 in windows 98, running in an dos prompt window... mysql> select * from tbl1; ERROR 1030: Got error 127 from table handler When i try to access it through a php script, I get no data. In Access it gives me an ODBC error of some kind. I tried to find error codes in the mySQL documentation but couldnt find em anywhere. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

Alright, it's off topic, but I know there must be some of you out there. I made a nice mySQL database of all the videos on my FTP server. The main table seems to have gone corrupt or something. It won't open. All the data's still in there - I can open the file with notepad and see it. But mySQL won't display the table and I can't query it through Access or a php web page. Anyone have any clue how I might be able to fix it? Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

Don't care how, just make it soon! Finals suck!

My first 20 jumps were spread out over a couple of years. I repeatedly went months without jumping. Every time I came back to do it again, I'd ask myself why I was there. On the plane, I'd be thinking "this is just stupid. There's no reason for me to be doing this..." But once I was back in the air, I would remember exactly why I came back. After opening, I wouldn't be able to stop smiling for minutes. Skydiving has its risks. If you don't want to keep doing it, don't force yourself. But from what I'm reading, I don't see that. You want to do it. The only way to deal with the fear other than quitting is to face it directly. Go jump as many times as you can as quickly as you can. Trust that you can deal with any malfunction. If you don't think you can, review the emergency procedures. But just remember how fun it is. Deal with the fear to get yourself to go do it. After a few jumps in a row, the fear will get less and less, and you can focus on the good parts instead of the bad. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

Like it's been said, you probably won't be able to see your handles with it on. Make sure you can find em with your eyes closed easily. A dark visor may not be a good idea if you're going to do RW. I'm no expert, but I've heard many times that eye contact is the most important thing. Also, when it arrives, you'll want to adjust the lining a little to prevent it from fogging. From www.unfeathered.com: "ABOUT LENS FOGGING: Although your lens has an anti-fog coating on it, warm air on the inside applied right next to the lens (ususally from your nose) will cause fogging. The problem is usually easily corrected by a simple adjustment of the liner -- disconnect the liner at the chin and reattach it below the actual helmet opening. This allows better air flow and typically eliminates the problem." Also when you get it the first thing you'll do is adjust the collar to fit. Adjust it once, then tuck the adjustment thing into the hole in the collar (as it says in the instructions). Don't readjust it every time you put it on. Personally I like to open the visor after opening. I find that it fogs up in cold weather under canopy (although the last time I tried it in the real cold was before I did the liner adjustment), and I have found I judge my flare a little better with it open. If it's cold, you can open it just a crack to prevent fogging but keep the wind off your face. Also, in the real cold, if it does fog up and you cant see your altimeter, make sure you don't lose track of altitude. One guy at my DZ had his Z1 fog up in freefall a few months ago. He ended up pulling low, had his cypres fire, and landed either with an entaglement or a downplane, not sure which. He broke his back and arm on landing. He's fine now though, I think. Just be careful of stuff like that. Practice opening it before you use it. Get the motion down. It can be done with one hand easily once you figure it out. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

The directions just say to jerk the string and not apply a constant force. During my last repack my rigger was getting tired so he had me try it for a while. I realize that pulling on it, as opposed to short jerks, can bend the reserve pin, but it just doesn't seem all that complicated to do it right. The manual does say that it can only be tightened by the rigger that packed it though. That seems like overkill to me. Also, tightening the pop top tightens the reserve closing loop, so the tighter it is, the harder it'll be to pull the reserve. Don't want to get it too tight, right? Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

Tried it, worked great. I put a link to it in !codec.txt on the root directory of the server. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com

That's cool. Our membership fee gets collected by the DZ when people go to jump. Free money is nice but I'd rather bring more people to the DZ and make less money, to keep our prices as low as possible. I know if our "business" doesn't pick up a bit next year the DZ will keep raising our prices higher and higher. Then the DZ drives us nuts by telling us not to recruit other campus clubs that want to skydive, since they make a smaller profit when they go through us. But, as far as inspiring college students goes, we try to keep prices low and provide free beer. Dave http://www.skydivingmovies.com