skycop806

First off, you may not know the whole situation! That's what is really upsetting...there were many things going on behind the scenes that were never reported. She did not break almost every bone in her body..she broke her pelvis? Femur? And obviously her face. Am I saddened that a fellow skydiver..that started at my DZ got horribly hurt? You bet! But, to say that the people posting negatively are just jealous is just plain stupid. I have nothing to be jealous with her about. I've recently retired..I'm living on my IRA..I just put myself thru school to get a new, better paying job then what I was doing (a cop). I have health insurance. If I f-ed up and bit the ground...all I would want is some visitation at the hospital. It's MY RESPONSIBILITY to take care of my own injuries!! The problem with Shayna's media attention getting is a. the whole story is not being reported, b. it's the "I screwed up and I want Uncle Sam's Golden Spoon to feed me, clothe me, and take care of me" syndrome, c. The skydiving community is hurt over this situation. Sorry...I ain't paying for the bills. I'll offer rides, help with housework, etc. Again, though, I have no sympathy due to lots of behind the scenes info that was not reported. Well, let me modify that. She was the student..and led down the wrong path. THere were many warning signs that could have been heeded...but chosen to be ignored (whether intentionally or not). Don't aire your dirty laundry on national tv...

Ok, now granted, I'm no expert by any means...but I've watched this thread go on and on at our local internet website... It was apparent that she had a problem with one of her toggles to begin with...which could have been easily corrected. So, she chopped it... Looks like to me that it's the exact same scenario...on brake un-released? Or a toggle that was let go of? It all comes down to the training IMHO. It just wasnt there. I know the instructor..and others involved..I jumped with this instructor..but I NEVER heard, nor understood, my reserve to be a GUARENTEE! There are no GUARENTEES in life... It just saddens me that instead of asking INSIDE the skydiving community, those involved have taken this OUTSIDE the skydiving community..with potentially damaging results.

Well, first, I just wanted something local to go run out to...but I'll just order from a parachute supplier... Now, as far as ParaGear goes..they'd be down on the list. I ordered my Protec helmet from them, and they FORGOT MY ORDER!! Two weeks and I called them, and they said "oops". Yeah, oops! I just ordered a set of glasses goggles and gloves from square1. They were very friendly, talked my head off! AND, they shipped SAME DAY!

Is there any "local" store that sells rubber bands used for line stows or locking stows? I was running low and tried Office Max, but they had nothing that was close...anyone found a store that had some (besides ordering from Paragear or similar)?

Perhaps you could do this: Make a deal with the seller that if you win the auction, you reserve the right to release funds based upon approval from your rigger. You have the seller send the rig to your rigger for approval BEFORE you buy it. If it passes, send the money! If not, have rigger send it back to the guy and let him try and resell with the feedback..

I kinda put a detour by saying the dytter option.. I really want it for the convience of the glasses and not have to worry about goggles fogging, etc. THEN I'd put the protrack/dytter into it...

OMG! This is exactly what I've been going thru with my new Spectre 230! I resorted to paying packers to do it. I finally have struggled getting it into the bag..PHEW! I feel your pain! And I sweat like a pig during it! I've found that if you trap the left side hard against your leg, and use GENTLE pressure with your knee...it helps..and putting the BAG AROUND THE CANOPY, not vice versa! However, I'll practice repacking some more..it was looking pretty ugly going into the bag...I'll review some of these tips. Although, I'm keen to trying the psycho packing..there are a couple of jumpers from Siloam Springs DZ that swear by it...

I got my suit from ParaChi and love it... I fall like a brick..got the swoop cords in it..very baggy and slowed me down to around 125..I can keep up with floaters if I remember to dearch at the beginning of the jump lol...plus, the price was only like $200 or so... http://www.skydiveairtight.com/ParaChiDesignz.html (I am not an employee nor investor with ParaChi..these are my own opinions)

I've gone back and searched for helmet topics. I've got 110 jumps, and have used my trusty Pro-Tec helmet and googles. I wear eyeglasses, and I just don't like how the googles smash my glasses.. I also would like to start wearing an audible, either a Pro-Track or Dytter...hence my quest for a full-face helmet. I was looking at the Havoc and the Mamba from Bonehead. I know there are other full faces, like the Oxygen A3, Italia Z1, etc. I'm wanting feedback on what helmet you use, likes/dislikes, but more importantly, how they work with your glasses! This will be a retirement gift to myself..I'm retiring out of law enforcement after 20 years to be a skydive bum lol...

Sure..if I can figure it out!

I don't know...the video that was made of the 20 way BFR I was in has some good voice footage already on the video. I want to incorporate that into my own personal movie. I like hearing music watching the videos. What I've done is incorporated music..and turned the volume "up" on the music and "down" on the video..basically, I'm covering up the music already dubbed on the videos given to me and dubbing over my own. Make sense?

Ok, so, let's say there's narration on the already existing video. I'm playing a song...but I want to hear the comments on the video..then come back to the song? How do I do that? If I get that..I think I'm golden!

Ok, I'm getting the hang of Moviemaker... Some of my videos already have music set to them. I want to put the video into my own movie, with my own music. How do I go about doing that?

Again, I don't have my own DV camera... I have some jumps that were dumped to DVD by Superfletch and Nick Kime...and a couple other buddies. Will Pinnacle make a movie together with already made movies? It seems to just want to be able to d/l from the camera. I can't seem to figure out how to get the movies I d/l'd to my hard drive to get into the Pinnacle software

Ok, so I have a ripper. I have Pinnacle 8.0 and Microsoft Moviemaker. Pinnacle is designed to take the video from your camera. I can rip video and make movies with Moviemaker...however, I can't attach my own music to it and make it fade off at the end of the video clip :( Unless there is a suggestion on how to do this :) Anyway, is there any particular software that is really good at tying video clips together to make one movie?

Fletch, Fletch, Fletch...a THOUSAND PARDONS! May I humbly ask, in a crowd of several hundred participants here on DZ.com, if I may have your supreme permission to rip your video to shreds and put it with others of yours...to make my own video with just my own jumps on it to show my family and friends? Oh please please please!!!

But, I don't have a DV camera. I'm gathering videos made by others and dumped to various DVD's..and then going and making my own movies... Let me guess..I'll have to get a Mini-DV player, and just borrow their tapes and dump direct to my computer?

Can someone give me tips on making videos? I have several of my own videos dumped to various DVD's. I want to put them on my computer, and make my own videos. I also want to eventually start making my own videos as well. I have Pinnacle software as well as Microsoft Moviemaker on my computer. I have a DVD ripper program on my computer. So, I pop the DVD into my DVD-R on my 'puter. I know the video files are the .vob files. So, do I dump the raw .vob files into a folder on my computer first, or do I convert them with the ripper to a folder? Then, make my movie from the various movies in my folder? I have a "My Videos" folder. Inside that, I have various other folders, like "Home Movies", "Vacation", etc. I made one called "Raw Footage" that I was gonna use as a holding folder. Make my movies from the videos in there...and save them in my "Skydiving" folder. Too anal? What do you "professionals" do?

Well, I could write one from scratch...there is software out there that helps... But if I took one written and applied it to my situation, it would cut down on some time

I don't know where to post this, so I thought I'd go general.. I'm looking for info from DZO's on writing a business plan related to purchasing a DZ. Some of the software I've seen has pre-made templates, although none are skydiving related. Anyone have a business plan already written that they would be willing to share for editing? (I'd negotiate a small fee to offset your time in development) Or, any suggestions on where I could find such an animal?

Ok, so, don't flame me...I don't know the difference..but.. The new video recording device in Parachutist magazine...it's a Samsung digital only recorder. I don't know if this is the same thing that has been discussed in other threads... I went and looked at it at Best Buy. At first glance, it seems really cool. If I understand it right, there is no moving parts. It has an internal 512k memory, with an additional port for a 1G memory stick. No harddrives....just memory. Is this accurate assessment? I noticed 2 things off the bat: 1. The remote camera is labeled "wide angle", but I don't think it's "wide" enough. 2. There are no threads on either to accept a larger camera lens..ack! Has anyone actually TESTED IT in the AIR??

So, I had a buddy film a jump for me. He then dumped it onto a disk for me to take home. I tried to copy the disk to my computer.... I tried to "Import" from the disk But there are just several files... There is a folder called Video_TS Inside there are several files... There is VIDEO_TS which is labeled as an IFO file There is VIDEO_TS.BUP which is labeld as a BUP file There is VIDEO_TS.VOB, which is labeled as a VOB file THen there is VTS_01_0...an IFO file VTS_01_0.BUP VTS_01_0.VOB Finally, there is VTS_02_0...and it repeats as above Now, when I put this in my DVD player, a menu pops up. It shows two video segments entries. If I click on the first segment, I get the "Intro" advertisment from Freefall Express..which is cool...but... Video 2 is my actual jump video. I'm guessing VIDEO_TS is the "Menu" files... VTS_01...is the intro video VTS_02 is my jump video Now, when I try to pull these into moviemaker, it doesn't recognize the video as valid files. Obviously...there is something I'm missing. In my computer, I've copied the raw data. When I click on the Icon put on by the DVD Copy software, it asks if it can "mount" the video. I'm guessing it converts it somehow to a proper video format, like .wma or similar. So, what do I need to do to convert this?

Hey Bryan... I don't have friends...I'm a cop, remember? Make ME the manifest bitch! I'm computer literate, I'm personable, and I have a Glock to shove up their nose! LOL BTW, in regards to Martha's comment: Supercop, you were called an accident waiting to ahppen and you had your AAD go off because your head was up your rear and no one was surprised.*** First, my AAD did not save my ass...I pulled my reserve handle. My reserve was out when I went thru the student cypress firing altitude. Only thing the cutter "cut" was the reserve closing loop...but it was already out. Yeah, I was low, but I knew what to do. And, let's see...oh yeah, I know who you are...all 30(?) jumps you and your wife have...why don't you have the courage to say your real name? I mean, all the pieces of the puzzle are there...just like the email that was sent directly to me... Anyway, sorry to rant and rave, but this just keeps pushing the button. Past performance is an indicator of future behavior..I'm sure we'll see controversy follow "Martha" at their new DZ...

You know, I feel that this is nothing but a load of bunk. Granted, I'm partial about Bryan and Lyn and FFE, but I can say I've never heard them bad-mouth ANY of their staff. Oh, I'm sure there is bickering, heck, I bicker about my job all the time... It's funny that there has been some problems with a couple people within the past week at FFE, and now this shows up, ANONYMOUSLY. I think it's pure slander. Perhaps the website managers here at Dropzone.com could send me the person's IP address? I would love to know who this person really is. I have an idea, and would love confirmation seeing that the message contained spelling errors and statements very similar to emails sent to me personally by some people. I hate, HATE Trolls...if you got a problem, stand up and spout off, but use your name!!

I'm sitting behind a desk, writing reports, passing time, and read this forum..and begin to literally LAUGH OUT LOUD at this! It's sooo TRUE! That guy should have been the star of Conspiracy Theory, the movie! Phew!!