Jumpnfun2

OK, So like a pencil eraser. I have thought about shimming the battery up so that there is less movement on deployment. I have cleaned the contacts with a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol. Camera and battery. It has also been suggested to me that the aftermarket batteries aren't being seen well by the camera as to charge. Not sure about that.(?) BS, Sue

I do not have an RSL hooked up. Should life go to hell, I would really like to get rid of that helmet, should it be snagged in any way, and the main canopy. Then I'll deploy my reserve. I do not wish to have an RSL do it's job when I really don't want it to. Don't get me wrong. They have saved countless lives and have a great purpose in this sport. This is just my personal choice, and for my own reasons. I do have a nice Cyp2. Love that thing. I have had 2 reserve rides to date. No RSL on either one. No Cyp either. I had some bad dreams and went shopping. 1st was a high speed spinner, 2nd was a total with a camera. Old digital 8. Rather painfull, but a good rigger rules. Faster really is better. I think the only reason for an AAD is should you be 'unavailable at pull time'...Be that due to whatever situation has come into play. As for the harness being snug? OK, once again, my personal thing. I'm a girl, and we are rather flexible. I can do 145+ in freefall, or suck it up and fall with the slowest. Being flexible has it's advantages. I don't need to loosen the chest strap for anything. My camera suit was made for someone a bit larger than I am. I can put a big sweatshirt and weights under it, or I can tuck it back behind the main lift web and just fly. One of my favorite video and still things to do is to crank some really hard turns, look up, and shoot vid and stills. You get the ground, sky, ground, (giggle) etc. I actually replaced the wings. The original ones were winglets. (?) Not sure on that spelling. That was what caused my total. I had to back out of a Kingair and pulled the pud off of my rig. I have since gone to a throw out. No need to discuss this... The new wings are really large. I made sure I could reach everything I needed to should I not be able to release them. I can float with the TM that weighs 150 lbs and a 90lb girl, or I can fall with the TM that goes 250 and that BIG student that can't get out of the door of the Cessna. I have 4 kids. They have all jumped, and one is a licensed jumper. I try to stack the odds in my favor on every jump. I have no need to push certain things. I can do my job very well without doing so. Just MY opinion... BS, Sue

Unless the camera body shorted the battery and partially killed the cell. Hey, Thanks to everyone for the advice, and sorry it took me so long to reply. There are some things I forgot to meantion in my 1st post. I actually have loaned out the camera to others. No issues on the ground. I loaded the "good" aftermarket battery in last fall and used it all winter. Like 400 plus shots with flash. All good. Inside, outside in the dark. The Canon battery, not so much. Damn thing died within a few shots. The issue seems to be right after deployment and or landing. I don't know if it's the jarring invloved or something else. Needless to say that when this happens under canopy I'm stuck. After I land I can at least unmount the camera, pull the battery, put it back in, and I then have a full charge. I've cleaned the contacts inside of the camera, etc. I've had the camera body checked out, clean bill of health. Now, I was also jumping a Protec at that time. There was a good deal of flexing with the still mount going on. The video was mounted on top in a D-box, and the still was out front. The balance was not great to say the least, but it worked. The top of the still would actually show on and off in the video in freefall. I have since gotten a very nice new Flat Top Pro for Christmas. I have yet to jump it as I had hernia surgery in May. No jumping for me until at least August. Dammit. Anyway... Thanks once again for any and all advice. I need to have this fixed before I go back up and take pics of a student for pay. Sue E.

I am having a problem getting decent batteries for my XT. The Canon ones I have bought (2) have both failed within 10-20 shots. In the air, on the ground, it does not seem to matter. They won't re-charge, etc. At $70 plus shipping. When I contacted Canon I was told I must have not adhered to the recommendations in the instructions. No refund. The batteries were new when shipped. Whatever. The after market stuff is hit and miss. I have 2 that work wonderful most of the time. Other times they stop working in freefall for whatever reason. Bonus though, I only paid about $5 with shipping. I have also had the after market ones work great until landing. Then I had no response at all from the camera until I pull the battery and reload it into the camera. At that point I have a 'full' charge.? The others are good at times, other times, not so much. At this point I have like 6 batteries, and I label them as to their reliability. All I'm looking for is something that I can rely on every time. That tandem student is paying for those shots, and I want to deliver them. Every time. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sue E

Film tandem deployment Make sure they have a good canopy Roll back belly to earth Deploy Canopy check Traffic check Locate dz and riser turn towards dz Test fire still camera Video on standby Stow slider Release brakes Smile because I had fun Fly Video back on Have fun under canopy Film the nice view for the student's video Land I leave my swoop cords on as they are under my gloves, which I wear summer and winter. I also leave the wings attached as I don't want anything flapping around, and I can reach everything with them still attached. I also leave the still on because you never know what you just might see. I leave the booties on because they have never caused an issue, so why mess with them?

Usually sleeping on my gear bag...or stalking the dog. You would think that she would get it through her head that he now weighs 105lbs and can take her out. She has hated him from day one, and he loves her.(?) You would think that she just might understand that a doberman could just think of her as a snack..oh no, not Sadie. She smacks the shit out of Cooper, and he just takes it and keeps wagging his tail. Now, don't try to come in my house without permission I love that dog. Right now she's tormenting the poor dog who is sleeping on the couch. Damn nocturnal beast. Sue

Goodbye my friend. I will miss you forever. You really were the very best. Here is a link to the memory page with a video of Bruce's life story. http://www.lifestorynet.com/memories/31175/ BS, Sue

These are my faves....my husband as TM and my son on his 1st jump.... I ran 2nd video and stills because I wanted to Sue E

Hey, This is the wife here:)~ Going out with the kids was great. I think dad was a bit nervous, but he did fine. Ok I was nervous too. Those were my kids! They may look big, but at exit I could have sworn they were about 2 months old and should have been ANYWHERE but getting out of that plane! Mark actually forgot to say that when the 3rd oldest child jumped he not only was the TM, but I was one of the vidiots. I got some great stills. I actually ran 2nd vid on that one just to get some really cool shots. Our DZO ran 1st vid. As for going out strapped to Mark, I don't know. We've always talked about the fact that we have 4 kids, and should something go wrong who would be left to take care of them? When we are in the same plane, should there be an aircraft emergency one of us just might get out of that plane and be OK. Being tied together in FF doesn't leave you with many options should shit go terribly wrong. Mark is a great TM, which is why I trust him with the kids. I just think it isn't a great idea to have both parents risk that much at one time. The pics are of our last kid that jumped with Mark as the TM. Jake rocked. Damn kid is a natural. He blew through the S/L FF student program and has about 5-6 jumps yet until his A. I put Jake out on several S/L and FF jumps. It was really hard to forget to be a mom the 1st time when that door opened. I did so because I'm his mom and I want him safe, but as his JM also I'm going to do my job and make sure of that. "Get your ass out of my airplane and DO what I taught you to do!" Nice way to talk to your kid, but Jake just grinned at me and did what I had taught him. Damn fine young man. He did have to repeat a jump, and only one during his entire student progression. Oops, mom failed the boy. You do actually have to pull the handle on a PRCP. Go figure? He does fall like the entire brick house, but what ya gonna do? I did tell the kid to arch, and being a good kid he listened...at 225lbs. of football player lineman's muscle. Falls like a stone. I have to put rocks in my pockets just to keep up to speed with that child. He's getting better though. We've been working on fall rate with the boy and he's getting there. It's great having not only your husband in the sport, but one of your kids too. Handy young man. We taught him to pack when he was 11 years old. That boy can make a 5 minute call with the best openings I've ever had. Packs a great tandem too. Did I meantion it's great having your family there with you in this sport?! Sue E

1 TRV-350 digital 8 1 TRV-11 still in use 1 Canon EOS RebelX 35mm no longer in use 1 CanonXT..love this camera. Still in use. Sue E.

This is my home DZ and I wouldn't jump anywhere else. Premier is great. We are growing, and that rocks! Our DZO, Bill, is awesome, as is the girl, Amy, that runs manifest. Our pilots rock. This is just a great place to skydive. New gear that is well maintained, a great vibe, etc. We have inside showers, a great place to camp within 1/4 of a mile, inside padded packing, awesome video (dvd) and still editing equipment. We are not far from Lake Michigan, and the view is amazing from altitude. There are also a ton of local lakes and woods. In the fall the color tour from altitude is worth just riding the plane up and down. Skydiving is a bonus. Bill and Amy run a great DZ. Everyone is always welcome no matter where they have jumped before or their level of experience. Sue Elenbaas

Make sure you keep it outside in the current conditions. Gaffers tape around the lens attachment points does help, a d-box, and use cat crap. I haven't had an issue at all since I started using it. I can even go through some (cough) fog and have no problems. I use it on my still camera also. I did take the wide angle off and coated the original lens with the cat crap too. Michigan has some high humidity issues also. In the spring and fall there is a rather large temperature change when you exit at altitude which can cause condensation issues too. Just my 2 cents. BS, Sue

These are my favorite ones prolly because they are of my youngest son on his 1st jump, and my husband as the TM. My good friend and DZO is running 1st vid & stills. He had a 20D at the time and I was still using 35mm. I have some much better shots since I bought my XT, but none that I like as much as these. BS, Sue

Hey! My dzo's rig is a S107! Both of them actually. G4 container on both also. This is some really nice gear. Both are also Cyp. equipped. I've been jumping a Batwing116 for years, which is in my 2nd rig now, with a Q2 container and a MR135R. My main rig is a S120 in a Javelin TJN with a PD126R and Cyp2. I get pretty geeked about jumping that S107. It's FUN. It also makes me want to go out and spend alot of money on new gear. Dammit I need a ton of cash soon if I want to do that! As for the broken thing, I've been there twice now. It's not worth it in any way. It hurts like hell, and you can't jump for that season, and if you do the ACL thing like I did, a bit longer than that. It's just not worth it. That shit REALLY hurts. The recovery time and the physical therapy is not cool. It HURTS. It takes forever too until you can use that leg again in a normal way. Sitting JM, flying video, etc... Be safe, and jump again the next day. Taking certain risks may seem OK at the time, but that shit can bite you in the ass. Hard. I've learned not to be stupid. I've learned to not only respect mother earth, but my limitations as to my abilities at that point in my career in this sport. I push those limitations to learn, but not beyond what is safe for my experience. Tomorrow is another day. I may be up to pushing that further then. Just not today. Did I meantion that my dzo rocks:)~? BS, Sue

No. I'm not a TM, I'm a Tandem vidiot. No. Quoting the words of one of the guys that taught me to skydive, is a TM, a S/L I, an amazing rigger, etc....etc.. "This is NOT a F%@#$* RW jump!! " Being cool, getting a cool shot, at the expense of that student's safety, and the TM's safety, is just not cool. I've had several experiences where the TM decided that it would be OK for someone else to come out with us. Very not cool. I've been hit twice now in FF by some idiot trying to get in the shot, not paying attention to where I was, etc. The only people that should be on a tandem with video are the student, the TM, and the vidiot. That vidiot should in no way compromise the airspace of that student. A cool shot is not worth a life. If the vidiot has a problem keeping in proximity to the tandem on exit, and I mean safe proximity, that person needs a whole lot more jumps before they try doing video on a tandem again. Above or below is just not allowed for any reason. Ever. Just my 2 cents worth. BS, Sue E.