TaylorC

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Posts posted by TaylorC

  2. I have never jumped the aerodyne tandem canopy but the NZ aerosports tandem main is super nice. The 330 is great from them. Open nice, easy to pack, fly smooth and handle nicely from both new and experienced tandem instructors.

  5. Jumpdude

    By now, I feel pretty certain that most of us who have Facebook have seen the ads by Living Social, and more specific, the ones for Skydiving. I want to encourage everyone to post the link to their own REAL DZ's in the comments sections of those ads! Even if you don't care to elaborate about how the middle men ticket scalper sites are damaging our sport, at least post the link so anyone who sees the ads will get a little knowledge and be able to deal directly with the DZ so they don't get screwed!

    https://www.facebook.com/LivingSocial/posts/490636617682383



    you do realize that the dropzones approach living social and groupon to sell tandems for thier DZ right? Living social and groupon are nothing like skyride was.

  7. cube

    ***

    Quote

    everyone should know how to fuck with their canopy and recover....



    Paraglider pilots do a better job of teaching and practcicing stall recovery than we do in the skydiving world.



    Paraglider pilots can't switch chutes quite as easy as we can (they don't cutaway a malfunction), so it's understandable.

    Actually there is a new system out there for paragliding where they can cutaway and a base canopy will open above their head.

    Learning stall recovery is a great tool. Not gonna cutaway at 300 feet if you have end up in a stall from turbulence or if you get a collapse. A lot of people would be suprised how much better of a canopy pilot they would be if they spent some time paragliding

  8. Zlew

    A good friend of mine saw the paragliding pilots doing helis and wanted to try it on his Velo. He did a few hop-n-pops and g ave it a try. He had a few times where the helis started, and was able to keep it more above his head, but flying backwards (as opposed to going to the horizon in more of a sat).

    I don't think he ever got more than a revolution or two, and they still looked pretty....um... abrupt/crazy compared to paragliding wings.

    He tried it for a few jumps and decided it was best left to acro wings.

    Not something I would try, but I can't knock guys for trying out new things or pushing the limits a bit. I'll see if i can find his videos.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u5w5ihIps8

    Edit to add URL



    He is in a sat for most of those attempts and then spins in the last clip. Can see the boomerang shape that is a sign a spin is coming. Much easier ways of starting them the way he was doing it

    I sat and do variations of helis on my xaos 90. Definitely wouldnt advise anyone to try it. Excellent way to end up in line twists and chop.

  9. irishrigger

    I think 500 tandem min before wearing a glove cam and then getting a very thourough brief in how to use one. i reckon i have about 3000+ handicams under my belt, it never interfered with any EP that i had to carry out, and i have had quiet a few:P:P:P.
    bottom line is if there is a problem to deal with,forget your wearing the glove and do your job!



    Come on man its always about getting the shot! Safety second video 1st!

    I started doing handcams at 82 tandems under my belt and i was for sure not ready for it. Thankfully i never ended up getting hurt or in a bad situation early on with one. 500 tandems might be a little steep but then it again it comes down to if the person is really ready or not. Some people will be ready at 100 tandems and some should never strap a glove to their hand.

  13. Quote

    Yep. ... No one over 190 lbs... No exceptions ... they have to demonstrate there ability to lift legs .. If not .. There out ... If they dont look right there out ... No stand up landings ... All are slid in on there butt ... No exceptions ... And No one over 50



    must get next to no business if you are in the states. I know a lot of people over 50 who are in better shape than some 18 year olds who have shown up to jump.

  15. Take it slow. You dont need to jump into the whole dive pool right off the bat. Train the hell out of randoms first and then move up to the simple blocks like the 7 and 8 then the 3 and 13 and so on. Be ready to fly in a lot of burbles. Training how to fly burbles in just 2 ways is a fun way to get stronger for VFS.

    VFS will kick the shit out of you physically at first but once you get to be a stronger flyer it will become easier.

  16. Quote

    I stummbled onto this website. All the pic's/videos show the student(!) wearing the camera. Anyone ever heard of this?? Seems like the worst idea ever!
    http://www.funskydiving.com/video.php



    Everything is a bad idea. Tandem skydiving is a bad idea yet we still do it anyways. People will probably get a shittier product with this way of doing it instead of normal handcam. Gets rid of a few of the risks of normal handcam though.

  18. Quote

    The last several weeks I have made some ‘good money’ doing tandems & AFFs. I have heard more than once, “I wish I could make that kind of money for a weekend’s work!” Well, you can! Do what I did.

    Spend about $2000 to get your license and another $2000 to buy old used gear. Jump about 400 times (cost $10,000) At that point you MIGHT be good enough to start flying video as I did (okay, it was jump #385) Spend another $1000 on a camera helmet, $800 for still camera and $700 for video camera) $300 for wide angle lens and $250 on a camera suit.(total start up over $3000, not including tapes, cards, disk, labels, mailings, and editing machine) Do that and get paid! Of course you will replace your cameras 1-2 times a year at a cost of $1000 annually easily. You will need two rigs to really work it so spend another $2000 on a used back up rig.

    After you you sit all day while two TMs do 22 tandems in 11 loads without video, you don’t whine, you go get your TM rating. I did mine for the BARGAIN price of $1500. Want to shoot handcam? More $ for handcam glove ($100) $300 for video camera. Of course they take a beating so I needed 3 at that price. GoPro came out and they are awesome at a price of $300 a pop. I made my first handcam glove for $25. Only cost me a camera as a student ripped it off my hand climbing out of a Cessna. So I bought two cameras ($600) and a real glove ($125)

    Want to be the best? get your AFF rating. It cost me over $2000 for training jumps & examiner fees. Oh, speaking of fees? I pay that out the nose every year to USPA, not including my doc for a Class 3 Medical certificate. Speaking of medical ... have you seen my knees? Feel better now? I know I do! /rant! ;D



    make more than a jump pilot and you only payed half the price. Could go get a degree and pay about 100K for that and get payed less than i do as a TM. Start up cost to make money in skydiving really aint that high. Digital cameras dont break as often as tape ones. Going on almost 2 years with my Cx100 without needing a new lens or a new camera

  21. Quote

    Quote

    Storm flap is pretty much useless with his new waterproof zippers that are inverted into the suit. This allows less wear and tear on the zipper and for the wind to not directly hit the teeth on the zipper. Most people are not getting storm flaps these days. Once the velcro wears out on the storm flap it will not stay shut all the time. His new hybrid suits have a small two snap flap at the top of the zipper by the collar for added protection on the sliding piece of the zipper.



    Yeah, I saw that flap. I was trying to figure out if he was calling that the "race style collar"



    Think thats the collar i have and i like it a lot.

  22. Storm flap is pretty much useless with his new waterproof zippers that are inverted into the suit. This allows less wear and tear on the zipper and for the wind to not directly hit the teeth on the zipper. Most people are not getting storm flaps these days. Once the velcro wears out on the storm flap it will not stay shut all the time. His new hybrid suits have a small two snap flap at the top of the zipper by the collar for added protection on the sliding piece of the zipper.

  23. Quote

    Quote

    I am a big fan of Vertical Suits. They make a very high quality and durable suit that looks great and the customer service is top notch.



    Wish my experience was like that. He wanted to charge me $50/hr to fix the high waters that I got. I ended up fixing them myself. I won't buy from him again.



    What are high waters?