Eule

PM sent. I've had fairly decent luck using the UnPlug plugin for Firefox. UnPlug also works for many other sites that try to force you to use a plug-in to play sound and video clips. YouTube videos tend to be in Flash Video format with an .flv file extension. The UnPlug FAQ has a couple of suggestions for viewing Flash Video files. You can use MediaCoder to translate Flash Video into something useful like MPEG. MediaCoder also has a small player built in (on the "preview" tab) that can play Flash Video files. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

That's the right show number. Skydive Radio show #69. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Sorry - I saw the link here and didn't think to check skydivingmovies.com before I worked on it. I mixed mine down to mono so I could use a higher bitrate, and fully populated the tags, but that hasn't helped much - mine's only been downloaded about six times, against 72 for yours. It's all good. :) Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Anywere from about 12 to up in the 90s somewhere... ...before they get out of the plane. :) OK, it's a totally different game if you get to use aluminum and engines instead of nylon and gravity, but I still think it's interesting to compare aircraft wing loadings with canopy wing loadings: Cessna 182T: 11.3 empty, 17.8 max takeoff PAC 750XL: 24.6 (unspecified condition) DHC-6-300 Twin Otter: 16.6-19.0 empty, 29.8 max takeoff Douglas DC-9-21: 97.9 max takeoff (all figures in lb/ft^2) I don't know what the wing loading of a wingsuit is like, but I'd guess that it's somewhere between most canopies and a 182 - maybe closer to the high end. Say around 8 or so. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

The interview starts at "twelve to seven" or at about 1:48 into the show if you're listening online. I saved the entire show, edited it down to just the interview, and converted it to MP3; the result is here. The file is about 6 MB and it runs a bit over six minutes. It seemed like a pretty decent interview for mass-market radio. The tunnel was mentioned briefly, but more time was given to 4-way in general and "what do you do if your parachute doesn't open", but at least the host didn't put it quite that way. :) Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Cheryl was on Skydive Radio show #26 and IIRC much of the interview was about the stratosphere jump. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

A little Googling finds a couple and I'm sure there are many more. For 5,000 people and modern hardware you could almost just stick the results in a text file. :) I've done something like this and it worked OK for up to about 100 "voters". Beyond that you need something more automated, IMHO. If the member IDs are the same but the votes are different, which one do you keep? If the key-punching takes 10 seconds per member and 1000 members vote, that's about 2 hours 45 minutes of just key-punching. If 5000 members vote, that's nearly 14 hours of key-punching. You will go crazy trying to automate 100% of the process, though. In this situation it might be OK to kick out the ambiguous electronic votes for review by a human. Also, my guess is that you won't get 100% of the membership to vote electronically; you'll still be handling slips of paper for some time. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Looking at the new-member and renewal forms on the BPA web site, I'm not sure if any of the pieces of information really qualify as something that both the member and the BPA are likely to know and others are likely to not know. The FAI number and sporting licence number are probably the closest, as I think you mentioned. I didn't know that all the memberships are concurrent. This does prevent a "soft start" by starting to generate PINs throughout the year as people renew. If the renewal confirmation/new card is the only thing the BPA typically sends in an envelope, then you have to be ready with all the PINs in one go. Not that it's hard to make PINs, but you have to plan for it in the renewal process or put it off for another year. (You probably know this, but USPA memberships expire at the end of the month in which you originally applied for them. Therefore, some portion of the memberships are always up for renewal.) On the other hand, an organisation that thinks it's fine to distribute important documents as Word files already has significant IT challenges. :) It's not like making PDFs costs money. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

NOTE: This is getting a little far afield from the question of getting insurance for BPA members, but I figured I'd respond to the "electronic voting" subtopic. I think the answer is "not very", although it probably can't be (cheaply) set up in time to be useful for a vote in the next few months. Here's one way it might work. I think BPA, like USPA, communicates with all of its members by post at least once a year for membership renewals. Starting tomorrow, put a tick box on the renewal form that says "I would like a login to vote / do business electronically." If somebody ticks it, generate a PIN for that member, and send it out with the renewal confirmation letter. This is a bit more work when processing renewals, but doesn't cost any extra postage. Also, it doesn't force people to vote online if they don't want to. On the other hand, if few people sign up for the online option, it doesn't make much sense to set it up. Then, set up a members area on the BPA website. Require the name as printed on the membership card, licence class and number, PIN, and maybe a part of the address (post code?) to log in. Do a nightly extract from the members database (which is hopefully off-line) to the Web server so this information can be verified. Log the date, time, and IP address. This is off-the-shelf HTML/Javascript/PHP stuff. Some people might prefer a secure (https://) site, which may cost money for the security certificate if the BPA doesn't already own one. Once you've logged in, you might see some details on your membership - when it expires, etc - and have the option to vote on any questions that are currently open. Voting would be similar to making an online purchase - you'd make your choice, get a couple of "are you sure?" questions, and then submit your vote. As soon as you submit it, the link to vote on that question disappears off of your page, and the software remembers that your set of credentials has already voted and disallows further votes on that question. Again, I think this is pretty standard Web programming stuff. Eule's handy rule of thumb to judge the quality of legally acquired software, developed after 10+ years in the IT racket: Did you have to pay money for the software? NO: It probably sucks. YES: It definitely sucks. :) I would have to think that one or more BPA members would be able to do the required programming, code review, and testing - perhaps after being bribed with sufficient amounts of beer. Alternatively, skydivers can't be the only sports association to have had this problem - maybe the glider pilots or rock climbers or SCUBA divers have set up a voting system like this, and we could use a copy of their system. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Maybe using a combination of humor and seriousness would be helpful. I like the idea of having a sign at manifest/check-in saying approximately "limited medical facilities available, nearest hospital is 1000 km (600 mi) away, don't screw up" in as many languages as you think you may need. Beyond that, maybe the warning/grounding system that has been proposed. Finally, dig a rectangular hole in the ground next to manifest, about 2.5 m by 0.75 m by maybe 0.5 m deep. Put up a sign in the hole that says "Hospital". Have a little plush toy vulture sitting on the sign. Have a cardboard "tombstone" that says something like "Your Name Here!" or "J. Random Swooper. 24 Nov 1971 - 22 April 2007." If you can get your hands on an old, worn-out, tiny canopy, dig a second hole next to the "open grave", 2.5 m by 0.75 m but shallow. Put the ends of the canopy lines in it and then fill the hole back in. Put up a sign on that "grave" that says "Room 101" and one on the "open grave" that says "Room 102". Advise people that the hospital is already half full. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Happy birthday! California dreamin', on such a winter's day... Let's see, at 4 PM Pacific time, you had... Conditions at: KSCK (STOCKTON, CA, US) observed 2355 UTC 14 January 2007 Temperature: 8.9°C (48°F) Dewpoint: -9.4°C (15°F) [RH = 26%] Pressure (altimeter): 30.28 inches Hg (1025.5 mb) [Sea-level pressure: 1025.3 mb] Winds: from the NNW (330 degrees) at 9 MPH (8 knots; 4.2 m/s) Visibility: 10 or more miles (16+ km) Ceiling: at least 12,000 feet AGL Clouds: sky clear below 12,000 feet AGL Weather: no significant weather observed at this time 48 degrees, 9 mph, blue skies? Sounds like jumping weather to me! Compare that to 4 PM Central time, where I had... Conditions at: KCUH (CUSHING, OK, US) observed 2153 UTC 14 January 2007 Temperature: -4.0°C (25°F) Dewpoint: -5.0°C (23°F) [RH = 93%] Pressure (altimeter): 30.09 inches Hg (1019.0 mb) Winds: from the NW (310 degrees) at 12 MPH (10 knots; 5.2 m/s) Visibility: 4 miles (6 km) Ceiling: 600 feet AGL Clouds: overcast cloud deck at 600 feet AGL Weather: BR (mist) 25 degrees, 12 mph, 600 feet? (Plus an inch of ice on the roads?) Sounds like staying-home-and-drinking weather to me! :) Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

I think this is probably a good idea. The few dropzones that I've been to usually give the tandems a few things along with their certificate, like a paper/brochure on the FJC. Having a nice slick four-color "magazine" would be a step up from what the DZs do, I think. If you do that, though, dropzone X won't want to give out the magazines (or turn in the addresses so USPA can mail them out) if their neighbor down the road, dropzone Y, has bought an ad. I am not connected with running a DZ in any way, but from anecdotal evidence, many DZOs apparently see their market as a zero sum game - they aren't too interested in making the pie higher. I could be completely wrong on this, though. Getting ads from gear manufacturers and big dealers might be a little easier - you'd still have a conflict if the dropzone is a dealer for one manufacturer and a competing manufacturer is advertising in the magazine, but it might be easier to get the DZOs to go along with that, since I would *guess* they stand to make more money on students than they do on gear sales. Well, that's good for most of the guys and a few of the girls. You need to have some good-looking guys in it too, to appeal to the rest of the market. :) Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

AggieDave provided the link. Interestingly, the 13 most prolific users as of January 2007 are the same as the 13 most prolific users as of January 2006, just with slightly different rankings. It's actually more like 1 in 3. I think you're talking about this: Total Users 59675 Users who have logged in at least once 45566 Users who have logged in since 1/1/2006 21974 Users who have at least one post 15554 and it's important to understand that the conditions aren't (always) cumulative. "Users who have at least one post" is since forever, not just since 1/1/2006. I've heard _of_ (but not yet gotten) the TUB and TUG speeches, but this is the first time I've heard "take up statistics." :) Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

I'm not experienced, but: yes. I went to the tunnel twice, getting 30 minutes each time. I think the first time helped somewhat and the second time helped a lot. I pretty much passed AFF 7 on jump 46. I say "pretty much" because the freefall, opening, and most of the canopy ride went well, but I screwed up the flare/landing and the planet didn't get out of the way for me - how rude! Keep at it. Relax! (I know you're tired of hearing this. :) ) Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

I jump at Cushing, Oklahoma and as you can see there's a lot of room on the airport. The tank farm east of the airport and the prison just southwest of the airport are not good places to land, though. Zoom out a little and you'll see that like many places in the western half of the US, it's like jumping on to a sheet of graph paper. Shameless promotion: http://members.cox.net/eule/ is a compilation of Google Earth placemarks for dropzones. Not all of them have the landing areas marked but some of them do. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

It's not "over thatta-way" like a TV remote. IIRC you usually had to be within about a 1-inch circle around the center of the target for it to work. But this is also in a darkened room with flashing LEDs around the target, so you have some clue as to where to aim. For jumping you might make the target spot a little wider on purpose because of the distances involved. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Rather an odd gift. Wouldn't lederhausen have been more appropriate? I don't understand why lederhosen would have been more appropriate - can you explain? (This would have been a good candidate for a PM instead of a post, but Andy9o8 has PMs shut off.) Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Having trouble sleeping because you're thinking about all the jumps you're going to make this year? Well, this will put you to sleep for sure! Attached are some statistics on dropzone.com. This is the same thing I posted last year, with updated data for 2006. Again, this was all done with information available to anyone who has a login on dropzone.com. I'm not a mod or sysadmin or otherwise able to access any data that "normal users" can't get. Eule Edit: Fixed a label in the attachment. The data was correct for 2006, but the label hadn't been updated from 2005 to 2006. PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Don't absorb it all just yet. Put it in a jar, take it to the dropzone, and _ask your instructors about it_ before you absorb it. You will read lots of things in books, here, elsewhere on the Internet - some of it is good information and some of it is not. Your instructors can help you tell the difference. Hmm... If you were born in 1974 then I'm only about a year or two older than you. :) Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

I know last year Cushing had Mullins' King Air at least once, in about May, and I think they had it again in September or so. What exactly is that? A King Air is an airplane with two turboprop engines. It can be set up for jumping. A guy named Mike Mullins owns one, and has done a lot of modifications and tweaks on it to make it really fast. He owns a DZ in Tennessee, and flies his King Air there, but he also brings it to other dropzones periodically. He brought it to Cushing last year and lots of people came out so they could jump it. The plane is fairly popular and well-known among jumpers; if you say "Mullins' plane" or "Mullins' King Air" to an experienced jumper, they will very likely know exactly what you're talking about. I figured what you meant by "group skydiving events" is when there is a large number of jumpers at the dropzone, which is why I mentioned the King Air. But now I realize maybe you meant "relative work" or "formation skydiving", where jumpers try to build formations in freefall. This happens all the time in OK, but since most (all?) of the dropzones here only have Cessnas, they can only do 4-way - formations with four jumpers maximum. If you get more than one Cessna going at once, or get an airplane that can hold more jumpers, you can make bigger formations. The current world record is a 400-way. I hope this wasn't too much stuff you already knew. :) Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

[geek]Er, that's actually just current. Power would be measured in watts. Not sure what voltage that is but if you assume 230 V you get 1.38 MW or about 1,840 hp (perfect motors, etc.) which is probably in the right ballpark. I'd think that with motors that big you'd run them at 400 V, but that would give 2.4 MW or about 3200 hp, which I think is at least twice as much as most other tunnels and so is probably not the right number.[/geek] It could be that the motors are actually running at 400 V (or more), but that the current has been calculated based on 230 V in order to make it sound more impressive easier for people to relate to. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

100 m^3 is in the right ballpark. If you model the enclosed volume of a tunnel as a cylinder with 3 m diameter, this gives you a height of about 14 m, which sounds reasonable. Well, for dry air at standard temperature and pressure (0 C and 101.325 kPA, or 32 F and 29.92 inHg), sure. [0] That's probably a beauty day up there in the Great White North, but it gets warmer down here. On a 25 C (77 F) day at standard pressure, dry air might be 1.18 kg/m^3, about 9% less. Humidity will lower the density of the air further. If you assume the total volume is 100 m^3, then that one m^3 of air would have 99 m^3 behind it, wouldn't it? Doing the math, Bosch [1] p. 46 says, "The velocity of fall approaches a limiting velocity v0 at which the air resistance Fl = 0.5 * rho * cw * A * v0^2 is as great as the weight G = m * g of the falling body." This is for falling, but I think it should apply to the tunnel as well. Let's say I'm (80 kg) in the tunnel and the density of air is 1.18 kg/m^3. I just used the platinum- iridium tiles on my kitchen floor (1 ft^2 each) to determine that my frontal area is about 9 ft^2 or 0.836 m^2. I also need a coefficient of drag. Page 47 says "disc, plate 1.1" so I'll use that; I suspect that it's actually a little higher with jumpsuit and everything. We have: m * g = 0.5 * rho * cw * A * v0^2 80 kg * 9.81 m / s^2 = 0.5 * 1.18 kg / m^3 * 1.1 * 0.836 m^2 * v0^2 784.8 kg m / s^2 = 0.543 kg/m * v0^2 v0 = 38.0 m/s = 85 mph which is, IMHO, in the ballpark. Interesting. We could put people in the tunnels and do power-loss experiments. The correct way would probably involve personal protective equipment for arc flash, and a big fiberglass stick. The "hold my beer and watch this" way would involve something like a grounding rod, lots of heavy wire, a big rock, and a catapult. Maybe a backhoe if the lines are underground. Eule [0] Caution, Wikipedia link. Might be true, might not. [1] Bosch "Automotive Handbook", 4th edition, ISBN 0-8376-0333-1 PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

I live in Tulsa and also jump in Cushing. I haven't been out there for a few weeks, though. I know last year Cushing had Mullins' King Air at least once, in about May, and I think they had it again in September or so. I think they're going to do it again this year - ask Jack the next time you're out there. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

One way to look at it: which one might get cheaper between now and this summer? If your tunnel time has to fit in to your Florida trip, then you probably know pretty accurately what the time will cost. You might wait for a good deal on the tunnel time - you'd have to do the research to see how likely that is. Also, it has to be a good enough deal to offset the cost of making a special trip to the tunnel. If you buy the camera now, you probably know pretty accurately what it will cost. You might wait for a sale on the camera - again, you have to research how likely that is. But since you wouldn't be making a "special trip" - unless you did something like buying it online instead of locally - the discount doesn't have to be very large to offset any extra cost. Another way to look at it: trade down. If you're fairly set on the nice camera, get 15 minutes of tunnel time instead. If your money recovers at a linear rate, if you buy the nice camera now, you'll have the money for 15 minutes of tunnel in, say, March. You get a camera now. You don't get as much tunnel time, but you get it sooner than you would if you waited until you had the money for 30 minutes' worth. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

That's OK, if you're only worried about your face... Memorable Quotes from Apocalypse Now (1979) For freefall, I like Zing's idea of the streamers on the shoes. For under canopy, I wonder if a laser tag system would be marginally safer than paintball guns. There is no ammunition flying through the air and the laser tag gear can be made much smaller than the paintball gear. The laser tag gun is electronic, so it should be very easy to add a remote trigger like a bite switch. For safety, you probably wouldn't use "off the shelf" equipment. The gun is usually fairly large, and the targets that are on your chest and back are usually on a harness that would get covered up by your rig. You'd have to make a custom gun to fit on (say) your helmet, and custom targets that could be attached to your existing harness. I am thinking maybe one target on the ouside of the BOC pouch, one target on your chest strap, and one (back) or two (front/back) targets on your helmet. Basically, places where you could easily "hide" the wires where they won't interfere with ripcords, cutaway cables, etc or be a snag hazard. Alternatively, all the pieces of hardware on one person could have wireless links (Bluetooth?) to each other. This adds more batteries and complexity (cost) to the system, but is arguably better for certain kinds of safety. You might also want to add a pressure switch that shuts the system down at (say) 1000 feet so people will pay attention to their landings, or maybe a radio that will take a "shut down now" signal from an observer on the ground. As far as seeing where you're aiming, I think the commercial guns use an infrared LED or laser for data (this beam is coming from player #2's gun) but a visible red LED for aiming (like a tracer round). Laser tag is usually played inside a darkened room - it may be difficult to get a visible beam that is both bright enough to see in daylight and low-powered enough to be legal to use around people that aren't wearing dark glasses. For seeing who you shot, or who shot you, the commercial systems use visible and audible feedback. The targets have blinking LEDs around them and you know you hit one when the LEDs go dark for several seconds. There is a speaker in the equipment and it makes a sound when you get hit. The commercial stuff also has an LCD on the back of the gun that says "Bob shot you in the back" or "You shot Joe on the shoulder". The LCD is probably impractical for the jump system - maybe a voice announcement would work. Also, I think some of this data is transferred over a radio channel - it's not all transmitted by the IR LED/laser. Leaving this out would make the hardware simpler, but it might not be as fun. It's easy to tell that player #3 shot you, but it's harder to tell that you shot player #4 - for complete results, you'd have to wait until you get on the ground and transfer the data from all the guns into one machine. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.