barnett

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sofpidarf/

They never told me we'd need a weather hold in the tunnel...! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB2_SjxAPEU

Tell me, how many of your 21 hours were coached? Awesome flying dude, I ask because I'm about to do 20 hours in Eloy, all of which are coached by Arizona Arsenal team members, and would love to know what kind of progress I can expect

I wish I was loaded. I figure the tunnel time and jumps would cost maybe 30K, that's not a million bucks. People spend that and more on cars; my passion is skydiving, and so in my mind worth while spending money on. Consider how much money pilots outlay over the course of their careers; I have a mate who estimates $80,000 on training since he began flying would be about right. If I was loaded, I wouldn't be posting this, I'd be doing back to back loads with Mike Swanson and finding a coke dealer who delivered!

All good information. Would 15 hours get you competent on your head? Or would 20 be more realistic? I live in Australia so anything on the west coast of the states seems to make more sense travel wise. The Singapore tunnel should be open soon which is of course much closer, but does not allow for skydiving close by to consolidate the knowledge gained from tunnel flying.

Let's assume for the moment that you were fucking loaded. For the record I am not, I'm just posing a hypothetical question to get some idea of how best to use tunnel time in combination with skydiving for freefly progression. But if cost was NOT a factor, how many hours, in what tunnel, would be enough to be a competent all round freeflyer? I have 900+ jumps, most of them head up with a fair bit of head down recently, but do not rate my ability to match my jump numbers because my currency varies. I have seen people come back from tunnel time with 10 hours who have solid head up flying, but not spectacular head down flying (good, solid, just not super good like we all wanna be). It also seems to make sense to consolidate tunnel time with jumping, so I guess a tunnel near a DZ makes sense. And of course the value of a good coach cannot be overstated. So... where, how long for, and with who?

I am just wondering if anyone who has seen Liquid Sky knows what remix of the song I shot the Sherriff appears on it? I know it is by Warren G but it is a different take to the one I seem to keep finding, the EPMD remix.

Much better footage here, showing the bounce: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEklAoYF-0E

No one was inside the car but 4 people jumped with it and filmed it until it bounced. It most certainly was not just a piece of trash falling by itself. The boys that followed it out have bigger balls than I do. And I agree the maccas ad does give one suicidal thoughts, just hit the mute button until it's over.

I know this has been done many times before in the states. It is however a first in oz, just thought people would be interested.

http://www.fox.com.au/shows/hamishandandy/drop-the-bomb/the-car-takes-flight This stunt was for an Australian radio show and was called Drop The Bomb. People had to enter the competition by offering their old car for disposal from 14000ft. The winner had her car prepared for the drop (engine, gearbox and drivetrain removed) and it was pushed out of a skyvan from 14k. Watching it impact from a distance was, to say the least, spectacular.

Just had a look at some other peoples' footage and I think I need to retract my statement about needing a wider lens if I fly any closer. When someone is screaming you can't be too close!

oops was logged in as a friend who was using my computer, that post was from Barnett

Isn't it funny that settings that may be obvious on the ground some how escape us in the air... I'd forgotten about that setting, thanks heaps, and here's hoping i won't need it because of all the blue sky out there!

If only... By the way, after watching your footage of the helmet entanglement I spent the extra $ and ordered a helmet with chin cup and cutaway...

For everyone not living in Australia who may not know about cookie products... From my experience their customer service is outstanding, they are both great guys to deal with (very interested in product feedback and just a general skydiving chat) and the cookie helmet plus lense I have are awesome. Sorry to hear that another skydiver could piss the community off so much... www.cookiecomposites.com

After filming a couple of tandems today I was irritated to find that the first really decent footage I have taken (still new to camera flying) was somewhat spoiled by the subject being underexposed to the point where it is difficult to see faces on the tape. The sky was overcast giving a fairly poor looking background, and the glare from this background seems to have confused the camera into exposing for the cloud and not the subject. I definitely did not have the backlight button on. I don't use a UV filter, would one help? I had the sun behind me, but no shadow was cast as the light was too diffused to cast any. Whilst flying above the tandem the problem wasn't too bad, but when flying in close and looking up from slightly below all colour washed out and the look of excitement on the passengers' face became difficult to see. I have been told that these are the hardest conditions to get good footage and after today would have to agree. My camera is a sony DCR-H 42 with a Giotto .45 lens, and I set the focus to infinity with the exposure left on auto. I don't think manual exposure would help because A: It would involve guess work that is too variable as lighting can change quickly during jump run and in freefall and B:The exit might look good but the freefall poor or vice versa. Help please!!!

Quote ***. Good point, I have not spent a great deal of time doing rel. I guess the only real time spent belly flying as a freeflyer is a) tracking and b) going flat to pitch which helps the cause not. I have done enough rel to participate in 4 or 8 ways without too much fear of failure, however I seem to detect in these forums two things regarding tandems: 1. is safety, we now have potentially 3 lives at risk with a whole new range of things to go wrong and 2. with tandems we are selling our sport to the public so not fucking up is definately a plus! I had a feeling that rel flying would pop up again, not such a bad thing i spose... The flyers I look up to the most can fly well in 3 dimensions regardless of being head up, down, on their back or belly. Now if only I owned a rel suit...

Have been doing a few (go easy on me please have less than 10 total) practise tandem vid jumps and, like everything to do with this sport, am suddenly realising how easy experienced flyers make things look...! I am having problems keeping the TM/student in frame, have been told to look up always but this seems to be easier said than done. I have been told a ring site will cure this but have also spoken to people who fly without one and point their chin in the right direction and get the money shot every time, comments please! Also, what are good altitudes to set dytter to beep at? And are camera wings essential? I know some who swear by them, and others who fly OK without them in a freefly suit (most of my jumps have been freefly and it seems natural to me to fly what I know).

How do you still get riser hang ups with a top mount? The friend who wants me to get a top mount has one himself and says he chose topmount because it won't happen, give me some ammo to shoot his argument down...

Hey guys, for freeflying, deployment etc. what would the best style of camera mount be? Sidemounts seem to be all the rage, but a top mount eliminates riser slap/hang ups... but gets in the way when exiting, especially from a high wing aircraft... Does anyone have experience with both to advise me of a good choice?