980

yes, really that tunnel is a tourist trap carnival ride I can't say anything nice about the owners either, but I can say that the Labour Board decided against them when some of their former employees filed a claimed for unpaid wages... Don't waste your time or money there if you have any interest in skydiving, go to the nearest dropzone, they have awesome staff and it will be the real thing.

No problems with the cheap Ebay-d from China connectors that come on remote shutter releases and pre-made bite switches for the Canon D-series for 700+ jumps now with my trusty 20D.

I should hope so, since the last time I saw a JVX81 and Velo90 compared, they were the same size, so you are effectively comparing a 3 size bigger JVX to the Velo, of course the bigger canopy will do better in slow flight. I never could figure out why the JVX sizing is so whacked out. Maybe so they can claim better performance at really high wingloadings when really you can't compare wingloadings based on their stated size, as they are higher than for other canopies out there.

Are you kidding me? Why aren't you posting 'eeffffing skydiving!' after every skydiving injury?

honestly: "it ain't rocket surgery" it's not that complicated a situation from a physics point of view if you have some physics education That hypothesis offers no explanation of the mechanism that causes you to be oriented back-to-earth. I do not believe that and I think that statement only shows that you do not have a hypothesis that would explain the orientation and therefore it is just easier to say that you are at the mercy of fate, whereas you are still actually bound by the laws of physics. This is a good hypothesis and one worth exploring. I believe though, that based on the empirical evidence of fellow skydivers' experiences and my own, that there is a tendency for people in that situation to end up back-to-earth more often than not. I have a hypothesis why and so does Peter. Exploring observed phenomenon like this and hyopthesizing as to the causes and mechanisms are part of the scientific procedure that furthers our understanding of these phenomenon. If you have nothing to add to that process, please feel free to do so. thanks

an interesting theory, but I disagree and rather offer the following explanation for this phenomenon: -your harness rings (biggest of the 3 rings)are located in front of you -a good spinning mal will get you horizontal with the lines and canopy or close -this puts your centre of gravity on top of your centre of pressure(support from the risers in this case), which makes for an unstable configuration -this configuration will naturally rotate around your long axis (kicking out helps this happen) to a stable configuration, which is centre of gravity below centre of pressure, i.e. you on your back hanging from the 3-rings rather than balancing on top of them -I think this is the mechanism responsible for this phenomenon as it will happen even at relatively low descent rates, therefore the forces though the risers should be much larger than aerodynamic forces on said jumper.

thanks, that's a start I would think the trial version should work, why would I go and buy software if the trial version doesn't work properly? Is there any remedy you could suggest, i.e. How do I re-install the main concept encoder/decoder? How can I make sure I get rid of any other codecs that could affect main concept?

*BUMP* Surely you can help with this one?

Hi Doug I copied some mpeg video clips from neandertal's CX-12 and it created the following exception that crashed Vegas everytime: Pics attached, here's the full text from the box: Vegas Movie Studio 9.0 TRIAL Version 9.0b (Build 66) Exception 0xC0000005 (access violation) WRITE:0x5020000 IP:0x24A02BE1 In Module 'mcdddec.dll' at Address 0x24A00000 + 0x2BE1 Thread: AsyncPreroll ID=0xAB0 Stack=0x521F000-0x5220000 Registers: EAX=00003920 CS=001b EIP=24a02be1 EFLGS=00010202 EBX=12b750e0 SS=0023 ESP=0521fe4c EBP=00000000 ECX=00000565 DS=0023 ESI=05020000 FS=003b EDX=00000000 ES=0023 EDI=00000006 GS=0000 Bytes at CS:EIP: 24A02BE1: 66 89 0E 83 C6 02 4F 75 f.....Ou 24A02BE9: 9A 8B 7C 24 10 8B 44 24 ..|.D$ Stack Dump: 0521FE4C: 12B7ECF4 10C80000 + 1EFECF4 0521FE50: 0501D120 04D20000 + 2FD120 0521FE54: 0005F8E0 00030000 + 2F8E0 0521FE58: 12B60048 10C80000 + 1EE0048 0521FE5C: 00000006 0521FE60: 24A01868 24A00000 + 1868 (mcdddec.dll) 0521FE64: 00000218 0521FE68: 00000565 0521FE6C: 000007E0 0521FE70: 07EE0020 07EE0000 + 20 0521FE74: 0002D120 0521FE78: 0000BB80 0521FE7C: 0501D120 04D20000 + 2FD120 0521FE80: 00000543 0521FE84: 0005F8E0 00030000 + 2F8E0 0521FE88: 23206DF6 23200000 + 6DF6 (mcmpegin.dll) > 0521FEBC: 23205977 23200000 + 5977 (mcmpegin.dll) > 0521FEDC: 7C802600 7C800000 + 2600 (kernel32.dll) > 0521FEE4: 33BBA3D7 33BB0000 + A3D7 (mcplug.dll) > 0521FEEC: 33BBA440 33BB0000 + A440 (mcplug.dll) > 0521FF0C: 0068C63B 00400000 + 28C63B (VegasMovieStudio90.exe) 0521FF10: 0A32E7A4 09E00000 + 52E7A4 0521FF14: 00000000 0521FF18: 00000000 0521FF1C: 04FF0000 04D20000 + 2D0000 > 0521FF48: 00691423 00400000 + 291423 (VegasMovieStudio90.exe) 0521FF4C: 00000008 > 0521FF50: 00AF8148 00400000 + 6F8148 (VegasMovieStudio90.exe) > 0521FF54: 00AF8160 00400000 + 6F8160 (VegasMovieStudio90.exe) 0521FF58: 00000002 0521FF5C: 00000000 0521FF60: 00000000 0521FF64: 00000000 > 0521FF80: 00AF88E0 00400000 + 6F88E0 (VegasMovieStudio90.exe) 0521FF84: 00000020 0521FF88: 00000000 0521FF8C: 00000001 0521FF90: 80004001 > 0521FFA8: 00857848 00400000 + 457848 (VegasMovieStudio90.exe) - - - 0521FFF0: 00000000 0521FFF4: 006911E0 00400000 + 2911E0 (VegasMovieStudio90.exe) 0521FFF8: 01F3AE00 01E60000 + DAE00 0521FFFC: 00000000 I am using the trial version of Vegas 9.0 I did not register any mpeg encoders seperately from the Vegas trial registration. I do not think I have any third party decoder packs installed. any ideas? thanks Sam PS - the mpeg files play just fine in Real Player.

agreed on the common method I looked in a few of the Javelin manuals I have and they do not specify, but I believe you can deduce from the phrase 'after setting and stretching' that they mean from the loop to the disk. The only other logical measurement is to the knot and that would be way too short.

actually I have found that if you use the length of closing loop suggested by Sunpath, that your grommets will be stacked such that you can see the Cypres cutter most of the time most of the time I get Javelins though, they come with closing loops way longer than Sunpath reccommends This makes me wonder what the length of that closing loop in the pic was?

What lens are you using? I originally got some high-end low-profile skydiving lenses (0.5 and 0.3) to use with my HC5 for BASE, but after watching the footage on a good HD TV, I now jump bigger heavier lenses even for BASE as the picture quality is so much better. I went to a Century 0.5 for tandem vids and Century 0.3 (BabyDeath) for BASE and have been much happier with the picture quality. That said, when I want stills I use my trusty old 20D instead.

some interesting discussion so far, but no-one seems to have mentioned the following two points: -most DZOs and some staff have been in skydiving a long time and therefore have a good likelyhood of having had someone they knew get injured or killed BASEjumping, or have an image of BASEjumping from back in the day when modified skydiving gear was used and it was inherently way more dangerous than now -just as you get whuffos (let's call them skydiving whuffos for clarity), you also get BASE whuffos. skydiving whuffos say: 'Whut fo you want to jump out of dat perfectly good plane?" BASE whuffos say: "Whut fo you want to jump off dat perfectly good bridge?" A lot of skydivers cannot understand how whuffos can feel skydiving is too risky and like to make fun of whuffos and even use it as a derogatory term. Then a lot of these same skydivers cannot see how anyone could think BASE is not too risky. They are indeed the very definition of hypocrisy and are too blinded by it to see they are BASEwhuffos. They are also likely to be the people who think being a skydivers makes them a real badass and having a more badass activity out there kinda steals some of thunder... It is quite area-dependent and the first point I mention explains that. if you dig around at most DZs that don't like you to mention BASE on the DZ you will find some incident in the past.

Guess you didn't read the calcification. You need to read section 8. The end purpose of applying ISO standards is to IMPROVE quality! While there will always be exceptions, in general, companies that embrace ISO standards to improve quality do have better quality control and fewer errors. And while as you stated “ISO certification does not ensure quality”, in the case of UPT it absolutely did, which is why I stated it. The bottom line that I was addressing was that what the original poster stated about quality control was not true about UPT. Now if we were to apply ISO standards to your spelling I bet we could improve it and prevent or reduce the chance of repeated errors. DAMN! BURN! 'calcification' and that after you had edited your post already... POT. KETTLE. BLACK. make a sentence with those...

once you use it for that..... you won't really care about this:

apparently most commercial aviation operations run at 3 sigma all the better car manufacturers are getting close to running at 6 sigma Which one should we compare manufacturers of skydiving equipment to?

Why are you not standing up your landings? Until you are standing up 99% + of your landings, you would just be wasting time and money downsizing or getting a higher performance canopy of the same size. Spend your time and money learning to stand up every landing. When you have achieved that look at downsizing.

I haven't figured why someone would want to wear a wingsuit when going with a wingsuit rodeo? Especially a gigantic one. Tracking suit if you must, but I have always seen competent trackers keep up in freefly suits even on their backs as long as the wingsuit-rodeo gives them forward speed to work with. But that's my opinion as someone who does way more skydives without their wingsuit than with it these last few years. I'd like to know regular wingsuit skydivers' take on this though.

well, at 22 you have time on your side, which is awesome BASEjumping seems to be an activity with no real upper age limit, but it seems that starting young only increases your level of risk due to most younger people feeling more bulletproof until they have developed their judgment somewhat read the BASE fatality list and read up on skydiving fatalities and injuries and you will see there's no rush to get it going ASAP that said, go find your local DZs and hopefully one of them will need a packer. learn to pack (you can easily do so before learning to jump). now spend every weekend on the DZ packing instead of spending money somewhere else and you will soon have the money you need to get started in skydiving, all while gaining valuable packing experience. Learn as much about rigging as you can while doing this. Learn as much as you can about skydiving while doing this, you will see many landings. form good relationships at the DZ and when you do start skydiving there determine what jumping work you could do first and work towards that in Canada and the USA 500 jumps is the minimum for becoming a Tandem Instructor, but at many DZs you could get on the video rotation before that. I think video jumps are better experience anyway. Some instructor ratings like IAD/static line require less than 500 jumps also and you get to do jumps yourself too. Why am I bothering to plot a course for you past 500 jumps? Because your goal is WS BASE and if you start WS at 200 skydives, you still want to get really competent at WS (and BASE) before starting WS BASE. Funding all these skydives solely with working in the skydiving industry will mean it will take more jumps to get there, but at no real cost to you and you will have great times, become part of a DZ family unit and get valuable experience. Don't rush it, I started skydiving at 28 yrs old and even though I am an old man now, I can still manage to slowly hike myself and my wingsuit to the exit point and do the occasional WS BASE jump. Enjoy skydiving for what it has to offer rather than just wanting to tick it of your "to do" list.

your lazy comment is unwarranted I might not entirely agree with the rest of your post either, but it is certainly a valid point of view and a somewhat good system. For the benefit of those people who do not know the OP or his DZO, let me assure you that all you have to do is read the OP's other posts and ask how he got that cool user icon to get some idea of how valid his post is. The DZO there is anything but lazy. Jeff (northern): Your posts are out of line and not fair to your DZO. I'm almost surprised he keeps staff who broke themselves because they were too cheap/lazy/whatever to do the required maintenance on their brakelines... Good luck with your downsize too.

I had a similar situation recently, but luckily the snow only made the hike more difficult instead of stopping the jumping altogether...

say what? Xaos doesn't snivel too long or have abrupt inflations if you have the brake setting right and that may not be where the factory put it depending on if you are talking 21 or 27 and what your wingloading is. Who cares about heading performance on a canopy for a camera flyer? As long as it doesn't twist up I don't care how many times I go around on opening or where it ends up pointing. With no real reference most skydivers (as opposed to BASEjumpers) have no idea what is an on-heading opening anyway... admittedly I only have 40 something jumps on a JVX, but it didn't seem to stay on-heading on opening to me and whereas it would open nice if you packed it really carefully, it didn't open as nice as any of the 4 different Xaos 21/27s I have jumped. I also see a lot more JVXs get chopped than Xaos. my opinion based on my limited experience, make of that what you will as for the OP, I really like the Xaos21 and think it's got the best openings of any canopy I have jumped so far (includes Velo, JVX, Spectre, Pilot, Nitro) just bear in mind that ANY canopy can and will open hard at some point and when you are used to buttery soft openings that very rare slammer will just feel that much worse...

my guess is the same thing (element) that moves to allow you to focus... I have seen a PC9, a HC96, a PC1000 and the HC5 exhibit blurriness during deployments, which coincides with high accellerations/decellerations. It's more prevelant in BASE jumping due to the higher forces of BASE canopy deployment than a skydiving canopy deployment. just my theory

I wasn't offering that. I was offering some insight into that. But obviously with 1500 wingsuit jumps, you're not going to be able to learn anything useful from mere mortals with less wingsuit jumps...

Is it just me or does anyone else think those were fixable? The first one certainly it looks from the video that you had some time to do something and there was a window of opportunity before you started turning to equalize the links and thereby stop the turn and dive. The second looked like you were pulling lower and didn't really give yourself enough time to deal with something like linetwists. Admittedly the second opening was assymetrical and turned itself into line/riser twists, but once again equalizing the links would help and could have been done from before the dive set in. I'm just curious as to what the thinking is behind pulling so low in a wingsuit that you don't have the time to fix some linetwists? Don't take this personally, but on the video you sound really derka-derka the whole time, maybe you want to consider getting a lower stress canopy? For anyone that's interested, I have found this method of dealing with linetwists that works well in a wingsuit: -as the deployment pulls you into a sitting position in your harness, check the links on your risers and see if the left and right ones are even -if they are not, rotate your arms inwards so your palms face you. Now you should be able to reach the harness 3-rings even in big wingsuits. Grip your harness 3-rings. Don't wait for a turn to start, be pro-active. -Now push the harness 3-rings together and even their level, this will even the risers and therefore the links too. -Keep yourself narrow, hang relaxed from both harness 3-rings and let yourself untwist under the canopy. I'd love to hear what other wingsuit pilots are doing to deal with linetwists. It would be nice to mention your canopy size, type, loading and experience also. At the moment I am using my bigger canopy ([email protected]) for wingsuit jumps, but I have only done about 20 with it, about 75 with a [email protected] and 300+ with a [email protected] This out of a total of just over 500 wingsuit jumps. The only time I have cut away on a wingsuit jump was when I first went elliptical and was jumping a demo [email protected] at the Holiday Boogie and you were not allowed to deploy above 2500ft. I did not know the 'secret' of equalizing the links asap at that point and I have not cut away since then.