dragon2

It's just folded/scrunched up, and the handle will be sucked in a bit. Like mine here: [inline 270659_185103024880743_477653_n.jpg] ciel bleu, Saskia

I was safely on the ground taking pictures Didn't look too bad from my POV, it was landable. As opposed to some other old stuff being jumped at the time, although I personally wouldn't want to land this one, let alone the positively ancient purple round that people weren't sure wouldn't blow up on opening ciel bleu, Saskia

+1 Don't see anything different/weird about it either Maybe the TS is only familiar with non-collapsible PSc like this? (Never mind the canopy itself tho LOL) [inline 44558_108110709246642_7863987_n.jpg] ciel bleu, Saskia

Yeah... Me, atm..... Nothing I do is good enough. Have been and still am ill too often, they act as if it's my own fault for falling down and breaking my thumb, plus getting Crohn's. Plenty of rumors floating around,talk behind my back... Found an email in a shared mailbox which mentioned me being completely useless: boss messaged me early about a support issue (I used to work support), I tried to figure out the error and asked a programmer a question, got burned for that. Turned out the customer had installed a new server the week before and were tweaking it, she should have known that as she runs support, this support issue clearly lay with the customer not us. But she felt the need to mail around that I was completely useless for trying to help, outside my current department. Remarks like "Do you have to go to the hospital NOW??" Eh,yes... Go to the usual daily meetings? Shouldn't have done that as it was a waste of my time, apparently, or so I was told after 1 1/2weeks of going... Was the only one out of 18 employees who did not receive the yearly 70 euros Christmas gift: "We don't have a Christmas gift for you". My boss was communicating with me using mobile phone, whatsapp and personal email. I was apparently expected to read work email @ home too while sick, got berated for not responding to stuff on my work email, which I didn't read... Lost my yearly personal IT budget of 800 euros this year, refunds for internet @ home and my mobile phone were denied at the last day of January, without notice or explanation. Worked half days almost all of January, got paid if I was 100% sick, not fair and perhaps not legal as it was my regular work. I'm still in the research stages of finding out whether it IS Crohn's or whether it is something similar, so no treatment plan yet and plenty of hospital visits to come. I'm sleeping 12-20 hours a day atm, another 'attack'. However I now need to submit a detailed plan for the coming couple of months which is outside of my expertise (would need courses for a couple of months first) and if I fail I'm out. No way I can win this one... Another colleague left mid December, he has something similar happen to him although to a lesser degree, for being sick too often too. ciel bleu, Saskia

[inline vortex.jpg] ciel bleu, Saskia

It's an extra handle on the left side of the BOC, for AFF instructors. Like this: [inline IMG_6043.jpg ] Ie, not something a non-student would need, and not something a sport jumper would want on his/her rig. ciel bleu, Saskia

Like this: Angle you are aiming for with tandem video ("belly in the shot"): [inline tandem.jpg] Me getting that angle: [inline wings_S.jpg] Other (featherweight) cameraflyer getting that angle: [inline laurent.jpg] Me filming the tandem opening (tried that once without wings, oopsy.... lol): [inline up.jpg] ciel bleu, Saskia

I was 127lbs when I started cameraflying, although I'm a bit shorter than you. I use the biggest wings, plus one or 2 weight belts as needed. Both for 4way and for tandems you want wings. Plus weights yes, if you need them. The wings are there for safety: flying around the edge of the burble (RW) without wings results in crashes sooner or later when you or your team tire of too flat video or too small video. With tandems you can use the wings to pop away from a backfloat exit if you are on top of them, you need them to get the proper video angle (as explained above), you can use them for a nice tandem shot if you want: go backwards and pop up at the same time. You can also use the wings as brakes: bleed of forward speed quick or fly backwards. ciel bleu, Saskia

Some googling turned up: http://www.lookma.de/Start_English/Products/Weightvest/weightvest.html http://www.thomas-sports.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=21&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=18&vmcchk=1&Itemid=18 http://www.icarus.co.za/catalog/skydiving-accessories/weight-vests/ http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/spo/5179053341.html ciel bleu, Saskia

Mini Flex-Z. Advice: get them in clear if you're still a student (say up until 25-50 jumps). ciel bleu, Saskia

+1 on the Don't do it. I ruptured my eardrum on my first 12k jump (did staticline so worked my way up from 3.5k). Had the needle-in-my-forehead thing a couple of times. Had the Lots of blood and sinus-lining and whatever on my goggles/face/camer a couple of times too. Most of these were paid jumps so I wanted to "tough it out". Usually I ended up with weeks of trouble/pain afterwards. Not recommended. ciel bleu, Saskia

Have never jumped one, but I think you are right. Lightnings is as far as I know equal-ish, and they are hard to land. To fly with other CRW canopies it has to fly very flat, which means it is already in brakes as you flare. I think what you need is some front riser input before you flare. Don't try it without guidence first. If you mess up you will hurt yourself. Ehm, see my previous reply. Also, if a canopy is flying in brakes when flaring it is shortlined. You can do that, some teams do, but my Lightnings never were. In fact I put extra links on the back risers to make my first Lightning 126 dive more! On account of having a lower WL than most jumpers I jumped with and not wanting to jump a Lightning 113 at a couple hundred jumps and not wanting to add more than ~8 kg of lead (did jump with 12kg for a bit, but man...) BTW I never had that much difficulty in landing Lightnings, I never added forward speed either (you have to hold it until REALLY low with canopies with a very short recovery arc like these, no thanks...). Not sure I'd recommend landing on double fronts on a regular/hybrid Tri to a 200 jump jumper I don't know either. The issue is probably something else, like timing, finishing or brake line length/entire lineset. ciel bleu, Saskia

The hybrid triathlon is the freefall version of the Tri but with extra reinforcement, a CF lineset and the possibility of using a retractable bridle (or a normal one if you prefer, for non-CF jump). Due to the reinforcements and thicker lines it packs up a bit bigger than the regular Tri. So basically it opes flies and lands just like a regular Tri, nothing at all like a Lightning (I've owned all 3). ciel bleu, Saskia

Some older javelins I know had a velcro closed big pocket on the outside of the back part of the rig, meant for lead. Bringing something else flattish, like an extra AAD on a jump for testing purposes, was also an option. Is that what you mean? ciel bleu, Saskia

Yes, I had a (pretty nasty) reserve ride due to the same thing. My old safire 1 had the lines + tabs (or maybe they were just really long fingertrapped lines, can't remember) sticking out even when the slider was packed properly. After my reserve ride, I called the Icarus rep that had sold me the safire, that they had a design problem. Answer: Yes, we know, we fixed it a while ago. Well, thanks for mentioning this earlier.... ciel bleu, Saskia

You did better than me. I remember getting in the plane and that's about it! Absolutely no memory of the first jump at all. My first 3 jumps ever were SL, all on the same day. I remember being in the plane for all 3 jumps, then suddenly I was under an open canopy. They could've dumped me out of the plane headdown for all I can remember My 4th jump of that day happened to be a tandem jump-in on an island. Again, exit passed me by but I woke up in freefall to the sight of a damn small island and lots of sea, and after that, I still wasn't a great student but at least I remembered when exiting off-heading ciel bleu, Saskia

A good video edit program like adobe premiere pro can do it, or try a tool like this: http://www.mtsconverterfree.com/how-to/convert-mts-to-mp4.html ciel bleu, Saskia

Pffff I'm all for jumping a SLR and a Nikon, but IR remotes went the way of the dodo after the D70 IMO. Hit-and-miss rate was way too high even for fun jumping. Would NOT recommend for any paid/important jump. ciel bleu, Saskia

Can't do frontfloats on our planes, especially with the new engines (Supervan 900s). My shoulder really really doesn't like the climbout. ciel bleu, Saskia

I sold both of my ringsights after jumpers asked if they were for sale. Well sure! Don't miss them at all, I shoot mostly tandems and sometimes FS4. Some randem YT video of mine, without ringsight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNfHWjwUKfk&list=PL1uGXsv9VLdB8uxi5T_4Nac7U6TAEbWnB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCxU2eZlYVU&list=PL1uGXsv9VLdB8uxi5T_4Nac7U6TAEbWnB&index=49 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUw88FcvJnY&index=102&list=PL1uGXsv9VLdB8uxi5T_4Nac7U6TAEbWnB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dvsLf-xC_0&list=PL1uGXsv9VLdB8uxi5T_4Nac7U6TAEbWnB&index=168 ciel bleu, Saskia

The TRIP course, which allows you to jump with other jumpers who finished theirs, is 10 jumps, or maybe more if you need it to complete all the tasks. You need 10 TRIP jumps MINIMUM to get signed off. For your A, you just need to have done the first 5 TRIP jumps. Read: your A doesn't necessarily allow you to jump with other non-coach/instructor jumpers (in The Netherlands anyway). A finished TRIP course DOES. So if your goal like the OP (to keep this on topic) is to get your A you can stop after 5 TRIP jumps. Again, this stuff is all online free to read: click Not sure what would be a good place to start TRIP at after AFF, I think it is wise to do some solos and maybe do the progressively lower jumps after that. For SL it takes more jumps to get ready for TRIP, I think the minimum number of jumps to start TRIP is 20 these days but could be mistaken (been a while since I did a lot of TRIP jumps). No need for an AFF jumper to practice a lot of stuff specifically, just be "free in the sky" enough that added distractions and tasks are no problem. This is usually not an issue for AFF. ciel bleu, Saskia

Sort of, yes. You'll get a briefing before each jump where you are doing something new, this briefing is always free. You need 5 relative instruction jumps for your A ("TRIP"), where you pay the coach's slot. You'll probably need to pay for a packing course or 2. A SL student should be able to get to his/her A in 45-75 jumps. You need a suit (rented by the day or by jump or bought), alti (rented per jump or bought), helmet (same), goggles (bought). So, price list: SL first jump course: eur 420 (5 jumps, including all needed rental gear and packing) Small logbook: included with SL course KNVvL membership (mandatory after finishing your SL or AFF course, mainly for insurance purposes): eur 112,50 per year (or half a year eur 56,25 if after july 1st) A couple extra SL jumps: 45 eur per jump (this includes rig rental) Freefall jumps: most will be eur 20, a few lower ones for eur 14 Rig rental for freefall jumps: eur 13 Packing: 5 eur per jump, until you learn yourself (good incentive) Rental suit, helmet: eur 2,50 per day for each I think Rental alti: eur 5 per jump, so best go and buy a 2nd hand one Packing course: eur 25 (may need 2), or become a member of NPCT then it's free TRIP jump: eur 35 x 5 jumps Suit hire for TRIP jumps (you need a suit with "grips"): 5 euro/jump A license exam: free A license itself: eur 13,50 Mandatory "harness checks" every 3 months: free Repeat course: eur 75, try not to need one (no more than 3 months between jumps) If you rent everything, take 75 jumps to reach your A and jump for one calender year max, this comes to ~eur 4000. ~Eur 3300 if you can do it in 50 jumps. Cheapest: buy a 2nd hand analog altimeter (profit regardless), maybe a new or 2nd hand pro-tec/benny type helmet (for less than eur 70 = profit), buy a simple suit 2nd hand or a coverall (less than eur 70 = profit, color: not orange or red), learn to pack yourself ASAP and don't leave too much time between jumps to help learning. When done, you can always sell the suit, helmet and alti again for close what you paid for them. ciel bleu, Saskia

Here, a picture of a SL jumper's first freefall, of someone you know if you jump at Teuge: [inline Yvonne_first_freefall.jpg] ciel bleu, Saskia

That is true at Texel though, which is why I made the distinction if OP was going to jump in Teuge. At Texel, you can do SL or AFF but they do not offer SL progression - no jumping heights of 7k/9k are offered. It's 3.5-5k, or 12k. So after completing your SL at Texel, you would have to continue on to AFF, or go jump at a DZ that does offer SL progression (most do I think, Texel and Rotterdam do not). ciel bleu, Saskia

Sjeesh will you quit it already, or at least take it to PMs? Since none of this is relevant for the OP. I suggest you start out by reading the BVR. 2 articles above the camera article I quoted to you in another thread. Also try reading the Teuge website again: click. 2nd, read my previous post back, this is what a staticline progression course entails at Teuge: I'll be giving the SL/combi course tomorrow at Teuge, and I gave the course 2 weeks ago too, so I kinda know what's relevant still The combi course is an option, and a fairly expensive one too if you do decide to continue on to AFF. However not many people actually do that (because of the costs), they just continue on to freefall by themselves. You are what is dubbed an "AFF baby", can't imagine yourself all alone in freefall as a student can you Yet that is still the way most people at Teuge become skydivers, especially those that wanted a SL wing (military jumpers) first or just don't want to plunk down so much money in one go. AFF is nice if you want quick results, have the money and can handle a lot of tasks at the same time. SL progression is nice if you want a wing, if you don't have the cash in one go, if you want to take things more slowly, less tasks per jump. Both will get you to your A. AFF will have better freefall skills at first. SL will have way more jumps for the same amount of money, so many more landing circuits flown and landings performed. After getting your A, you can usually still spot the difference between a former AFF student and SL: the SL jumper will generally have much less difficulty getting out "low" (2.5k-3.5k) ciel bleu, Saskia