dragon2

Really? I've never heard of a limitation like that. Can you tell me why that is? ciel bleu, Saskia

I've never used a computer capture device, but have seen a couple and most had issues if I recall. Might have changed in the meantime. I used an older type tape camera with s-vhs-in, plus a s-vhs dvd player to capture the vhs to miniDV tape to convert a couple of videos. The rest I did with a vhs player plus a stand-alone dvd recorder, easy-peasy. ciel bleu, Saskia

Yes, that should be a suitable canopy type for someone >25ish jumps. ciel bleu, Saskia

I've seen a paraglider who did a long series of stallturns on a manta, down to less than 100ft when he let up the toggle and flared. He was lucky the canopy opened back up and lucky that the little thing called FXC didn't fire. OTOH, paragliders know to land out together - on a jump with a crappy spot we all landed way out. I had a solo student fly over me and my jump buddy back towards the DZ, but then he headed back to land a couple meters from me.

Hmz I'm a fairly new instructor and so far I haven't had one of those yet. Been lucky that way thus far Now it seems like I might get my first one ciel bleu, Saskia

Thought you might be, from the name. Well lucky you; as long as you stay away from any official dropzone and any official instructor, you can actually just buy a skydiving rig and get a pilot to let you jump out. No laws against it. Just make sure to get video. ciel bleu, Saskia

If you mean Teuge, no we don't get paid anything for a TRIP jump. Strictly freelance, and strictly for the fun of it. That's a little bit of a problem, because most of the TRIP coaches also do video/AFF/tandem or teamjumps so are busy a lot of the time. But usually if you call ahead you can find a TRIP coach to jump with you. Just not in this #$%^weather we're having Anyway, if you're looking for a cheaper starter rig to buy (or rent), make sure to talk to Eric @ Skydivesupplies (Teuge). Often it's possible to make a deal with him, so you can get your own rig sooner. ciel bleu, Saskia

If you don't mind coming over to The Netherlands, Speedy Lee does custom helmets. ciel bleu, Saskia

I've only ever seen the Wally movies on VHS. I doubt if they were ever produced on DVD. Would love to have them if they were... ciel bleu, Saskia

Too shallow angle and not close enough as you probably surmised , but if you're not shooting competition video, at least it's safe this way... Get steeper but not so much lower at first would be my advice. When you get a better angle then you can come down lower. You'll have to bend your neck more for the steeper angle, and/or adjust the video angle on your helmet. Crappy video though with that particular lens. I personally really really dislike vignetting and you've got a bad case there. I would never jump with a lens like that, myself. And I hate getting footage like that to edit with. Never mind if you wanted to sell video like that. Maybe invest in a Raynox HD5050PRO series lens. Not that expensive, no vignetting and an all around decent quality lens even on a newer HD camera. ciel bleu, Saskia

No and no. It is a different opening system than those two. A pullout rig has the pilotchute handle in the same location as a BOC. The pilotchute is packed inside the main container (and this is easy to do wrong). The closing pin is straight, not curved. The handle on the pilotchute is "on the wrong side of the pilotchute" when you compare it to a BOC pilotchute. The handle on a pullout pc looks like one of those modern freefly-type pud handles (or rather, visa versa ). You pull out the pilotchute only after you've pulled out the pin yourself, then you throw away the pilotchute similarly to BOC. This opening system has its pros and cons. Pros: - you have more control over when the main tray opens, this is excellent for CRW/CF jumps, and possibly for freefly as there is no pilotchute that can worm itself out when you freefly (possibly the rig itself is not freefly proof as it is older though). - it is much less likely to have a pilotchute-in-tow malfunction with a pullout Cons: - you have to know how to pack a pullout or rather, your specific pullout, without causing a total mal because you can't pull out the pin. There's multiple systems around that vary slightly. Easy enough to check on the ground if you packed it correctly though - a somewhat common malfunction is "floating pud" ie you let go of the pc handle too soon. So don't do that. - you shouldn't wingsuit with a pullout rig Usually if you buy a rig with pullout and you don't like it, you can have the rig converted to BOC (meaning a pilotchute pocket sewn on and a new pc+bridle). You might like it though. Provided you do not wingsuit a pullout rig is not a bad option for a non-student jumper, it's just not very common. I have just a few jumps on a (borrowed) pullout system, I thought it was kinda fun to pull the pin myself

Yeah you too ciel bleu, Saskia

Wow. All this is majorly before my time. Handstand exit, attached cameraflyer, bigfoots, and other fun. Freeflying must have been right around the corner here Good to see some "young" jumpers here that are still jumping 20yrs later. And good TV coverage too. ESPN cameraflyers? Kewl. Cool videos, thnx. ciel bleu, Saskia

If you want a netbook replacement with fixed keyboard, get the brand new Asus Transformer Prime with dock. I have the previous model Transformer + dock, and I absolutely love it. I also have the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (thanx boss

Probably not if it´s a new ZP canopy. A pulse 170 or ZPX pilot might work though. Remember that the reserve will be 143-150sqft, so if you´re not ready for a 150 main you sure you want to be under a 150sqft reserve? ciel bleu, Saskia

For skydiving, get the sigma 15mm or better yet the canon 15mm. On a Canon 550D these lenses give a sort-of fisheye look, but they are ok to use for skydiving (some people do not like this look though). If you want a decent non-fisheye lens for skydiving, be prepared to spend more money. An 8mm lens is pretty much useless for skydiving IMO, regardless of brand. It might be a lens you'd use once in a while for effect, but you'd have to fly really really really close plus the world REALLY goes fisheye. People will get balloon noses (or are really small in the frame if you're a bit too far away), planes will look like they have severe metal fatigue , you'll get your hands in the frame, etc. The cheaper lenses like samyang, zenitar and the like are usually manual focus lenses, and they may not even meter light themselves, depending on which camera you put them on. You get what you pay for. Only get these lenses if you know what you're doing, photography-wise. ciel bleu, Saskia

I debated the fade, went for stock purple though because I wants my logo on it. The purple is a bit metallic-y, it catches the sun so to say. I like mine a lot

My personal take on AFF vs SL: If you have any issues whatsoever with picking things up quickly, either mentally or physically, and/or don't have USD100-1500 to spend all in one go, SL seems like the best route to take. Also take the weather into account: starting SL in crappy weather gets you more potential jumps than starting AFF in that same weather. SL: teaches you one step at a time is way cheaper to start with repeat jumps are way way cheaper you spend a lot of time under canopy and have more landings for the same amount of money you have to work for it to get to freefalling from altitude SL instruction is often more of a group thing you can still jump even with lowish cloudcover you can jump without having to worry much about instructor availability you'll think exiting from 3.500ft is quite normal you could get nicknamed Dope on a Rope AFF: you get to do a lot of stuff from jump #1 you get to experience freefall from jump #1 repeat jumps are pricey you'll have a better freefall skillset at a lower jump number you can be a solo freefall skydiver sooner AFF instruction often is more one-on-one you need basically clear skies to jump you may have to wait longer between jumps (depends on availability of instructors) you'll think exiting from 3.500ft is the scariest thing EVER you could get nicknamed AFF Baby Both methods will get you in the air and get you towards your A license. And by that time it doesn't matter much anymore which method you did. ciel bleu, Saskia

60 kg isn't that light, though it is lighter than the average skydiver. I was 58kg when I started out (1.72m). I had a little issue with some coaches that I floated above, but at least they never made me wear weights early on. I just had to learn to arch more, to fall a little bit faster. You'll likely want a tight-ish and smooth jumpsuit when you buy your own, but like i said, 60kg is no big deal. The 1.63m is another issue though, as it can be hard to find a comfortable 2nd hand rig with both a sensible size main canopy and a sensible size reserve canopy in it. Don't get suckered into buying a too small reserve canopy, that's the main issue I see with smaller jumpers. But all that's for (much) later on. For now, the instructors will take care of you so no worries ciel bleu, Saskia

Um, I got my cat a new playmate, I can say it's for Christmas ciel bleu, Saskia

The sabre 1 comes in a 190sqft size among others. Sabre 1 and sabre 2 do not have a size discrepancy. However the safire 1 does come in 189 sqft and that canopy is about 1 size smaller than the label says. (The safire 2 is the size it says it is.) ciel bleu, Saskia

Good point. Incorrectly assembled riser. Thanks for pointing it out for the OP. Whaha I don't trust the packers anymore (well not THAT set of packers anyway): I got my rig back after a reserve ride (total mal so no cutaway of the main). I got the rig back real quick, and as I was doing back to backs I didn't check it just dropped it straight off at the packers. Ahem, stupid of me I admit. After a while, both of the packers came looking for me as they found "something wrong" with the rig and they kept flipping and turning it but they couldn't fix the problem. Yeah duh, that problem took me a whole second to identify: the canopy was put on BACKWARDS. And no my dear packers, flipping the rig through the risers one way or the other does NOT fix that particular issue I was laughing my *** off as I took the rig back to the rigger: "I know I have reversed risers, but did ya have to put the whole canopy on backwards?!" While incorrectly assembled risers may not be common, I was amazed and not in a good way at the packers, that 2 of them did not recognize the problem. ciel bleu, Saskia

yea mine was too, you got to man handle it in the container to get the cones in to pin them.... now that I got a jumbo 27 ft PC and a new container, I like the larger size PC........ ciel bleu, Saskia

Our Caravans and other cessnas have their prop on the nose. So I tend to walk in a straight line to and from the door. Which I did when wanting to film a couple jumpers waving bye-bye in a 2prop Let at another DZ. Luckily for me another heads- up jumper grabbed my shoulder. I really really hadn't seen the prop under the wing I was about to walk under. And the noise of a couple planes running drowns out the very important noise right near you I was just running on automatic, filming like I always do. It really amazed me how easy it was to miss that big noisy spinning meatgrinder near my head ciel bleu, Saskia

It looks like this camera only has IR remote, not wired. Which, while do-able for non-paying jobs, is a major pain in the *** and I wouldn't want to go back to it I'm also not too sure about the VR lenses that come with it, for jumping. I might put the adapter on it and jump the classic non-VR WA lenses that I own already anyway. But unless someone can mod this camera for a wired remote, it doesn't look like a good skydiving camera unfortunately. Guess my neck will have to live with my D300 for a while yet ciel bleu, Saskia