DSE

Cookie Composites has some really nice new products, particularly for the swooper and BASE jumper. On the subject of helmets... Skysystems USA has some great new product as well, promising 2-4 weeks delivery on custom products. An engineer from the Gryphon/Spelco HAHO system that everyone has been talking about for a while. They've got an impressive display. I'd sure like to try one of these.

Rigging Innovations new FX can be seen here. Vigil has a great new version of their Aero products. Yann explains what's new.

hey, it's royalty free....

We're at PIA on behalf of a manufacturer, doing interviews from the floor, attending conference sessions. First of the vids can be found here on YouTube Not a lot happening on Monday, show floor opened from 3 until 5:30, so we'll post interviews and first looks at new products.

I've been asked to shoot some interviews of what's new. I'll be posting that at night on youtube, with keywords of PIA, skydiving, etc. Should have the first one up by 9 p.m. tomorrow.

Congrats. If you make it up to Utah, introduce yourself and we'll make a jump.

I've been told by more than one helmet manufacturer that obtaining a DOT rating isn't desirable because of ~cost ~liability (in the event of a failure to protect) ~necessity That said, I've twice worn my Mindwarp on a motorcycle in Nevada, given that they have helmet laws in Nevada. I didn't see the sense in buying yet another helmet. I was pulled over for speeding, and the motorcycle cop didn't blink an eye at my helmet. I can't help but wonder if all those fancy chrome and custom helmets you see on the streets are DOT approved?

I love my AltiTrak. Coupled with the JumpTrack software, it's really helped me figure out much of what I'm doing. I also have a pro dytter for an audible, you can usually pick em' up cheap on Ebay or in the classifieds here.

I'll second the neon colors comment. My Eclipse is tangerine neon over purple. Purple looks new, tangerine looks ancient and faded, until you open the reserve flap. Looks brand new under there, too. Sun fades those bright colors quickly.

I have a T-Bag that fits over my backrest on my Valkyrie. Works great for carrying the rig.

JC Colclasure, arguably one of the best camera flyers in the world, had a serious entanglement not long ago that before he could complete his cutaway sequence (Wes Rich helmet), his camera had been completely ripped off the helmet and spun him around very, very hard. He's a huge monster of a guy, weighing around 240 or so, and strong as an ox. He's also got thousands and thousands of jumps. Point is, if he struggled with an entanglement on a helmet made for safety, what makes you think you could manage one without a cutaway system? Add to the "very very hard" with spinning and earth approaching...I'd be cautious about jumping it, myself. All it takes is once, and if you're not completely sure of a stable deployment each and every time... At 3 times the jump numbers of you, I'm not sure of a stable deployment every time, and once in a while get a bit of a slap on my FTP.

Agreed. I'm one of the people owed product, but talking about it in the photo/video forum is one thing. Coming on anonymously and in a general forum is another. I'm somewhat surprised the mods have allowed this poll to happen in the first place.

There is a guy at the Skydive Utah dropzone that makes custom mousepads, printed canvasses, etc from photos. he's an amazing photographer with nearly 800 BASE and 4000 skydives, most of them with camera. Maybe you should touch base w/Matt to find out what he's got.

Same here, arriving Sunday afternoon.

Very nicely. Exceptionally nicely. I won't say it's oodles better than the HC3, but it is great. The DSP appears to be the only really strong new factor in the HC7 vs HC3, and even there it's not significant. The other place the HC7 is better (and blows the HC3 away) is in very low light conditions. It's slightly softer than the HC3 in low light, but significantly less noisy. It *almosts* fits in an HC3 box, too. Should just be a matter of a few minutes with a Dremel.

Brenda recommended the same to me, so I found a used TalonFS that a DZ was willing to lend me for a few jumps. I really liked it, so ordered my Talon FS a couple weeks ago. I wanted a Voodoo as well, but I'm not disappointed in the TalonFS.

Thank you for your patience. Most of you already know how much I waited because the poll suddenly changed. I waited 7 seconds. How is it we're supposed to know it was your vote that suddenly changed the poll? Rules are rules, and official or not, rules aren't there to enforce what is or isn't safe. Rules are mere guidelines that provide information from which decisions are made. As a physician, have you not ever come across a situation where the "rules" said to do one thing, but your instinct, training, experience, and prudence tells you to move beyond the rules and go with what is right? Rules also say you shouldn't have a camera on your head. Is it OK to decide which rules apply to you and which rules don't? I hated waiting, but my DZO wouldn't let me bend the rules found in the USPA SIM. You're missing the point, it seems. Ultimately, the rules wouldn't have saved you or the tandem in the event of an incident. You were there calling the spot, and you chose to exit. You were after the tandem, and therefore in control of the situation. the tandem can't move away from the cloud, and if the tandem took "too long" to get out before the cloud that you didn't want to jump in, you are totally in control. Whether the pilot *wants* to do a go-around or not, it's still your option to exit (or not). You are absolutely in control of your exit point.

SB 179 on "Immunity of Counties and Municipalities for Sky Diving Activities." Would be a good thing for DZ's and landlords to have the fear of lawsuit no longer hanging above their heads. The Skydive Utah dropzone, like many DZ's, leases it's land and buildings from a municipality. I'd assume a few states already have something like this in place? Senator Goodfellow (D) invites folks to let him know how they feel about this state bill. [email protected] Too bad the online article doesn't show the picture seen in the print version; it shows several state politicians on a tandem skydive.

I completely agree; Royal is obligated to close their website and/or respond to those that have given them money. Even a simple "I don't want to deal with this and if you want your money, screw off" would be appreciated at this point. That said, I still have some glimmer of hope that Max will do the right thing. He's a really good guy, and has always had the skydiving community at the front of his actions, or seemed to. Maybe I'm just too optimistic, but I doubt it. Max has a degree in sociology, so I'm sure he's already figured out that folks will take a long time forgetting if he doesn't fix this situation soon.

FFlyer, no responses to mail, FAX, nor phone calls, and my bank is acting in much the same way, expecting a response from Royal Lens. You can also add [email protected] to your list, and the address for Genfreefly: Generation Freefly 49 Oxford Court Ramsey, NJ 07446 It would appear that they're reading the forums, last login was on the 28th of Jan. I don't know that hiring a lawyer to recover 300.00 is worth the time nor aggravation; maybe that's what Royal lens is counting on. Anyway you look at it, it's a crappy deal. I'm hoping he'll be at PIA, but it seems doubtful.

A lot of people have found oven mitts or other padding tools to be beneficial in student rigs. Student rigs rarely fit well, and while you can certainly do a lot to prevent hard openings, there is little you can do about ill-fitting rigs. If oven mitts or seatbelt covers help deal with the hurt of a cheap student rig (and did in my case) then I'd hope that comfort supercedes anything outside of a safety issue.

Most any replicator can provide this; we use Evatone in Orlando, Florida. Bear in mind that the failure rate of this sort of disc is somewhat high. You'll do better having a pre-built intro or segment that you can auto-add to your burn. If the segment is DVD-compliant, it should only add a couple minutes to your final.

ASCAP, BMI, SESAC do not have the right to issue a sync license, allowing music to be synchronized with video. They only deal with performance royalties. Clearance is very expensive, and not an avenue that the average skydiving videographer/editor will want to pursue. List of Royalty-Free sources There are a *lot* of free resources there. Copyright Caveats This should specifically answer most, if not all, of your copyright questions. HTH

To answer your question, yes, I fly a camera. I have fewer than 100 video skydives, and while some are sequences that I'm not ashamed of, none of them are of the quality of which I hope for. Gotta start somewhere, yeah? On the other hand, the technology and tools are an area in which I'm fairly confident/competent.

I agree, kind of like why tomleone would think at 90 jumps that he could turn 180, track, slow down, and deploy with adequate horizontal separation while falling only 500', or why DSE would be sitting by an open aircraft door with a rig and a seat belt on. For point of clarity, seatbelt was on camera rig, hands on camera. I guess I could've let go of the cam and just gone...but I was pretty interested in hanging on to an expensive bit of gear. It was a filmed shoot, heavy cam, mounted in a FigRig.