indyz

I'm guessing a Digital Rebel XSi, 15mm lens (probably the Canon or Sigma f/2.8), ISO 100, aperture priority at f/5. I might consider stopping down a bit. Edit: Gah, Dave beat me. I still stand by my stopping-down comment.

Read the manuals for the audibles you are interested in. My ProDytter sounds the first two alarms if the descent rate exceeds 13m/s and sounds the third alarm if the descent rate exceeds 29m/s. That's roughly 30 mph and 65mph, respectively. Even normal canopy maneuvers on a relatively lightly loaded canopy can easily set off the first two alarms.

I don't think it does. Patrick de Gayardon died in a wingsuit accident. Rob Harris died doing a stunt for a Mountain Dew commercial and, while he was skysurfing, it was far from an ordinary skysurf jump. Who am I missing?

Are you using USB to capture? If you are, you need to switch to Firewire.

Seems pretty complicated. Hand-held banners are simple, proven design. The cutaway system is to let go. Make sure you stiffen the handles so that they can't constrict around your hands.

I wanted to get "I Could Have Bought A Couple More Jumps But Instead I Had My Handles Custom Embroidered Because It's All About Looking Good", but it was too long.

Hey Mike, Most of that is a combination of hyperbole, rumor, and flat-out falsehood with a dash of truth mixed in. As far as I know, the symbols on the ladder truck represents skydivers rescued from trees. I don't have any official word from the FD on that, but it makes more sense than fatalities. In that context, I think it's a mostly harmless bit of fun on the part of the fire department. It's true that we don't have the best relationship with the fire and police departments, but it isn't as horrible as some people would make it out to be. The police don't want our help in their investigations and the fire department grumbles about patching up broken skydivers, but the rest is mostly hyperbole. I have never heard of anybody having their gear confiscated or destroyed after an accident.

Oh yeah. Makes me go a little cross-eyed, too.

I loved the way my Vengeance flew, hated the openings and dealing with an airlocked canopy on windy days.

Rears definitely work better. That toggle stall was actually clipped from a longer video where I was mostly doing riser stalls.

My Triathlon 160 loaded at 1.3:1 folds in half backwards (tail-to-tail). The rate of descent picks up and the heading wanders around gently. Recovery is easy with no tendency to dive or get into line twists. My Velocity 111 at 2:1, on the other hand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7q1-XK3K1Q

The factory slider on my older Triathlon also has only one kill line. It sucks. Newer Aerodyne stuff I have seen has two lines.

It is required that the pull force be under 22 lbs. It is not required to test it. Most riggers develop a feel for what is acceptable and only do a pull test if they think they are near the limit.

Did you do a tandem or a solo? Some degree of motion sickness is not uncommon on tandems. It can be mitigated by proper harness adjustment, but for some people it is unavoidable. I have 2000 total jumps and 500+ tandems as an instructor and riding on the front still gets my bile rising. I never get sick on the back of a tandem or when doing solos. You can do a few things to help with motion sickness on any type of jump. Eat a solid meal before your jump, stay hydrated, and adjust the harness as best as possible. Dramamine can help. Before taking any type of medication, be sure to do your research and make sure that it won't affect your ability to perform on the skydive.

The Mini Cricket is a 130 square foot 7-cell reserve made by Flight Concepts International. Maximum suspended weight is 145 lbs. The manufacturers website including manuals and more information is here.

I've had an N3 for a couple of months now. Don't know when it was released, Para-Gear had them in stock when I called.

The video and the waiver are pretty clear about it. That said, I do wonder how many people actually read the waiver closely, and how closely they can pay attention to the video while giggling about Bill's beard.

When the instructors hooks up and tightens down the lower connections, the chest strap and belly strap will get a lot tighter. If those straps are snug before hooking up, they often have to be loosened a bit afterwords. Most likely you just saw a pretty common stupid joke that tandem instructors make.

Who makes the two-piece RW suits?

My only Sigma reserve ride opened in a stall (bucking and surging, not collapsing or bow-tieing) and stayed that way until I released the brakes. I mentioned it when I landed and was told by a Sigma I/E that those kind of openings are normal and I should have been told to expect it during my rating course. Since there is only one possible way to set the brakes on the VTC-III (VR-360) reserve, which is also the only reserve that should ever be assembled into a Sigma, I'm not sure where a difference in flight characteristics with the brakes stowed would come from, other than a difference in suspended weight.

Did you ask any of your Pro Rating holders? Part of getting the rating is learning how to file the paperwork. Anyway, the 7711 is on the page linked to upthread at USPA.org.

Nobody in this industry expects a tip and, at least in the area where I instruct, receiving a tip is pretty rare. That said, those occasional tips are very much appreciated.

There was something on the NBC 5 morning news in Chicago yesterday. I was occupied in another room at the time so I couldn't watch, only listen to the bits and pieces that filtered in.

What they did with your photos goes beyond theft. Publishing doctored photos is a violation of basic journalism ethics. Heads should roll. Contact the paper's ombudsman (if they have one) or the editor with your before/after photos and demand a printed correction and an investigation into who was responsible for appropriating and doctoring the photos. If you don't get anywhere with the staff at the Hernando Today, move the up chain to the Tampa Tribune.

I might have had the opportunity to get out at 1700' once. In the rain. On my first jump on a new, small, high performance canopy. But I wouldn't have done that, because it would have been stupid, not to mention a BSR violation.