lightblue

I designed and built two parachutes and put about a thousand jumps on each. I certainly agree with all that Lee, Jeff and Peter have said, cloth will form its own 3D shape and the finer details of the airfoil shape of the ribs will be lost. However if you are thinking of a significant change to the airfoil (as I did) it is important to remember that it needs to have strong lift very near the top front of the wing in all modes of flight to "pull" itself though the air, there is no hard structure like on a rigid wing to push the nose forward. You can search the forum for Nova problems. Stay safe. Dave

With all the ways that skydivers try to kill themselves (and sometimes do) pushing the limits I'm surprised everyone here is suddenly so safety conscious when it comes to reserves. I got a PD reserve from Poland and it looks good to me.

1. There's no reason it has to be a crappy camera, as long as the distance from the lens to the chip is short it could be put in a helmet. I did it. 2. Even if it's not the best "professional quality" most people just want to see the jump, laugh, learn and post to facebook. This ain't Hollywood.

I've mounted cameras on helmets lots of different ways, but a year ago I decided to build one right into my Phantom helmet to make a totally snag free "stealth" camera. Given that every smart phone has a tiny video camera built right in these days I'm surprised that no one (that I know of) does this. I've attached three photos of the result. The camera is in the forehead under the visor, although the image quality was ok though the visor I've since drilled a hole, two less surfaces to keep clean. An extra quarter inch of foam around the camera and circuit keeps it from touching my head. I mounted the lights where they can be seen on the chin, and keeping with the stealth theme added two screws to the front grill which are actually the power and record buttons. The battery is in a pouch inside the back neck padding. I built it from a Replay XD which wasn't easy and it isn't really a wide enough lens for "inside" shots. A better camera for this job might be the Mobius since it seems to be made to be hacked. It's fun to surprise jumpers after with a video, I always jump a camera now - if I choose to turn it on. Dave

Maybe it would be better to have a swoop hang time competition, wind wouldn't matter much, and 8.5 seconds is impressive. At least until you watch a hang glider, I once saw one swoop the corn field then climb back up for several minutes of flying before landing!