hackish

That was a really cool video... I found it quite educational too :) I do have a question for the experienced TMs. It didn't look like much movement was required to maintain a stable position on the way down. Was that just because she maintained a good arch? My only experience with tandem it seemed that every little hand movement had a large effect on where we went... I saw this TM moved his arms all around and still fell smoothly... -Michael

In my (very limited) experience the next jumps get easier. I found I was fairly relaxed on the last jump (first practise pull jump). Well okay not smoke a joint relaxed but not crap myself uptight. -Michael

My first jump ever was a solo where I had to climb out on the wing and jump. It took a little willpower to let go of the wing spar when 1000 generations of evolution were telling me not to. My 3rd jump was a tandem. To be honest I had to hold myself on the step waiting for the instructor to push me out :) This was a Cessna 182 widebody. I suspect the most difficult part as far as willpower goes will be getting into position on the step. One final note that may help is if your DZ has a dummy rig for practise spend the most time you can practising the exit so it seems more familliar and your body is more likely to go through the motions properly. -Michael

My instructor suggested I do a tandem with him to help my arch as I had started at the IAD stage so had never done a freefall. It worked but holy crap during freefall my sinuses got so full I'm sure I blew out a liter of snot after I landed. No I don't have a cold and allergies are finished for the season... Think about how it is when you are drinking something and a joke makes you laugh that liquid out your nose. That's how it felt. I'm wondering if this is just par for the course? Maybe it would be helped a full faced helmet (eventually). -Michael

So the better half got me hooked. She wanted to try it out and I said hell yeah. She did a tandem and I did a solo for our first jumps. She seemed to like it but didn't enthusiastically want to go again. Yes she supports me and this new hobby but I do agree that this thing isn't for everyone! Maybe in time she will want to jump again. Maybe I'll get her a jump for her b-day. I know she won't rip it up! -Michael

I think this sort of thing is common in just about every industry. I work on cars for a living and am often confronted by people claiming that their little turbo honda is making XXX at the wheel and such. Depending on my mood I either let them talk or tell them that I was the guy who built the kit, I know who they bought the car from and I know what it actually made on the dyno. From a "dealing with them" type prospective I think just calling the bullshit right in their face is most effective. Nothing like being shut down and told that you don't need stories to impress makes them feel small enough they're not likely to pull a repeat. -Michael

Still photos are much higher resolution and you can stop and examine the frame for 10 minutes if you like. In video it flies by in about 1/30th of a second. I saw some video showing that offbrand lens X was just as good as the brand name sony/canon lens on a video camera. I couldn't see any difference in the video. Maybe there was a tiny bit of spherical aberation but I sure couldn't see it. I'm not saying you can use junk, but what I am saying is that most of the stuff out there - chip/encoding modules bought and sold by OEMs are pretty good quality. -Michael

Very informative. I've got some experience with Agilent. I know an older panasonic imager was pin for pin compatible with the agilent but it was marked on the underside as a panasonic part. The reason I figure most of the lens stuff is marketing fuzz is that I've looked at stills taken from a series of different lenses and the quality differences were minute. For a still photographer it is obviously very important and you find only brand name canon lenses in my bag - no tamron or other off-brands. Played back at 30fps or whatever they standard is I couldn't see any difference between the different lenses. My experience is very limited and what I've seen was that most people are just using small inexpensive camcorders inside gawdy looking tumours moulded on their helmets. -Michael

Just a quick update. I had a quiet discussion about this with the DZO. It seems that changes will be made very rapidly. Anyone smoking near a chute will be tazered dragged out and then shot (didn't want blood or bullet holes in a chute). He also realised that he was setting a bad example because people would ask him questions and he would step inside the tent with a smoke still going. So there it is - changes from the top down. -Michael

If solar flares had anything to do with it then I'd expect the moon would too. After all it does affect the tides :) As for your freefalling flaring speed I'm sure it's purely air density related. Humidity probably has an effect as well. For the time of day it probably also takes some time for the warming effect on the surface of the earth to transfer it's heat into the surrounding air and that's why the time does not correspond with the sun's peak. For the raindrop thing very interesting - I assumed the terminal velocty of a raindrop was much higher. I guess I'll just skip my jump tomorrow if it's raining. -Michael

I feel like someone is feeding me a line as I'm the DZs newbie. The guy said that it sucks to dive in the rain because you end up hitting the pointy end of the raindrops and it really hurts. I seldom accept a story like this without understanding it. So I was thinking that the terminal velocity of a raindrop depends on it's aerodynamic profile which is pretty good. Would a person's terminal velocity exceed that of a raindrop and to a significant degree? Perhaps if you're skydiving through a cloud that's forming precipitation the droplets haven't reached terminal velocity yet. Comments? -Michael

There are obviously exceptions everywhere. Sony is probably one of them. I think the issue of having the lens specifically designed for their chip is a bit of marketing fuzz. A quality lens should project the image on the chip surface, nothing more. Not too many high end camera producers own their own chip fab plant just to make their imaging devices. I did a little playing with UAV type technology just out of my own curiosity and found that I could produce very high quality video from off the shelf components. Years ago I was a still photographer so I still do have an eye for what is garbage and what is not. As for altimeter control yes I was thinking that you could have that data embedded in the video stream to optionally display it. Maybe other DZ setups are far more advanced but I saw big fiberglass boxes moulded to the helmet sides with some foam and finger slits so the camera could be activated and such. It just struck me as a tad ghetto. -Michael

Yes that must be it. I couldn't remember what he had called it so it was going to be pretty hard for me to find info and read up on it. As for affi being confused I didn't explain the 2nd part very well... If a student encounters some sort of malfunction, let's say bag lock for example, then it may take them a few seconds to identify that there is a problem and take the apropriate action. However, at least the training is fresh in their memory. Now, suppose you've got 400 jumps under your belt. From the stats I was reading on failures in the parachutists handbook it seems unlikely that you would experience a failure in 400 jumps. After 400 jumps of dust on your initial emergency training do you think that you would be as efficient at whipping out the reserve or more efficient because you would know immediately that you've got a high speed malfunction in addition to good altitude awareness and finally be less likely to panic? -Michael

Do you guys think that after a lot of experience the thought process behind doing the reserve pull stays fresh? For things to work for me I have to understand how they do function then it's not so much of a big deal. I understand that others have different learning styles and are maybe not mechanically minded. For those who did need to whip it out after a main failure of some sort - do you think the normal jump experience you had allowed you to identify and react to the problem quicker? The rigger at my current DZ mentioned that there was a new system out or coming out that would eliminate incomplete pulls or something like that. Anyone know about it? -Michael

I would strongly disagree. I've very often pointed out the fact that I've only got 2 jumps. That is far from trying to project more jumps or experience than I have. For vague info - I don't think the name of the DZ is important unless I were setting out to try and destroy their reputation which I am not. I've read a lot of material on skydiving in the past 2 weeks since I became interested. I think I was very straight up when I asked if the smoking issue was going to pose a serious safety risk to me. Then someone suggested that a non-certified rigger may not be allowed to pack my chute so I did seek clarification. If I'm not going to take initiative to ask the questions and learn what is and isn't safe then how will I know? Maybe a cigarette burn could have caused the chute to rip in two - without asking how would I know? I'll have more jumps as soon as there is a nice weekend on which to jump. Until then I would like to continue learning what I can. -Michael

Let me be clear I've not named the DZ with the smoker packer. Primarily I don't want to cause problems if it isn't a huge safety issue. I had a great experience at A.S.S and they didn't allow any smoking within 50' of the packing tent. -Michael

It's actually not that difficult to obtain the hardware as the high end manufacturers just buy and implement them from readily available components. I'm more curious than anything as I was thinking a cam with built-in activation and it's own altimeter would be cool. The downside is with such a limited market there is no way you'd ever beat the big guys on price. -Michael

I'm just getting involved in the sport. No way I'm going to be trying to video anything for a long time but I did wonder if anyone has made a specialised cam for skydivers? I've seen all sorts of boxes with palmcorders stuck inside but with modern technology I'm fairly certain I could engineer a good quality solid state unit with skydiving specific features that is a fraction of the size. I'm only curious if there is a need for such a device or if they already exist or if the fullsized camcorders moulded into helmets are just fine? -Michael

I've got thick e-skin so I'm not offended by your comments. I did originally re-read my first post and I am wondering why this is considered a breach of safety regulations. Maybe it was just a bad assumption on your part or am I still missing something? I was trained on both systems although when doing independent research did find that my SOS training did miss a small but very important point. My main reason for bringing this up is that those designing the instruction need to make sure that important details are not overlooked. -Michael

I don't know what the rules say about packing. I've watched the guy pack and yes he's careful but I wasn't aware of someone requiring a license to pack. -Michael

The first jump was at the Atlantic School of Skydiving in Waterville NS. I did it while on vacation with my significant other. We went out for a full day of training (she did a tandem). They spent a significant amount of time teaching proper exit procedures and flight checks/when to whip it out. They just didn't seem to cover the mechanics of using the SOS that well. "Here pull this thing" instead of "You need to pull this handle hard and make sure you pull it a long way out or bad things might happen". Practise could have been an asset too. My first jump (IAD at 3500) got my hooked so I found the local DZ when I returned home to Quebec. The instructor went through and tested me on all the details they teach. He was very satisfied with what I knew. I had also spent some independent time educating myself with a book and reading online articles. I was not familiar with the TAS on their gear so he spent about 1/2h explaining, showing and then a number of test breakaways on a practice rig. I don't know if and why my experience should be considered "disturbing" but from an absolute beginner's prospective I did want to give my feelings on being exposed to the 2 systems. Don't characterise "less confident" as being scared and/or unable to use the system. From a beginner's prospective pulling 1 handle seems simpler but the importance of a proper pull must be stressed. -Michael

Thanks for the responses. I guess I'll let the smoking issue pass. By the time I can afford my own gear I'll be packing it myself. As for a non-rigger packing I went about asking a bunch of packing questions but quickly learned that the guy doesn't know anything about what he's doing - just how to do it. I'm not saying this is necessarily unsafe as a master rigger is around and in charge of all the ground operations and the packer does seem to be able to recognise anything that doesn't look right... I was mainly concerned about a cigarette burn causing a safety related failure. -Michael

The DZ where I took the first jump course was very strict on that matter. Here in Quebec 1/2 the population seems to smoke. The only other DZ is more than an hour drive into the next province whereas this is about 10 minutes from my house. Using a rented rig it's not likely that I'll be able to pack the chute I'm going to jump. It will be a long time before I can afford my own rig. The school only owns one student rig anyway. All their money seems to come in tandems. So the short of it is if the experienced people here feel this is a very serious danger then I can quietly take it up with the school owners and let them take action. While I don't want to cause problems being the school whiner my own safety takes a higher precedence. -Michael

I'll comment from a beginner's perspective. I've had 2 jumps so far. One was with a SOS rig and the other was TAS. I found that the TAS instruction was a little more complex and being a beginner I felt less confident about the TAS. I was told "SOS? nobody uses that anymore - they probably bought up all the rigs nobody wanted and that's why you used SOS at the other school". Having read this thread and understanding a little more how the SOS works I'm not that confident that my pulling the SOS would have resulted in a complete separation/reserve pop. Part of the instruction needs to explain the fine operational details. Probably the instructor had never pulled or seen an SOS used or he would have explained how important it is to pull the single handle all the way. -Michael

I'm new to skydiving. I did my first jump - a solo while on vacation in NS. Upon returning home I decided to find a local DZ and work toward my solo license. Nylon isn't too friendly to cigarettes. However I've noticed that nobody at the home DZ seems to care that the packer will do up a chute with a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth. The guy who packs all the chutes isn't a jumper as he's over the weight limit. The packer isn't certified for anything and is there to make a few extra bucks. I think someone mentioned he's a friend of the owner so I get the feeling nobody wants to tick him off lest he decide not to pack for them anymore... This seems like a glaring safety problem. I am a non-smoker and do find cigarette smoke quite offensive - so maybe I'm overreacting. I'm the newbie at the DZ and don't want to cause any problems. How serious a problem would you consider this? -Michael