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Just wondering: I'm going to Austin soon & I'm looking for a rig. Any gear stores near Austin you can recommend?

Bumping this up if someone wants to shoot this over the weekend?

It's for a little iPhone application / game I am working on. & yeah, I'd take it myself but I'm not current enough to fly camera yet

Hi, I'm looking for first-person video footage of what a skydiver sees from exit to deployment. I.e. I want a helmet cam capture of a normal belly to earth freefall WITHOUT any people flying in the camera view. Just a boring, stable, belly-to-earth freefall until deployment. No turns, no loops, ... after the hill just a stable horizon, preferably no alti peeks or head movements. Does anyone know of such footage I could use? Anyone wants to shoot it for me for the price of a few jump tickets? Cheers - Francis

I've got a German Android, I'm a developer & would be interested in helping you test the app.

I jumped with one about a year ago, I remember a peak of 165 at or after exit (hard to tell) and then 120 slowly going down to 80 under canopy.

Anyone else who can't access the forums because the page is waiting forever for the 'adtuition' ads to load? Workaround: turn off javascript. What can be done about this?

Hi to all of our Swiss friends, I'm moving to Switzerland in May and I'm a bit confused about the Health/Accident insurance system over there: * It seems accidents are automatically covered in the basic compulsory insurance if you work more than 8hrs/week for a Swiss employer? * Does this basic coverage include skydiving accidents? * Got any suggestions for good healthcare providers for skydivers? Blue skies - Francis

Good you went for the surgery. I suffered multiple dislocations in both shoulders. One thing to consider is that strengthening the muscle through physio will help to *prevent* further spontaneous dislocations but when it does get dislocated due to e.g. an accident, it is a hell of a lot *harder* to put it 'back in'. I'm a pretty strong climber and it got to the point where it was absolutely impossible to pop it back in without anaesthesia, simply because the muscle contractions were too strong. I had surgery on my R shoulder when I was 18 and on my L when I was 28 or something. Haven't had a single dislocation since my surgery. One thing I regret is that I started climbing again a little too early after my second surgery. It increased my range of motion, but made my left shoulder a bit weaker. Listen to your doctor & stick to that healing time. As for skydiving, the lack of range of motion doesn't bother me at all now. With decent surgery you'll only lose a few degrees and you probably had an unnatural range of motion to begin with. The only trauma I have is a psychological one from frequently waking up at night screaming in pain due to yet-another-spontaneous dislocation. It kinda tended to freak out the girls.

Go to the RAPA forum at ukskydiver.co.uk. The CO/Pilot hangs out around there and will be happy to answer your questions about operating one. Done a few jumps out of it & there is a lot to like : huge door, fast climbing, ...

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone knows of a full-face helmet that can still be taken off easily by emergency first-responders to perform CPR? Cheers - Francis

So, what 'd you want in such a software? I'm a dev, but isn't entering jump data kinda tedious? I've been thinking about writing logbook software / website but I'm not sure there's demand for it. I'm still keeping everything on paper ... So: feature wishlist?

63 jumps and no reserve ride (yet). However yesterday I fckd up and ended up unstable on my back a little above 4000ft on a hop & pop (I normally pull at 3500). Happy to see reflexes kick in: hard arch, stable & pull, open at 3000ft. I hope I will have similar good reflexes in a real emergency. I'm getting a little nervous and have systematically been locating my handles after each opening on recent jumps.

I come from a climbing background & I asked myself exactly the same question: in climbing we 'backup' a buckle by threading the strap 3 times instead of two time through the buckle, why not on skydiving rigs? Or are the leg straps simply pulled too tight? Just curious.

I understand I have very little experience, given my jump numbers, but I've been in the situation of doing AFF7 in the non-uk system & then going to a UK-military-run dropzone in Germany. I was surprised at the generosity shown by the military guys: they have gone out of their way to welcome a low-number weekend jumper, insofar that I have decided to continue jumping at said dropzone, even if it costs me approx. 2-3 times as much as jumping at local (German) dropzones. (due to insurance). I'm looking at paying a couple hundred euro more than other dropzones, but I'm happy paying the price, and no, I can't really afford it :-( I received a free one-on-one coaching / security / recurrency day & was at AFF8 in no time. They have done everything possible to reduce the pain of being a member of the bpa. In general, I feel a lot more comfortable jumping 'military style' given their attention to detail & gear quality. I haven't spotted any harsh treatment, but I have a fairly thick skin & am pretty patient. My point: I guess it all depends on the dropzone & under how much pressure they are. To the guys at Bad Lippspringe: your rock !

On my first re-currency jump this year something similar happened to me ... I just didn't want to make any turns below 500ft and decided to skip the landing pattern & land straight downwind (plenty of space where I jump, so no problem, I even stood it up) ... Next jump I was fine again.

Yeah, I know ... I'm lost ... I just spent my yearly bonus on books, a new jumpsuit & insurance. But I' not complaining ...

When I look out the window in my office I see this big-ass communications-tower & each time I pass by I think 'is that jummpable'? I guess I should repeat that question in 500 jumps or so in the base forum

Now I know I am an addict ... I received notification of my first peer-reviewed publication (computer stuff, my profession, supposedly a big deal) & at the same time I received my A-license yesterday. All I could think about all day was 'Oooo, shiny A-license booklet' & 'If the weather is ok I will go jump on thursday'. I guess I'm a lost case now? Anyone else got stories about screwed priorities & skydiving?

I was more thinking of this as a second camera for ice climbing, I've got wide-angle on the main cam but I wanted some action shots to mix into the 'static' shots of ice. I wasn't considering to jump any kind of camera soon, more of a safety of investment issue. Thanks for the warning though. The thing that intrigued me was that I have seen this kind of bullet cam / duct-tape setup where I jump.

P.O.V. != POV in search, sorry for that one ... I'm reading the POV/POS posts now. I know the quality of the cam is going to suck, I'm more interested in the safety issues w.r.t skydiving, e.g. snagpoints, no easy release, ...

Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone has used the VIO POV.1 camera for skydiving. I'm considering getting one to shoot some ice climbing in Canada in a few weeks & a definite plus would be if I could safely use this setup for skydiving. Linky: http://helmetcameracentral.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=28&osCsid=8d9fb200a200c2c5cca331d49b0cb0b3 E.g. What about snag points when this thing is taped to the top of a helmet? Will the cable pose any great probs? etc ... Cheers - Francis

Ning allows you to setup just that & no , I'm in no way affiliated with them http://www.ning.com/

I think that's perfectly normal. For me it was watching people exit that scared me. On my first AFF jumps I didn't dare to look out the door / down. So I kind of focussed on watching out the windows at the other side of the airplane, even as I was crawling out the exit door. My first diving exit was pure horror, so was my first hop & pop. The fear didn't go away 100% but I found breathing control exercises helped me deal with it. For AFF6 I wrote down 'first diving exit, scared' in my log & somehow I think admitting this in my logbook has helped me. Fear is normal I guess, acknowledging it helped me deal with it.

2. One day. The first of those was my 'A'. The last jump was the best one. Float out, 2 practice pulls & then just relax and enjoy all the way to the bottom.