k2skydiver

All of those look good. Interesting that the woman in [002] has that "oh, shit!" expression on her face, but is doing a good job pointing the camera anyway! This is the result 98% of the time. you do have a few that don't turn out well but that would also be the case if it was on the instructor.

For the record the pictures of JT is Josh Thomas NFL player for the Colts.. why don't you go call him 200LBS of stupid. Pay Up Mr. Conceded

I feel the need to weigh in on this subject, I have been placing the Hand Cam on students for 3 years now and have made an estimated 1000+ jumps doing so. I have never once had an issue that I felt the camera contributed to. I use the cookie hand mount glove that is supplied by me and I am the one that puts it on the student in order to ensure that it is done correctly. this is only done on 1st time (Passengers) and never anyone that is going through any type of formal training. I train all students the same and the mention of the camera is never brought up until I harness them. I do all of the ground footage and footage in the plane and just before hookup I put the camera on their left hand. I tell the (passenger) that's its just there for the ride and that the only thing we are doing different is putting their hand out in front of them before we leave the step and I am generally holding their arm just as I would if the camera was on me. I have found that because of the extra reach the passenger has the video turns out better and that the skydive is actually much more safe for me. Now just so you understand my experience I have over 4000 tandem skydives over 2500 hand cams and a total of 5 tandem cutaways with the last 2 being hand cam on the passenger 2 others with it on me. having the camera on them left my hands free of obstruction during the cutaway process and definitely made me feel better when I needed my hands the most.

Exactly That why I did this.. This lady was 81 she had some trouble walking and moving around but was in overall good condition for an 81 year old lady. However getting her feet up for landing may have been difficult and if you break an 81 year old they would never heal. But by doing this I saw she could get her feet high enough and I felt better knowing that as well.

I have had issues in the past with students that I felt may have issues getting their feet up for landings and sure enough once the parachute opens (" I cant get them up any higher than this"). The attachment is something I started doing last year when I had an 89 year old man show up to do a tandem. I hate turning away anyone who wants to jump but risk of injury to my student or myself is not worth it. If someone does get hurt that is what the media picks up on and it hurts the sport as a whole. What I have started doing with anyone that I feel may have issues weather its hooking up or getting their feet up for landing is to go ahead and put them in a harness have them get into the mock up and run through the procedure. Then I will stand them up and walk to the edge of our mock-up and step off so they are hanging from me like they would be under canopy. At this point I have them lift their legs for landing and hold the for at least 10 seconds. It is better to find out on the ground that they cant move their legs or that they cant get into a position that allows you to get them hooked up properly than to find out in the plane or under canopy. Doing this takes an extra 5 minutes at the most and I have also done it and used it as a training class for the students. But its worth the extra time not to have to worry about taking a trip to the ER.

I also have a jacket for RW so i use them for everything. Tandem T-Shirt , Video- Jacket, RW- Jacket, 1 pair of pants do it all

Here are my pants made by bev suits

I had a pair made from Bev as well padded knees and butt also had a camera jacket made with it. I use the pants for tandem and add the jacket when i shoot video. its a great setup

Both are good places Trade wind is a small Cesna DZ good people and down home close small group, Raeford is a larger Dz bigger airplane More people. You could also try Coastal Carolinas, all are about the same distance from you.

What area of NC are you from?

I always felt the same way but had several times where I really needed all of my limbs to help control the skydive... At that point you have a choice, Forget the video and fix the situation or leave your hand down and hope it works out. I never wanted to give the passanger something to do that may take away from their abality to focus on the skydive or possibaly cause them to do something else wrong. However I tried it a few times to see what the outcome was and it actually worked out great..Im not telling anyone that this is the best solution or to put cams on all the passangers just that this is something that works and the outcome is great it produces a great view, works out awsome under canopy, it frees the instructors hands up, I personally see more positives to this method than negatives. But again thats just me its something to try on a Passanger that is heads up and see what you think you may like it or may not, BUT if an instructor is having a hard time getting their hand in place for a video then this may be a solution.

skymama, you might want to move this thread. We've hijacked Tammy's thread pretty bad haven't we? Your rite this may need to be moved my initial response was to give her a suggestion to try that works very well for us...... QuoteKelvin, this is the first I've heard of this, although it is possible that it has been discussed. Tell me more... I have heard from several people within USPA that is is being discussed to move away from allowing TI's to do handcam video due to safety issues.. This is actually what has prompted us to try doing what we call Student Cam. once we tried this we asked for feedback and all students love it. It seems to make it feel more like its their video and they have a part in the whole experience not just riding along. The videos come out awsome however you still need to watch their hand postion and do some corrections but it leaves you with the freedom to make corrections during freefall do handle checks ECT without worring about Screwing up the video. Like I said before I have well over 500 handcams so its not like I havent had plenty of experience with the traditional way however I wish I had started doing this sooner.

This is true to a point... I have well over 500 hand cams and this is something we tried out once that worked very well we have been doing is for 4 months now with all positives... the students seem to love the idea it makes the skydive much safer for the student and the TI... the video comes out better because the camera is futher away( Wider Point Of View) and the student films what they want under canopy while you worrie with canopy control not a camera. I have seen no downsides to this at this point and as a DZ we have done several hundred to date in this mannor. I would only do this with a gopro setup though and you need to be able to read your students as well if you dont think they can handle it then dont let them wear it.

once we are out of the plane i put their hand out just like the TI would have and it gets a great shot... Plus USPA is going to start putting restrictions on TI using handcam so its going to need to go to this for Cesna Dz at some point anyway

Best thing for smaller instructors to do is to put the cam on the student... we have been doing this for some time now and it works awsome.. we do all ground video takeoff ect then right before strapping up we put the cam on the student. This makes it much safer and frees your hands up plus its a better video you just have to watch their hand postition during free fall.