airdrew20012001

It's all good. Drewfus McDoofus

In her defense, she has a ton of experience and is a very competant freeflyer and an extremely competant belly flyer/instructor. I think the comment that she shouldn't do anything other than two ways is a bit harsh, especially considering the bare bones nature of the post I left. But hey, that's just what I think. Drewfus McDoofus

On a skydive yesterday there was a three-way hi-brid attempt. Towards the begining of the skydive one of the sit flyers went low, the other sit fly went to back flying in front of the belly flyer. The low person shot to belly to get back up and "whack" the two went pack to pack in a pretty hard impact. As the story goes, when the one flyer went low she was about fourty-five degrees off the right hand side and had the other sit flyer in visual at about fourty five degree off the left side, she said she was pretty sure she was popping up into clean air. The question, oh fast falling freakazoids, is who should have been able to prevent it? One could say that whenever you see someone go low in a freefly dive you need to keep an eye on them in the off chance that they cork. One could also say that if you are going to elevator up you need to make sure you are clear. What say you all? Drewfus McDoofus

Fired, no doubt. There are certain things one does not do (telling jesus jokes in the packing area, fucking with my rig) this is one of them. This sport is dangerous enough as it is. Drewfus McDoofus

If that was the policy at my dz I wouldn't shoot video. I think having the "videot" (ps, if you are not one, you don't get to use the term) pay the $139 for the jump and the $60 for the pics is unrealistic. Things happen: zoom switch gets bumped, batteries die, camera's freak out. I could see giving them a cert for free vid and not charging them for the current one as being ok. Maybe, and only maybe, make the camera flyer pay for his slot, that's good biz. But a free tandem skydive with vid and still is a bit harsh. What do other camera flyers think? Drewfus McDoofus

Get one, put it on the dominant eye, spend the extra dough for a Brent Finley clamp. They are worth every penny. Drewfus McDoofus

I agree. The TRV is a little easier to use in that it is not so itty bitty and the screen is bigger. Plus, if you top mount a pc then it is mega tall because you would be wise to put some sort of a roll cage on it. Other than that, I use a trv 17 the other two videots use pc style, our videos are pretty much the same. Drewfus McDoofus

My 2 cents: 1) relax. Do a bunch of solo's concentrating on relaxing and sort of letting the headdown happen. 2) Make sure you can see both your hands at all times IF you are going to use them at all. 3) Do coach jumps with more experiences skydivers. 4) I found Pat Works "The Art of VRW" book and video to be helpful. In the end, though, in my very limited experience you can't be taught so much as allowed to find the headdown. It's real tough, then it's real easy. Relax, don't try so hard, don't worry about how you are doing. It will happen. Drewfus McDoofus

You can always try B and H Photo and Video out of New York, I have had pretty good luck with them as well. www.bhphotovideo.com. Drewfus McDoofus

Nice, you must have been tired. Drewfus McDoofus

Paid video slots in a single day, what's your best? Drewfus McDoofus

I was fliming a couple of buddies who had come out to do tandems. One was this, like, six foot four mother with this gnarly tattoo of a skull and shit on his shoulder. He had long, greasy rocker hair and the whole nine yards. I usually spot the load, turn on my camera, then put it in the tandems face. I yelled at this guy, "Are you ready to skydive?". He looked me right in the eye and said, "No!". I said, "OK" and we went anyway. Drewfus McDoofus

The sky is the limit on exits, I have done all sorts. Leave from the post on the wheel (end of strut) is the standby. I fly on my belly although I sometimes do some pretty wierd sort of back tracking off the plane if I am late. The thing to remember is that if you don't want a ton of footage from way outside then the minute you leave the plane you need to basically drop into a dead track, think of tracking up hill. I shoot level, below, and above, try to get all the angles. Stay away from the drogue and the drogue bridle at all costs. Always, and I mean ALWAYS, check with the tandem master if you are going to leave his field of vision or touch any part of his or her person or student. I jump in a freefly suit, I find my old wingsuit was too hard to fall fast in because of the wing and the booties. Hope that helps. Drewfus McDoofus

Go by your gut and ask around. I agree with the post that talks about using the services of a load organizer or even spend the money to get a freefly coach jump and ask the coach. It would be worth the money either way. Drewfus McDoofus

I think the bite switches may just suck. Both the other two videots where I shoot have had problems with that switch, one is about to dump hers. I use a tongue switch and it works great once you get the hang of it. I shot 31 pictures during a tandem from 10k on sunday. We usually use 24 shot film but when we buy in bulk they throw in some 36 shot for free. I am the only numbnuts who forgets to check. Drewfus McDoofus

Follow up: Since the above mentioned incident I have done the following: 1) always jump with a dytter 2) spent two skydives doing nothing but staying in a headdown and checking my wrist mount, actually not that hard to do. 3) almost spoked my first sit flyer 4) basically had my first dock in a headdown. 5) have kept on a jumpin! Yeah, babeeee! outtie- Drewfus McDoofus

Nerd! Feel better? Drewfus McDoofus

Thank you all for your support, please feel free to pass along/share my tale of "boy was that dumb" for all to learn from. Drewfus McDoofus

Anybody here jump one with a top mounted TRV style camera? Do you need the chin cup? I have a batrak for work was looking at one of these for play, what do people think? Drewfus McDoofus

Anybody here fly one? What do you think of it for both a camera and non-camera helmet? Drewfus McDoofus

Thanks man Drewfus McDoofus

It might prove instructional. Plus it's my pennance for f***ing up. Drewfus McDoofus

It might prove instructive, especially to lower jump number freeflyers. Drewfus McDoofus

You ever sit around and tell stories and find yourself saying, "remember that guy that..."? Yesterday a jumper ended up in the saddle at 500 feet with a reported pull altitude of around 1,000. The story was that the load ended up having to exit at 7k instead of 10 because of a falling ceiling. The jumper in question was jumping without helmet or cypress. The skydive was going well and only when that guy turned around to notice the other jumper no where in the visible sky did it finally dawn on him that this was a worse case scenario. Lastly he pitched his main, a mildly loaded stilletto 135, with deplorable body position and luckily got a decent on heading opening followed by an uneventful 9 second canopy ride. Lesson: audibles, attention to altitude, and AAD's are really important in freeflying. That guy was about 4 seconds away from taking his headdown into the tarmak. How do I know? It was me. While the newly found love of life is refreshing it was a mistake that almost cost me my life. The only reason I am here to write this is because I am extremely lucky. Not only would I have burned in it would have been in front of a large collection of my close friends, fellow DZ employees, and about 12 students. No bueno. Remember what I always say: "Don't be 'that guy'". Drewfus McDoofus

Actually, assuming you can attach a cable to any camera is going to cost you. Most minolta, or cannons for that matter, do NOT have remote shutter ports. You need to make sure it does. I jump, as do soooo many, a cannon rebel eos G, couldn't be happier. Automatic enough for when I am super busy, bullet proof, artistic enough for when I wanna take pics of pretty flowers. Drewfus McDoofus