castle_bravo

There: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3964242;search_string=pilot%20chute%20nightmare;#3964242

+1 . Had a pcit once, cross-pulled silver with right hand(can't tell why, guess cause I'm right-handed), no stability loss or anything(pity reserve failed to deploy though :P ).

2nd hand info: Left leg femur - broke, the spine - broke, lung - contusion, heart - contusion, brain injury. Breathes by himself, but left lung drainage. Spinal surgery (either performed already or scheduled). Guys who saw it say he missed concrete/asphalt by a metre or so.

I have the AF-S 55-200 VR (I don't jump my stills camera though), must say I've noticed a similar thing: you can see it through the viewfinder if you first half-press the shutter release button and then lift your finger. Then the VR system stops, it slightly shifts the image. Cure ? I use Photomatix, it has a feature that fixes such things.

We do gear checks, but they're not mandatory, at the time I wasn't familiar with his container, so I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be that way (also, I kind of missed it). As for the toggle thing, - I had my reserve freebag in my left hand/armpit and really didn't want to drop it accidentally, so I stirred with rear risers and the right toggle. Oh, and I did flare, yet it was a 100% down wind, landing, so I still had to roll a bit (also, I have no experience on landing in plowed fields... ). Edited: grammar

I used to fold the excess bridal, put it onto the PC and wrap the PC around it (a rigger taught me that, so if it sounds as poor packing, its just cause I cant properly describe it now). Now I switched to the Germain method. I was told it was either due to poor packing, poor throw or poor luck (or all three combined). As for the camera thing, I already went thru the whole "you shouldn't be wearing a cam" thing. Generally, I'd agree, but its too educational in this case :]

Well, here I go then. I've gone over this recently revived thread, and though the wast majority of possible PCIT scenarios (either straight to silver or cutaway first) have already been voiced, I noticed that one rather exotic case has not yet been mentioned. That is, the case where your reserve PC deploys your main. Below goes my interpretation of the whole mess and a vid to support it. The situation was as follows (this isnt 100% just my ideas): 1. main PC (it was cocked btw)entangles with bridle and therefore flies upside-down(thus no drag). 2. Attempted to a) catch bridle and pull pin via bridle by hand - attempt failed. b)hit container with elbow(been told it may help with pc in tow situations) - no use 3.since no main/or main d-bag out decided to go straight for reserve. 4.Reserve pc tangles with main pc 5. Since reserve pc entanglement with main pc ended up being by the bridle (I guess) - the drag from partially inflated reserve pc was transferred via entanglement to the main bridle and was sufficient to pull the main pin. 6. Main d-bag exits the container, reaches line stretch, reserve freebag(due to entanglement I suppose) follows main and lodges in twisted main lines. 7. Reserve freebag comes down as I kick it out from twists. 8. Reserve freebag is placed under armpit and held there until landing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49M8hD472_I

Those days of the bonus are sweetest indeed Make sure they continue with every your deed Revise the procedures and check all your gear With that out of your way - forsake all the fear P.S.: had a PC in tow and a nasty main-reserve PC entanglement not too long ago. Forsaking the fear isn't that easy though...

I can't answer this with 100% certainty... The rig was assembled and underwent semi-annual inspections by certified riggers. I've jumped it for ~ 100 jumps with no problems at all. The problem depicted in the clip does not suggest incompatible gear (aside from the snag-friendly pilot chute handle perhaps). P.S.: Briz is a russian copy of the PD Spectre: zero-p, 7cell, slightly tapered, equipped with Spectra 725 lines.

Usually, AFF jumps are included into the jump count needed for a license.

Hope he didn't have any spare shoes around while packing my reserve

Thanks. Hell, it was some surprise alright... Although the grand shocker came while watching the video frame by frame back at the DZ. Until then I thought that my main pc hesitated or wasn't cocked and took too long to pull the pin. P.S.: oh, and after I landed(aka face-planted some potato field ) I was more like "F*CK THIS SH*T"

I saw the guy I jumped with ~ 60% of the jump, he was about 50 meters from me and above me, thus he wasn't in the frame(camera FOV is a bit narrow). We often jump together, and he is very aware of my "flying all over the place" when sitflying. At ~ 2000 meters I saw him tracking off.

Yeah, its a nice place. Great view all the way down. Especially if you're not fighting a mal

Thanks. That was my intent.

Yes, it could have been the 1st link(in a chain of events)... but it wasn't. Actually, had it not been for the camera we (or at least me) would have missed this valuable (at least for me)lesson. As only when I saw the video, did I actually realize what had actually transpired. Up until then, I thought I didn't cock the main PC or it just hesitated in the burble above me. Who said I was proud of anything ? I only posted this to receive some thoughts regarding possible causes of the main PC mal (bad packing, bad throw, bad luck, etc.) and to warn against rushed packing in general, thus I believe I am intentionally setting myself a a BAD example here... Thanks, but this isn't really news. Also, I land ok in normal situations. As for my freefly - well, it sucks. Actually, I landed my main , not my reserve...

The situation was as follows (this isnt 100% just my ideas): 1. main PC (it was cocked btw)entangles with bridle and therefore flies upside-down(thus no drag). 2. Attempted to a) catch bridle and pull pin via bridle by hand - attempt failed. b)hit container with elbow(been told it may help with pc in tow situations) - no use 3.since no main/or main d-bag out decided to go straight for reserve. 4.Reserve pc tangles with main pc 5. Since reserve pc entanglement with main pc ended up being by the bridle (I guess) - the drag from partially inflated reserve pc was transferred via entanglement to the main bridle and was sufficient to pull the main pin. 6. Main d-bag exits the container, reaches line stretch, reserve freebag(due to entanglement I suppose) follows main and lodges in twisted main lines. 7. Reserve freebag comes down as I kick it out from twists. 8. Reserve freebag is placed under armpit and held there until landing (thats why I couldnt reach for toggles until very late in the landing sequence)

So , you suggest that my having a camera on the helmet directly caused the PC entanglement ? Not wishing to troll or start flaming here btw. I respect your opinion (as you have more jumps than me), and I've read all the threads regarding camera flying, yet I was not able to find a single scenario in which a camera would cause PC inflation problems or PC-bridle entanglement. The only camera related problem I can think of is bridle wrapping round the camera, but since this was not the case... Agreed. Actually, I did attempt to do that, but was not able to catch the bridle behind my back. Think I'll train for this scenario on the ground just in case I get another PC in tow.

Just to clarify - #139 was not my packjob

This here is a cautionary tale, warning against rushed/poor PC packing an/or poor PC throws (as I've told afterward). If anyone has any additional ideas on what might have caused the main PC mal - please, share your thoughts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49M8hD472_I

Could be a damaged memory card. Have you tried a different memory card in your GoPro? Also, have you tried reading your current memory card in some card reader ?

This is (most likely) due to the fact that goPro has a wide angle lens - up to 170deg. at 720p resolution. Yes, I believe a number of video editors (Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere) can "zoom in" the way you described.

Hey, since you guys are talking about 3D, I'd like to ask if anyone knows of any software that can combine the two video streams into a single anaglyph stream ?