Cacophony

You just have to be careful because sometimes its a different diameter and they just give you a step down/up ring which is annoying. Especially when the lense it 37mm and you put it on a step down ring for a 25mm camera and it looks totally stupid! And remember, looks are EVERYTHING!

An awesome swoop non the less (wish I could make it that far!), but what is the point of having "expensive electronic scoring system with electronic gate buzzers, senors, etc." if they are not functioning properly. The swoop comp was that high level and didn't even have a camera on the gate. I also noticed that Jim was the one who posted that on cp.com and he seems to have a bad tendency to promote his ideas which gets annoying from time to time. I don't care if it was in the course or not, its still a bad ass swoop, but how many bad ass swoops are out there that we haven't seen outside of gates? Seems as though Jim is promoting this a ton because its of his new baby. If he saw a Xaos 21 do that I don't think we would hear as big of a hype.

Maybe you suck at spotting Once maybe, but twice.... Same student or different? Too many variables to make any decision on.

1. Lots of line twists (I learned by static line) 2. Line Over Sabre 1 170(came out on own) 3. Full knot in brake line around guide ring. 4. Step through on Velo 96 (WL 2.1) 5. At least 8 one sided unstowed brake lines on Stilettos loaded at 1.6 and up 6. 3 collapsed PCs due to various causes. 7. 1 hard opening hard enough to nearly black out(again Sabre 1 170) 8. 1 mid air collision resulting in bruised sternum and nearly blacking out 9. I know there is more..... Total reserve rides: 0

My Velo is costing me $245 so I'm sure its right around there.

I am about to purchase an HC3 and am leaning towards a Cookie box. I have no experience with them at all. How is the durability of the elastic straps holding the box shut?

The image will most likely look better on the screen of the camera simply because its a better screen.

Actually it is and thanks for looking!

Here are just a few from 2006. Yes I swooped the trailer in the 2nd pic! All pics taken by Lisa Flory, a awesome photographer!

Thats a sweet angle, but what if the drogue gets half-hitched or blows up or something? You appear to be only slightly off the wind line of the tandem for a sustained period. Do you fly on your back for the entire video or is there some other method you use to get out of the way?

Another reason I doubt its an evaluator is the instructor clearly grabs and hangs on to the lower arm of the student for control. I have never met an evaluator yet that would let that go without rolling on their back. Even though they tell you that it will always roll a student, I have seen otherwise in my limited experience.

Accuracy is more important to a good swooper than distance and speed, and I'm not speaking about competition. Keeping them all in check is what "swooping" is to me.

You guys seem to think this is unusual behavior for a student. How do you know this is not an alternative training method from AFF. It could be like what they do in Spaceland and go single instructor from the first skydive. What is unusual is the instructors lack of action. Those of you looking forward to being an instructor and can't comprehend a student like this, you better think again and learn to not be like this instructor. Real or not, it doesn't matter.

I would not let it go that far, although the student did appear to have an unusual amount of control on his back. I have seen students go from a really great job, to the next jump completely sucking. I have also seen students take 7 jumps to get past Cat B and then kick ass on the rest of their levels. Just roll the guy over for god's sake and finish the skydive!!

Every year for the past few years there has been a "risk" quiz in a(early year) Parachutist about how high risk you are under your parachute. It takes into account WL, canopy size, total jumps, jumps under that parachute, blah blah blah. I'm sure you can dig up a 'risk' quiz online from them or another manufacturer. Just to chime in I have done about 650 jumps this season, and 625 of those under my Velo.

I'm not really sure where to post this, but I was looking over pictures from this past year and I noticed something in this picture. First let me state that these are both the same parachute (Velocity 96, except that the bottom one has 500lbs vectran, and the top has 750 vectran with 1000 more jumps on the fabric). It appears that my parachute (top) has a lot more of an arc. Both line sets have roughly the same jumps at the time this picture was taken which leads me to believe its just perspective. Or is there something different about my parachute that could be inhibiting its performance? My feet were about 3 feet higher than the top of the other parachute and about 6 feet behind. The image was taken with a long lense. "Side note" My canopy is currently in for a reline, just curious as to people's opinions.

Would have been nice if the instructor gave you a clear exit count. But since this doesn't always happen, nice following with it. You can definately get a lot lower. (I understand this can be hard with a parapelegic since they are usually very light weight) It looked like a Strong tandem rig, and they are notorious for being the best tandem rigs for video because they sit you very head high. Overall, nice job for your first time out. I would recommend being a touch lower or farther back for deployment. If they had a large trap door and sank just a little, then had a hard opening I bet they would have surged forward a little. Thats just what 1000 tandem videos have taught me.

My canopy is currently in its reline phase. Here is a tidbit from the email for PD support: They did the inspection the day after they recieved the canopy and were ready to start working on it as soon as I gave the ok. PD rocks the party!

That is the tough question. I usually just open the box and hold the camera tight against the inside. That way I can look through the viewfinder and help them get it centered. Its not rocket surgery, but its a brain.

fyi - alex o swoops visual. I agree. Its all the same.

I have 1900 camera jumps and have always left my white balance on "Auto". Works just fine. Yes, with RAWA boxes the camera just sits in the box. As long as the box is built for the camera it will fit nice and snug. A cutaway system is not essential so long as you can get the helmet off your head really fast under tension. For example, some of the slightly older helmet manufacturers thought it was a good idea to use a chin cup and another strap below that. That makes it virtually impossible to get off quickly. You should be able to undo one side of the chincup quickly as long as you practice it. Do it as much as your cutaway and reserve handles. Cutting away your helmet should now be thought of as part of your emergency procedures. Obviously if you can get a cutaway system installed, that will always be the better option. Just set your focus to infinity. It will work fine in just about all situations.

It will probably do just fine. Most of the higher end features are not necessary. I bet Cookie can fit it in one of their boxes. It probably has close to the same dimensions so best to call and ask them.

My GF just bought a Sony HC36. Good price (around $350) and does all that she will need for a while. Unless you have to have a LANC port to have a light in your eye letting you know what the camera is doing, its a great choice for the price. One of the only downsides (besides not having a LANC port) is that every 12 hours you have to reset the focus to infinity if thats what you choose. I don't know how many of the new sony cameras are like this, but its definately a new thing they are doing. Plus the mounting socket is in the corner on the bottom instead of closer to the center. Again, this is something easily overcome for the price and weight of the camera. I have made several jumps with this camera and like it a lot. You can find DBoxes for it at http://www.cookiecomposites.com/products.php?id=5

Mine was a Sabre 170. Close enough! Represent!!

I hardly think you can compare an elderly person to the average skydiver posting on dramazone.com. Better ask a physical/occupational therapist to get some real advice. I shattered my femur in August of 2003. I didn't get to make another jump until March 04. If it hadn't been for weather I probably would have jumped again in January. However, even with a few extra months my leg was still pretty sore for the first few landings. Once I got over the initial shock that cleared up real fast.