3mpire

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Posts posted by 3mpire

  2. I won't pretend to be an instructor or a coach as I'm not rated.

    But I do fly a lot of 4 way, and I can tell you that when I jump with newer jumpers, I really like to see them in a suit that has grippers and booties.

    For one, it shows me that you're taking belly flying seriously, so I'll be more likely to expend extra effort to share as much knowledge as I can.

    It also makes the jumps a bit more successful because you have the right equipment for the jump. The learning curve is really quite minor to get used to having the bootie to start.

    I wouldn't tell someone to not wear booties unless they have a very hard time with basic stability and maneuverability. If that's not you, then the only limiting factor is your comfort level and desires. You don't have to wear one, but other than personal reasons, I don't see any reason not to.

  4. Quote

    Having said that I see a lot of value in your idea, such as being able to send a client a reminder that their cypres service needs to be done over the winter. Or what about an SB coming out on a rig. Jumpers don't always know about them.



    Just curious, would riggers be interested in an online service that makes logging, billing/invoicing, and serial number lookups easy? Interested enough to pay a monthly or annual fee?

  5. Ah thanks I missed that line--when I read your post my first thought was someone was trying to patent the concept of a fishbowl facemask or something else very common. were this a software patent, it probably would be possible

    not to say that slits in the facemask to reduce fogging isn't very common, of course!

  7. Quote

    $428?! The flipping equipment prices of gear just keeps climbing and climbing... sheesh.



    KISS your paycheck goodbye with the latest in fishbowl technology :D

    Personally I love how often "the new hotness" comes out, it keeps the used gear market churning so people like me can get perfectly usable gear for much more reasonable prices.

  8. Quote

    I'm a electrician, that includes some overtime.



    Seems like the kind of work you could do 1-3 days a week and be at the DZ the rest of the time. I know a few people who work mornings or evenings at one job and afternoons/weekends at the dz and manage to have health insurance and steady income that isn't dependent on the weather.

    why make it an either/or when you can do both and mitigate the financial risk all the while keeping your skills/resume current?

  9. Quote

    The Chicago area has a population of almost 10 million, though the city itself has less than 3 million. Still, three tunnels... pretty crazy!



    Seattle metro has a population of 3 million and easily supports one tunnel. 10 million seems like more than enough for 3 tunnels, especially given that I'm sure people from Milwaukee will also make the relatively short drive down.

  12. Thanks for the replies everyone--I should probably clarify that my question is coming more from the perspective of the jumpers than pilots. We all know pilots don't HAVE to stay out, and that they often don't.

    Just a few weeks ago I watched a boeing dreamlifter fly almost right down jumprun at around 1,000 feet not fifteen minutes after sunset load had landed. I was just thankful they didn't try to land on the 2,750 runway :D:D

    I guess where I'm really going with it is that if the "DZ" is defined as a "2 mile radius" that wouldn't have any limitation whatsoever on, say a cross country or a wingsuit leaving the AC 2.5 miles out... for example.

    In other words, the 2 mile radius is meaningless insofar as dictating the exact nature of parachute operations. Is that a true statement?

  13. I am under the impression that the definition of a drop zone with the FAA is a radius around the airport--for example, 2 miles.

    Can anyone explain to me how this works? Is it an official designation by the FAA that one must apply for? What is the expectation that this radius would have? No parachute or freefallers outside this radius? Or is the radius merely used by commercial and GA pilots as a heads up that within that radius you could/should expect parachute activity?

  18. Quote

    You, the pilot of the plane, or any jumper who saw it.



    Not sure self-signed jumps will get much credibility if you travel to DZs where nobody knows you. One or two self-signed maybe, but I once had to explain to a guy that having 50 jumps signed by yourself isn't really a good idea.

    Always get someone else to sign, even if its just the pilot.

  22. Quote

    Keep in mind that a canopy that needs say 800 feet to open in terminal freefall, will not necessarily take 800 feet to open sub terminal. On a quick sub terminal deployment, you don't have the vertical velocity to burn up as much altitude during the snivel like you do when terminal.

    I tend to jump slow opening canopies, and can usually get in the saddle from a hop in pop less than 300 feet below the aircraft.



    100% agreement. ONly thing I'd add for the OP is that you should do some hop and pops on your current main to get an idea of what that would feel like. Make note of your alt when you leave, clear the plane, deploy, and then make note of your alt so you know what to expect.

    Something to keep in mind with subterminal openings is that youre not falling straight down, you are going to have some forward throw from the airplane. So you will travel further than your altitude loss because you're not going straight down.

    however you're also not going that fast, so after you pitch, you should fully expect to feel the deployment take a longer time. I'd describe it as "mushy" and "lazy".

    Do a bunch of those until you feel perfectly comfortable with the altitude loss and the deployment characteristics.

    That said i'm on board with the rest of the advice--if you're getting out low go straight to silver. Not only will you open faster, but considering you're not going to have much exit separation, I wouldn't want to be sniveling down into other canopies that might already be deployed below me.

  23. That's interesting, John, thanks for the education. It makes sense when you think of radar for what it really is--microwaves. I knew that modern radar systems are processed before display, but wasn't sure how. It makes sense that non-moving ground clutter would be defined as things that don't have lateral speed.

    Though that makes me wonder if the squirrel suits with aluminized mylar on the arms might make a little blip :)
    do you know if the military uses the same type of system? NAS Whidbey might see more on a scope (especially when maggot's crew is jumping at jety city) if they have more sensitive settings.

    I have talked to one of the guys who flies for jet city and he said that NAS Whidbey ATC is very friendly to jumpers; if anyone can see something on scope maybe it's them

  25. I read the following today:

    Quote

    The history of video review in skydiving goes back almost 30 years. An 8 way team by the name of Mirror Image was training down in Zephyrhills Florida and a guy by the name of Jim Baker was the camera flier. The camera equipment he wore was about the size of a regular sized video camera but he also had to wear a recording deck about as big as a full sized DVD player. His exit position was rear float, one time when he exited the DC-3 he was picked up by air traffic control radar in Tampa.



    Which got me to thinking... how big of a formation do you need to have before you might show up on ATC radar? Does modern radar technology filter out this kind of "noise" or does a sunset load 15 way RW jump show up on radar as a big meatball? :ph34r: