Disco Ball night jump

[Maxx 1]

Hello,

Disco Ball night jump. Has this been done (e.g. in the crazy 70ies or maybe even Wally himself)?

How can this be done safely?
Where can this be done safely?

A big discoball in the middle, flying people around it, light sparks all over the people.. Maybe even laserlight or stroboscopic?
Sorry for the stupid questions, but I work in the advertising business and I am the only skydiver in my company, so I have to ask this

Thanks,
Max

[regulator 0]

Allright Ill be the first to admit I don't know shit...but could you attach a drogue to said disco ball to get close to matching fallrate between jumpers surrounding said disco ball? Just a thought.

[missbrz 0]

yea, I've never seen it. but keep in mind that usually a disco ball doesnt emit its own light. its just a large mirrored ball & it just reflects lights from outside sources, so everybody would need a flashlight or something. Also, unless somebody could somehow catch it & deploy with it, I'd be concerned about safety of the discoball plummeting to the earth after. Even if it was spotted really well, there'd be a chance that it could hit somebody & that would hurt. & nobody would be able to see it at night...

[peek 21]

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Disco Ball night jump.

Man, you're pretty good at thinking up challenging skydives. I once bought a cheap disco ball to hang up in a hangar on a motor to rotate it and to shine lights on. It was made from a styrofoam ball with hundreds of plexiglas mirror pieces glued to it. You could weight it enough to make it fall as fast as a skydiver, but I guess you would have to include a small parachute and an AAD to make it safe. Also some of the mirrors might fly off, and the edges would be sharp. That's about all I know about disco balls, and probably more that I should for someone my age.

[ChrisL 2]

Since all that light reflecting around in front of your face would screw your night vision but good, I'm thinking this would be a really bad idea (unless you dont care if you can see the ground while trying to land)

__

My mighty steed

[Maxx 1]

Not me, but the "creatives" at the agency.. I, as a skydiver, would never think of something like this, makes no sense to me.. I think the visuals are not good enough for a tv commercial. You would have to bring a lot of light there and shoot in highspeed, etc.

I thought maybe a Vladiball-Style solution would help.. or maybe the discoball breaks in half and there is a small drogue attached (fired by an aad).
Good point with the mirrors... Maybe wrap the ball in an adhesive foil, so you eleminate that.

I am sure if you have enough time for testing there is a way to make it happen. Just wanted to know from here, because there might be someone here who did something similar. I have to deliver a ballpark calculation to the agency, and so they will get something..

[billvon 3,008]

>but could you attach a drogue to said disco ball to get close to matching fallrate
>between jumpers surrounding said disco ball?

More like "add 30 pounds of weight to match the fallrate."

Also you'd need an internal source of light unless you're going to have a long rod with fins trailing behind it with a spotlight on it. In which case it's not really a discoball.

How about a hollow metal sphere with hundreds of tiny holes in it and a magnesium flare inside?

[davelepka 4]

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I have to deliver a ballpark calculation to the agency, and so they will get something..

Depending on how many jumpers you need around the ball, I can get it done for $20k if you provide the cameras for the jump, $25k if I need to supply my own cameras, and it will take 6 weeks from when the check clears until you have the footage.

[catfishhunter 2]

Sounds reasonable...as long as Dave includes me on the jump seriously this should be an easy (realitivly speaking) jump. I would think making a couple balls and letting them burn in would be cheaper and easier then trying to put an add and a drouge inside one. I think Skydive Arizona would be your best choice for the jump as they throw all kinds of crap out of airplanes there. :)

MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT
Life is Short and we never know how long we are going to have. We must live life to the fullest EVERY DAY. Everything we do should have a greater purpose.

[FreeFallFiend 0]

I dont normally post serious things here but I wanted to chime in.

This is something you really dont want to halfass. Every now and then people will try something "silly" that they dont realize could be very dangerous. The glass on mirror balls shatters very easily. I wouldnt worry about the panels coming off, but small bumps makes the glass shatter and come off in splinters and as dust. It would be very very very easy to begin this splintering process in the aircraft itself and any impact, even minor, in freefall and going to make even more come off. I have spent hours trying to wash tiny glass fragments out of my hands on numerous occasions. Furthermore, you really dont want those panels coming off in freefall with people above or around them.

I'm not saying dont do it, just dont half ass it. Treat it like a raftdive with a lot of people. Get an organizer, have a plan, dive the plan, and make sure everyone has gloves, covered skin, and preferably a full face.

Actually the more i think about this its just a bad idea. The person holding it is gonna beat the shit out of it and there is going to be glass shrapnel everywhere. Not to mention you cant drop it at the end of the dive and you REALLY dont wanna hold onto it through deployment.

Call me a buzzkill, but this seriously needs to be reconsidered.

Fiend

I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark. - Thomas Hobbes.

[theonlyski 8]

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Sounds reasonable...as long as Dave includes me on the jump seriously this should be an easy (realitivly speaking) jump. I would think making a couple balls and letting them burn in would be cheaper and easier then trying to put an add and a drouge inside one. I think Skydive Arizona would be your best choice for the jump as they throw all kinds of crap out of airplanes there. :)

So what the hell else are we suppossed to be using these Argus' for?

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[catfishhunter 2]

I would hope they would make it out of plexi not glass. It really isn't that difficult or dangerous as say a car or a living room or even a poker table With the RIGHT people doing it I think Dave's numbers would be a pretty close estimate and it owuld be bad ass and safe...well as safe as jumping out of an airplane at night with a shiny ball could be

MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT
Life is Short and we never know how long we are going to have. We must live life to the fullest EVERY DAY. Everything we do should have a greater purpose.

[ManagingPrime 0]

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I think Skydive Arizona would be your best choice for the jump as they throw all kinds of crap out of airplanes there. :)

+1

[chuckakers 425]

Maxx, get off the acid. It's burnin' yer brain.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[Maxx 1]

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Maxx, get off the acid. It's burnin' yer brain.

It's not my idea, Chuck!

[Maxx 1]

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I have to deliver a ballpark calculation to the agency, and so they will get something..

Depending on how many jumpers you need around the ball, I can get it done for $20k if you provide the cameras for the jump, $25k if I need to supply my own cameras, and it will take 6 weeks from when the check clears until you have the footage.

Thanks a lot Dave, that helps..

BTW: Is this legal?

[DougH 270]

Yes, as long as you take precautions to avoid endangering anything or anyone on the ground.

FAR's don't say you can't drop stuff from planes PERIOD, they basically say you can't drop stuff in a manner that would endanger people and property on terafirma.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[ChrisL 2]

Am I the only one that thinks staring at a flashy disco ball would screw up your night vision?

__

My mighty steed

[DougH 270]

I doubt it is even going to flash or look flashy enough for a useful video.

A ball with fiberoptics and lighting would be cool. I am picturing and orb that keeps going through different color gradients.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[Airgump 1]

take it from me, it's legal but expensive to play with turbines.

call betsy at Eloy, tell her what you have in mind. in my case, playing with beer kegs in freefall, she assigned greg gasson as my project manager.

i really can't say which was the most fun,,,,,making the jumps or the interface with folks like greg and betsy on a project that has never been done before. greg is awesome figuring fall rates. in our case we added about 60 pounds of sand to the keg in the picture. previous one has same weight but in water, that one damn near killed us on exit when it started to slosh side to side.

here's one of sonic's pics of us getting out of the van, with our secondary camera man Ash White trailing us out of the plane.

[mdrejhon 8]

One of the neat things about discoballs is reflections off walls and floors.

- In the sky, you don't have a wall and floor. So it's not as dazzling.
- Plus, you would REALLY need a bright source of light in order for the disco spots to be visible on surrounding flyers
- Flyers would need to be less than 10 feet from the disco ball, for reflected spots to be clearly visible. You'd invite only very capable nightjump flyers. Otherwise, reflected spots are too dim to see.
- It would be very hard to aim the light source. A shaky light source will mean shaky reflections, that are not noticed, especially if dim.
- It would be very hard to stabilize the disco ball from vibrating/shaking in freefall. A shaky disco ball will mean shaky reflections, that are not noticed, especially if dim.
- In addition, Night vision would be screwed, especially if you could see the bright light sources (especially since you'd need a light source from both sides). One light source might shine into your eyes, making it impossible to see reflected spots on other flyers.

Scientific prediction: Disco ball jump will be a boring bust (with too many risks) for these reasons. :-(

Alternate recommendation: 600 glowsticks off eBay for $49.95 (CLICKY) .... I usually get a batch once a year, mainly for ground/party events. For night jump, you could wear 50 or 100 glowsticks per person, or connect (and superglue) a long string of glowsticks, and use a 10 foot length like a streamer or freefly tube. Reel it up and unreel during freefall. Or tape 100 of them on a hoop, and do a night hoop jump, with a glowing hoop. You could even attach glowing streamers to the top of the hoop too. Make sure you put plenty on everyone, including around the ankles and wrists, as well as on your helmet. Since you can get "massive" numbers of glowsticks for cheap off eBay, the "liberal usage" of glowsticks, is a safer night jump idea, IMHO.

[DougH 270]

CGI baby!

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[ElectricFetus 0]

this sounds like one part of a catastrophic set-up to a 'final destination' movie.

[as cool as it does sound............]

[MikeJD 0]

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CGI baby!

Yeah, I was going to suggest faking it too. Much as I hate seeing obviously fake skydiving footage, the audience probably won't spot it.

I was wondering if you could film this more safely and efficiently in a darkened wind tunnel. That would also allow you to mount and aim your light sources. Of course the problem then becomes that the light reflections would give away the environment - you'd need to be able to fix that in post-production, which might end up making this less practical, not more.

[mdrejhon 8]

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CGI baby!

If this is a footage-only jump, I think it would work well.

Use actual jump footage with some REALLY good jumpers (preferably people who's done it before -- Eloy, Arizonia has been historically popular for skydive stunt filming), but film some of the scenes with cheaper cameras during the daytime with dark jumpsuits. It's harder to wear cameras with big lens for high-quality night jump.

This is probably easier than getting the more-expensive huge-lens fast-shutter cameras necessary for good night footage, and making custom helmets necessary. (using consumer cameras for night jumps, will be too noisy and not studio-quality). Daytime jumps should be OK from some good prosumer cameras on pre-existing camera helmets, if you're sourcing for a HDTV broadcast advertisement...

CGI recommendations:
- Convert the day jumps to night jumps. Equalize/adjust as necessary. The reflected sunlight on dark jumpsuits is converted to a reflected "moonlight" appearance.
- Add beautiful moonlit sky in the background. (ideal if you can record accelerometer data during camera pointing, so that the background mapping can stay in sync).
- Make the mirrorball reflections look like sunrays or laserbeams. Exaggerate the visibility of the light beams. Enhance the mirrorball taken in the daytime footage, when video-editing (CGI) the scenes into night jump, so the mirrorball stays dazzling. Need to tint/monochrome it, to turn daytime reflection look to nighttime reflections. Creatively use the sun as the illumiunation source to exaggerate nighttime moon or lightsource reflections.

Then again, if you got the expensive cameras/helmets necessary for virtually noise-free night jump video, and can't afford the expensive video edit software for all sorts of CGI effects, your film making process might be different...