Perris Thai Practice Dives

[billvon 3,079]

This weekend, Perris Valley hosted World Team practice dives for some Thai skydivers who don't get the opportunity to do very many big-ways. Five Thai skydivers (see picture below) flew over for the week, and spent the time doing 10-38 ways with BJ Worth, Larry Henderson, Roger Ponce and a bunch of other World Team members and local Perris jumpers.

It was also a chance to talk about how the planning for the 400-way is going. I got a chance to use a radio system, similar to the one that will be used in Thailand. It worked well in the aircraft; at one point two people in the door of the trail plane had radios, and our cameraman climbed out prematurely. Since we had four backups (the wave, the green light, and two radios) no one else climbed out, and there was no problem. They didn't work so well in freefall. It may take some practice to get used to understanding commands through the wind noise.

The radio plan is currently that one person in each aircraft will have a transmitter/receiver, and several people in each aircraft (primarily on the tailgate) will have receive only systems. Craig Girard will have a helmet with a heads-up display (an Alti-2 Titan system) and a transceiver that he will use to key in waves of jumpers. He will be a busy guy.

Speaking of which, I got a chance to play with an Alti-2 Titan system (see picture below.) A 'typical' system as used at World Team will have three or four components, all linked by Bluetooth:

-The heads up display itself, attached to the helmet with Velcro
-A PDA that can do data logging
-An altimeter sensor module, about the size of a small paperback book
-A GPS module, mounted on the helmet as well (not sure if they're using that one)

I tried one on the ground, and the display appears as a red eight-character display with a bargraph above it and a few arrows around the edges. Which seems like enough space to display altitude and speed (i.e. '25.3 128' would take up most of the display) but that's about it.

There was some discussion about the practice dives. They will go in two stages - first some 100ish ways, then some 220ish ways. Some plans are shown below. The idea is that all practice dives will have people in their 'final' positions both in the formation and in the aircraft as much as possible. The alpha team will provide a base for some of the wacker practices.

The idea that a 220 way is just a warmup dive is eerie to me. When I started skydiving, the 200 way was still just a dream.

[billvon 3,079]

Here are a few pictures of the dives themselves:

[billvon 3,079]

A few more pictures from the bellycam:

[bigbearfng 18]

And I have to throw in a big thank you to them for inviting my rookie ass to jump with them all day on Tues!!!! It really made my day....OK, it made my week!!

[quade 4]

That camera flyer off the trail plane is AWESOME!

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[ltdiver 3]

Quote

That camera flyer off the trail plane is AWESOME!

Why yes, yes he is!
Nice to see us cameraflyers getting some of the 'limelight' for a change!

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[Eule 0]

Quote

They didn't work so well in freefall. It may take some practice to
get used to understanding commands through the wind noise.

I wonder if it would help to compress or pre-emphasize the transmit
audio in some way - maybe boost up the higher frequencies to compete
better with the wind noise. Is there any chance of interposing some
kind of amplifier between the mic and the transmitter?

Quote

Speaking of which, I got a chance to play with an Alti-2 Titan
system (see picture below.) A 'typical' system as used at World Team
will have three or four components, all linked by Bluetooth:

Has anybody tried using several of these systems on the ground in
close proximity to each other? I am not that familiar with how
Bluetooth works, but I wonder about the possibility of interference.
I know it's meant to be a relatively short-range link, and in a tight
formation, it probably doesn't really matter if Bill's HUD is showing
the data from Joe's altimeter, because Joe's and Bill's altimeters
should both be outputting very similar altitude and speed data.
I wonder more about a HUD "hearing" signals from more than one
altimeter and "giving up" and refusing to display anything. I'm sure
this has been somewhat addressed in the Bluetooth spec, but most
of the current Bluetooth applications I know about don't involve
multiple TX-RX pairs in close proximity.

Interference with the two-way voice radios might also be a concern.
I am thinking either of the Bluetooth stuff putting trash into the
RX-only radio, or the TX causing the Bluetooth receievers to go
crazy.

On the other hand, maybe I worry too much. :)

Eule

PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

[billvon 3,079]

> That camera flyer off the trail plane is AWESOME!

Heck, he's just about the only one that's stable in that picture. Of course, he kept wanting to get out way too early . . .

[Merkur 1]

[reply
Nice to see us cameraflyers getting some of the 'limelight' for a change!
ltdiver

[bob.dino 1]

Bluetooth is designed with all those issues in mind. It really wouldn't be effective as a short-range data protocol for mobile devices if your wireless headset stopped working when you got close to anyone else...

[flyangel2 2]

Is that Doctor Dick in picture "dive8"?

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[ltdiver 3]

Quote

> That camera flyer off the trail plane is AWESOME!

Heck, he's just about the only one that's stable in that picture.

Psst....it's the wings....

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[quade 4]

Quote

Quote

> That camera flyer off the trail plane is AWESOME!

Heck, he's just about the only one that's stable in that picture.

Psst....it's the wings....

ltdiver

Lori! That's simply rediculous and you know it!

It's the inertia (of which I have massive amounts).

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[JohnRich 4]

This is new to me: I've heard of "belly" flying, "head down" flying, and "sit" flying. But never before have I heard of "thigh" flying.

What body part will they think of next?

[ltdiver 3]

Quote

Lori! That's simply rediculous and you know it!

It's the inertia (of which I have massive amounts).

Then I guess it's a hopeless cause for me....

"Lightdiver"

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon