Check your pins!!!

[namdrib 0]

As most of you know, and most of us do, we are forced to continuously check the pins on our rigs prior to getting on/getting out of the plane. But here is a useful tidbit of information for some of you camera flyers out there.

As you may or may have not read in my previous post, I had somewhat of a malfunction with my Bonehead Optik Illusion camera helmet. For those of you that fly a "Cutaway System" on your camera helmets, CHECK YOUR CUTAWAY PIN REGULARLY!!

I was doing video for the Roaming DZ boogie down in Dublin, GA. Everything was going very smoothly up until the point of jumprun. We were about 2 minutes out when I went to place my very nice/expensive helmet with my very nice/expensive Rebel XT Digital Camera and my very nice/expensive Sony MiniDV video camera attached to it on my head when all of a sudden, my ratcheting strap was in one hand and the helmet was in another.

The pin went one way, the spring went another and the washer, yep, you guessed it, went another direction. NOW, I, along with my trusty tandem master and student were on a PAC so there was little room to go ape shit and panic.

My tandem master informed the pilot that the videoman, that would be me, was having some difficulties with my gear and we would have to do a "Go Around".. (*Thanks Art) Luckily all of the hardware was found and the helmet was rapidly placed back together in a fashion that it would NOT have cutaway if I were to have any problems.

SO, the moral of the story is, I am a dipshit and didn't check ALL of my pins. Mistake noted and learned from, hope you can do the same!!!!

Unknowing attempting to take out all 4 wheeled vehicles remotely close to the landing area!

[skymama 37]

Hey, I was on that plane!

I'm so glad that you got it fixed. I was wondering what you all were going to do if you couldn't.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[Remster 30]

I'm gonna move this thread into Photography. Its very relavant, and I'd hate to see it lost in a flood of fluff!

Remster

[namdrib 0]

Aside from coming closer than I ever have to shitting an Eggroll, not sure what else I was going to do either. I hate drama!

Unknowing attempting to take out all 4 wheeled vehicles remotely close to the landing area!

[The111 1]

One of the first things I noticed about my Optik Illusion was how that pin can move around very easily. I check it on every jump, right before I put the helmet on. It is almost always part of the way out, and rotated at a weird angle, so I push it back in all the way and rotate it the way I want. But I am confident that once I put it on my head it stays pretty stationary... I think most of the movement occurs on the ground when I take the helmet off and swivel the strap around.

Impressive that you were able to collect all the hardware on the plane and put it back together. Even in my room it took me a while to find all the hardware when I did a test cutaway.

Glad you didn't lose your lid.
An extra piece of velcro in the right place could make this pin more secure without being any more difficult to cutaway, IMO. Something to look into maybe.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[namdrib 0]

Quote

Impressive that you were able to collect all the hardware on the plane and put it back together.

Appreciate it, trust me, I was probably the most frantic that I have ever been. The spring actually ended up about an inch away from the door that was about to be opened, call it luck if you will. I was extremely lucky to have located everything seeing as though they all went in a different direction and I was about to shit all over myself in a panic.

Unknowing attempting to take out all 4 wheeled vehicles remotely close to the landing area!