flyer299

I had this camera for about 2 months before I started jumping. The black spot showed after 1 month of use and before my 1st jump with the camera.... I am going to have it sent off to be fixed by Best Buy Service plan. Just not happy about being with out it for 2-3 weeks :(. Maybe I will push them to just swap it out in the store. Tried once already but they said no. Thanks for the nice words about the Video. The footage was from my 1st weekend of Camera flying. Turned out much better than I ever expected. I started to put together my second video, but is sucked compaired to that one, so I just closed the project. Once I get more footage to work with I will make a part II. Blue Skies

Take a look at this video... http://www.veard.net/pictures/skydiving/videos/skydive.wmv At the bottom center I am getting this dark spot under certain lighting conditions. I am thinking it is either the Optics or CCD. I bought the Camera from Best Buy with a Service Plan. I am going to have them send it off to get fixed, or replaced. Just wanted to know if anyone here has had experince with something like this. It Kind Of Sucks.

Yeah, I wasn't about to make it a big deal while in front of the TSA guys. I basically asked for a complete explaination and a chance to say my peace as to why I thought they were save to take on the plane... But when TSA wanted me to check them, I knew that then wasn't the time to make them change their minds... Hope I can do something now... I think Bon has it right, you have to be prepared to go with the flow.

Thanks for the links. I sent an email to Betsy McStay at USPA per the instructions on the USPA site. I will be sure to post the results of this. I hope that I can aid the USPA in making Austin an easier place to travel with a rig.

They were not in a gear bag and I belive that 2 things that would help a lot would be: 1) Gear Bag 2) Rig with out Cypress I didn't have any gear bags that would still be considered carry on, so I opted for the over the shoulder way. Think I will invest in the bags before my next trip.

My wife and I traveled for thanksgiving to see family. Figured we would take the rigs and get some jumps in while in Florida. (Thanks Sebastian, had a great time!). This is our story of the TSA at Austin, Airport. Our rigs have cypres in them. I wanted to carry our rigs on so I could keep an eye on them. We are flying out of Austin, TX to Orlando, FL. Got to TSA, and the 1st guy who helped get the items into the XRay seemed very cool and asked us a little about skydiving. Then the Scanner stoped the belt and called over the supervisor. Well, short story is they told us we had to check the rigs. When I asked why, he responded with: "You have an explosive charge in them" I say, "The USPA has worked with the TSA to declare a cypress as a non-hazardous device that can be carried on a plane". I am figuring that he is going to keep on the explosive charge line, but this is where he takes a left turn. He tells me that since the reserve pilot chute has a spring in it, that it makes it a hazzard. In the case of an emergency, if the reserve activated, it would "pop" out and be in the way of people getting out of the plane. Seeing that this was going no where, I ask for his supervisor. He comes over and basically says the same thing and tells us we have to check the bag so our evil reserve pilot chutes don't cause any problems. So back to the counter we go and we check the bags. The TSA guy at the checked baggage seems to know what they are and how to deal with them. I stand there until they scan the rigs and clear them. No problems, rigs arrive in FL just fine. On the way back, I try to carry the same rigs on the plane again, this time at Orlando, Fl. It took us about 5 extra minutes to get through security. A supervisor is called over. This time I had a card printed by Southwest Airlines that states a Cypress in a rig is allowed. The supervisor takes the card, my cypress card and the rigs to a x-Ray not in use. Does the explosive test thing on them, hands them to us and says, "Have a nice Flight". The whole time the TSA people in Orlando were very freindly, while the folks in Austin were on the rude side. Anyways, I wanted to share with you what happened. I am thinking of contacting the TSA at Austin and showing them some of the documentation that I've seen between the TSA and USPA. Does anyone have any advice or URL's of this documentation? Thanks Ken

Has anyone had experince with the customer service of Sky Tools, the maker of Camera Eye II? The pin on my Camera eye II broke after 5 jumps. I just sent Sky Tools an email, hope they will get back with me. Anyone talked with them before? Are they pretty cool people?

Best thing to do is to email Bone head (look on the website for the email). I wanted a dBox for my TVR-19 (same camera you have). I just emailed and said, give me one of them dBoxes, gave them a credit card number and it arrived. Perfect fit! Only thing I don't know is how they will handle the over seas part of it. But I am sure they can work with you.

I just recently set my MindWarp up with a side Mount dBox for a Sony TVR-19... Turned out very nice... Good luck!

I mounted my TVR-19 on the side using the Bone Head dBox. Jumped it all weekend and it really rocked. Of course I don't have much to compair it to. Being my first camera jumps and all, the footage turned out great, so somthing had to be right. You can look at the footage here: http://www.veard.net/pictures/SkyDiving/Videos/Skydive.wmv

For sure I am going to work very close with him. But he has a much more professional setup than I am going for. I am just looking for advice from anyone who has setup a new Mindwarp with a bone head dBox.

I've got all my peices in and I am ready to start putting things together. I was hoping for a little more documentation with the dBox I bought from Bonehead, but the box looks great. Any advice for how to put it all together? I got a brand new Mindwarp, dBox (made for my camera by bone head), Chin Cup, and Camera Eye II. Question is: Side mount or Top Mount? Camera Flyer at my DZ recommended Top mount, yet he and everyone else has a side mount. Looks like going side mount will be easier to put together. I think the helemt would require more work to top mount because it isn't flat. What do you think?

Looks like you have some Image roll overs that are throwing a JavaScript error when I mouse over the ">" image in the Gallery. It has been there for a while, I just haven't said anything until now.

The Spaceland otter is schedule to come out to Lexington in a few weeks (Sept 13th, 14th). But Yeah, Central Texas really does need more bigger planes...

Not to mention that you can't get a Cypress 1 anymore. It is just the next version of a good product. I just ordered mine and will have it installed in the next week.

I like the pictures, but I am not sure if that is real... Where are her Tats???

If you are really ready to get your own gear, look into used first. Some people say to only buy used for the first time. Unless you are very rich, I think used is a good way to go. Look around in the classified ads for a lightly used set of gear that has the kind of gear you are looking for. The most important thing you need to look at is the Size and Type of your canopy. Get with your instructors before you start looking to see if you should be looking at 150, 170, 210, etc. You should be aiming for 1.0ish wing loading. But do not take any advice as to what size or kind you should get from use Internet folks. Your instructors need to be apart of that. Once you know what you are looking for, look around and stick to the size you are looking for. Avoid the temptation of, "I was told I should get a 170, but there is a great deal on this 150." I bought a used Infinity Container and put a new Spectre in it, and love the setup. I of course think Infinity is the best way to go, but then it again it is what I own. There are a lot of other good things out there.

At first my wife was kind of supportive. She would let me go jump, but I could always hear her voice in the back of my head, telling me that she didn't want me to jump. Just when it was starting to become a problem... She got hooked on sky diving. Ever since then I've had to try being supportive of her (more like my wallet). But I am so happy to have her jumping with me, really took it to the next level for me.

I want to know what you experinced guys think. What kind of experince should a Sky Diver have before he straps a Camera to his head? I know there are many different types of camera flying, so here is what I am talking about. I want to start flying with a Camera, but not being a Camera guy. I want to get a very low profile and light camera and just bring it a long with me and do the same old jumps. I am not interested in shooting other people, formations or Tandems, but just to have a record of my jump on video. I am just now thinking of this, but it doesn't mean I am running out to buy the Camera or anything. I want to get some feed back on if it is somthing I can start thinking about soon, or should I wait another 100-200 jumps? I've got 55 jumps so far in the last 6 months. Thanks Guys.

I am sending my Infinity back next week to get the harness extended a few inches. I was given a quote of $100 (plus shipping) by the Infinity guys. They will take care of you. I've heard nothing but great things about them. Plus if you are b uying used, when you send it back, they can fix any little dings or worn parts.

I do think Skydiving is a risk, but it is a risk that I feel I can manage to an acceptable level. I do everything in my power to make a safe jump each time. I also feel that the general public needs to look at driving in the same way. Most drivers just go and drive with out thinking. If drivers spent 1/2 the engergy that skydivers do in keeping save, we would loose a lot less people on the roads each year.

I've put about 20 jumps on my Infinity and really love it. I can't say anything bad about it. It is a great priced container that IMO is just as good as rigs that cost a lot more money. I really like the way they look...

I got an audible about 12 jumps ago. Once I forgot to take my normal Altimeter with me. I did the jump and decided to test my Internal Clock. I did a straight Belly to earth (Relaxation dive) and tried to guess the beeps on my audible. I called each beep 1-2 seconds before they went off (5,000 and 3,500). I might have cheated a little bit cause I knew the cloud base was at 3,500 that day (looking at someone else altimeter on the way up). But I was impressed with my Primary Altitude awarness device (my brain). The thing in my helmet and on my wrist is a good back up device.

I am a low time jumper myself so I am basically repeating what some more experinced guys have told me. From the advice I have gotten it is best to take a canopy and fly the hell out of it. Learn everything you can about flying it before you try something else. It takes more than a 100 jumps to do that. My first Canopy is a Spectre 170, and I love the hell out of it. I've flown a Sabre 2 210 and was also impressed. My plan is to put 300-400 jumps on my spectre before I start looking around. Who knows I might even keep it longer than that.

I jump with those as well. I like them a lot of sunny days. Mine are very tinted. Somtimes when it isn't all that sunny out, I borrow a pair of clear ones. I do like the fact that these have never fogged on me.