marcin

On my Javelin, the riser covers, main flap and once even the reserve flap came open (that was at a very high speed headdown with sharp speed and body position changes), not mentioning the harness sliping off my shoulder (rig was custom made, chest strap tightly fasten) - this actually I noticed on most containers in headdown. Tear Drop (and particularly Next) have bulletproof covers everywhere. Next's main cover is IMO slightly better, cus it bends 180 degrees backwards if you know what I mean, TD's main cover only slips under the upper flap. The geometry of harness is such (narrower on the top of shoulders) that I can leave the chest strap completely loose and the harness stays on my shoulders. Protection of bridle is adequate (similar to new Javelin). Its also very comfortable. Some concerns I have heard related to reserve pop top. Apparently on (older?) Tear Drops the metal top was very heavy and could affect proper launch of pilot chute. One thing I dislike about the Next is that (as in Vector) the pilot chute is completely covered by flaps and the container is quite narrow in the upper part. I think it requires a strong spring and thight loop to perform at its best. marcin

Thanks! I saw somebody's post the other day about how weak the South african currency was (worth half it used to be against USD). Indeed you can get Tempos and Heatwaves for ridiculous prices, so since my girlfriend is changing rigs we decided to go for it. And then we also found out that SA-made Tear Drops are being sold for something like an equivalent of 650 USD. We both jump Next (I switched from Javelin that is IMO unsuitable for really aggressive freeflying) and it is a very good container. Since the only difference b/w Next and TD is the pop top, it appears to be a very good deal to swith a 2 year old Next for brand new TD. Provided they are the same quality as the UK-made ones... marcin

I saw Tear Drop containers being offered for sale and supposedly made in SA. I thought TS of UK is making Tear Drops (FS's?). Would that be an older design of TD? Do you know where I can access info about south african Tear Drops? Thanks m.

Only demod Paratec Speed reserve packed as main. I was told by the manufacturer that Super7 is the same design only ZP. With a new F111 they probably fly the same. Speed at 1.8 opened OK, turned sharp and was quite fast. Landing was stand up, survivable (this was not a perfect loading for a reserve). All in all felt similarl to Spectre in flight, but on landing I went pretty much straight down (again, loading...etc) m.

Question is probably, will it have the bottom end you're looking for with a non-agressive approach (since you dont hook that hard if I understood correctly). I cant answer that since I havent jumped a VE (Velocity could) , but when I load a canopy (1.8.-2.25) I dont really enjoy straight ins. Also it amuses me when people talk about "stand up" landings in conjunction with HP canopies. "Stand up" like: following a swoop, skillfully stopping the horizontal movement before touching down and then stepping down with grace in no wind, or "stand up" as "not_falling_on_my_face."? If its the latter, I wouldnt be bragging about it...thats VERY BASIC (not a bonus ticket to HP world). Most HP pilots dont usually "stand up" the landings anyway, they skim the ground and perhaps run out the last few steps or come to the sliding stop (matter of technique really) from my experience. Also from my experience most skydivers who set up their minds cannot be convinced about unappropriateness of their gear choice. Maybe that is why we still have such a progress in this sport (and so many dead and crippled bodies to carry away from the DZ's) m.

click, click, click... miracle! I does work. How sad after few months there's still so much to discover. Wonder how many embedded things are there that could make my life easier? Thanks! m.

Blacking the tape - useful tip, thx. I assume it does not afect the reliability/quality of the second recording. If I have, say, a 100 1 minute clips in the timeline I can only move one clip until it hits the next one, or I have to highlight the entire 100 and move in one block if I need more space. I could be me, not Ulead though (I still cant figure out everything and the manual is not always useful). I thought about giving Premiere a shot but was told that it has fewer options then Ulead (which I can use with Boris FX - plenty of effects). m.

Thanks a lot guys. I guess there is no easy way around it. I tried marking in/out (batch processing), supported by my Sony PC and Ulead, but for some reason this did not work. I was told that leaving empty space on tape b/w clips results in disrupted timecode, thats why. I thought about creating master file, but was scared of double work (I may start doing it with my new footage). First, scan say 10 hours of footage, then save to master tape the selected clips, then capture, then start selecting on a frame basis - I figured it would take several days. Instead I thought of rather capturing selected clips to computer, but then I'll have to do it in approx. 1 minute increments (jump lenght) and end up with like 100-200 files. Thats difficult to push around in the timeline, and if its not in the timeline its difficult to quickview, move etc. I wanna make a fast paced film, so will only use a few seconds of each jump. "losing a project mid way is a real pisser...." - know what you mean, happened to me before, now have back up procedures in place, however I simply back up several versions of project template to a different HD. Its a good idea with the table, detailing main features of each jump. In Excel I could then sort the clips based on their nature or certain selected attributes and easier locate several clips of similar type to select from. Thanks Marcin

I know it may sound like a stupid question, but I'd rather ask for others' experience than waste time reinwenting the wheel. Basically, I have hours of skydiving footage to process (in Ulead Pro) to come up with a 7-10 minute clip. With my previous projects I realised that the most time consuming part is going through the film and selecting these particular few frames that have the best camera angle, light etc. Now I have even more video to digest from so many jumps, including 2-3 camera footage from same jumps etc. Do you have some system you use to labeling jumps, capturing them etc? So far I was not capturing jump by jump, but in 10 minute portions, then imported to Ulead and cut out the obviously unnnecessary parts, then worked with the rest further trimming it. Even with 5-6 hours of video its too easy to get lost, forget about certain parts and when I have a portion of video synchronized to the music I suddenly discover a better clip or some additional stuff I would like to insert and then have to redo the whole thing again. Summarising, i dont think I am as efficient as could be. Any description of your own "creation process" starting from taking shots and capturing them would be very useful to me. Thanks m.

I agree with Jimbo, though I do not think about it as "who's responsibility is it" - if you exceed the maximum recommended limit technically and legally you are. But I think it really narrows my choice of reserve canopies when I hear that Raven 181 which max. recommended weight is 222 lbs., blows up at a loading of 230-something lbs, while it should withstand its max. limit under C23-d, since it is certified under TSO. Jumper's fault... If I look at 2 comparable size reserves: PD 126 - recommended weight for expert 176 lbs., max weight 254 lbs Raven 135 - (no recommended weight?) absolute max.weight 182 lbs., then if I jump one loading it at 200 lbs. and it blows up, Precision would be "covered", and I am to blame. Most definitely - I chose the weaker design for the same money and pack volume. And while blaming jumpers for the incident/accident as resulting from minor (10-15%) overloading above RECOMMENDED (after 3 previous Raven failures PA calls it now abs.max.?) weight limit (way below the TSO limit) may be a valid argument, I think such an incident rather proves that some designs are better than others. Also, accepting that some designs may be worse than others I still would not feel safe under even "properly" loaded canopy that does not seem to have a 10-15% safety margin - what if I happen to fall faster than normal, open in different body position than normal in the air less dense than normally? m.

"If you are loading a reserve over the manufacturer's maximum suspended weight..." I meant loading it over the recommended maximum weight as placarded, of course far below the maximum (TSO-d) loadability. If I weight 185 pounds and a reserve recommended for 170 pound jumper blows up above me, IMO this is too little of a safety margin and I would consider such a canopy construction unsafe. m.

Did jump with a ball once (first mistake). The area around DZ was agricultural land, no people, so seemed safe. I said to myself that I wont release the ball if I am above houses etc. Jumped out and realised that I am above house. Tracked like hell for 20 seconds (according to video) and commited the second mistake i.e. released the ball when felt safe. By then had very little working time. Staying very close to the ball was easy, even though I realised it was too heavy for my jumpsuit (I wore a "slow" one, with big, heavy sleeves). To stay on level with the ball I had to keep my arms close to the body. Well, I tried to reach for it but it required an extra effort at that speed, and everything was just a struggle to remain fast enough. Whatever, when I touched the ball it just slipped away, like it was some bloody fish. Repeated the manouver again with the same result. Then the Dytter remainded me of the altitude. One last desperate effort to fly under the ball and catch it with both hands against my stomach... the ball just slipped away. Open, watch the ball fall to the ground and impact against the sand, looking like some small bomb. Realising that somebody could actually be walking down there, even if very unlikely. Few lessons learned: ball should be weighted within your flying speed limits (also the lenght of the tail matters a lot); the difficult part is catching the unsuspended ball with zero horizontal friction against the air - not staying with it; it is not enough to just think you can make it. Wont't jump ball again unless above a see or with a BM (have to find one in Europe) After this I came with an idea how to practice catching the ball. Just get a tennis ball, attach a pull up cord to it, have a friend sit or stand up fly with it, holding it by the end of a longer cord and practice catching the floating ball. m.

I know that discussion on overloading reserves was on a few times. Somebody had a good point once. A 120 and a 170 sqf. reserves seem to have the same type of reinforcement, material, lines etc. There is actually less material being loaded with the same number of lines and attachments, so it should be more resistant to shock. I have not seen anybody prove that smaller canopies of same design usually open harder than larger ones. What makes the larger canopy stronger? Do you think that overloading a reserve by say a 15 pounds should be an acceptable excuse for reserve failure (it was brought up re previous Raven blow ups)? I'd say such a reserve is crap, although the manufacturer may be legally protected in this case. I try not to overload mine too much (even though the manufacturer told me I easily could) to prevent violent reaction in case of a line twist, I am less concerned with the landing with a F111, which for me is easier in tight conditions (I can sink it in, as with accuracy canopies). I tested a 120, had a stand up landing in perfect conditions and bought a 135 @ 1.6 (definitely not for beginners!) m.

"He forgot to stow the brakes.... the jumper black out due to the hard opening.." This is interesting as I have once heard an advice to leave the breaks unstowed on an FX to tame the openings. Maybe it was only a bad joke.. m.

Hi there I use Ulead MediaPro 6.0. When finished with the edited clip I save it as an *.avi and export to DV tape. However I recently finished an over 1 hour film (till now only made smaller clips)and could only save a 15 minute clip at once (avi size limitation I guess) I know that it is possible to save "preview areas" only, i.e smaller chunks of a bigger project as separate avi files. How do I export them to the tape as a one single clip so the resulting film is seamless? Thanks Marcin

I normally fly Atair Impulse 120 (basically the European equivalent of Cobalt, although Dan elaborated earlier on some differences) loaded at 1.8-1.9 (if I wear lead). Straight in approach is newer a problem, but I very rearly do one. I borrowed it to a friend who newer hooks and flies a 140 BT Pro. He was amased with the ease of handling and the flaring power and wants to buy one. When we flew next to each other (we weight the same) in brakes from long spot my glide was flatter but also horizontally faster, so he was staying behind and below. I recently put a few jumps on Impulse 95 at 2.2. Similarly stable, faster and surfs like 30 percent longer then a 120. From the second jump I already felt confident with it, although remained careful - at this loading, and at very much lighter loading too- it can easily kill you. I newer flew a canopy smaller then 105-110 before that. With this 95 I was filming two guys under 135 and 120 canopies (lighter then me) touching end cells and performing intentional simultanous cut away. I was right behind them everybody in deep brakes and I had no problem at all to stay up with them. I guess it proves that the glide is indeed excellent (it also made for a great video!). I will try an 85 at 2.5 just to see what it can do at that loading, although I do not expect it to be that efficient. marcin

I might be wrong, but had similar problem on my PC first (1200 processor with 512 RAM) with Pyro DV card and Ulead . Turned out to be a very high dropout rate (like 30% according to the indicator). When playing back the program freezes the last frame before the dropout and after a while continues. My friend fixed it and said that the DMA (direct memory access) has to be enabled and you can do it when configuring your Windows (or whatever you use). O% dropouts since then. He also changed my Win98 to WinMe, but said this had no impact. M.

Thanks for feedback, guys. I do not shoot for living but have the camera on the most of my jumps. I do some digital editing and was wondering if tape choice affects quality of colors etc. I am not so concerned with durability as I normally do not reuse tapes (maybe will reconsider if they pile up too much on me:) ). I use Sony PC, after a short period of using JVC (bad choice). I find it superior to other brands. Pity they do not make the 3 CCD model in a compact version yet (TRV is too big for my taste). Never had dropouts on any tapes, except when kicked in the head. I thought it was rather a camera problem,then tape related (?). Also, I have recently started to record in LP (yeah, too many tapes..). Was told that this does not reduce the picture quality and so far have not noticed any difference. Do you record in SP or LP? thanks m.

Hi everybody I was wondering if any of you experienced any difference in quality of images between various types and brands of DV tapes. I curently use Sony Premium and Excellence and started experimenting with TDK DVM tapes, but there are many others and prices differ significantly (not using tapes with memory chips which are even more expensive and I am not sure are worth the extra $). So do you think there would be visible image quality difference and which are your preferred brands? Thanks m.

Riggerrob The TZX and Swift are made in small city (Szekesfehervar) about 50 miles from where I live. They've been manufactured here for at least 5 years (more precisely the factory moved here from another even smaller city called Borgond like 2 years ago). There aren't to many small Hindu boys in the factory, instead a lot of elderly ladies, who used to sew courtains and clothes in their previous lives. I've been to that factory several times. As far as quality of parachutes goes, I have not heard any complaints (there are a few TZX's flying here and even more Swifts, but much more American and French gear) . I can imagine the origin of these parachutes is not widely advertised due to perhaps marketing reasons (?). Also i think not all TZX's and Swifts sold in US are made in Hungary, but a large quantity is. Question is do they all have the label saying "Made in USA"? Hope I have not hurt anybody's patriotic feelings or revealed industrial secrets:). m.

Dan Stane would only sell me Impulse and indeed he explained the difference in the loadability etc. I actually visited Atair factory and was impressed by his knowledge (great personality as well!) and commitment to quality. Anyway my Impulse is just great, I wish I could at least try a Cobalt, but apparently I would need to do it through USA (you), so... I may switch to 105 or 95 at some point but I guess even at that loading it wont make a huge difference (Impulse vs. Cobalt)for a "regular" jumper like me. m.

If you search the forum for "turbo" I posted in April some info with my personal (limited) experience. I'd say with all the canopies on the market you'd be better of with something else, unless its a very good deal (PISA canopies should also be a good deal and are far better). I used Swift plus once, the opening was perfect, flying and landing also great, many people used it as a main. What many people dont know, they are actually made in Hungary (no its not an African country:) ) m

KAP 3 or PPKU are Russian made AAD, that open the main parachute. Entirely mechanical, a spring and a membran. They are calibrated with a screwdriver (or a 5 cents coin), require substantial strenght to pull up (the spring that pulls out the pin), you actually have to struggle with it before every jump, some girls were not strong enough to be able to pull it up. I had to jump with it on my first 70 or so round and square canopy jumps. Activation altitude accuracy is within 900 feets sometimes, however it saved some lives. As far as I was told they use them in Australia to fulfill the requirement to jump with AAD for students. I would strongly discourage anyone from using them, unless you doubt your ability to open the main in time and have enough knowledge of meteorology (calibrating is atmospheric pressure sensitive as far as I remember) m

The 4way team from our DZ just got their new Atom Legend containers and Ninja! 85-s (nice neon orange with dark blue stripes). I've only seen a few landings this weekend. The guys said that they fly well in brakes (long spot), there was one hard opening (packing- nose not pushed in), one slight line twist that untwisted itself, but he said he started to feel heavy g-forces right away. They haven't dialed them in, so landings were from easy 90 degree turns. Ninja at this wing loading (2.2-2.3) flies very fast, dives very steep and requires toggle input to plain out. Surfs were relatively long, but again to early to say how it compares to say FX. 85 packs like a Springo 120 (something in between Stiletto 107 and 120). BTW (slightly off the subject) - I fly Impulse 120 (@1.8), switched from Stiletto a month or so ago. This is the European name for Cobalt (although there are some slight difference apparently, that do not affect the flying characteristics). I am really extremally pleased with it, put about 40 jumps so far. Flare is amazing and its so easy to pilot. Had some problems with the openings (3 line twists in the first 9 jumps - all flew straight and very stable). I was packing it as my Stiletto and the opening was so slow that the weigh shift caused it to twist - I dont look up when flying with camera and just didnt feel anything during the first 2-3 seconds it was so slow. A guy with Alpha showed me how he packs. I now do not quarter or pull the slider but just leave it in the back completely, almost don't roll the tail and had no problems since. It sits me up and sniwels, but without shaking and when I get bored and grab the risers the sliders comes down. With reaching up I can actually speed up the deployment notably. Its ability to fly at low speeds is very remarkable, it still keeps me up in the air even at the very end of the swoop, when I almost stop, in no-wind. Front riser pressure managable, but after 360 degrees its impossible to keep, unless I pull the other riser as well. The fabrick feels almost like paper, its thick, so I guess packs a bit bulkier then french canopies, but on the other hand its very easy to handle so you can squeezee al the air out of it and it wont move around. m.

"They replaced mine as well. L&B kick ass!" Larsen&Brusgaard replaced mine when I broke the LCD display in freefall (on my 8th jump with it), free of charge. They really have excellent customer service and the product couldnt be better. mc