Kjeld

"Even so, pilots with fast-climbing aircraft are getting DCS (decompression sickness) from climbing to even 20,000 feet rapidly." Can you give the references about this claim? DAN (Divers Alert Network) has done extensive research to the development of DCS during flying and their findings are not in line with your claim of developing DCS. The following scientific articles (also Air Force research) from an earlier date conclude that DCS is not a significant risk below 21.000ft. DCS should NOT be confused with hypoxia as is common. Files DS, Webb JT, Pilmanis AA. Depressurization in military aircraft: rates, rapidity, and health effects for 1055 incidents. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2005 Jun;76(6):523-9. Haske TL, Pilmanis AA. Decompression sickness latency as a function of altitude to 25,000 feet. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2002 Nov;73(11):1059-62.

Thank god there are more experienced camerapeople with common sense. I would like to add 1 more thing: We are focusing on surviving camerajumps. But hey Ockers, focus on the accidents that students have. Once you can say to yourself that you are not going to make particular student mistakes then you are ready to start with camerajumping. Can you? When I had about 250 jumps I asked one of my highly experienced friends at what amount of experience skydiving becomes safe. He replied to me that it never will. At the time I thought that was an odd answer, but when I had 500 jumps I looked back and realized that I knew almost nothing at the time. I came to the same conclusions at 1000 jumps when I compared that to 500 jumps. And it continues and continues. You will always be a student, but having a solid base of student experience helps a lot discovering this without leaving the process to early. To cut it short: The experienced people who warn you are not afraid of losing their job. Most of them have proven themselves already. Working in a environment with competition improves everybody's work and a true cameraman loves nice work anyway, even if it's not his own. They also love the sky, but they hate it when somebody dies of stupidity that could have been prevented. So listen to these folks for your own good.

If you are opening your main at 2300' and 1500' with rental gear and your level of experience and blaiming a malfunction on your main to your rigger I think you are not ready to jump camera. There is a bit more of distraction then, so altitudeawareness is critical. "Inadequate experience to select a hard deck" come on dude, 1500' is #%!# low and even lower than the USPA rules. By the way, did you know that an FXC starts to get nervous 1500ft above activation altitude? Be careful, otherwise we will hear of you again...

Is it just me or do other camerapeople also think that a lot of new skydivers want to strap a camerahelmet on their heads pretty quick? I am very well aware of the fact that some have more talent than others, but experience with situations in the air is a different experience than flying skills. I started camerawork with 430 jumps and sold the videos right from the beginning, but I have been in situations where I had 800 or so camerajumps and needed all the experience I had to bring the jump to a good end. How will new skydivers with 1 or 2 years in the sport and 200 jumps respond to serious shit? As far as I know you have courses for everything, but a serious camera training course before you start doing it, I have never heard of it.... I think a lot of guys want to start too early. Who agrees and who doesn't?

Hi Jezz, First of all don't fly above a 4-way or any formation at all for extended periods of time. Just a short move over a formation is ok but imagine what happens when you are above it and during a block move of the 4-way a reserve opens accidentilly....I promise you if you continue to do so it is a matter of time. When you fly above the 4-way you also have problems with the burble as you already found out. Flying IN a burble is pretty hard, so stay on the edge. Also your footage looks more solid if you stay out of it. A lot of cameramen use wide-angle lenses so they can be closer to the formation (1.5 to 4 meters). This way it's easier to anticipate and follow movements of the formation, especially changes in fallrate. It also helps for getting more solid footage. The distance depends on the lens you use. Ring sights are definitely a snagg point on your helmet, but if it is realistic? When you obey the rules and are aware of the constraints of camerawork I don't think you should worry too much about it, but if you have plans to open a reserve while on your back or video the cutaway of a malfunction and more of those things, yes, then it can be a very real danger. A camerajump isn't just another jump, you add a lot of potential shit to your body and increase the mental workload of a skydive a lot. So treat a camerajump like something special and think through all the potential hazards. Maybe you might have to change some procedures you were used to, but don't start to invent the wheel again. Be carefull with trying, go find and ask an experienced cameraman on your DZ. 200 something jumps is not so much of an experience in my opinion. Make sure you are a good flyer before you start doing camerawork, don't try to become a good skydiver by doing videowork. The fact that "they look miles away" already shows that you should maybe improve your flying skills first. Kjeld

A few years ago we had some asshole staticline students. Since you see them a bit longer than tandempassengers the annoyance can only be bigger. They were a bunch of very fat (115+ kg) US Marine Corps Sergeants, to old and fat to be operational anyway and in my opinion a disgrace for their unit. Anyway we have a mixed team of instructors at our DZ: males and females. They had a male instructor, but they refused to accept a female jumpmaster for their first jumps. They felt that females were by far inferior, although this jumpmaster had over 2000 jumps and dropped hundreds of loads out of 14+ person aircraft. At the end it was solved with a smile by one of the senior instructors. He dressed himself in a nice pink legging and some other shit and everybody had a great laugh, but those students got the picture.

What Cessna are we talking about? A 182, a 206 or a 208? There is quite a bit of difference between the several types let alone dropzone specific modifications.

I have a Bonehead Flattop Pro and Manfrotto quickreleases. These quickreleases don't really look elegant, but provide a big surface area, so the only real attachment to my cameras are just the screws of the quick release. PC-110 and Canon EOS300. Works well for already a 1000 jumps and had some hard openings as well.