P A R A C H U T I N G ' S N E W S M A G A Z I N E
Ask the Editor
Contents of Batch 24:
What equipment is required
when getting into video and still photography?
Who's the oldest person to
make a tandem jump in the US?
Where can I get scale plans
to make a small ram-air kite for kite-surfing?
What problems have been
associated with wearing hearing aids while skydiving?
What is the weight limit
for a tandem passenger?
I recently lost my logbook.
Is there a standard way to reconstruct it?
Why is there no falling
sensation when jumping out of an airplane?
Where can I find a packing
manual for an old Para-Innovators Wedge 3-pin bailout
parachute?
Are there any DZ's that
would allow a group of men to do a tandem in the nude?
What is the proper
procedure for dealing with a horseshoe malfunction?
The following questions were submitted by visitors to our Web site and answered by the editor of Skydiving magazine. .
To ask a question of your own, click here.
What equipment is required when getting into video and still photography?
Q. I'm a jumper who is looking into getting into video and still photography, mostly to film AFF, tandem and friends. I have no access to a computer, so downloading would be through a VCR. I would like to be able to dub music onto the tape, but I don't know what equipment is required. I'm not looking for absolute top-of-the-line equipment due to limited funds.
Veteran freefall photographer Robbie Culver wrote this reply:
A. For skydivers that are interested in adding video and/or still photography to their skydiving, there is good news and bad news.
The good news is that there is more compact, reliable, off-the-shelf equipment available today than ever before. Camera helmets are no longer custom modified, and both video and still cameras are readily available that are up to the task.
The bad news is that no matter how you approach the purchase, it is going to cost you a lot of money. How much money depends on how good you want the final product you sell to be. The better the output of the cameras, the more the purchase cost up front. And worse yet - it never ends. It just keeps adding up and there's always more to buy.
Camera helmets are now available in just about every model, style, and color to fit the exact requirements of your skydiving and your cameras. My advice is to purchase the helmet for a specific camera setup, or to purchase the cameras for a specific helmet.
The styles are typically going to be either side-mount or flat-top. Each is safe and useful when assembled and aligned properly.
A quality ring-sight is highly recommended, as is a quality camera suit. (Do you detect a trend yet? Or more accurately, a drain in your finances?)
For video camcorders, the first decision is format. The typical format choices for tandem and AFF are Hi-8, Digital-8, and Mini-DV. Hi-8 is the most affordable choice, and produces an image that is certainly usable for tandem videos. So does Digital-8, which is slightly more expensive. Mini-DV offers the best quality but is probably the costliest choice. Any of these may be dubbed onto a VCR for a customer or friend.
Possibly the most important part of your decision will be based on where you are shooting the video and stills. Different tandem and student concessions offer different choices, requirements, and setups. There are no standards, and typically the photographer is responsible for a major part of the equipment.
The functional requirements of any basic skydiving camcorder include the ability to manually focus the camera, a small, compact size, a reliable battery, and a way to output the camera signal to a VCR. Most, if not all, camcorders fit these basic requirements. There are certainly many ideal options and useful features that are too much to go into in detail here, but can expand the creative potential of even the most basic camera setup.
In a still camera the requirements are similar - probably a 35mm SLR at minimum, with manual focus, automatic film advance, light weight, and a way to trip the camera using a wired remote (not an infrared camera release switch). Most major brands offer excellent choices at varying price ranges.
As with camcorders, the features and capabilities increase with the price. Some of the most rugged and reliable still cameras are the earlier, inexpensive manual focus models with automatic film advance. Nikon, Canon, and Pentax all offer models which can be found used at a fair price. Be sure you purchase the still camera shutter release cord - typically the connectors are unique.
The camera body can be purchased used or new by itself or in a package, but do not be talked into a package you do not need. Your requirements are unique.
The lens is purchased separately. The quality of the lens is what contributes to the quality of the image, so do not skimp on the lens. Typically, a 24mm to 28mm manual focus lens is what is used. Stick with the manufacturer or a well-known off-brand like Vivitar or Sigma.
Dubbing music onto tapes is a subject matter all to itself, but it is safe to say that the easiest method is to simply dub the video signal from the camcorder's video out-jack into the VCR's video-in connector, and run the audio from a small CD player into the audio-in connectors of the VCR for the music. It's crude, but it works. This assumes, of course, you have a quality VCR, blank video tapes, a CD player and CDs.
Who's the oldest person to make a tandem jump in the US?
Q. Who is the oldest person to ever make a tandem jump in the U.S.? I made jumps when I was 90, 91-1/2 and 92-1/2. Facetiously, I plan to jump each year until I am 100. (I had originally intended to jump solo, but my eyesight makes me legally blind so that was impossible.) - Ed Butters, Coldwater, Mich.
A. We've never heard of anyone older than 92 making any kind of parachute jump anywhere. But we'll put the question out to our readers and see what the response is.
Where can I get scale plans to make a small ram-air kite for kite-surfing?
Q. I want to make a small ram-air kite to use for kite-surfing and similar activities. Where can I get scale plans to make one?
A. We don't know of a source of plans. But we know of several jumpers who've made their own templates by measuring a skydiving canopy and reducing the dimensions proportionately. Since rectangular ram-air canopies have many duplicated pieces - all the ribs can be exactly the same, as can many of the upper and lower panels - making your own plans isn't that hard. Construction methods are also fairly easy to decipher by carefully inspecting a skydiving canopy. And since you don't intend to jump your creation, you don't have to worry that much about its exact flying characteristics or its strength.
What problems have been associated with wearing hearing aids while skydiving?
Q. I recently made two tandem jumps and would like to do AFF. Although I wear hearing aids, I took them out for the jumps. Have you heard of any problems with wearing hearing aids while skydiving, providing I kept them from falling out.
A. We checked with another jumper who wears hearing aids full-time. He told us he's worn them jumping, although sometimes they turned themselves off in the aircraft during the climb to altitude - apparently that response helps protect both the wearer and the devices themselves. That created the problem of being in the line-up and not being able to hear the exit count. But as far as experiencing other problems, such as any caused by rapid changes, he reported none. But after jumping with his for a while, he stopped wearing them at the DZ.
What is the weight limit for a tandem passenger?
Q. In the last year I worked hard to drop my weight from 300 pounds to 235 pounds; I'm a 5'7" female. I want to make a tandem jump but I've heard there's a weight limit. Is that true? If it is, what's the limit?
A. Heavier loads put more stress on an inflating parachute. They also increase descent rate and thus make landings harder. For these reasons, tandem mains and reserves have weight limits imposed by the engineers who designed and tested them. The exact limit depends on the particular tandem parachute, but they range from about 450 to 500 pounds for the combined exit weight of the instructor and student (and all gear).
In short, you shouldn't have any problem finding a DZ where you can make a tandem jump.
I recently lost my logbook. Is there a standard way to reconstruct it?
Q. I recently lost my logbook. Is there a standard way to reconstruct it?
A. We put the question to the U.S. Parachute Association, thinking it might have a recommended procedure to follow. But apparently it doesn't, as we received no reply.
If you already have some licenses, ratings and awards, you might ask the issuer (e.g., USPA) for photocopies of the application forms you submitted. The forms will be helpful in establishing your experience and how it was accumulated, time and jump-wise.
The information gleaned from those forms could be used to create a foundation on which you can add the jumps you make from now on. Your focus might be on those jumps that met requirements for licenses and ratings.
Many DZs keep good records of their customers. If you've made many of your jumps at one DZ - your "home" DZ - you should ask manifest for help. It might take only a few keystrokes to print out a list of the jumps you've made there.
If you're a new jumper, your instructor or the teaching staff at your DZ could help you reconstruct a record of your early jumps, including the important endorsements and sign-offs. Many instructors and jumpmasters keep detailed records of the students under their care.
If you've made bunches of jumps with the same group of people - a team or just an informal circle of friends - their logbooks would probably be useful.
Unfortunately, there is no easy solution.
Why is there no falling sensation when jumping out of an airplane?
Q. My girlfriend just went skydiving and her instructor told her there would be no falling sensation like you feel when you fall out of a bed. And indeed, there was no sensation. I would think it would be more intense, not non-existent. Why is that?
A. The instructor was correct: Few skydives elicit that falling sensation, although some usually do: low-speed cutaways, balloon jumps and some BASE jumps. It seems that starting a jump with significant forward or vertical airspeed reduces or eliminates the sensation. The fact that skydivers are intentionally jumping may have something to do with it, too.
Where can I find a packing manual for an old Para-Innovators Wedge 3-pin bailout parachute?
Q. I recently purchased a used Para-Innovators Wedge 3-pin bailout parachute for my daughter to wear while flying gliders. The assembly is old but in excellent shape. It needs to be repacked, however, but my rigger doesn't have any literature on this particular rig. Can you suggest where such information may be found?
A. Contact Deborah Blackmon, 273 Laurie Meadows Drive, #140, San Mateo, CA 94403. Master rigger Blackmon has compiled the most extensive archives of parachute owner's manuals that we know of. She can probably provide you with the right set of instructions.
Are there any DZ's that would allow a group of men to do a tandem in the nude?
Q. I'm organizing a bachelor party, and some of the guys would like to skydive as a group. Can we do it nude? We will be in Los Angeles and there will be about 10 of us. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
A. Most DZs welcome groups of first-jumpers and some offer discounts for groups. Call several in the LA area as far in advance as possible.
Considerations on jumping nude:
1. Landings can sometimes be rough, especially for novices. Driving one's tender parts into the ground and then forcefully dragging them over rocks, debris and whatnot isn't pleasant. And I doubt the groom's wife-to-be would be happy to discover her new husband is damaged goods, so to speak.
2. It's cold at altitude, even in the summer. Ever go skinny-dipping in a cold lake? Remember what happened to your, err, manhood? Do you want the women skydivers in the aircraft to point and giggle at you?
3. Most parachute centers are public facilities with customers and spectators of all ages and backgrounds. Imagine going to a public court and playing nude tennis - it wouldn't go over very well, most likely, even if you were Pete Sampras.
4. We don't know any male instructors who would agree to go jumping with a bunch of nude men. (Unless, of course, they were paid at lot of money or promised airtime on cable TV. In either case, they'd do it in a heartbeat.)
5. Jumpsuits not only provide warmth and protection, they also help with aerodynamic control.
Those are the reasons not to jump nude. But if it still sounds like something your group wants to do, then go for it. Again, we're not sure how cooperative DZs and instructors will be, but it won't hurt to ask (although it might hurt later).
What is the proper procedure for dealing with a horseshoe malfunction?
Q. Recently a jumper had a premature container opening in freefall that resulted in a horseshoe malfunction. He was unable to clear the pilot chute, and he cut away and pulled his reserve. The main remained connected at the pilot chute pouch. The resulting entanglement of main and reserve was fatal.
When I went through student training I was taught during a horseshoe malfunction to first clear the pilot chute, then cut away and pull the reserve. I was also taught that in a horseshoe the pilot chute would be up in the middle of my back and not down near my butt.
A. In this particular incident, the jumper may have tried to extract the main pilot chute. But the pilot chute may have been so bunched up inside its pouch that he couldn't budge it.
There is no single correct response to a horseshoe malfunction.
Jumpers know horseshoe malfunctions are particularly nasty. They come in many varieties. Many don't slow the freefalling jumper down very much. Oftentimes it's difficult to determine exactly what the problem is. Some can be cleared, some can't, meaning the jumper must deploy his reserve into his trailing main.
If a jumper deploys his main at 2,500 feet AGL and it horseshoes, and if his reserve requires 300 feet to open, then he has about 10 seconds to deal with the problem before he must pull his reserve. More than a few jumpers have died trying to clear a horseshoe all the way into the ground.
In other words, dealing with a horseshoe is often an exercise in making the best of a very bad situation, when no particular outcome can be assured.
A few years ago the U.S. Army Parachute Team conducted a series of test drops with dummies in which an AAD fired a ram-air reserve into malfunctions such as a towed pilot chute and a horseshoe. In all cases, the reserve opened.
But the tests weren't quite real life as a dummy doesn't present the same burble, etc., as a human body. Nonetheless, the tests were encouraging - a ram-air reserve fired into a horseshoe is more reliable than many of us thought.
Also, more than a few reserves have fired into trailing tandem drogues with a relatively low incidence of entanglement.
Jumpers should have a plan for dealing with a horseshoe. Keep it simple: spend a couple seconds trying to clear it, and then pull the reserve ripcord, unless you know you still have plenty of altitude (which you might if your main opened prematurely).
I wouldn't cut away my main unless I was convinced it would clear the malfunction, as I want the trailing main to be as short as possible.
Jumpers who wear automatic openers need to factor them into the equation.
One thing we can all do is redouble our efforts to prevent horseshoe malfunctions. For instance:
1. Don't jump with a worn locking loop.
2. Pack your main pilot chute so it can be extracted by pulling on its bridle and its handle.
3. If you jump a camera (or other add-on gear), use a clean setup and invest some solo jumps in learning how to deploy your main, especially if you jump a suit with big wings.
4. Know how to operate any automatic opener you might be wearing, and thoroughly understand its limitations and operating parameters.
5. Be sure your rig's cover flaps, pilot chute pocket, ripcord pockets, etc., tend to stay secure during exit and freefall.
6. Be careful when doing "head-jam" exits and other techniques that are especially prone to disturbing your locking pin(s).
In the case of horseshoes, prevention is certainly worth more than a pound of cure.
PARACHUTING'S
NEWSMAGAZINE
1725
N. Lexington Ave.
DeLand, FL USA 32724.
Telephone:
(904) 736-4793, 9 am to 5 pm Eastern time.
Fax number: (904) 736-9786.
Click here to return to Skydiving's home page.