Skydiving

Some somewhat older shots I took awhile ago back when I was into this stuff.

Helmet-mounted Nikon FA camera, shutter priority with (preset) manual focused wide angle lens.

It always looks fascinating but there's no way I could do that.
Is that last picture a dream you had?

These are excellent. I see your landing was James Bond style.Ha!

I always wondered.Do you use 2 way radios,or use hand signals.Earplugs? @100mph it would be deafening.
This is something I'd like to try...

Great series. I don't think you will be seeing anything like that from me anytime soon.

Sweet! I did a tandem jump 2 years ago and this August I should be doing my first solo jump.

I'm telling you guys though. It's not what you think. If you do it once, you'll be hooked..

Hey folks

My advice is to get out there is just do it... Life's too short not to try crazy ****.

None of these are of me btw, the photographer never gets any (good) shots of himself.

Frog, I was thinking the same thing :)

Rick, more like 120 mph plus. It is a little loud but many people don't let it bother them... I taped over the ear openings on my helmet and was fine. You can't hear/understand anyone speaking in freefall, but you might hear them shout. We pointed a lot. You plan out and (try to) practice on the ground your freefall plans. Only students use radios, for landing, and I think they're one-way (ground instructor-to-student). If/when you TRY it (!) and if you stay with it you can become a freefall photographer. It's a lot of work but as you can see sometimes it's worth it.

Old Timer, But you're missing the fun!

Canuck, Congrats on your Tandem. Good luck on your first solo/AFF. You're right it was addictive. I made 219 jumps (one of those being from a bridge) before moving on to other endeavors... I might try hang gliding this August here in San Diego. As you might know (being from SD), have a really neat glider port overlooking the Pacific here and you fly off the cliffs over a nude beach and cruise up and down the coast. Looks fun, anyways.

GB

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Originally Posted by GB1

...I might try hang gliding this August here in San Diego. As you might know (being from SD), have a really neat glider port overlooking the Pacific here and you fly off the cliffs over a nude beach and cruise up and down the coast. Looks fun, anyways.

GB

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Indeed! I shot this guy while on a hike in Torrey Pines. He noticed my friend and I taking pictures and made an effort to fly back and forth in front of us. Oh and this was my very first roll of B&W film that I processed myself. I believe it was Tri-x 400.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...85-R5-E130.jpg

how did you mount the camera? I really want to do this, and I no doubt will within the next couple of years. the third and last pictures are awesome!

Brent -

I have a photo of my helmet somewhere (the actual helmet I tossed years ago after I got outta skydiving. It was designed for my Nikon FA anyway, which fried). Here's a link to a similar system http://www.mct-carbon.com/projects13.shtml. Note that mine was only for 35mm and this link shows both camera and video. My system was smaller and less bulky.

I'd recommend getting into it, but be forewarned: the quality of your freefall photos is directly proportional to your freefalling skills. That is, good skydiving flying ability == good photos. It takes a number of jumps to get to that level. I've seen some real hotshot photogs that make the rounds... They're more skydiver than photographer.

Also, flying a camera complicates things. It somewhat blocks your vision, makes your helmet heavy as heck (puts some strain on your neck, but you can do exercises to handle that), impacts your flying ability (especially in dives down to formations), and adds a potential snag point for lines. I typically opened a little higher to allow more time to deal with potential issues.

I'm still looking for some old slides where I photographed my own main parachute malfunction. That will freak everyone out .... (it did me)

Gb

Canuck - Good shot. I like the B&W effect. Now I want to try it

GB

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Originally Posted by GB1

...I'm still looking for some old slides where I photographed my own main parachute malfunction. That will freak everyone out .... (it did me)

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Yikes! That kinda freaks me out just thinking about it. That's really the only thing that scares me about skydiving...

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Originally Posted by Canuck935

Yikes! That kinda freaks me out just thinking about it. That's really the only thing that scares me about skydiving...

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Don't sweat it. I had three malfunctions -- two streamers and a total. Not a big deal if you practice your emergency procedures regularly, as I did every time before every jump (but it does get your heart pounding for a couple days).

I'll dig up that picture! They used it in the training classes.

Nice series, GB.

For my 25th birthday, my wife bought me a skydiving trip. We all had 8 hours of training before we took off. They used a hollowed out Cessna with one seat for the pilot, an instructor, and 3 students per flight. As we got into position, the pilot would slow the plane down just beyond stalling speed (about 85mph). With the stall alarm buzzing, the instructor opens the door and makes us jump one at a time. To do the "jump", we had to step out onto the landing gear, hang onto the strut, then let go when we were over the target.

We definitely didn't have a target like your last shot to aim for :p


Then on the way back from our skydiving (2 hour drive), we witnessed a pair on a motorcycle hit and flip over a car which pulled out in front of them. We stopped and helped as best as we could. I don't think the motorcycle driver made it. The female passenger was thrown 40' clear of the wreckage but was conscious. Goes to show how unpredictable life is.

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Originally Posted by Loupey

They used a hollowed out Cessna with one seat for the pilot, an instructor, and 3 students per flight. As we got into position, the pilot would slow the plane down just beyond stalling speed (about 85mph). With the stall alarm buzzing, the instructor opens the door and makes us jump one at a time. To do the "jump", we had to step out onto the landing gear, hang onto the strut, then let go when we were over the target.

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Hey Loupey, the second pic here is a C182 ! :p I've jumped that plane at least 100 times. It's a workhorse, can do anything... I've even climbed over students in there who decided right then and there not to jump and were sorta blocking the door :cryin: (the good news is that, I think, they all went up again later and made their jumps).

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Originally Posted by Loupey

We definitely didn't have a target like your last shot to aim for :p

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Aww, that sucks. There's nothing like a little inspiration on landing. I think this skydiver was trying to scare them a little :D

Too bad about the motorcyclists. Anything can happen on a bad day, though at the same time there's not many people who break their wrists stepping off their bikes, as I did once on a bad landing. You just have to be alert and try to predict. That's an advantage of dangerous sports - gets your adrenaline pumping and really speeds up your reflexes.

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Originally Posted by GB1

... I've even climbed over students in there who decided right then and there not to jump and were sorta blocking the door :cryin:

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Hey, that was almost me :D

My wife and I were on the first flight up that day. My oldest brother was/is a flight instructor so I've been in many planes from early on. But when the instructor opened the door, I knew that wasn't right. So after the first guy when over, I turned to my wife (scheduled to go 2nd) and I said in my best macho voice, "don't worry, honey, if you don't want to do it, you don't have to". Figuring that if she didn't, I wouldn't have to either.

Well, on her turn, she didn't hesitate and out she went. Leaving me alone in the plane with the instructor to think about my options :rolleyes:

Loupey - Well, you survived.

I found a pic of a twisted opening, but I don't think this is the malfunction I was talking about. That one was on the second jump of my new (to me) chute. Anyway, this is a severe line twist that I was luckily able to unwind. I didn't have to use my reserve.

Fun, fun ...

GB

A few more. I get I'll also post some of these in Sports, I heard they're short of skydiving-type shots :out:

Gb

I really love that second shot with all the clouds.. I could stare at it all day/night long..

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Originally Posted by Canuck935

I really love that second shot with all the clouds.. I could stare at it all day/night long..

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Excellent thread GB.Thanks for sharing these. :thumbsup:

My one regret is never having done a parachute jump.

However, I used to paracsend where you get towed up behind a landrover on a very long rope, the only danger was that the rope snapped before you got to 50' where the landing then got really interesting. Once up to full height you released the rope and flew back to the start point.

Nice pics - only got one of me taking off.

Roger

Thanks all. Roger, it is absolutely never too late to make a parachute jump/skydive. I have heard of people being towed while rigged up with a chute, though it's usually done over water, can be a little dangerous over land. If you have that pic of you, post it !! I'm still digging through all my others..
GB

I'd rather dive 140 under the ocean than jump out of a perfectly good airplane. I'll admit to wimedness on the skydiving scene.

Great pictures by the way.

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Originally Posted by MJS

I'd rather dive 140 under the ocean than jump out of a perfectly good airplane. I'll admit to wimedness on the skydiving scene.

Great pictures by the way.

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Haha... So one of my friends made a comment about jumping out of a perfectly good airplane during the ascent.. The instructors response was something to the effect of "You think this is a perfectly good airplane? That's your first mistake.." It was hilarious.

Well here it is - not a good scan from a negative but the scanner wasn't bought for that reason:lol: I found another where things didn't go too well - wind caught the canopy. Will get it scanned once I figure out how the scanner works.

I had a rope break at 30' once came down with a thump and the parachute roll/landing or whatever its called meant that I got up from the fall with nothing hurting, not even a bruise.

This is take off which takes you to 800ft where you release the rope and then you can climb by soaring from that point but not with the chute in the picture. Ex RAF Falcon display team chute.

Roger

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Originally Posted by Canuck935

Haha... So one of my friends made a comment about jumping out of a perfectly good airplane during the ascent.. The instructors response was something to the effect of "You think this is a perfectly good airplane? That's your first mistake.." It was hilarious.

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Your instructor was so right - many of the planes I've jumped were total pieces of C***! I never had to make an emergency exit out of one, but that wasn't uncommon at some drop zones.

I was in a plane that almost collided with a guy coming down under parachute from another planeload. There was some low cloud cover and both our plane and the parachutist were cutting thru it at the same time. The pilot saw him and cut a hard turn just in time. Whew! That was close - there's about a 90% chance that everyone would have died... hard to get out of a C-182 with a canopy (and body?) wrapped around it's prop and nose diving into the ground :(

GB