Beginning Camera Flying

By Paul Quade

First and foremost, you should be at least a pretty competent skydiver before strapping a camera on your head. I don't mean that you need to know how to crank 20 points, but you should at least be able to fly your body to anywhere in a formation and HOLD IT without side-sliding or back-sliding around the sky. If you can't control your body in flight, then ---YOU--- are the biggest danger.

You'll also want to be a fairly competent parachutist. If you can't manage consistent, accurate, stand-up landings in no wind conditions, then you sure as heck shouldn't be putting extra gear on your head to snap your neck when you biff in.

I would recommend you hold a USPA C license or your country's equivalent.

Basics aside, the danger probably depends on what type of camera flying you're doing. The obvious increased dangers of line snags, neck injuries from hard openings and gear being misrouted through camera suits . . . stuff like that can probably happen to anyone flying camera.

If you're flying camera for RW, (about the only kind I do so it's the only one I'll address), you need to be really aware of other peoples gear and CONSTANTLY on the lookout for someone in the formation possibly having a premature deployment. Anything flapping around; a loose pin cover, a hacky and especially something hard to see like a piece of bridle means you must immediately get off the top of the formation and off to the side where it's safer. Perfect competition video is shot from directly over the center of the formation with you pretty deep in the burble. Still judgeable video, but safer if there's a question of a premature deployment, can be shot with your camera just outside the vertical limits of the formation -- maybe 45 degrees off-axis -- more than that and it may not show everything it needs to.

If you're shooting a new team, you WILL whack into them on exit a few times before getting your timing down. This is expected -- just down make a habit of it.

TIP -- if you think you're going to whack into your team, do NOT put your arms out toward them to block the hit. Just get bigger, you -may- not hit them at all and if you do hit them it will be at your slowest speed. Fight for it and don't give up!

Watch people getting on the plane and check their gear, watch them do their pin checks. When you climb out of the step, look at people's rigs and see if something bad is about to happen. If they have a reserve deployment in the door and you're on the camera step, it's not going to be pretty. Watch how the newbies are taking harness grips at the mock-up. A chest strap is ok -- a grip by a reserve handle might be your death -- so get them to correct that right then and there.

Try to keep aware of where the people that "went low" actually went.

Be certain everyone on the formation you're shooting understands what's supposed to happen in the dive flow -- especially at breakoff. Make certain they understand that YOU have the center and THEY track away hard. Make sure they understand that THEY shouldn't open above a certain altitude.

Unless you have a LOT of experience and are VERY heads up, do NOT go "on level" with the formation to get people geeking the camera as they bullet track away. Yes, this looks very cool on video and it makes for very dramatic photos, but you're just looking for a mid-air collision.


Paul Quade - Do not reproduce without permission.

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