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Does anyone have any experience measuring freefall distance and speed with, say, something like a theodolite, a transit, or a precision inclinometer, or any other technique? Please PM, thanks much.
Colm

I used a flysight to get some numbers for static line jumps. Worked well.

Id contact Michael Cooper at flysight, id betcha he'd know a ton on the subject.

You could always come jump Wanda -- she has
8 platforms and we know how high each one is.

Thanks for the great suggestions so far, including those who have contacted me privately.

I'm also going to try some tricks with video and inclinometry because I think I can get it even more accurate. With a fixed camera position, a designated exit point, a precision inclinometer, and a little trigonometry... I think it's possible to build an overlay distance scale, that can be superimposed on a side-angle video of a jump.

This would help record exact height and times of exit, deployment, bridle stretch, line stretch, inflation, and just about anything else you could see with a camera.

I'll email Michael C. I wish visiting Wanda was as easy as that, I'd love to take up your invitation GreenMachine!
Thanks
Colm

Here's a sample of flysight data from 170'.

Thanks, which flysight viewing app is that? I only know the open source one on the flysight webpage. I might add some code to show the acceleration curve (i.e. 1st derivative of velocity) unless someone else has already done that and can share. It's Qt based and Michael's code is pretty easy to work with.

I uploaded the track to skyderby.ru.