How we set out to design and successfully skydive, for the first time ever, with the IMAX giant screen camera system ... page 3

The tests were carried out with a wooden mock-up of an IMAX - IW5 camera with lead weights correctly distributed, to allow for the camera, plus battery, video feed, and protective camera housing with harness. Mounted in the lens port was a Hi-8 video camera with a super wide angle attachment. Each jump was recorded both from the IMAX camera point of view, and also from a secondary video and stills camera, carried by another skydiver. The first jump was made with only a small amount of weight but, between each dive, the weight was increased and modifications were made to develop the system to a point where we felt comfortable to move on to the next stage.

Modifications even included changing the design of Norman's flying suit to reduce drag in the flared leg area. With the camera mounted so far forward, Norman found he was flying "head-down", reducing his body control and increasing free fall velocity. By reducing the profile of the flying suit in the leg area, however, the problem was eliminated. Even then, the free fall velocity was high, but Patrick, who was sky surfing on his modified snowboard, was able to equalise the fast descent rate. The jumps were carried out without using a drogue 'chute, which would have reduced velocity, but may have caused unwanted vibration. Some instability experienced by Norman when reaching to deploy his main parachute were corrected by ensuring all harnesses were super tight, and by Norman adjusting to the aerodynamic characteristics of the rig.

Our week of research and development in Florida, which included eight test jumps from fourteen thousand feet, proved for the first time ever that providing IMAX audiences with a free-fall experience is most certainly obtainable. My thanks go to Bobby Overbey at The Relative Workshop for his help in building the harness system and carrying out necessary modifications during our week of flight testing; to Norman Kent for jumping eight times with the IMAX test package attached to his body; to Gus Wing for jumping with us and acting as second camera; and to Patrick de Gayardon who was killed a few years later while skydiving in Hawaii.