6'10" 244lbs - new aspiring bird seeks guidance

[Petite 0]

Greetings,

I´m a bit of a oddity when it comes to wingsuit sizing, so I opted to seek wisdom from you fine people.

I started the sport with wingsuiting in mind in 2009, but suffered a setback in 2010 when I crashed my 1200 ZZR while returning from a 10 day alpine bike run . Nothing too serious as luck would have it, but I did miss most of the 2010 season.
I picked where I left of in the 2011 season and got about 50 jumps to my belt.
Now I bought my own gear (spectre 210 main) and was hoping to get enough jumps (about 200 more) this season to get into wingsuiting at the start of the winter(somewhere warmer like Z-hills obviously). I reside in Finland.

The main question that comes into mind is that what kind of "wing loading" do I need to get to flock with other "normal sized" people? Like the title says I am really tall and quite slim(220lbs, 244 exit), so this raises a question:
Does my long limbs and relatively light weight result in a wing area that is so large that I have to close up the wings even with something like Phantom3 suit to maintain the same descent with the rest of the flock?

All advice is much appreciated!

The gentle giant.

[dirtbox 0]

Ikarumba! You would have trouble exiting a skyvan, much less a caravan There are some good folks at Suomen laskuvarjokerho that know a lot about wingsuiting (pm me if you want a name or two). A p3 would be great and you would only have trouble flocking with the biggest of suits if they were maxing it. There are plenty human wrecking balls (your weight, 3 feet shorter) flocking in P2s once they know how to fly them - most flocks are flown pretty dirty anyway which allows everyone to get in.

Now, if you ever get in an appache or mattress class suit you may never come down, you'd have more wing than some small aircraft

[Petite 0]

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Ikarumba! You would have trouble exiting a skyvan, much less a caravan

I have already become a master in the art of "dwarf walk" when exiting small planes

The gentle giant.

[DSE 3]

We've had several other students in your same size range, and they've had little challenge to flock with others much more loaded, and their range has been tremendous. Ville H, Per L are 6'9" and approx same weight (we have suits to fit, @ 208cm)

[Petite 0]

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We've had several other students in your same size range, and they've had little challenge to flock with others much more loaded, and their range has been tremendous. Ville H, Per L are 6'9" and approx same weight (we have suits to fit, @ 208cm)

That´s great to hear that there has been precedence with greatly taller that average fliers.
Pretty much everyone that I see writing about entry level suits that have been dynamic enough to keep serving the needs of a new participant, say that PF Phantom2 (3 is the latest but just a few comments available) is the one to get. Seems like everyone are saying that it is the perfect all-round suit. Is that also true when it comes to people like me in size?

Later on, when more experienced:
1. What kind of vertical fall rates do you reacon a person of my stature could accomplice with a TS X2 or a PF Venom etc?
2. Does bodytype(long frame, light weight) help in anyway when it comes to horisontal max speeds?
3. If the max speed is the same with everyone regardless of size, then will the one with lighter wing load get a flatter glide angle when maxing the suit at horisontal speeds?

The gentle giant.

[kallend 1,621]

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Quote

We've had several other students in your same size range, and they've had little challenge to flock with others much more loaded, and their range has been tremendous. Ville H, Per L are 6'9" and approx same weight (we have suits to fit, @ 208cm)

That´s great to hear that there has been precedence with greatly taller that average fliers.
Pretty much everyone that I see writing about entry level suits that have been dynamic enough to keep serving the needs of a new participant, say that PF Phantom2 (3 is the latest but just a few comments available) is the one to get. Seems like everyone are saying that it is the perfect all-round suit. Is that also true when it comes to people like me in size?

Later on, when more experienced:
1. What kind of vertical fall rates do you reacon a person of my stature could accomplice with a TS X2 or a PF Venom etc?
2. Does bodytype(long frame, light weight) help in anyway when it comes to horisontal max speeds?
3. If the max speed is the same with everyone regardless of size, then will the one with lighter wing load get a flatter glide angle when maxing the suit at horisontal speeds?

Steady state glide angle depends on lift/drag ratio which, in turn, depends on suit design and SKILL OF THE FLYER. Wing load would be a second order effect by comparison. WL will affect both vertical and horizontal components of velocity.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[LouDiamond 1]

I trained a DZ.com member named Tallguy back in 2003 at Rantoul, BillVon took him on his flight with the rest of the flock getting out afterwards, it's was quite a sight to see a suit that big in the sky. He is right around 6'9" and pushing the same weight as you. For reference, the guy to the right of him in that picture is 6'2" and about 225lbs. What you will find, be it in a wing suit or any type of skydiving, you will have to adjust your fall rate based on who you are trying to fly relative to. The challenge for most your size/weight in a wingsuit is not only controlling the fall rate but the horizontal speed as well. It can be frustrating at first as you will find that if you decrease your horizontal speed your fall rate increases and it can become a bit of an accordion effect until you dial it in and fine tune your flight profile that allows you to settle in alongside others. Not an impossible task but don't become discouraged if you have to work at it for a bit before you find your ideal position.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[DSE 3]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2215798427803

Here is a guy of your size/weight. He has no problem going through the levels. About half-way through the video (2:47) you'll see him do two levels in the WISP program. He has no issues of significance (these are his second/third WS jumps). He was backflying with stability by 17 WS jumps. Good coaching will get you to where you'll be flying off the base in no time at all.
Worry about bigger suits when you're ready for a bigger suit, and you may never want for a bigger suit. Worry about G/R when you've got WS jumps to use as a comparison. For flocking, acrobatics, or formation skydiving, an X2, Venom, or Vampire are inappropriate. Once you know more about your particular tastes and desires in WS, then you'll know enough to make better decisions.

[Petite 0]

Thanks alot for all the comments!

I do realize that the bigger suits are never gonna be for flocking with others. That is just why I asked about even the mid-sized suits being too large for flocking.

Why I brought that up is because of my local DZ's lack of wingsuit "culture". I'm sure that I'm gonna get some bigger fun solo suit after about 100-200 jumps with the intermediate one for quality time in the sky just by myself for the majority of the local skydives. With a suit like that I might never wanna go down =)

The gentle giant.

[Migs 0]

Try being a short stub and 200+ :0S

More weight and less surface area to work with...

~Migs~

On Facebook

[DSE 3]

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Try being a short stub and 200+ :0S

More weight and less surface area to work with...

Yeah, but you had a pretty good First Flight coach, and quality coaching makes all the difference both during and after the FFC.
Bad coaching=difficult student.

[FreefallSnoopy 0]

DAMMMMNNNNN...

Glad someone else already asked this question, I'm right there at the same weight, just a few inches shorter (6'7")...

Lemme know how it goes for you, pretty sure wingsuit is where I'm headed. And at least I know someone else is always glad to wear a helmet, if it only is useful in the plane!