0
lurch

First Flight Review: Tony Suits Apache Rebel

Recommended Posts

Not long. Couple seconds, max. Its the exact equivalent to pulling a weak high-speed exit equal to whatever speed you're doing when you punch it. So unless you dive like a MOTHERF'Ker -WAY- past 200+MPH don't expect to get any impressive climbs.

The energy exchange efficiency is still horrible. As wingsuit climbs unpowered by augmented aircraft launch speeds go, you're lucky to get +50 feet, IF that. Anybody getting a 100+ foot climb is GOOD.

Today was basic cruise/dive/punch tests that just showed I had a good handle on this thing"s theoretical range and could in fact establish a climb from commonly available fallrates.
When I sober up and my underwear dries out again I'll put up more detail on how and under what conditions the suit will allow a climb plus GPS from both flights today. By now I have no doubt left at all. My eyes, ears, inner ears, Altitrack and Flysight all tell me I got climbs on demand except when I tried demanding it below 50mph fallrate and every time I DID demand a climb above that speed, I got one, verified by two independent instruments that work two totally different ways. If theres any better way to prove "I go up" than what I've got, I don't know of it.
Look for a new review shortly... This suit deserves two threads one for first impressions the other for reality...except reality doesn't seem to be the letdown I expected... quite the opposite actually...
-B
Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Thanks for posting back with real figures, they are impressive for sure, but it seems like you are shifting the goal posts a bit. The question wasn't is it possible to get a short climb. It was if what you wrote in your first post too good to be true.

Quote

It was not a fluke of airflow, a data spike or an artifact of altimeter position. Playback of the maneuver from altimeter records shows a clean smooth rampdown to 0mph, continuing past baseline through the teens to -20, -19, -21mph, gradually slowing and reversing once again past zero into normal flight as I went over the top and bled off what little speed was required to get this.



Accepting you analysis of the data - the real figures are closer to climb of 6mph from 78mph fall rate. Do you really consider 78mph to be normal flocking speed for such a big suit? You were flocking with another big suit right? I'd have to say the fallrate is not low, and the climb is far less impressive than your first impression.

You've just proved that it's very difficult to be objective without accurate data, even for someone as experienced as you, which was my point.

It'll be really interesting to see the data, hope you get to post it at some stage.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Hey Luke, I didn't say "the flocking speeds I'd be doing in a flock made of these suits" I just said flocking speeds. A flock made of these things would be operating at speeds more like 25 to 45. I mean, a typical group made of mixed experience, smaller birds, Phantoms, Raptors, Rbirds Tbirds n such, I'll see fallrates from the 60s through to the low 80s, obviously getting less as the suits get bigger and the birds get better, but right now if I went and flocked with a group and that group cruises at about 60, 65, I should get a flat zero or a miniclimb at will.

Besides, this whole review and thread wasn't about objectivity. It was about the fact that what the suit did was so out of hand it got a pilot like me, all cranked up. I love my Sbird but it was definitely getting stale. I didn't see anything coming along that was gonna get any better till I got ahold of one of these things, and it has exceeded my expectations so badly that yes, my objectivity was shot, but yes, it looks like almost any fallrate north of about 55+ will get me a climb when I want it. Yesterday's results neatly bracketed the go/no go range for extracting an at-will climb out of the suit. 45? No go, not...quite. 78? Climb with enthusiasm. North of THAT, get whatever.
Anyway when I get the screengrabs grabbed I'll make new thread about it.
-B
Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Ok, Mister Desert, I'm not really sure here, was that a compliment, a sarcastic insult, or both? I've never been compared to an in-flight magazine before so I'm not quite sure how to take that... I hate in-flight magazines, I can't say I find them authoritative, mostly just boring...
Ok, so you're telling me I'm authoritatively boring?
Right. Thanks. I'll get to work on it, my prose could use more clowns anyway.
ALWAYS need more clowns...
-B
Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
ahhh mr. lurch if only you didn't reply it would have all been ok.

let me clarify my post and accept my appologies for the not so easily detectable sarcasm. it takes a keen eye to spot these things.

i forgot what i wanted to say, go to go; xena warrrior princess in on tv.
---------------------------------
canyon bar

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0