johnmatrix 21 #1 September 23, 2014 Anyone here ever used a Lightning CRW canopy for wangsuit jumps? A mate of mine is about to start CRW and wingsuit and was asking me if he could use the same canopy for both. I told him I wouldn't use a Lightning for WS but now I'm curious - anyone have experience with this? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ifell 0 #2 September 23, 2014 I have a friend with hardly any wingsuit experience but tons of CRW and I have seen him jump his lightning with a wingsuit. When I asked him about it he said "well you want a reliable opening with a wingsuit" and also that it wasn't so bad if you flare the suit. I probably wouldn't jump one though but mostly for the landings Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dragon2 2 #3 September 23, 2014 I've seen lightnings jumped with ws, have never tried mine. You don't mention which size and which material lightning. If it is a larger lightning (143+) and F111 or F111/ZP mix, put on a regular slider and a bag and go for it. ciel bleu, Saskia Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
verticalflyer 11 #4 September 23, 2014 Since there is a STORM CRW version he may want to discuss with PD.Dont just talk about it, Do it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WickedWingsuits 0 #5 September 23, 2014 I think there is a different answer for someone about to "start" wingsuiting versus someone with a decent amount of wingsuit experience. An experienced wingsuiter can just go freepacked and open in full flight, no different than pulling out of the door of a king air or what base jumpers do every day. A student wingsuiter certainly needs a canopy in a bag as initial deployment speeds\orientation are going to be closer to freefall speeds than a real wingsuit deployment. I would ask your buddy to do a couple of slick skydives with the Lightning in a d-bag. If he isn't comfortable doing that then I don't think it is the right canopy for the first few wingsuit jumps.Summer Rental special, 5 weeks for the price of 4! That is $160 a month. Try before You Buy with Wicked Wingsuits - WingsuitRental.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnmatrix 21 #6 September 24, 2014 Thanks - but if he does follow through on his idea to use the same canopy for CRW and WS he'll probably need a Lightning as thats what the other CRWdogs are jumping. I did tell him just to wait until he'd jumped a Lightning, and flown a wingsuit (with his Pilot), and then see how he feels. But that's interesting - my initial thought was 'hell no' but then I couldn't think of a good reason why not, with a sail slider and D-bag, and toggles that don't stick out of the riser covers, it doesn't sound too bad. And yes I know the landings are shit but they still land OK. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccordia 74 #7 September 24, 2014 I know several CRW / Wingsuit pilots, and they all jump Lightnings...aside from their shit landings, all of them seem to have clean openings and no issues whatsoever with the canopy when combined with a wingsuit.JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
verticalflyer 11 #8 September 24, 2014 WickedWingsuitsI think there is a different answer for someone about to "start" wingsuiting versus someone with a decent amount of wingsuit experience. An experienced wingsuiter can just go freepacked and open in full flight, no different than pulling out of the door of a king air or what base jumpers do every day. A student wingsuiter certainly needs a canopy in a bag as initial deployment speeds\orientation are going to be closer to freefall speeds than a real wingsuit deployment. I would ask your buddy to do a couple of slick skydives with the Lightning in a d-bag. If he isn't comfortable doing that then I don't think it is the right canopy for the first few wingsuit jumps. +1 I made the assumption this was an experienced pilotDont just talk about it, Do it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GobbleGobble 0 #9 September 24, 2014 Will it work? Sure. I'd recommend not using the retractible bridle system though. It adds another failure mode. Generally speaking I don't really see the point. Doing CRW is hard on gear. Definitely recommend the test jumps. I'd certainly recommend that shorter delays be taken at first, say 5 seconds. Then start taking longer ones. The bag will slow things down, and so will the slider. However it's still going to be a pretty snappy opening. That nose is wide open. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccordia 74 #10 September 24, 2014 The crew who jumps Lightnings and do CRW and wingsuit often mix and match diciplines as well, and cant say that its always going of without a hitch....I think they are the only people I know with lineburns on wingsuits...but if someone wants to combine swooping, wingsuit, crw etc.... For sure, its not recommendable, and a good canopy like a storm (designed for both) would be the better option..JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sammielu 3 #11 September 24, 2014 If the intention is to have one canopy to switch back and forth, consider the difference between hooking up a canopy to a container (taking risers, slider, dbag, and pilot chute with it), and using the same canopy only changing out all of those things every time you want to switch between deploying from terminal or not. What a pain! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 1,826 #12 September 24, 2014 mccordiaI know several CRW / Wingsuit pilots, and they all jump Lightnings...aside from their shit landings, This!... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bluhdow 31 #13 September 24, 2014 Exactly. I think a Lightning is a perfect WS canopy if your primary objective is shredding all of your suits sliding in landings 5 times a day.Apex BASE #1816 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VectorBoy 0 #14 September 25, 2014 The lightning is a perfectly landable canopy. Newer jumpers just have to get used to how different it flares. Old school tech. Some older CRW jumpers choose to slide the landings because they are older and dont want to run them out. I would recommend removing the retractable bridle and getting a longer standard wingsuit acceptable bridle..... but why ? there are tons of canopies with tons of bottom end for candy ass skydivers to keep their new matchy-matchy wingsuit clean so they can sell it with less than 50 jumps on it when next seasons version 2.5 comes out promising a huge leap in performance. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0584 0 #15 September 25, 2014 I also agree the Lightning is perfectly capable of soft landings, just takes a bit of timing and coordination. If you cant land it soft and standing up, there is something wrong with your basic canopy skills. With the right modifications it would even seem like a nice and safe canopy. Its got re-inforced everything, low aspect ratio, comfortable Dacron 600 lines, and just 7 cells, it seems pretty safe to me. For every wingsuit jump I would pack it for soft opening, put on a different bridle, use different attachment point for the bridle and a different pilot chute, probably also put it in a d-bag and remove one or two of my Bowie knifes from the cheststrap. Then I would have to spend 20 to 30 minutes to run around the dropzone desperatly looking for my other bridle and pilot chute, then change it all back every single time I wanna do CRW again. It seems much smarterer to just get a second canopy and risers. Unlike CRW, wingsuiting is pretty much a sport for the rich and busy, we dont have time to stand around and wait for your friend to get his shit ready, so you better tell him to get a designated setup for WS. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnmatrix 21 #16 September 29, 2014 Honestly I don't reckon he'll end up doing it, but if it does I'd say it's just going to be a matter of time until he gets sick of it. Ultimately the big question is how do you go about getting a wing dock with your fins on. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 1,826 #17 September 30, 2014 0584I also agree the Lightning is perfectly capable of soft landings, just takes a bit of timing and coordination. If you cant land it soft and standing up, there is something wrong with your basic canopy skills. . In that case a whole bunch of CRW competitors at nationals have defective canopy skills.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VectorBoy 0 #18 October 1, 2014 In that case a whole bunch of CRW competitors at nationals have defective canopy skills. I didn't see a canopy landing problem at this years Nats. Like I said before we had some new pups with less than 100 lightning jumps. Out of the 36 CF competitors this year 60% were storms with wing loadings from 1.6 to 2. 10% were on CRW JFXs at loadings well into the 2+ I doubt there were more than 12 competitors on lightings this year, pups aside most have better than average canopy landing skills . Now I didn't see the end of competition state record bigway done on 100% lightnings land as I was one of the last down. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0584 0 #19 October 2, 2014 first kallend***I also agree the Lightning is perfectly capable of soft landings, just takes a bit of timing and coordination. If you cant land it soft and standing up, there is something wrong with your basic canopy skills. In that case a whole bunch of CRW competitors at nationals have defective canopy skills. Well, maybe beeing able to cough up the entry fee to compete isnt such a good indicator of canopy skills then. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GobbleGobble 0 #20 October 3, 2014 0584******I also agree the Lightning is perfectly capable of soft landings, just takes a bit of timing and coordination. If you cant land it soft and standing up, there is something wrong with your basic canopy skills. In that case a whole bunch of CRW competitors at nationals have defective canopy skills. Well, maybe beeing able to cough up the entry fee to compete isnt such a good indicator of canopy skills then. A lot of the Lightnings we use are old and ragged out as hell. At lower WL it's not that big a deal. On my 126 with three links in the rears, loaded at 1.8 it's a bit more of a challenge. 1.4 and below with a stock trim isn't that difficult to land. CRW disciplines keep getting threatened with our events being taken out of Nationals so we bring a lot of newbies (or try to). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites