Jii Wings GS1

[roostnureye 2]

Do any of you Old guys out there still have a Jii Wings GS1 laying around?  

 

Before I started wingsuiting I was mesmerized by these suits on video.

 I have been wingsuiting now for over 12 years and still haven't seen a Jii Wings suit in the wild.  

I know it's a Longshot,  but I'd love to see one or hopefully get a chance to fly one. 

[mccordia 73]

I know one still floating around, but personally would recommend against jumping it.
The few jumps I had on the suit, I had handles completely disappeared inside the suit one jump after deployment, and trying to use the arm-wing release (to test) it actually just bunched up the sleeve, without the cable coming out, essentially locking the sleeve. With the zippers not being the greatest, not a useful or safe feature.

I know Andy Ford, jumping one for a project many years ago, had a cutaway (spinning mal) where he had the same issue with handles disappearing inside the suit, and he actually performed a cutaway/reserve with his thumbs punched in above the handles, pulling the cables out.

As to the suit itself, its stable, but looking at actual wing size, not that big, as the armwing bellow the hips is so narrow/small, it doesn't add to much in actual lift/profile. Performance was comparable to a skyflyer 3, perhaps only a tiny step up.

I do like the segmented/interchangeable idea behind the suit (you could 'zip off' the full wing, and potentially replace it in future with bigger/smaller wings). But in construction, and rigging, quite complex and price-wise probably not that much of a save, vs just buying / making a new suit.

I think the suit had a great idea/design philosophy behind it, but similar to the early TonySuits with webbed gloves, not something comparable with modern day wingsuits in performance or safety.

[birdynamnam 28]

I remember when they began to show up, back then in the Birdman days where we where mostly flying Gti's and Skyflyers 1 and 3s. These where the days where newly launched models would look super cool and very different design wise - but with little improvement in performance.  First time I saw a Jii was at a flocking event, someone was flying that Jii and it was the first time I saw something where performance or glide if you like that was noticeably improved. He was a bit less flocking experienced than most of us I guess, he came in to the formation burbled himself like a champ, got into a spin on his back and spun downwards for quite a bit until he was a small dot. Didn't count on seeing him again but he came back up like nothing I had seen before. He did say it was more twitchy to fly, but that he loved it. Did not have a chance to fly it myself unfortunately

[RolandForbes 41]

Well if Jarno says no then there's no way in hell I'd fly it. That man has more talent/experience in one wing than I have in my whole body

[mccordia 73]

Quote

Well if Jarno says no then there's no way in hell I'd fly it.

I've only done two jumps on the suit, and managed to fly it on the back ok (no back inflation).
Video must be floating around online somewhere still (it was for a FOX news item). But nothing too special flying wise. The BM Skyflyer 3 was a nicer and more agile suit to fly in comparison.

But the complex rigging, zipper system, and issues with handles getting tucked in/under the suit easily, combined with the problems of the (not really functional) arm-wing release, make it quite a big safety issue, for zero to no benefit in performance or otherwise, compared to wingsuits of that period.

If you want to jump something old, grab a BM Classic, S3, S-fly Expert or orginal V1. The'll be more fun to fly. GS1 is nice as decoration for the DZ Bar wall/ceiling

[verticalflyer 11]

I have about 130 jumps on one and took it to 30000ft back in 2005, will dig it out, all info above correct re cutaway design and twitchy initially, but once dialledin was easy to fly. Mine is currently living in my loft. It’s happy there.

[verticalflyer 11]

Image by Andy Ford from my 30k jumps and this from a training flight. It currently lives in my loft.