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FlyingRhenquest

I Got A Wingsuit!

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Looks like someone's got ahold of a wingsuit!

https://plus.google.com/115052911915665400296/posts/V1ARhSfnvCW

Sadly easier to share the photos that way than beat my head on dz.com's image sharing thingy, since all my photos always seem to be above the size limit.

I've done two jumps with it so far. First one I opened in to 8-10 line twists and ended up landing out (Wasn't making it back to the DZ after dealing with that and getting everything unzipped.) Second one (Yesterday) had NO line twists on opening and landed dead center in the landing area.

It's slowed my fall from 130-ish to 109-ish but I expect that to improve as my proficiency does. Definitely an amazing experience. If my instructor ever sends me the video of the first jump, I'll post a link to it.

I had no problems with my exit from the King Air, despite having been warned about that. I'm comfortable with not opening my wings for a few seconds, to avoid whanging my head into the tail. I don't want to piss the DZO off by breaking the tail on his shiny king air!
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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BigMikeH77

Did you get that third one in today?



Nah, I decided to be good and go home and mow the lawn. I've needed to for a couple weeks but couldn't get motivated while I had that sinus infection. A sunset high pull would have been nice and probably not too cold today, but that would just be greedy of me. I could have done a wingsuit jump, but didn't want to get blood all over my wingsuit. I suppose I should pour some hydrogen peroxide on this cut now that it's stopped bleeding. It's not that bad, though. Just a flesh wound.
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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FlyingRhenquest

Looks like someone's got ahold of a wingsuit!

I've done two jumps with it so far. First one I opened in to 8-10 line twists and ended up landing out (Wasn't making it back to the DZ after dealing with that and getting everything unzipped.) Second one (Yesterday) had NO line twists on opening and landed dead center in the landing area.



First, congrats on your FFC.
Second, why the linetwists? More importantly, why the off landing?

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DSE

***Looks like someone's got ahold of a wingsuit!

I've done two jumps with it so far. First one I opened in to 8-10 line twists and ended up landing out (Wasn't making it back to the DZ after dealing with that and getting everything unzipped.) Second one (Yesterday) had NO line twists on opening and landed dead center in the landing area.



First, congrats on your FFC.
Second, why the linetwists? More importantly, why the off landing?

I was a bit lower than I should have been. The hackey slipped from between my fingers the first time I made a grab for it, and I think I didn't bring my legs back far enough. When I closed my wings I turned to the left a bit and started to dive. I spread my wings out to get stable again, then tried again. The second attempt worked, but I think I still had the body position that caused the turn to the left on the first attempt. Another dive to the left as the canopy was deploying would probably explain the line twists.

I checked my altimeter as the lines were twisting up and saw I was at 3500, still comfortably above my decision altitude, and the canopy was flying straight. So I tried kicking the line twists out and saw it was working. Once I kicked them out, I checked my altitude again, saw I was still doing OK, so I unzipped my arms and pulled the rear riser down to turn me back toward the landing area. It took me a bit of time to get the legs undone. I finally unstowed my toggles around 2100 feet.

I could probably have made it back to the landing area and taken a downwind landing out by the fence, but felt that flying a pattern over the empty field just south of the airport was a much safer option. The wind was behind me but there wasn't very much of it. I probably would have crossed the fence to the airport at about 350-400 feet, which would have forced me to take a downwind landing by the swoop pond (Fence on my right, swoop pond on my left, and even if a 180 was safe at that altitude, it would have put me in the fence I'd just crossed.)

If I'd deployed the main on the first attempt I think I would have made it back. I was only low by a few hundred feet. I'd been doing practice touches from the moment I put the suit on, and did a couple more than the dive flow called for. I knew I could get it, my grip was just a bit off the first time. As I was spreading my wings out to return to stable flight after the first attempt, I was already thinking "If this next one doesn't work, I'm going to the reserve." Same thing occurred to me as I watched the line twists spinning up. If my canopy were diving or my altitude was too low, I'd have gone to reserve. I was ready for EPs, just didn't need to use them.
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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