Suit with wings versus a freefly suit

[airdrew20012001 0]

I just got my bran spanky new fire fly free fly suit yesterday and was wondering, from people's experience, which they prefer for doing tandems: a camera suit with wings or a freefly suit. I have been using a camera suit for about the last 100 video jumps or so, one of the guys I work with has only used a freefly suit. Any thoughts, feedback, or experience?
Drewfus McDoofus

[flyingferret 0]

Drew,
Let me know how you like it, I have been looking at the seperates combination available from firefly, what did you get?
Malachi

[PhreeZone 15]

Drew.... you can also get freefly suits with wings if you want too....
I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend... ~3EB

[jdhill 0]

It all depends on you, meaning how you fly (belly, sit, knees, etc), your fall rate, etc... I have found that with a typical tandem, a freefly suit will not give me a slow enough fall rate at steep angles or in a sit where the my camera suit will... if your natural fall rate is slower, the freefly suit might work better for you... lots of variables, try them both and figure out what works for you.
Josh
www.aerialfusion.com

[nacmacfeegle 0]

Yup everything Josh said is valid, I would add that wings also give you stopping power. This is important if you jump with unfamiliar T/Ms, some like to wait a little longer before pitching the drogue, some pitch almost straight out the door.
You need to be ready, swoop in rapid style, and stop hard.
Check out the attachment to see Eezee digging deep.
Big wings help if you are a little larger than average....like me.
Nice site by the way Josh, looking forward to getting some better speed shots with you soon.
Cya @ the fly free thingy.
D
It aint what you fly, its how you fly it!

[airdrew20012001 0]

Quote

what did you get?

I got a one piece freefly suit. Medium wieght material, medium flare at the wrists and ankles. It fits perfect, had the nice ladies at square 2 in eloy measure me up. I also got velcro at the legs and wrists. I have yet to jump so I'll know more next monday.
Drewfus McDoofus

[Canuck 0]

I shoot tandems in my freefly suit no problems - big guys, tiny girls - no problem. My first ever video gigs were tandems (that's another discussion altogether) and at that time I was doing them in a fairly tight rw suit. It's all about anticipation and fast aggressive flying. I'm a pretty firm believer that you should be able to fly your body first, your suit is secondary to that. For example, when did you last see an AFF/PFF instructor wearing wings in case they somehow got low on their student? By the way, by no means am I implying that people who use wing suits couldn't fly without them. I know they help, for me it's just a few hundred dollars I would rather spend on beer and doughnuts eh.
Canuck

[prost 0]

I have done it both ways. Definately get a winged suit. The reason is two fold. First a wing suit will give you more range. You might be able to fall as slow or as fast in a freefly suit but not both. Second, the winged suit will allow you to get into some positions that you can not reach without them.
William

[nacmacfeegle 0]

"I know they help, for me it's just a few hundred dollars I would rather spend on beer and doughnuts eh."
Your really gonna need those wings then.....
Cya
D
It aint what you fly, its how you fly it!

[airdrew20012001 0]

Here's me update: shot a tandem with the freefly suit yesterday. I felt I could get to places as fast and assume the same positions with the freefly suit as i could the wing suit and still had free use of my arms and hands undinered by length of the wings. Plus, i spocked the student and he thought it was really cool.
While I agree that the winged suit will be better for RW, the freefly suit is definitely the way to go for soing tandems, in my humble opinion.
Drewfus McDoofus

[flyingferret 0]

Sweet....I have a baggy freefly suit. I am goona try adding swoop cords because the arms are pretty baggy already. Maybe that will give me the best of both worlds.
malachi

[airdrew20012001 0]

Should work. What is your build like? There is also the additional option, though I have never jumped one, of the camera jackets. I saw one of the camera men at the valentine's 4-way meet in Eloy using one.
Drewfus McDoofus

[diverds 0]

Quote

Plus, i spocked the student and he thought it was really cool.

How do you fly head down with a tandem?
-Dave
"Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

[airdrew20012001 0]

Ok, technically all I did was plop my hand on the students noggin while in a belly fly. With my build (tall and lanky) and the makeup of the tandem in question (two big, big boys) if, and I must emphasize, IF I could head down worth a shit I might have been able to.
Drewfus McDoofus

[flyingferret 0]

Well I am built pretty thick. 5' 11" and about 180 or 190lbs. Since I already have a baggy polycotton bev suit, I thought if I could modifiy that it would save me some money. I had also thought about the camera jackets. But I am not sure about holding the bottom of the wings in place, and all the manufacturers I have tried, have next to no info on them in their website.
Malachi

[Krishan 0]

I just ordered a two piece freefly camera suit from Firefly. I think that's the best way to go. You get some awesome freefly pants and a jacket you can wear with shorts cause you can get the wings to clip on to your leg strap friction adapters.
I think the idea of being able to sit with someone on their belly with the wings is just kick ass.

[flyingferret 0]

Well, that is my second option. But firefly needs to update their website. They have almost no info on the seperates, and what they do have is all text. It is very hard to decide on jumpsuits without graphical info.
Malachi

[Krishan 0]

I was in the LA area this week, so I got to visit their place and got to see all the styles as actuall suits. That was cool.
And Sherry (owner?) was totally helpful. You rock.

[Opie 0]

More good words for FireFly! I was at Perris last weekend and Sherry with FireFly came out to the DZ to measure me for a suit herself and helped me pick out a color pattern. Thanks Sherry. Give her a call and she'll answer all your questions.
Opie
If your not on the edge, you can't enjoy the view!

[bryce 0]

I Really dig my firefly suit. I use Medium Baggy Pants, and a Medium Wing Jacket. I'm a big boy.
They've put a lot of thought into their camera jacket The way the wing attaches is nice, and It's one of the few jackets I've ever seen anyone wearing that has a built in Lens wipe. It's sewn in, soft, and long enough to wipe the lens while it's on your head.
It's a really well made jacket.

[JayhawkJumper 0]

We have some lightweight tandem camera flyers at our DZ and they wear FF suits, one wears a tight space suit. They belly fly with slow tandems and freefly with big ones I guess.

[diablopilot 2]

Try calling. (530)753-1516

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