Rigid Wing Attachment

[thrillseek 0]

What was that thing i read about in skydiving magazine this month?? The picture of that guy standing there with wings extending from his back certainly is intriguing...Anyone have any info on this??

[cpoxon 0]

Haven't received my Skydiving yet (I'm in Europe) but it sounds like you could be talking about the SkyRay? There is some good video of these guys tracing across the sky with smoke on the Espace 2000 video.

[thrillseek 0]

that's the one!! Maybe it's just me, but that seems like an awesome ride. Anyone have any idea of what these things will cost?? I have GOT to try this thing out!!

[verticalflyer 11]

No cost released yet, but you might have to pay two slots for taking up so much space in the plane and having to mod the aircraft door to let you in and out! :) Seriously though at what point does the skyray become a hangglider?

[thrillseek 0]

good point. maybe it's a hybrid between a hanglider and a wingsuit?
My DZ has a Porter with that big door, but my exit concern wiould be the same as with a wingsuit...catching too much wind on exit and slamming into the rear stabalizer...I'm sure it would be easier out of a casa

[cpoxon 0]

There is some awesome video on the Skyray website. It's 24 MB but well worth the download.

[vesatoro 0]

Effective, but not too practical. I would not consider exits from side doors as in exit, the first wing will face air earlier than the other, causing certainly unstable position and maybe some spinning also. Seems to work from a tailgate if you pay two or three slots...
Vesa

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

How would one of these compare to a Birdman suit? Would they fly level with each other (properly flown)?
Adrenaline Junkie Skydive Monkey

[cobaltdan 0]

skyrays can fly with a foward speed almost 3 times faster than a skyflyer and consequently will generate more lift.
flat out you can not fly the two together.
sincerely,
dan

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Yep, I think that it will be something like that which will be "landed" first. After looking at the Apache Racing website, I thought that the larger one of those might be landable, since you "ride" on top of it and it has a smooth bottom surface which would skip or slide across the ground or water; whatever. I have been told, though, that the Apache wings are not that efficient. Anyone seen one in the sky with a BirdMan flyer?
Chuck
My webpage HERE

[TomAiello 25]

Hi Dan,
Do you happen to know how the glide ratios compare? Is the skyray just faster, or does it also have a better glide ratio as well?
--Tom Aiello
[email protected]

[cobaltdan 0]

glide ratio: i have not seen any gps plots on the skyray yet. i would expect it to prove higher than a skyflyer due to the rigid wing, better placement of the wing (farther down on your body at your center of gravity) and higher possible speeds.
next month when i see alban i will try to instrument a flight with our datalogger.
sincerely,
dan

[Christoph 0]

The skyray is a lot more powerfull than any wingsuit. We jumped with gps datalogger and showed some real horizontal flight with 250km/h groundspeed. Exiting a twin otter is also no problem. Who ever is interesting in our project visit our page www.freesky.de

[thrillseek 0]

when you guys are ready to sell them, let us know
..i'd be interested in cost, etc..

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

What's the jump number recommendations on this? Is it the same as winguits?
Adrenaline Junkie Skydive Monkey

[Christoph 0]

Right now we think about 500 jumps minimum to jump the wing. But like wingsuits, it is more what you can do than the number of jumps. If someone visit our place, and I do not know him, we go up and do a jump together before he jumps the skyray

[thrillseek 0]

different set of skills...i never understood the 500 jump minimum. I would think that a D-licensed jumper could learn the same as a 500 jump D-licensed jumper....just my $.02

[ernokaikkonen 0]

>different set of skills...i never understood the 500 jump minimum. I would think that
>a D-licensed jumper could learn the same as a 500 jump D-licensed jumper....just
>my $.02
So basically you are saying that we learn nothing during the 300 jumps from #200 to #500?
I'm not saying that all people with 500 jumps have similar skills, someone with 500 accuracy jumps from 800m will not be ready to jump a wingsuit, whereas some AFF-graduate with 200 jumps might.
What I am saying is that I personally wouldn't have jumped a wingsuit at 200 jumps... But then again I was a terrible student and did 19 S/L-jumps...Erno

[thrillseek 0]

...actually, i just want to jump one now at +/-200 jumps.
I think i would be able to do that. I just don't understand what the extra 300 jumps teaches you about flying a wing suit. I know i'll catch a lot of flack about it, but that's my opinion.

[TomAiello 25]

I just heard from the Skyray guys...

>In germany they are available from now on. I will keep you informed
about availability and costs in the US! The Costs here are 2850€ Taxes included.

So, it looks like something around $3000 would get you a Skyray, but it might be some trouble to get one here until they get a dealer set up.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com