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kevin922

First birdman cutaway.. questions...

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It was a little tight in the otter today and I didn't have enough room to get my legs all zipped up so I got another jumper to zip them up for me.. Evidentally the bootie wasn't on good because as soon as I exited the plane one came off (i *think* it was the left bootie) I noticed it was off shortly after I got out. I tried to fly with one on and one off but that didn't work very well (began spinning) was trying to correct for it but really couldn't keep anything together. Started getting some pretty good spinning action going on so I reached and cut the wings arched got back on my belly started spinning again reached and cut the leg (which worked quite well) went ahead and dumped.

Question is this - if I had not had the lqrs what would have been the best thing to do? I cut the wings and was still spinning.. couldn't get down and unzip the legs if I wanted to. Would it just have been a dump and hope you can kick out of all the line twists that are gonna come with that kind of deployment?

Anyway, went and jumped again and got 58 (avg)! (my first birdman jump with my protrak...)

Kevin

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IS there snow on the landing zone still? I was gonna go out there today but figured not enough people would be there to fly the otter. How was it?
"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

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IS there snow on the landing zone still? I was gonna go out there today but figured not enough people would be there to fly the otter. How was it?



Yes, covered in snow. Actually i'm a weenie when it comes to cold weather, and i didn't think it was that bad. Must be the sun bouncing off the snow or something :)

Got cold towards sunset.

Kevin

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I have flown with one foot out with no problem. I was jumping my GTi, which is slightly looser than my SkyFlyer, out of the otter with Bobby. When I hopped left out of the plane, my right foot just scooted back out of the bootie. Anyway, while I was flying a bit "caddywompus", I was able to maintain a straight course with a bit of effort. Likewise, I have been able to fly to pull altitude with an arm zipper blown completely out.

Chuck

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I have flown with one foot out with no problem. I was jumping my GTi, which is slightly looser than my SkyFlyer, out of the otter with Bobby. When I hopped left out of the plane, my right foot just scooted back out of the bootie. Anyway, while I was flying a bit "caddywompus", I was able to maintain a straight course with a bit of effort. Likewise, I have been able to fly to pull altitude with an arm zipper blown completely out.

Chuck



Strange.. maybe i just didn't try hard enough to correct it. I've flown with both of them off with no problem..

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> if I had not had the lqrs what would have been the
> best thing to do?

Same thing you'd do in any flat spin. Get super-relaxed and arch. If that doesn't fix it right away, ball up, then go back into flight. Flying with one bootie isn't too tough. You have to compensate one foot for the other a bit and stay relaxed. If you punch it out too hard or tense up while keeping your legs even, you'll spin.

(Have been in this situation, sans flat spin)
"¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯"

Click

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I lost the right bootie on my GTi this Sunday on exit. It definitely wanted to spin on me. At first, I couldn't tell what was wrong, but a split second later I was able to feel that there was no tension on my right foot and I could feel the wind on it.

I balled up and popped back out into arched flight to counter the slow spin and was able to get flying stably by leaning to the side a bit with my hips and countering with my upper body, when I tried to de-arch to get some speed I started getting wobbly again so I kept a bit of an arch, did a practice pull to make sure there would be no surprises, and continued on as best I could.

My speeds never dipped below a 92 average on the entire flight, but that was as slow as I was able to get. My forward speed was nothing though, as I was barely covering ground, probably because I was arched.

Deployment on my Stiletto at 5K was as perfectly stable & on-heading (knocking on wood) as the previous 4 jumps I've put on the suit. I've started sitting myself up as soon as I feel the snatch force, on this jump and the one before, and I didn't get swung nearly as much.

I landed off the airport but a friend on the jump was there quickly in his truck to pick me up.
Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

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I landed off the airport but a friend on the jump was there quickly in his truck to pick me up.



Why did you land off the airport if you pulled at 5k? Are you starting your flights downwind of the DZ and flying upwind? Or maybe just exiting so far out you can't make it back from 5k under canopy, but plan on covering the distance in the suit?

I exit well upwind of the DZ(last out, of course), and normally fly a standard pattern. Upwind for 10-15 seconds, crosswind for 15-20, downwind for the rest. If the winds are really strong, I'll extend the upwind portion.

How do others fly their pattern?

Mike

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Well, there were pretty much two factors on this one. First, the spot was a bit long, but looked workable. Second, the winds at altitude had changed on us as well. Instead of the straight south push we were given, it turned out that it was more WSW at altitude and I spent my canopy flight just trying to crab in so that I would stay parallel to the airport and the available open fields.

If I wanted to go ENE I could have made it past the airport with no problems except I would have landed in a canyonous area.

It was simply poor planning combined with being horny for a jump. Generally, at this stage in my wingsuit progression, I take my spot about 3/4-1 mile further than the regular spot.
Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

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Yesterday, I also had my left bootie come off on exit. I was doing a rodeo dive and on exit I lost my left bootie. We got of the plane fine but a few seconds later I had a pretty good turn to the left. I tried to correct for it but with a passenger on the back I could not. I ended up doing a barrel roll and losing the passenger, at that point I was able to gain stable flight. I definitely could not punch it out but it was stable flight. I was thankful that it was the left bootie because after deploying I tried three times to get the left leg wing unzipped and could not, I ended in using the LQRS. A while back manbird had stated to me on his next suit he was thinking of getting the LQRS on both legs for that reason (after yesterday I would agree on that)
Without tension on the zipper it is really hard if not impossible to unzip.
Glad to hear you got out of it fine Kevin
I do not know what evryone else does but I have found it to be a real pain to try and get zipped up in the plane. I now just zip up my leg wing before getting on to the plane.
Kirk

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RE: booty off, body position for opening and flite pattern.
I've had a booty come off and had only slight problem correcting for straight flite. Worst problem was left upper zipper seperated twice. I was able to alter body position to compensate and was able to stay stable each time until opening.
When pulltime comes I bring in both arms , fumble for hacky then put both arms out as I throw and simultaneous with throwing out I pull both knees up into my gut like you do when you backloop. Doing this will start you into a slow backloop that never lets you get further than on your back when your canopy opens. Doing this takes all of the opening shock off your shoulders and distributes it throughout your harness system, as it should. These openings are sweet if you can get used to opening on your back looking up. As the canopy opens you just swing down under your canopy. Once open I un-zip all zippers and remove both thumb loops and collapse slider before un-doing my brakes. I am normally open between 2500 and 2000.
As for flite patterns, I always go out at least 2 to 2 1/2 miles out which is quite some time after the last jumpers so as soon as I'm flying I do a 180 and go straight back to the proper opening spot. Often I will go past DZ and turn back to opening spot. If I can do this I usually extend te exit on the next jump by 1/2 mile
So, that's how I do it, how are others doin' it?


If you ain't tried it, don't knock it,
Parasweep
If you ain't tried it , don't knock it.

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