ManBird 0 #1 April 23, 2003 Whilst in DeLand I jumped with Nels from Denmark, who's heavily modified a Crossbow into a very different suit. The suit is huge. It inflates to maybe 9" thick (very rough estimate). It's almost all one wing. It's concave from the wrists to the ankles, but doesn't really seem to have three separate wings. There were five or so silver dollar size holes in each wing, as well as large inlets over the shoulders. There was a small leg inlet, as well, and the standard inlets under the arms. He's using a very low profile rig that has zipper teeth on each side and the bottom, and the suit zips to it, making the rig flush. It's an older rig modified for BASE. He flies a Spectre, but uses a tailpocket instead of a d-bag. A pilot chute pouch was on his belly, and the bridle was routed from the rig, around the wing, to the pouch, tightened by rubber band stows every few inches. I forget if there was velcro to hold it or if the stows just got rid of the slack, and it held that way. Cutaway system is essentially that of a Crossbow. I'm not recalling other mods at the moment. This was only his sixth jump on it, and the first with another person, so there's no real way to judge the performance yet. This was my 136th GTi jump, so familiarity with the respective suits is a big factor. In this particular flight, he fell about 70 MPH for about a thousand feet after a clean exit and then stayed in the high 50s for most of the jump. In the last few thousand feet, he was going about 50 MPH (70 KMH on his ankle-mounted ProTrack). Per my ProTrack, I was averaging 58 down in that part of the jump, and he was higher than me. We had the same fall rate for most of the jump, but fatigue set in, and I fell below. His suit seemed to require much less work. The suit slid quite a bit from side to side, like an amplified Crossbow. Stabilitywise, his flight was rock solid, and the entire suit inflated like crazy. Very rigid. He had a lot less forward speed. I had to drop my knees (I've found a use for my bad habit!) to stay back with him, but maintain a solid upper body to match his lift. The flight started with me going very up and away, and then dropping back. We synced up on the fall rate and forward speed, but never our horizontal position. It moved a bit like an air hockey puck, and there was a lot of side slide chasing and crossing over each other. His deployment system worked, of course, and he finds the PC very easy to reach. I find it a bit frightening to start with the PC in front of the wing. Overall, the dive could have been better, but it was still a great experience, and an honor to jump with someone that is making such an effort. Not to mention that he's about as nice a guy as there is. He seemed disappointed with the performance, and his disappointment actually saddened me. He's THAT nice of a guy. I'd like to see how he progresses, both in flying technique and in modifications. It lacks in deflectors. It inflates a LOT, but doesn't put as much air OVER the wing as it might with deflectors or an adjusted body position. It's definitely a totally different beast than what a lot of us are on. Keep it up, Nels."¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gus 1 #2 April 23, 2003 Sounds pretty interesting. Were you wearing video, care to post some stills? GusOutpatientsOnline.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ManBird 0 #3 April 23, 2003 No. He had video, but that doesn't really help. My battery just died, and I don't have a hemet assembled yet, anyway, but I would have liked to get some stills on the ground at least."¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Faber 0 #4 April 23, 2003 Quote He's THAT nice of a guy. Yup not only in person.. Ibelive it were Niels Brusgaard,one of the owners of Pro-track.Werry nice guy that knows what results is and how to treat costumersIf You see him again down there..Tell him Hello from Stefan From DK Stay safe Stefan Faber Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TB99 0 #5 April 24, 2003 Awe crap, I had no idea that was Niels!! Wish I would've known, I wanted to thank him in person for the great customer service those guys provide!! Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
