ManBird 0 #1 October 19, 2003 After sitting on the ground for hours waiting for a reserve pack job, crapping my pants because the uppers were cranked up to 65 knots (75 MPH) and gusting above that... from altitude to 3k. There was a slight body position adjustment that I wanted to try out to get better forward speed/glide with minimal fall rate compromise. The first three miles of my first jump were insane. There was a lot of distance and junk after that, but the first three were the best I've ever done (and the easiest/most consistent to track). The freefall was almost exactly 10k (14k - 4k) with an overall average of 43 MPH TAS (~158 seconds). The three mile mark (exit position based on the plane's GPS) was hit at 10,800'. According to Jumptrack, I was between 36 MPH and 38 MPH (37 average) down to 8,000 (where my arms started to die and put me at 45 and then 50 for the rest of the jump). It took right about 60 seconds to get to 10,800 feet. 3 miles in 1 minutes comes out to 180 MPH. 180 vs 37 gives a (severely wind-assisted) glide ratio of 4.86:1. It felt and sounded like going headdown, but sideways. It was very, very much on the verge of instability. I felt wobbles just looking at my altimeter. I've never felt anything like it before. It felt like I was flying in a hurricane. So I went up and went way, way further out. Pretty much the same deal, but worse fall rate (never under 40 MPH), and got an overall glide ratio of about 4.2:1. I did one more after that, and just sucked, as I wimped out, but it was still a lot of fun, of course. This, again, really leads me to question the "90 MPH max" theory on forward speed. Not to hurt anyone's feelings, but I think a lot of people are now breaking triple digits on forward speed without wind assistance... not by much, but breaking it nonetheless. Got to try out my smoking suit today. Only from 5k, but gave it a shot. So on my first jump, I got 27 seconds saddling out at 2,500 feet. It felt slow and floaty, but I didn't cover as much ground as I would in a normal track. It definitely felt long for not having a wingsuit on. The suit didn't flap around too much... it was fairly rigid, but it did flap more than expected. I only did one other jump today before the clouds hosed us, but I took my Pantz this time. Got out at 5k and was saddled out at 2,400 feet. Only 100 feet lower, but got 27 seconds on that one, too, and covered more ground. Granted, I only flew the suit once, and didn't have much time to figure it out entirely. But I only have nine or ten jumps on my Pantz (but am doing much better with them than I did on my first jump). The smoke suit did start up significantly sooner than the Pantz, though. I basically hit my stall speed, started moving, and never went past that fall rate. On the Pantz, I exceeded my stall speed/average for the jump and then built back up to it, but eventually covered significantly more ground. From a BASE perspective, which is less relevant to me right now, I can see the advantage of the smoke suit, as it'd get you away from the object sooner. Only got five in this weekend due to waiting a reserve repack yesterday and then getting hosed by the weather today, but man, these were five of some of the best jumps I've ever had. Kirk! You shouldn't have left early!"¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TALONSKY 0 #2 October 20, 2003 Hey Steve: Glad to hear you got some totally awesome jumps in. I thought about coming back out or not even leaving but both ideas came back to two realities. One that I really did not have money to jump and the second I really would rather not jump my Eclipse container doing Birdman and I know I would really want to be jumping my S3 not the GTI. I still want to know how you got your rig packed before mine :)~. See you next Saturday, I think I should be able to do a few jumps Kirk Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ManBird 0 #3 October 20, 2003 QuoteI still want to know how you got your rig packed before mineI don't know either. Maybe Joe got sick of my moping and made sure it was done. I really wish you would have been there. I think what I'm doing now has improved my forward speed quite a bit, but I seriously doubt I could match yours. You have a better overall glide than I do. With the forward speed you've been getting over the past while, I don't doubt at all that you could have covered three miles in 50 - 55 seconds. I'll be out there this weekend. Weather permitting, we really need to throw a square on Joe's back and get him in flying."¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
