Birdman friendly canopy?

[riggerrob 561]

Which canopies do you consider "birdman friendly?"

What wing loadings do you consider "birdman friendly?"

.... especially for beginning birdmen?

[LouDiamond 1]

Instead of listing all the different canopies out there it is easier to tell you canopy characteristics which are Birdman friendly. Being familiar with your canopies characteristics and or tendencies is a must. For starters, you want a canopy that opens consistently, doesn't hunt or seek on deployment or dive. If it can have line twists and still stay square and fly level then it is acceptable. More radical canopies can and are being flown by experienced birdman and varying wing loadings but it is an added risk that has been recognized. It is prefered that no matter what your experience or # of jumps under your canopy, that you use a docile canopy for your first Birdman and subsequent flights untill you have mastered your deployment sequence and can deal with the added steps that a high performance canopy can add to the mix of things.

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[DaGimp 0]

Well I have used both my Crossfire 2's (139 & 119) and I believe like Scott said....its knowing your canopy and its flight charictoristics......only have 1 reserve ride under my BM.

"Professor of Pimpology"~~~Bolas

[VectorBoy 0]

You can't go wrong with a lightly loaded seven cell. Even one that opens harshly in freefall might just snivel sweetly in bird-man deployment speeds. I'm thinking of getting a big tri for that reason. Most of the guys that base their suits fly spectres and Tris.

You can't go wrong with any of the semi-elliptical nines ( or rectangular nines .).

Many jumpers who are very currant with their extreme X-braced do fine with wingsuits. They have excepted the personnal added risk and validate it via( in their opinion) an intimate awareness of that particular canopy. Most likely they have already experienced malfunctions and claim they understand how it behaves in good or in bad.

I used to jump a moderately loaded elliptical That would open absolutely straight like it was on rails it was perfect for my wingsuiting. If it did have line twists it would fly along straight as I untwisted without input. After having an H-mod done to the nose it snivels forever. I have turned it into a fantastic camera canopy but now that it spends so much time in a slider snivel ( this does not happen in regular free fall deployment speeds, just from WS deployments ) I have gotten myself into trouble if i fail to "fly the slider openning". The heading is whatever direction I was aiming at when the slider comes down finally and if it goes into line twists it will dive guaranteed. I've chopped it once and brake fires on openings can be exciting.

Since, while wearing a wingsuit, you can't effectively grab the rear risers during the opening. It is much harder to kick out of twists and much easier to get into twists as your lowerbody can become a vane if not perfectly collapsed as you are pulled upright. I would stick with canopys that are resistant to twist up, don't dive hard if in twists.

Your experience, skill, exceptance of personal risk and quest for a certain canopy openning dynamic may dictate a completely different canopy from myself or someone else who may be willing to fly their wingsuit lower and deploy much lower. Or who may want to fly heavy cameras or who just wants to fly their suit deploy high have plenty of time to secure the wings and still swoop the canopy.

[blair700 0]

Yo!
I think you left out an important choice.. the Pilot. I actually demoed 4 different canopies before I decided on the Pilot, and I made the least amount of jumps on it.
When it comes down to it, what is the single most important factor for a WS canopy...IMHO the OPENINGS!!!. Once I decided that's what I was looking for the Pilot was the obvious choice.
I'm also quite happy with the flight characteristics of the canopy as well.
Later
Blair

PS I load the Pilot 168 at a hair under 1.4psf

[ikenever 1]

I have to second Blair's opinion on the Pilot. I too use a Pilot 168 with my S3. Aerodyne deserves a nod on this all-arounder.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

anything that opens straight is great for wingsuit jumping. That said, things that open reasonably straight are fine for people who simply must fly higher performance mains. Chris Martin is the 2nd most experienced wingsuit pilot in the world and he has never jumped anything but a Xaos in a wingsuit. I made quite a few jumps under my Velo 79 and even got away with several under a Xaos 69.5 I was borrowing, but these days I am just fine under my Sabre2 97. Old, original Sabres are dirt cheap and a dime a dozen and make fantastic "wingsuit specific" second mains. Their and other canopies' (original Monarch, etc) sometime hard openings generally do not manifest in wingsuit flight, so they become, once again, popular.

Chuck

[Rdutch 0]

I have over 200 jumps on my birdman with a velocity. That said I have been jumping a Spectre 97 a lot, as well as my velocity. The difference, with the spectre I feel more comfortable pulling lower

Peter from Norway is one of the best Birdmen I know and he jumps a PD reserve as a main. So did Vladi Pesa for a while, but now he jumps a Katana.

Like everyone else said, whatever your getting good, on heading openings from is the best. If I could afford a canopy for everything Id jump a 7 cell Pd for birdman. I did put a few jumps on a Firebolt and Id even jump birdman with that, it had great openings. But I want performance landings and I am willing to sacrifice for that so I will stick with my velocity and just pull higher.

Hope that helps you, it sure confused me.

Ray
Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

[namdrib 0]

Although I wouldn't consider this a good canopy to "learn Birdman" with. I have had great success with my stiletto 97 at 2:1. That is with a Psycho pack as well. I would, and I'm sure that several others will agree that a Spectre or Sabre/Sabre2 or better utilized for this task.

Unknowing attempting to take out all 4 wheeled vehicles remotely close to the landing area!

[Martini 0]

I have only a few wingsuit jumps, mainly on a Sabre-1-120 (1.6) that, packed carefully, is a good solid w.s. choice. I jumped my Xaos-21-98 (1.9) once. Even though it opened twisted it flew flat but I was glad I opened high. The other day my Sabre opened with serious bad-ass twists and uneven risers(lazy packjob, bad body position and the moon was in mars) and still managed to fly stable. The Xaos would have been a surefire chopper. I'll be sticking with the Sabre for my next whole buncha wingsuit jumps. It also only cost $400. The Sabre is more stable in funky openings,I can safely open way lower, less likely to end up cut away and about $1300 cheaper to replace if it goes in the river. No-brainer.

Sometimes you eat the bear..............

[Tonto 1]

I'm using a Safire loaded to about 1.5, and a pilot loaded to about 1.4.

Both have given no problems.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I think the moral of the story is this: if you are setting up a second rig specifically for wingsuit jumping, then why not put in a main that will allow you more peace of mind. Jay Moledski jumps his suit quite a bit these days and he recently put in a PD 106R-M (a reserve with a bridle attachment point which is commonly used to give people a chance to jump a reserve to see how it flies). He loves it and regularly hums it quite low as a result of the confidence he has in that parachute.

Some people will argue that it hurts their canopy skills to switch back and forth between their "normal" HP main and something else just for the sake of "safety", but I call bullshit. About a third of my jumps are already under something entirely different (a tandem main), but I can promise you that I still absolutely blister my Velo landings as well as those under my Sabre2. A good canopy pilot can get great landings out of anything over his/her head.

Now, for those of you who are very experienced under your very-HP main and only own one rig, then I will once again state that nobody is forcing you to jump something else. Still, I can promise you that sooner or later you are going to find yourself chopping and it's only then, when you are trudging through the piney woods looking for your Velo/Xaos/VX, that you will understand why I choose a "smarter" canopy these days. Am a scared to fly my wingsuit with my Velo? Nope; never had a problem. I just don't want to lose my canopy and I hate the anxiety I have at pull time when jumping one with a suit.

Chuck

[PhreeZone 15]

Then again you have some people (ScaryPerry) that are looking at puting BASE canopies in their Birdman rigs for the added stability and the ability to open lower with them.

I've jumped lots of stuff with my ClassicII and my S3, line twists that are diving will get the heart racing in a wingsuit. If I was setting up a wingsuit specific rig right now I would probally go the Spectre/Troll route.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

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[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Yep, a BASE canopy would be fantastic as well, assuming you are in it for maximum freefall time. There are plenty of "good" options out there. My point was, why choose a "bad" choice?

[Tonto 1]

Quote

why choose a "bad" choice?

And that's my thinking.

I have a long way to go here, only 50 flights and an S3 on the way - so I'd rather stack the odds in my favour for a while. In another 200 or so flights I may go to a Safire 2 100'ish rather than have 2 rigs, but that second (and 3rd) rig helps on those back to back loads when it's quiet and you want to keep the Porter (and yourself) in the air.

t

It's the year of the Pig.