high speed exits - wow

[The111 0]

Had no idea these were so much fun. Nailed the first one perfect, got pretty far above the plane. The zero g feeling at the top of the hill is awesome. I want to do it every time from now on. :) Beer for me.

Another fun first was 10 seconds of zero g in the plane on the ride to altitude for that same jump. I've wanted to do that for a LONG time.

Best quote from the weekend: "I can't see the ground at all... ready set go!" Followed by a 1:30 flight through icy clouds towards where we thought the airport might be. Came out of clouds at 6k right over LZ. :)

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

BWAHAHAHAHA! I have been there and done that (as far as the solid cover goes) and it's a roll of the dice where you come out if you follow the wrong guy.

[verticalflyer 11]

Being in the Uk this happens from time to time, note where the sun is when you get out and fly a circuit, finishing with the sun in the same position.
If its on the wrong side you might be walking back!

Dont personally jump when its total cloud cover due to Gliders and having seen one up a little too close and personal on one flight.

Cheers

Fraser

Dont just talk about it, Do it!

[LouDiamond 1]

If you thought that was fun, you need to come the the Birdman boogie this year. We will be doing all of the specialty runs on a regular basis. We started doing a lot of downwind, high speed passes towards the end of the boogie last year because everyone enjoyed them so much. There was no turning, straight flight back and the closest to the DZ we got out was 5 miles. It made for some really fun flocks and some awesome exits.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[skymick 0]

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Best quote from the weekend: "I can't see the ground at all... ready set go!" Followed by a 1:30 flight through icy clouds towards where we thought the airport might be. Came out of clouds at 6k right over LZ. :)

Hmmm.. WS through solid cloud is always interesting, I went throught what I though was a 'thinish' layer of cloud - turned out to be about 6 thousand feet worth and it was at a DZ which was right next to the ocean. I thought I would be smart and do a gentle turn away from where I thought the ocean was and ended up doing a 270 facing straight out to the ocean at 4k when I broke through the clouds - not the smartest thing I've done.

Oh yeah and on top of that my mate chopped and we spent the enxt 2 hours going through swamp land to try and find the canopy

[The111 0]

Two questions about these high speed passes:

1) How bad for your suit are they, really? I know someone who has blown up two suits in his career *cough* ScaryPerry *cough*, but I probably shouldn't be comparing mere mortals to him.

2) What is a good speed, in case I have to be the one to coordinate with the pilot in the future?

On the first one, I heard it was around 100 knots, I nailed it and got way above.

Second one, I heard (afterwards) it was close to 140 knots! I stepped off a bit assymetrical, got instantly rag-dolled into 3 barrel rolls in just a few seconds, pulled out of them, looked up at the plane, maxed out, and still had enough forward speed to get back UP to the plane (but not above it), even AFTER a few seconds of rag-dolling. That was pretty amazing, but I think maybe it was a bit too fast.

Third one I heard was around 120 knots, but even though I nailed it, I didn't seem to get as high as I did on the first one.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[The111 0]

Also... technique?

I didn't do them enough to really notice what I was doing exactly, but in theory, it seems to me you should try for max forward speed (which is "upward" speed in this case), NOT max glide nor min sink. So a "headlow" position to the relative wind, which would seem like a steep dive in a normal orientation relative to the ground. I would think this technique would help you get higher above the plane and LESS far behind it... both which would give cooler visuals.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[Tonto 1]

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On the first one, I heard it was around 100 knots, I nailed it and got way above.

I wouldn't call 100kts a high speed pass. In Summer - at 14 000 ft (15 600 odd in Eloy) I'd imagine most aircraft would stall at a ground speed of 100 kts.

150 or 200 kts IAS... that's a different story.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[The111 0]

See, this is why I'm asking. I have no frame of reference... I don't even know what a normal jumprun speed is (I'm sure it's plane dependent but there's probably also a generic range). I always assumed it was around 90mph or so, but I'm just guessing. The 3 figures I gave in my example were all "hearsay" from one of the other flockers.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[Tonto 1]

Chat to the pilots. You'll learn plenty!

Porters are on the slow side when it comes to run in speed.

Otters and Skyvans are comparable.

King Airs can be on the quick side, but some pilots (and some mods) make them more comfy to climb out of.

CASAs Antonovs and C-130's are high speed birds with speeds of about 140 kts IAS being about normal, and 200 kt run ins very possible.

I'd imaging there is increased wear on the suit - but your suit is there to use up, right? It's a depreciating asset. Wear it out before the new designs hit the scenes! (He he... speaking as a dealer, of course!)

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[LouDiamond 1]

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Two questions about these high speed passes:

1) How bad for your suit are they, really?

If your suit is well taken care of you shouldn't have any issues on high speed passes but some times seams blow out on normal jump runs. YMMV

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2) What is a good speed, in case I have to be the one to coordinate with the pilot in the future?

Let me say that you should only be doing high speed passes out of tailgate aircraft. Any other configuration could be deadly to you and the A/C. How fast you go is dependant on the A/C and what the pilot feels comfortable doing. Rule of thumb is anywhere around 130 +/- is good. Going any faster makes the exit harder for multiple launches off of the tailgate as you already experienced, it is easy to take a tumble. At the Birdman Boogie in Eloy the pilots told me they could get me to 180 but after seeing people cartwheel off the ramp doing 150 I found 130 to be a happy medium for beginner and experienced alike.

Most Aircraft will have to either make a second pass in order to get up to speed or increase speed after the normal drop unless you have specialty runs like we did in Eloy. Either way you need to keep in mind that you are traveling across the ground faster than your used to, meaning your farther away from the DZ, unless it is a downind run in which case you are getting closer to the DZ. This is important if you are launching in groups as set up time and time between ability groups needs to be considered before people are lined up on the ramp.

On downwind runs,with no turns, it also means the more experienced birds need to get out first(farthest from Dz) and those less experienced last(closest to Dz). Spacing between groups is critical as it is possible for the first ones out (experienced birds) to catch up and even pass the less experienced birds either on level or above/below the group on the way back to the DZ. This can make for exciting openings as the sky can get crowded come pull altitude. This is no different than exit seperation we deal with for skydiving now except we have turned it to a horizontal plane in 3 dimensions.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[The111 0]

Thanks for the reply Scott. Those speeds were in knots, right?

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[cynci 0]

Hello Mathew,
No mention of the “best two way ever”, with a bird-chick no less, who gave you your first high-speed pass? And that first exit was a bit faster than 100. You took it like a champ, my friend… I wish I had decided to wear my camera. What a great jump. <3

~ Cyn
--going nowhere at lightening speed!--

[The111 0]

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with a bird-chick no less

What, you want special recognition just for being a girl?

It was a good jump though. I've tried that over under thing with lots of good fliers (planned ahead of time) and it never went off as smoothly as our impromptu version.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[vesatoro 0]

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1) How bad for your suit are they, really? I know someone who has blown up two suits in his career *cough* ScaryPerry *cough*, but I probably shouldn't be comparing mere mortals to him.

I have about 50 agressive over the tail exits from C-130, which flyes about 150kts. I have noticed no excess wear or tear with my suit. I have two wingsuit exits from a russian An-26 (twin turboprop, 50-60 skydivers) which was flying about 200kts and blowing up all freefly formations at exit. Nice exits high above the plane, but I think that repeated too many times that could start destroying the suit. Go and check http://www.flybirdman.com/learn/exits.html and tailgate exits there.

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2) What is a good speed, in case I have to be the one to coordinate with the pilot in the future?

I think that for starters one should not go over 150, as with that speed there is plenty of power to rise high above the plane if done correctly. Also the dangers with unstable exits grow all the time when you increse the speed.

"Fear is the path to the Dark side"
(Master Yoda)

[diablopilot 2]

Hey, do you know how fat the high speed CASA passes were at WFFC?

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[bodypilot1 0]

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Hey, do you know how fat the high speed CASA passes were at WFFC?

Fat?

I saw some fast one though.




Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[diablopilot 2]

Hey, I lost weight by then.........!

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[LouDiamond 1]

The arrangement I had discussed with Fayard and SDA and was agreed on was for a high speed passes to be around 130-140 so it wouldn't have an impact the jump runs or require a seperate pass. I know we had one end of day high speed pass where we had enough birds to get our own run but weather beat us to it.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[diablopilot 2]

Interesting. I would suggest the speed was higher than that for the run I was on, but alas I was not up fron to check out the ASI since wingsuits were out first....

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[cpoxon 0]

Simple solution...does the aircraft have a public address system? If so, get the pilot to call out the airspeed. You can here the pilot say "one three zero" on this video

Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

[penniless 0]

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Hey, do you know how fat the high speed CASA passes were at WFFC?

Relativistic contraction? Must have been VERY fast.

[diablopilot 2]

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Relativistic contraction? Must have been VERY fast.

Yeah, I was guessing .99 of C but I might be over estimating a bit.

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.