What is the fastest wingsuit available at the moment?

[fenceline 0]

Ok, there is only one way to solve this logically.

Find a pilot willing to pace you with his aircraft. This will have two advantages...

1) He can tell you what you're airspeed is within a couple of miles per hour.

2) The spinning fan(s) at the front of the aircraft will ensure maximum pilot performance.

Somebody try this and tell me how you did

Jay

[The111 1]

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You can probably make a suit that will have much smaller wings (i.e. higher wing loading) while still keeping L/D high, specifically for winning a horisontal speed race. However it won't be very convenient for anything else.

I was wondering when someone was going to mention that. Forward speed is not the goal of wingsuiting... forward speed WITH glide however is another story. Nobody probably knows which WS can get the most forward speed because there aren't people out there trying for it. As someone else said, it's possible to reach well over 150mph forward without a wingsuit. I wonder how fast I was moving forward when I was diving my S3 at 196mph?

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I got the best glide out of S3 trying to go slow (and it did glide great, 2.4 on best BASE flights!). Same didn't work very well on V1 and i eventually gave up and sped it up, reaching 2.5+ glide.

Ok Yuri, I have a few questions since you seem to be someone with extensive BASE experience in both suits and I value that. You reached 2.4 glide in your S3, and you say 2.5+ in your V1... how much "+"? I.e. what's the best you've sustained so far?

Also, you say the V1 glides much fast than the S3 at the best L/D glide for each suit. Which is more attractive for BASE, a fast glide or a slow glide (assuming constant glide slope, which I know is not the case here). You mentioned something about the SG being attractive because it has a good glide rate but still flies slow along that slope.

And one final question, I am NOT interested in a Ford/Chevy pissing war and I could care less which company makes which suit, nor will I challenge your statement that the V1 glides better than the S3. But I am curious if you have flown the S3-S and if so, how it compares to the S3 and the V1, in terms of glide and speed. I wonder if ANYONE out there has extensive experience out there in all 3 of these suits, especially in a BASE environment like you are used to, where the performance feedback is much more obvious. The only one I've jumped is my S3 and I'm still having fun.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[KrisFlyZ 0]

Just theory here.......

As you may already know an important difference between the Skyflyer and the S3 was thinner wings. From what I have seen, the S3-S is just and S3 with peices of Mylar sewn into the ribs(these have no specific shape they are just triangles, unlike the mylar in the Vampire V-1 wings that are cut in a definate shape).

I welcome anyone that has both suits(maybe a birdman rep) to post pictures with a list of differences between the S3 wing profile and the S3-S wing profile.

Kris.

[unclecharlie95 3]

I looked at an S3s in Norway, same wing profile, just slightly wider leg stance and mylar inside.

BASEstore.it

[mccordia 73]

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As you may already know an important difference between the Skyflyer and the S3 was thinner wings

I thought the important difference between the S1 and the S3 was the wider leg-stance/slighly bigger wing. Adding more stability. Never really noticed anything about 'thinner wings' flying the S1 or S3..it's not a feature that stood out/was noticable to me when I was flying it..?

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the S3-S is just and S3 with peices of Mylar sewn into the ribs(these have no specific shape they are just triangles).

I welcome anyone that has both suits(maybe a birdman rep) to post pictures

I don't know for sure what you mean with 'triangles'...?
Forgive me for not opening up the wing with a knife to show the mylar ribs, but I'd like to continue flying my suit longer
But as far as I can feel, the ribs inside the S3S wings are cut so they push the wing into a correct wing shape. Basicly a wing-profile. Is that what you mean? I don't really see/feel the triangle thing?

I've felt the V1 ribs (when james was wearing it..rrrrrr) and to me, it actualy felt quite the same as what I'm feeling in the S3S, in terms of shape...(TALKING ABOUT THE ribs you perverts)

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[unclecharlie95 3]

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I've felt the V1 ribs (when james was wearing it..rrrrrr)

Easy tiger! I thought we agreed not to talk about our little secret on the forum!?

BASEstore.it

[outrager 6]

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Ok Yuri, I have a few questions since you seem to be someone with extensive BASE experience in both suits and I value that. You reached 2.4 glide in your S3, and you say 2.5+ in your V1... how much "+"? I.e. what's the best you've sustained so far?

I flew S3 for 2 years and my best flight was 2.4. This is a final number because i'm done with it. V1 i only had for 6 months and so far got better flights with an average L/D of 2.5. The usual pattern is a good glide for a minute or so, then you get tired and start to loose it. It is probably a bit over 2.5 for this minute, as it drops significantly in the end. I still learn on every dive and hope to add a bit of glide next season, thus the + at the end. Main limitation is currently my own body

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Which is more attractive for BASE, a fast glide or a slow glide (assuming constant glide slope, which I know is not the case here).

It does not matter by itself. What is important is how quickly a suit starts flying, allowing one to exit from gnarlier lower vertical drops. A bigger suit with lower wingloading and slower stall speed will start flying quicker, which is a plus. After that it does not matter.

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And one final question, I am NOT interested in a Ford/Chevy pissing war and I could care less which company makes which suit, nor will I challenge your statement that the V1 glides better than the S3. But I am curious if you have flown the S3-S and if so, how it compares to the S3 and the V1, in terms of glide and speed.

I did not fly S3S and have no desire to. I will claim that there is no measurable difference in glide between S3 and S3S, just from looking at the changes of the wing.

I do not care who makes which suit, never get sponsored or get those silly BMI ratings I simply fly what is currently the best. S3 was a great suit, i loved it. It is simply old - over 3 years old to be exact. There is a new generaion of suits that came out this year, it is only natural that they are one step better. There will be another generation next summer, and so on.

bsbd!

Yuri.

[unclecharlie95 3]

It is worth noting, Yuri flew the S3 like nobody else could

Most pilots saw a big increase in performance right from their first flight on the V-1.

Like Yuri said on those long flights (90sec +) you get tired and the performance drops off towards the end.

My peak GR measured with GPS was 2.7, but it is the average GR that counts. Still training and learning.

BASEstore.it

[The111 1]

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It is worth noting, Yuri flew the S3 like nobody else could

Don't forget about this guy.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[mccordia 73]

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It is worth noting, Yuri flew the S3 like nobody else could

Don't forget about this guy.

Isnt that the guy that manages to rip wings off of any suit? No matter if it's a Prodigy or an S3

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[The111 1]

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Isnt that the guy that manages to rip wings off of any suit? No matter if it's a Prodigy or an S3

Yeh, I guess that counts as "flying a suit like nobody else can".

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[nicknitro71 0]

This is my 0.02. Speed is most definitely the wrong measure here. Take two pilots under the very same canopy. One weights 150 lb, the other 250. They open at the same altitude and fly in a straight line to the ground in full flight. Of curse the heavy pilot will go faster, both horizontally and vertically hence it will reach the ground sooner, yet the glide ratio is the same and the lighter pilot will land at a later time approximately on the same spot.

Let me give you another example. No matter how much rear risers I apply on my Prodigy 175, its glide ratio is worse than on my Alpha 94 at full flight despite the 81 sf difference.

This concept applies to WS as well but things get more complicated. With a canopy we can change easily the glide ratio with application of risers. Most canopies have the best glide ratio with a little rears applied and the worse with a lot of front (TAS not GS). Yet some canopies just have a piss poor glide ratio (the Prodigy).

With WS the pilot's own body is the front and rear risers and it takes a lot of jumps to figure out the best glide.

I believe that each suit has a "built in" glide ratio that must be explored and found, i.e. what works best on one suit might not transfer to another.

Yuri stated that the best glide ratio on the S3 is roughly 2.4, I believe that and maybe 2.6 on the V1, probably the case too, yet what many don't realize is how many jumps you'll need to reach these numbers and find the sweet spot.

With my S3 I can feel when I am close to the best glide ratio however at this point the suit is very squarely. When I'm not maxing it out , the suit is more manageable leaving more room to dick around.

Suit manufactures should concentrate on few things now that the basics have been mastered: better glide ratio (of course) and a larger sweet spot. By this I mean that if the suit is able to get 3.0 L/D almost any pilot should get a 2.8 without much effort (the large sweet-spot window).

Robi and Jari, where are you???

Memento Audere Semper

903

[nicknitro71 0]

I forgot to mention one thing.

I cannot leave things alone. I built carbon fiber trailing edges on my S3, it's now called the E-mod S3. There are two pieces/arm wing and three/leg wing.

I only put four flights ever since the mod. I can tell you that I do believe (no GPS data) the L/D is about the same BUT the sweet-spot window is much, much larger. I can fly the suit maxed out and it does not feel as squarely. Also keeping the arm wings in shape requires less strength and the stall point occurs at lower air speed.

Memento Audere Semper

903

[notsane 0]

Matt,

Don't you remember the look on Perry's face when Rosalyn (in a Phantom) SMOKED him in his V-1?

[The111 1]

No, didn't see that, but I heard about it from Rosalyn who swore the jump never ended and was getting ready to make her next one with a Neptune but didn't get a chance. I'd like to try that Phantom myself sometime.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[TomAiello 25]

I have removed the lengthy pissing contest that was developing at the end of this thread.

Let's all try to grow up and realize that this forum can be used for actual constructive communication. If you just want to argue for entertainment, I recommend making a post about gun control in Speaker's Corner.

Thanks!

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[vid666 0]

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I forgot to mention one thing.

I cannot leave things alone. I built carbon fiber trailing edges on my S3, it's now called the E-mod S3. There are two pieces/arm wing and three/leg wing.

I only put four flights ever since the mod. I can tell you that I do believe (no GPS data) the L/D is about the same BUT the sweet-spot window is much, much larger. I can fly the suit maxed out and it does not feel as squarely. Also keeping the arm wings in shape requires less strength and the stall point occurs at lower air speed.

any chance for some pics ?

tnx !