Bird-Man wing extentions

[PeteS 0]

I finaly flew my GTI with tip extentions today at lodi, a solo from 13k. Wow! the smoothness of feedback from the suit was the most dramatic enhancement I noticed. I haven't flown a suit in a year and felt right at home, T-hutch said I had an excellent exit and begining flight seen from the door.Turns were almost effortless by dipping a tip in the direction of turn. fun stuff, gotta go home!!! Pete.

[bodypilot1 0]

Nice Pete!

It been awhile Brother, wish I was there to fly with you.

See you in a couple weeks.


Be safe.
Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[RayLosli 11]

hey man, Now put a extension on the GTi tail.
It added 5 inches to O.A.L. of Tail & also made trailing edge THIN........
I put stiffener in the thin edged extension also.
To keep it's flexibility I only stiffeners are in the triangular stitching pattern closest to the trailing edge.
(in the stitch pattern) - The triangles pointing up (closest to trailing edge) have stiffeners the ones that are pointing down have none.
I did not see the use in doing wing mod. without Tail also.
.
I read in an earlier thread that someone put a Carbon Fiber in trailing wing and tail edge. I am assuming that C.F. had a directional stiffness weave in it. that also sounded like a good idea for WS mod..
.

[The111 1]

Looks good Ray, how does it fly?

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Definitely looks like a good mod, Ray.

Chuck

[leroydb 0]

dude, post sum data on that sumn'of'a'gun

Leroy


..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio...

[PeteS 0]

Sounds like a good deal, gettin more tail.I will have to make something up. I did a couple more flights and was trying too hard ,stalling flipping on my back and just actin' a fool. Avery told me to relax a bit, not stretch my legs as tight as possible and try to get some forward speed. I'll see what I can do....

[RayLosli 11]

Well I took it for a couple of flights today. the weather has been kind of hit and miss till this afternoon.
first I took it out @ 5-k for a quick one to catch the feel. then I went to 10-k to play with arm positioning with full extension of tail.
I got to sat that I think that it is a mistake in taking the tail of the GTi all the way to the ground.
I screwed up. (there i said it) I was wrong.......
It defiantly was not smooth at all and kind of twitchy when you mad a full extension and locked the knees and pressed it out flat and stiff.
I am no WS expert but I think with that narrow of stance with the GTi. then the full extension to the ground is just bad harmonics.
The second I backed off just a little and bent the knee some. it smoothed out.
I did have good forward drive with the extension but it just felt wrong as far as a good balance.
bad balance or harmonics is the only way I can describe it.
I possibly could have made a Better Choice just leaving it short but just making it wider to increase the surface area and enhance the drive. Not longer.
.

[tr027 0]

Too bad. Maybe it's just the material or construction used that is causing the problem?

"The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it. " -John Galt from Atlas Shrugged, 1957

[RayLosli 11]

Maybe. anything is possible but Logically that was to best choice for enhancement of drive.
The Tail and inflation of shape is thick to the trailing edge of GTi
for me the Easy choice was was.... ( add Length ) + ( make trailing edge of wing thin ) = ?
Sounds like a Win-Win situation. ?
Not that there is no such thing as an Easy fix. but I think it is a little more complicated than that.
Everything must flow through the air fluently with proper balance when you max out your body position for max. drive.
If it was that easy I would just sew two pieces of blue plastic tarp together. Then climb inside and fly....
.

[SCARYPERRY 0]

what is your head position, looking up or chin on chest??Have seen alot of GTI flights and that suit was prone to have some airflow issues.Noticed that if head was raised or large rig...airflow would partialy delate leg wing stock.So when you think of airflow over head,rig and back????It can all change with head position, ect,ect just a observation

Only he can be happy,who can make his the present hour,for today he has lived

[RayLosli 11]

I usually have my neck straight, looking as the ground or side to side.
Rig is about average size / 120 main / 150 reserve / 6'-0" height 180 lbs
Been flying the GTi for a few years but not hard core. No big flocking just a 2 or 3 way once in a while. or some tandem slalom. No expert just like to fly but I got a good solid relationship with the GTi., know my sweat spot.
.
I think what I am going to do is take the wing mod. off. Then take it up for a few jumps so I can feel the Tail mod. alone by itself.
Use same arm and Body position as ussual. Playing with both mods. for me is kind of like chewing gum and Whistling @ the same time........
Me pulling on and playing with trailing edge of wing was a big air flow change with the wing mod. and grippers.
.

[SCARYPERRY 0]

cool ,keep us posted on what you find as we know we have only scratched the surface of what suits can achieve

Only he can be happy,who can make his the present hour,for today he has lived

[RayLosli 11]

Hey I did more jumps and today with the Tail mod. I put on GTi. On the last jumps today I really had smooth flights.
I got the body position dialed on it. It does up the forward speed performance for sure.
because it is now narrow and long tail and has a totally different sweet spot. So when I got aggressive with it to max it out. It did not act the way I wanted it to act and was used to the way it was flying.
It was just letting me know that I was Not dialed in on it by being ultra-sensitive and twitchy.
I got some people telling me it that it most likely is acting like S-1 did and I just needed to give it a few more jumps so apparently they were right.
.

[MikeOne 0]

Any chance of a photo of the arm wing extensions? I'm thinking of doing something similar with my GTi. What material did you use/how did you attach it (sewed?)?

Mike.

[The111 1]

Quote

Any chance of a photo of the arm wing extensions? I'm thinking of doing something similar with my GTi. What material did you use/how did you attach it (sewed?)?

CLICK for pre-made extensions (with pictures).

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[RayLosli 11]

I took the wing tip extensions/handles off on Sunday. Before doing a few more jumps with the tail Mod.
I really did not care for the Handles. You could hold them and Lightly pull to make the trailing edge a little more taunt.
but the GTi wing is very thick when inflated (thick all way to trailing edge) and I really did not know if it as really doing anything all that great that just using proper arm positioning did in flight.
It might of made a small difference but the Tail extension and thinning the trailing edge is the major boost worth screwing around with.
The last jumps on Sunday really started to feel good with the longer Tail.
.
wing tip extensions & gripper are easy to make / just lay wing out flat and follow the taped seam from trailing edge up to where you wound put a Gripper.
They kinda resemble a small triangular shape with a gripper. They are not Big at all. / just sew/connect to the existing taped seam
They look kinda cool but I don't think they go with the suit. Because the wing is really hard and thick when inflated all the way to the trailing edge. Just hold your wing out the door when you are taxing down the Runway and you will examine & see. Not to much more you can do to improve except build a whole new wing shape.
A GTi is a GTi and that is that.
.