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zyksulb

Wingsuit designs

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Ok, I usually don't post here, occasionly lurk, but not post. Last night, though, I couldn't sleep and started thinking about different wingsuit designs, why they fly, etc. (I don't fly a wingsuit btw), so I decided I would ask some of you guys here.

It was wondering, has anyone at Birdman or Pheonix Fly designed or tested a suit where the wings extend from the wrists down to the ankles instead of the hips? Would this fly better or it there just to much going on here?

I "photoshoped" a photo off of Birdman's site to show what I mean. Please excuse my poor abilities with Photoshop.

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I fly a Skyflyer, a V1 and a GS1, all different beasts all lots of fun, you can play with different parameters in all of them, distance, slow vertical, different turns back flying etc etc.

As with any difference in wing deigns all have slight pro's and cons over each other. You trade of one area to ebnefit another, all are getting closer to an optimum wing, but what is an optimum wing, for me its being able to fly slow vertical and get max distance, so its glide path and descent rate but I could just go for super slow and obsess over freefall time. Or then again super glide with faster fall rate.

Its all fun and its all moving forward very fast, the main thing is to enjoy all the advancements and not simply leap onto the latest and greatest so many people are not flying their wings to the limit because they start with the most extreme. We are following a pretty similar path to canopy evolution.

Try them and see what works for you, and yes the wrist to ankle design works and yes its slow I can average 38mph for the flight, but my glide path is not near my V1, so its all relative to what your looking for.

Cheers

Fraser
Dont just talk about it, Do it!

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I fly a Skyflyer, a V1 and a GS1, all different beasts all lots of fun, you can play with different parameters in all of them, distance, slow vertical, different turns back flying etc etc.

As with any difference in wing deigns all have slight pro's and cons over each other. You trade of one area to ebnefit another, all are getting closer to an optimum wing, but what is an optimum wing, for me its being able to fly slow vertical and get max distance, so its glide path and descent rate but I could just go for super slow and obsess over freefall time. Or then again super glide with faster fall rate.

Its all fun and its all moving forward very fast, the main thing is to enjoy all the advancements and not simply leap onto the latest and greatest so many people are not flying their wings to the limit because they start with the most extreme. We are following a pretty similar path to canopy evolution.

Try them and see what works for you, and yes the wrist to ankle design works and yes its slow I can average 38mph for the flight, but my glide path is not near my V1, so its all relative to what your looking for.




Very well said my friend. :)

Be safe
Ed
www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

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I remember Robi or Yari posting quite a while back saying they'd tested wrist-to-ankle designs and that the arm strain was just too much.



I've flown the GS1, and I had a thought about that. There are at least two physical forces involved in arm strain.

1 -air resistance on the wing. Ie, the desirable pressure that slows you down
a - pushes the arm towards your back
b - pulls the arm toward the waist via tension on the arm wing

2 - arm - leg tension on the fabric between the ankle and wrist
in addition to the tension caused by the wind, a jumper can put additional tension on the fabric just by pulling it as though to stretch it beyond its taut length.

My subjective experience is that the first was manageable without undue arm strain, but that the second could result in significant fatigue without any benefit to the flight path.

I wonder if a calibrated bungee or stretch fabric piece or a spring or something could be added to the wing between the wrist and ankle, so that a jumper could have some assistance in finding the sweet spot between the two. If there is a sweet spot at all. I wonder... would it have to be calibrated to the jumper's weight and desired fall speed...and could you use it to give feedback to the jumper on his speed....
My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

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I bet... you could put a little pulley-like windup thing on the thumbstrap...make it click for every few pounds of force / millimeters of stretch. Then with your thumb you could gain an estimate of the amount of tension by counting the clicks.

Kinda like a fishing reel...except you'd want it to be much smaller than a fishing reel & you don't need all that extra string.
My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

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Maria posted this in reply (actual concept/design flown)

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=41068;


how would you deploy with that on there seems to be way too much fabric and the burble would be enourmous:o
You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

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