Exciting a helicopter

[GeordieSkydiver 0]

Any views on the most efficient way to exit a helicopter? Its a Jet ranger, with skids, exit both sides.

I want to start flying as soon as possible and make the most out of the flight, time wise.

Lee _______________________________

In a world full of people, only some want to fly, is that not crazy?
http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk

[mccordia 73]

Most efficient would be to have the chopper flying, so you have some forward speed to work with straight away....but it kind of takes the fun out of the chopper thing ;)

If its hovering I think you can just look at base-exits for reference..
Armwings open, opening legwing a little later and hit the gas...maybe a little headlow to pick up speed and then fly it home

I have a dozen or so WS-chopper jumps, but I think James (or any other experienced ws base-flyers) would probably have the best tips and tricks when it comes to 'dead air' exits...

Anyone...anyone...Bueller? Bueller..

p.s.
and sorry about your tape man, I dubbed the wingsuit edit thing on there straight after empuria, but got a bit busy and still needed to put your matter3 jump onto the tape.
I finaly sent it out this morning, if you dont have it in your hands this weekend you can paint my yahoo gold..

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[tr027 0]

I think if you rub the blades quickly they get excited. The pilot will like it if you don't push off the skid, too.

edit: and don't forget to buckle that seatbelt behind you.

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

[blair700 0]

Yea, what he said.
Also, the suit doesn't start flying like a BASE exit AT ALL from a hover, IMHO. It takes a lOT longer from the chopper.
I like the idea of forward (ground?) speed to get flying sooner from a chopper, however if you are 'training' for WS BASE, then the hover is the way to go, unless you can get a balloon
Later
Blair

[vesatoro 0]

Just do a straight exit. Put your feet together on the skid and jump.

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

[kevin922 0]

Check out the exits page on flybirdman. I haven't made the "how to excite your aircraft" page because I have no experience in that. I just feed it money and it goes.


We're going through a migration of the website over the next week to a faster server. Anyone who has used FBM has seen that it is really slow loading the forums and the main page. This will be fixed.

I've also been slacking on updates, hopefully I'll be able to get some new updates in as well.

(anyone wanting to be a website manager?)

[mccordia 73]

Quote

Also, the suit doesn't start flying like a BASE exit AT ALL from a hover, IMHO. It takes a lOT longer from the chopper.

I dont have any base-experience, but seeing wingsuiters exiting with smoke from a chopper, there doest seem to be any noticable difference from what I've seen in BASE flights?

Aside from a slight downdraft underneath the chopper the first bit, what makes it any different then an exit of a cliff?
I'm really curious about that one...

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[GeordieSkydiver 0]

Quote

Check out the exits page on flybirdman. I haven't made the "how to excite your aircraft" page because I have no experience in that. I just feed it money and it goes.

Ok ok, it was a typo...

Thanks for the advice guys.

Lee _______________________________

In a world full of people, only some want to fly, is that not crazy?
http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk

[blair700 0]

For me, it was WAY more than a slight downdraft, I fell and fell as my wings just flapped, until I was out from the rotor wash, then off to the races. I've jumped maybe 3 different types of choppers, all 4-6 seaters, so that's about all I have to go on. Actually, one day I jumped a chopper then a balloon, and there was a NOTICEABLE difference, to me, in how quickly I was able to fly.
Also may have something to do with the fact that 80% of my wingsuit BASE jumpes are with a tailwind
Later
Blair

[mccordia 73]

As I sayd earlyer, I dont have any base-experience to compare it with, but I never really got the 'falling and falling' sensation you described from the chopper.

I've done 10 or so wingsuit jumps from a hovering chopper (6 seat bell-ranger and some 4 seater of which I dont know the type) and in nearly all it was flying pretty quick after exit, and the wings seemed to inflate as soon as I started falling..

I have some footage from the Herc Boogie of a 5 way we launched of the chopper (2 of the jumpers with smoke) and the smoke trails seem to show all flyers taking of pretty quick, without any noticable far 'drop' after exit..

If you watch this video, at about 1 minute, there is a 3 way exit (Tristan, Jlo and me) from a hovering chopper.
After the exit seen from the inside, I cut to a shot of my huge nose. That cut is about half a second after exit, and you can see the wings fully inflated almost directly after exit, and the suit starts flying forward pretty quick after that. Tristan did the same exit and just fell/flew right into his slot behind me..

But maybe there is a difference in the power of choppers and the amount of downwash they generate while hovering...?

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[TomAiello 25]

Quote

Also may have something to do with the fact that 80% of my wingsuit BASE jumpes are with a tailwind

Wouldn't a wingsuit start flying later with a tailwind? Sort of similar to the way a slider down opening consumes more altitude in a tailwind?

I'm just theorizing, but wouldn't the wing blowing backward up the wings mean that you need a greater fall rate to "un-stall" the wing and start flying?

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[blair700 0]

Ya, I don't know about the choppers' power, just speaking from personal experience
read: I am a Fat American and fall down fast
Tom,
Your theory sounds good to meAlso, the fixed jumps are at night which probably alters my perception too.?
Later
Blair

[Zoter 0]

I dunno exactly 'how' to excite a helicopter.........but I know what happens when you do......

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/2006-2-10_Ground_Resonance_Rear_View.mpg

(Not a great stream so best to Rt click and save as)

[riggerrob 558]

That Chinook suffered a bad case of ground resonance.

[unclecharlie95 3]

scary schtuff!!

BASEstore.it

[KrisFlyZ 0]

Quote

Wouldn't a wingsuit start flying later with a tailwind? Sort of similar to the way a slider down opening consumes more altitude in a tailwind?

I'm just theorizing, but wouldn't the wing blowing backward up the wings mean that you need a greater fall rate to "un-stall" the wing and start flying?

Tom,

Remember the discussion we had a few months ago about smaller wingsuit and stall speeds etc.?

Since then I read Yuri's post about the bigger suit starting to fly faster. So there is no question as to what happens in practice.

There is one thing that seems a bit unusual with it. The bigger suit has more 'fill volume' so it must take more time to inflate and thus fly(overcome stall speed?). Blair has experienced that flying off As is faster.

The only way to explain both these(atleast what I have come up with) is that the initial movement away from the object is probably due to the bottom surface deflecting air and pushing the jumper away from the object. The tailwind is a factor in Blair's observations. Maybe we associate the feeling of moving away from the object with flying.

Kris.