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plutoniumsalmon

Vampire 2 vs Blade?

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I am not avoiding any questions I was just busy. I will have more than 50 jumps on that "something" (gti) by the time the suit gets here, and Ill also have a few on the V1 as I soon as the person who owns it returns from Europe.
Though I do have to wonder why I have to defend myself here. Yes I will buy a high performance suit. Yes I will try to fly it, but if I feel uncomfortable on my first jump I can always put it back in the box and fly something easier until I feel more sure of my ability. I am not made of money and therefore do not have the ability to buy all the suits that will get me to V2 or blade progressively.
I also believe that there are ways to fly the two suits (provided you somewhat know what you are doing) without pushing the envelope and without much more risk than flying a gti. Sure it will take me longer to progress but I got some time and am prepared to put the work in to it.
Oh yes my BMI thinks that I am safe enough to take this step, so I guess Ill listen to him. All I wanted are the differences between the two suits not the opinion of I should get one. Thank you by the way to the people who contributed the information that I needed.

Anywho, Have a Nice Day.
PS And to the person comparing me buying a v2 or a blade to a velo I would like to say that you are comparing apples to oranges, because when I have a problem with a wingsuit I still got, the cutaway wings, the main, the reserve, and some time to figure out what is going wrong and how to fix it, whilst the person who hooked it too low only has fractions of a second to fix it and possible divine intervention.
Pointy birds
Oh pointy pointy
Anoint my head
Anointy nointy

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PS And to the person comparing me buying a v2 or a blade to a velo I would like to say that you are comparing apples to oranges,



Don't blame Zach he is just screaming jealous at the fact that he missed on the PR boogie were he could have "sky posed" with purple Mike and that he lives in the friged north and isn't experiencing, like you and I are, some of the best flocking weather the Socal has ever seen for these times of the year. He is normally quiet a pleasant bitch.

Man I love global warming! Lets keep it up fosilheads!

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I've seen enough people totally getting flown by their suits. Usually right after exit too. If you can't get out of a barrel roll or spin, it can be dangerous. Bigger wings mean more chance of a main malfunction (if you don't close them when opening) too.

Like I said, I wouldn't sell you either suit, but you may be a very good with a wingsuit or you just may have found a BMI who is lax in that area (I know one of those [:/]).

Just be careful. If everything goes well in a big suit, it's very easy to fly. Not fly WELL, that takes practice, but safe enough. If you get bumped or try acrobatics or stall the suit, things can go real fast in a real hurry. So I think the comparison with a Velo isn't that far off. Sure I can land a tiny hp canopy. But if it all goes to sh*t, maybe I can't :S

ciel bleu,
Saskia

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I still got, the cutaway wings, the main, the reserve, and some time to figure out what is going wrong and how to fix it,



true, but most of any issues you experience could have been avoided with a correct progression. It is a little different jumping a ws and jumping a ws with much more wing. It having a possibility of covering your hacky is something else to deal with that you dont experience on the smaller suits.. pull is a bit different.


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damn that blade inflates beautifully ! nice pic ...



sure does. a real nice pic too.
scott - does this suit have the possibility of covering the hacky?




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lives in the friged north



neg 15 with windchill isn't that bad! B|
(runs off to go cry)
:ph34r:


*edit to add -
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Though I do have to wonder why I have to defend myself here.



You don't. You came here asking for advice with no background information. If it seems that I (or we) am attacking you, then you are wrong. I (or we) have lots of respect for the dicipline, skydiving, and good pilots and dont want to see others get hurt or 'scared' from it. I want to keep smiles on the new and old pilots and smiles on others as they see how much fun we can have in the air.

Where is my fizzy-lifting drink?

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scott - does this suit have the possibility of covering the hacky?



The hacky is very easy to reach and while not impossible, its very unlikely as the wing doesn't interfere with the hacky at all.Its as clean as a Classic suit pull IMO.

Matt: Pics were for a project. More will be forthcoming.

Kris: I just rolled in from Eloy and I don't have any data handy.
"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

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The blade is a very high performance suit aimed at both flocking and acrobatics.

In terms of where it sits in the BM range, it is certainly above an S6 in terms of performance and range.

The flying position is cerainly different to the S6 with a wider leg stance and slightly different arm positions.

The arm wing comes down a lot further than that of S6, but due to the way the wing is cut, the pull is definately no harder than any other big winged performance suit.

One thing that i think will catch a lot of people out on flying a blade for the first time is the leg wing that wants to stay inflated due to the airlocks. Come pull time you'll be glad of the practice pulls you did ealier (as we all do on flying a new suit for the first time, dont we ;)) as its tricky to close down, unless you're used to opening in full flight.

There is a lot of range in the suit and it's cerainly great fun to fly.

To the person who started this thread, a blade is definately not a suit for someone who thinks they may have 50 w/s jumps before they take delivery. It really does sit right at the top of the BM performance line and if your comparing it to a GTi as if you'll be ok making a couple of jumps to see what it's like, you wont. Trust me.

Unless you're used to flying big suits, you wont know what to expect in terms of flight and what could go wrong. If you are not completely in control of the suit, it will totally become in control of you. Sure your example of it being different to an HP canopy may seem true, but what if come pull time you lose control (if not before), get yourself into a very nasty flat spin, pull some serious G's, lose conciousness, cant find your hacky, your AAD fires, your resere spins up into a ball of shit and you impact with minimal canopy above your head.

Yes, thats a worst case scenario, but there are definately elements which could be a very real risk when you fly the bigger, high performance suits.

Why not make a few more jumps on other suits before trying to go straight for the biggest and seemingly best suits on the market.

Learn everything you can on the smaller suits, which can be a bit more forgiving of body poition. Its still wing suit flying. It's still fun!

Aside from the possible risk associated with jumping a bigger suit, you'll also not enjoy the bigger suits if you dont know how to fly them.

I've seen a lot of people just go straight for the biggest most expensive suit they can because they think its what they need to do. These are generally the people who end up flying at the back of a flock and falling out of the formation.

Jump, learn and have fun, thats what its all about :)
Where are you based?
Phoenix Fly - High performance wingsuits for skydiving and BASE
Performance Designs - Simply brilliant canopies

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If you are not completely in control of the suit, it will totally become in control of you. Sure your example of it being different to an HP canopy may seem true, but what if come pull time you lose control (if not before), get yourself into a very nasty flat spin, pull some serious G's, lose conciousness, cant find your hacky, your AAD fires, your resere spins up into a ball of shit and you impact with minimal canopy above your head.



Whoa!!!!! that suit sounds like its too much for even someone like me to fly. All that stuff is way scary. I'll stick with an easier suit to fly.

BM must be conducting test pilot type interviews with potential customers. Is the flight medical screening included with the purchase price of the suit?

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Whoa!!!!! that suit sounds like its too much for even someone like me to fly. All that stuff is way scary. I'll stick with an easier suit to fly.



Its just like any other high performance suit more and more people seem to recommend to newbies..

Just like advising them to try high speed exits from planes with low rear stabilasor at low altitudes with low jumpnumbers..

No sense in doing so..but still people do;)

When the S3 just came out, people where giving these (and worse) warnings about flying it with little experience.
And somewhere along the line, the S3 became a beginners suit in the peoples minds. And people with little to no previous skills in a wingsuit are now suddenly advised to go and fly a high performance suit like an S3, V2, S6 straight from the start...."you'll be fine"

I see no hurt in telling people what they should know holds true for any suit with bigger wings..
JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

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You know birdman international will sell and has sold an S3 to someone with very little, as in one jump with a bMI, experience. So if its ok for them............?

Recommending a high speed small door aircraft to a low skill jumper is a non event as there are all kinds of low skilled people currently jumping that ship successfully. If you are in a wingsuit just don't open up your wings until you are clear........zero extra skill required. Once the craft is away you open your wings and fly. Eh, safely.

This isn't the just off AFF forum. I'm not babysitting anybody. Wingsuits require just a little experience, roughly 200 jumps, and a great deal of desire and enthusiasm. Jumpers should be able to spot and jump master themselves and perform a proper exit from most of the available craft in the airlift inventory by the time they consider wingsuits.

When I was at that stage and wanted to try an S3 with just roughly 30 some odd classic jumps we were convinced I was going to flat spin, struggle with body position, and scare myself on the deployment. The only dangerous ( and expensive) thing that happened was that I fell in love.... with wingsuiting. I soared far above my buddies and other than the extra care during the pull the S3 requires that suit was easier to fly, for me, than my classic. Much more stability, range and joy overall. I never gave it back. I bought it then and there. It gets expensive from here on out.

The basic fact is that people like you like scaring new comers that if they have too much suit for their skill they will disintergrate on their first HP WS attempt despite having probably enough wingsuit experience to try it once. In the old days it was fraud BMIs with barely 50 ws jumps themselves that talked like this probably worried that some average jumper was gonna hand them their ass on a flight and laugh at what they attempt to charge for a GC,FFC and suit rental so they scared you away from the S3 so they could maintain the advantage .

The entire downside of all of this attitude ( like yours ) is that it drives the independent and rebellious skydiver into actually getting more wingsuit than they need, at first. Being flown around flailing or the poor performance for these rebels is a personal dark secret. If they are alone on their DZ nobody will ever know not even themselves. It is a shame but they are not going to spin themselves out of the ionosphere like you say. Its more like having sex with ugly partners, its OK if nobody can see you. But when they get to were the big flocks are they suck. They suck bad and everybody notices mister bigsuit / no-skills. Its like everybody knowing you are having sex with your sister.

Just ask anybody who has tried to assemble a flock from a group of jumpers that usually jump alone at their home DZ. Unless they have a bunch of base jumps on their ( god I hate to say this ) ego suit. They will probably be lame but not deadly.

If you by accident or due to your rebellious nature find yourself in more suit than you can handle don't panic! Get to where you can jump with others, were the flocks are, if you have to rely on a BMI its OK they probably have more jumps by now and can help. You too can be a safe pilot. Z-flockers and team fly like a brick can make you a better pilot for less beer than it takes to seduce a young attractive packer girl.

Get to flocks! I can't stress this enough. Go to where the demos are before you buy: demo,borrow, demo,borrow, flock, flock till you drop.

Dissclaimer: You can die in a wingsuit ( its true ) any wingsuit! Yes you can die in t-shirt and shorts too. You are ultimately responsible for choices you make in gear and how you employ it.

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Breath? Can you imagine if I could actually type more than 5 words per minute?:o



And nobody even mentions my brilliant Felix quote:|;)

And I guess views on advising people about safety may differ..

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Air rebels and team fly like a brick can make you a better pilot for less beer than it takes to seduce a young attractive packer girl.



AirRebels is an audiovisual company I run to pay my bills. Unless you're looking for video editing, 3D animation of visual effects for a movie, I dont think you'll learn anything about wingsuiting there.

And FlyLikeBrick doesnt even require beer...just showing up in a wingsuit is enough;)
JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

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And nobody even mentions my brilliant Felix quote:|;)

And I guess views on advising people about safety may differ..



I didn't catch the quote. Can you expound for me.

You can't sell safety to a skydiver by scaring them with death, which they think is cool if they survive. Now they are bad ass and unstopable.

You can scare them with being profoundly embarrassed at the bonfire for big mouths and poor performance, a fate much worse than death.

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You can scare them with being profoundly embarrassed at the bonfire for big mouths and poor performance, a fate much worse than death.



That's actually very true. Keep in mind that the number one fear for most people is "public speaking" (or the potential for public embarassment), not death.

Ever heard of (or had) a skydiving dream where you bounce, stand up and brush yourself off, and the first thought through your head is "did anybody see?" I've had them, and heard of many others having the same thing. Scott Miller, canopy coach extraordinaire, told me that he has had that dream before, and in his dream he bounced in front of a bunch of people with no handles pulled, and then stood up and popped his reserve just so he could claim he didn't go in with nothing out. :D
www.WingsuitPhotos.com

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Just ask anybody who has tried to assemble a flock from a group of jumpers that usually jump alone at their home DZ. Unless they have a bunch of base jumps on their ( god I hate to say this ) ego suit. They will probably be lame but not deadly.


Well, what to do if none else is jumping wing suit in the region? I won't start FF because it is said to be the coolest discipline.

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I didn't catch the quote. Can you expound for me.



Its a quote from Michael Abrahams Book (Brilliant read btw, definately get it if you havent already) about landing a wingsuit (though Im still lost at where to 'suit' fits into felix contraption)
But a bit off-topic (even more then the current discussion)

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You can't sell safety to a skydiver by scaring them with death, which they think is cool if they survive. Now they are bad ass and unstopable.



I think giving people on honest view or warning is on a whole different side of the spectrum, then the scaring to death and trying to permit/stop people from jumping you're trying to sell here..

Sugarcoating everything and telling everyone they'll be fine is also not the way to make it a safer dicipline..

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You can scare them with being profoundly embarrassed at the bonfire for big mouths and poor performance, a fate much worse than death.



I dont think there's much shame in poor performance. Everyone has his off-days. Some more then others..but enough about me;)

Time to get back on topic,

Anyone from holland or belgium who wants to give the Blade a spin, send me a PM and we'll hook you up.B|
JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

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Thanks for the misleading quote ;)


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Unless you're used to flying big suits, you wont know what to expect in terms of flight and what could go wrong. If you are not completely in control of the suit, it will totally become in control of you. Sure your example of it being different to an HP canopy may seem true, but what if come pull time you lose control (if not before), get yourself into a very nasty flat spin, pull some serious G's, lose conciousness, cant find your hacky, your AAD fires, your resere spins up into a ball of shit and you impact with minimal canopy above your head.

Yes, thats a worst case scenario, but there are definately elements which could be a very real risk when you fly the bigger, high performance suits.



This was generic speak about the bigger, higher performance suits, in a worst case scenario. It was not meant in a scare tactic manner, rather just trying to provide more information about what *could* happen if everything went against you on the jump.

In my opinion (and yes, just like assholes, we all have one), i think its not a bad idea to get a bit of experience on smaller suits, where the risks of potential problems are reduced, before going out and ordering the highest performance suit you can find.

I think everyone should make informed choices about gear. I was just trying to provide some information. :)
Phoenix Fly - High performance wingsuits for skydiving and BASE
Performance Designs - Simply brilliant canopies

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Agree with you completely.

Even though I had thousands of jumps when I started to fly a wingsuit, I still felt it prudent to do 50 odd jumps on smaller suits before going to an S3. I won't buy a Blade yet. I'm not feeling at all out gunned in my S3-S.

t
It's the year of the Pig.

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Anyone from holland or belgium who wants to give the Blade a spin, send me a PM and we'll hook you up.B|



What about the U.K?

I would like to give it a spin or few. If I can fly it for a couple of weekends, I'll have honest comparision numbers against the Phantom(don't own a v2).

Kris.

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