Skyflyer 3 as a first suit.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

That was a very scary video. I see both wing cutaways out and visible in the video. I wonder why the girl held onto them for so long? Yes, I bet this surely did pucker her butt and I am glad she got out of it with a clean canopy over her head. Wow.

[pastramionrye7 0]

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OSOK, I see that according to your profile you live in Florida. Once you get more jumps under your belt you absolutely need to visit Z-Hills. You can learn to spread your wings under the guidance of Chuck Blue or Jeff Neblekopf. They are both awesome WS instructors and they have a wide selection of demo suits for you to try. Jeff can also measure you for a new Tony Wingsuit while you are there. I love my Tony Aerobat.

Good luck with your progression into the flock!

-Chris-

I second all of that. I did my first three flights in an Aerobat at Z-Hills under the guidance of the awesome instructors over there then bought my own. I managed a few two-way docks on a Prodigy the first time I took my Aerobat for a spin. That suit just likes to fly stable. I love it and look forward to doing a ton of flights on it this summer.

[OSOK 0]

Hrmm... definitely a lot of thinking from reading this thread... I'm glad I posted.

The thing about me flying the suit before buying it... I would've done it maybe in the next 30 jumps or so, then bought it if I liked it.

What would I gain from the flight test? As of now, I love tracking. People make fun of me because I go on so many solo tracking dives... I love the feeling of going fast as heck, gaining lift from it, and doing better and better as the jumps add up. With wingsuits I don't know if maybe for some reason I won't like the "floating" sensation. Not that I've ever flown one, so there might not even BE a floating sensation... so I wanted to try it before committing to it.

So for now I'll continue jumping, tracking, watching WS videos, and checking in this forum keeping up with the news.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Assuming your profile is up to date and you only have 88 jumps, you are going to have to wait alot longer than 30 jumps to get any instruction on any wingsuit in FL. As far as I know, there are no wingsuit instructors at Homestead and none of the people at Sebastian, Z-hills, or Deland are going to teach you with under 200 jumps.

Going out and "just trying it" without any proper guidance and with insufficient skydiving experience is what killed the first guy who ever died in a BirdMan wingsuit. Wait till you have 200 jumps and I will GLADLY train you for free here at Z-hills on a smaller, more managable than that S3.

Chuck

[mbondvegas 0]

I would have to say you should wait a long while before donning an S3.

I broke the rules and started wingsuiting with only 115 or so jumps. However, I used a Prodigy which is MUCH simpler to fly and deal with situations than an S3 (or any other suit for that matter). You sound a bit like me in your early obsession with tracking and WS'ing. I did over 50 tracking dives in my first 100 jumps (mostly solo but also a few 2, 3, and 4 ways).

Try to get someone to do a tracking dive with you. Flying next to someone is rad and will give you a good feel for how well certain body positions effect your flight.

I'm sure many will say that my progression into wingsuiting wasn't ideal, but it is certainly a bit more conservative and 'safer' than hoping in an S3 at <100 jumps.

I bought a PF Tracking suit and put about 40 jumps on it and then bought a Prodigy which I have 20 jumps on to date and will be moving up to a Phantom in a couple of months. I would suggest a progression closer to this...if you intend to break the 200 rule.

I understand the desire to save $$, but these suits sell well on the used market....and just watch that S3 spin and think about it. I think a Prodigy is a good investment.

I appreciate your desire to fly a suit...I know the feeling. Be safe and long flights!


Edited to say: I'm not suggesting you should start WS'ing before 200 jumps...but if you do...manage your risks by making a 'reasonable' progression through the types of suits (tracking PF/Pressurized, hybrid/beginner Access/Prodigy/Classic, intermediate GTI/Phantom/Firebird/Eagle, advanced S3/Raptor, high performance blade/V2/mach1,gs1).

- - -
I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.

[Waldschrat 0]

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Going out and "just trying it" without any proper guidance and with insufficient skydiving experience is what killed the first guy who ever died in a BirdMan wingsuit.

exists a discussion at dz.com with this topic?

[MarkM 0]

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The thing about me flying the suit before buying it... I would've done it maybe in the next 30 jumps or so, then bought it if I liked it.

Assuming you're jumping at Homestead, I really doubt Fred will let you jump a wingsuit before 200 jumps. When I had 80 jumps I was tracking my ass off at Homestead doing perp runs from the flight line too. Just hang in and put your jumps in... 200 isn't a long ways off. When you get bored, mix it up with a little FF or visit some of the other DZs in the area and track there. You can also buy a tracking suit and play with that.

The flight test is an instruction session to go over how to fly and save your butt in a wingsuit. When you're ready to fly a wingsuit I'd really recommend the trip to ZHills. I moved from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando because of ZHills. You don't need to buy a wingsuit before going there either, they have about 20-30 demo suits and will have 2-4 models that should fit you. By the end of your first day of training you'll likely be doing 8 way flocks with the locals.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

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Going out and "just trying it" without any proper guidance and with insufficient skydiving experience is what killed the first guy who ever died in a BirdMan wingsuit.

exists a discussion at dz.com with this topic?

Sure, but you will have to dig back about four years worth of posts to find it. Here's what happened, briefly:

-Young college student at a small Cessna dropzone in Kansas gets his hands on a wingsuit from someone online who did not ask him about his experience.

-He had under 100 jumps (around 80 if I remember right)

-He didn't read any training manual, didn't really know how to hook it up correctly, and wasn't instructed or coached by anyone.

-He got out had a hard time in the suit, deployed unstable and was wrapped up in his suspension lines when he went in and died.


I have since trained four of this guys old friends. The first was a guy named Chris who used to post on here frequently. I trained several more here at Z-hills over the Christmas holiday.

[JohanW 0]

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Assuming your profile is up to date and you only have 88 jumps, you are going to have to wait alot longer than 30 jumps to get any instruction on any wingsuit in FL. As far as I know, there are no wingsuit instructors at Homestead and none of the people at Sebastian, Z-hills, or Deland are going to teach you with under 200 jumps.

I say ..

Chuck him in the tunnel

Johan.
I am. I think.

[OSOK 0]

SkyMonkey, thanks for the offer. I'll gladly take you on it when I have the jump numbers.

MarkM, you're probably right.

I honestly don't have a problem with just continuing to do tracking dives/etc until I have 200... I enjoy tracking more than anything else, as I've said before. I just wish more people down there tracked. I have done a couple of tracking dives with 5+... lots of fun. The only thing about those dives though is that you can't really track at your max, since you have to stay with the lead. I wish I could jump with someone that would try to stay with me while I tracked as hard as I could.

Thanks for the advice guys... will definitely take it into account.

[phoenixlpr 0]

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I honestly don't have a problem with just continuing to do tracking dives/etc until I have 200... I enjoy tracking more than anything else, as I've said before. I just wish more people down there tracked. I have done a couple of tracking dives with 5+... lots of fun. The only thing about those dives though is that you can't really track at your max, since you have to stay with the lead. I wish I could jump with someone that would try to stay with me while I tracked as hard as I could. Wink

I did like you. It was not as bright as it looks for the first. I had some trouble with my body position after having 40+ track dives before. It burned in and I was tracking like a brick in my first jump.

[VectorBoy 0]

I wish I could jump with someone that would try to stay with me while I tracked as hard as I could.

Assign a lead on the tracking jump, take grips on them, go over -go under, swap sides and get grips there. Have them change heading smoothly and the rest follow along. Change things up try to avoid any static position for too many jumps, including your solo tracking jumps.

[OSOK 0]

Any ideas how to change it up on a solo tracking dive?

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Sure. Practice exiting on both your back and your belly. Practice barrel rolls. Practice transitioning from belly to backflying. Backfly.

Chuck

[VectorBoy 0]

Instead of flying after the appointed flock leader some jumpers take a tag you are it now I'm the leader. It can get dynamic with heading and pitch changes. Combat tracking. The new leader flips over on his back and tries to evade oncoming taggers with heading changes.

[kallend 1,623]

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SkyMonkey, thanks for the offer. I'll gladly take you on it when I have the jump numbers.

MarkM, you're probably right.

I honestly don't have a problem with just continuing to do tracking dives/etc until I have 200... I enjoy tracking more than anything else, as I've said before. I just wish more people down there tracked. I have done a couple of tracking dives with 5+... lots of fun. The only thing about those dives though is that you can't really track at your max, since you have to stay with the lead. I wish I could jump with someone that would try to stay with me while I tracked as hard as I could.

Thanks for the advice guys... will definitely take it into account.

Come to Chicago, I will be MORE than happy to try to stay with you while you track as hard as you can.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[OSOK 0]

Kallend... I say "try" like that not because I think I'm good or anything, but because I think everyone's max track is so different from everyone else that it 'should' be hard to do... I honestly don't know... never tried it.

[ScottGray 0]

Totally agree with the replies thus far. On every skydive the room for error is small, in a wingsuit this is magnified many times over. When things go wrong they have the posibility to go way wrong. Blow out a wing, drop a bottie, break a control line, bad twists, partial malfunctions are extreme situations. DO NOT complicate this with a suit you are not ready for. Translate this to down sizing on a canopy.

GO TO A TRAINED INSTRUCTOR --- Z-Hills is a great option.

Look up Chuckie Blue or Scott Bland.

WSI-5 / PFI-51 / EGI-112 / S-Fly
The Brothers Gray Wing Suit Academy
Contact us for first flight and basic flocking courses at your DZ or boogie.
www.thebrothersgray.com

[Trae 1]

in reply to "With wingsuits I don't know if maybe for some reason I won't like the "floating" sensation. Not that I've ever flown one, so there might not even BE a floating sensation... "

.................

not floating .... flying or more specifically.... gliding. yep it feels like gliding downwards fairly rapidly.

If you like tracking you're gonna lurve wingsuiting. One of the best trackers I've seen could give a fat guy in a wingsuit a run for his money. (Hideo you still out there? )

Before you get your wingsuit you might get some mileage out of tracking pants.
Then dodge those early Birdman skyflyer suits..too twitchy and demanding for a beginner .
You'll get more use and fun out of a cheap used Classic or Gti and after some jumps the newer stuff available to you will blow that S3 away.