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bdrake529

Apache?

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Has anyone here flown the Apache? Jeff described it to me and it sounds like an interesting suit.

Anyone have any pictures of it?



I've put one jump on one, so first impressions and all, but I was quite underwhelmed. The arm position and grippers in particular just felt wrong.
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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Was your one jump BASE or a skydive?



Skydiving. Just remembered I actually did 2.

Plus points, it was very stable, and felt like it had potential for quite a lot of performance, but ergonomically there were things that just didn't feel right to me. But hey, YMMV;)
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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Although I didn't fly it...I did get to try on Tony's personal Apache at the Skyfest boogie. The suit is a new direction for Tony Wingsuits and I think it may lead to some very interesting and innovative designs in the future. Keep up the good work!

, Chris
WSI-6 / PFI-55
The Brothers Gray Wingsuit Academy
http://www.myspace.com/cgwingsuitpilot
http://www.myspace.com/thebrothersgray

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I have the first production model of the apache and have put about 40+ jumps on it and alll i can say if WOW. Despite it being quite a bit too big for me and only having about 50 wingsuit jumps,i can still get it easily down into the low 40 mph range and it is getting steadily slower. It flys steady and stable in flocks and still has enough range to get my 195 lb carcass into the low 40s with ease. In docked flight the grippers do flap a little but are easy to get a hold of. I give it a 9.5 out of 10.

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Any information on Glide Ratio? Have you put any BASE flights on it?

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...i can still get it easily down into the low 40 mph range and it is getting steadily slower. It flys steady and stable in flocks and still has enough range to get my 195 lb carcass into the low 40s with ease. In docked flight the grippers do flap a little but are easy to get a hold of.



If it's a BASE suit, none of that matters very much.
-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

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Although I didn't fly it...I did get to try on Tony's personal Apache at the Skyfest boogie. The suit is a new direction for Tony Wingsuits and I think it may lead to some very interesting and innovative designs in the future. Keep up the good work!

, Chris



Based on Mike Ehlas's description of how the suit is built, it seems like every other one of Tony's suits. With a worse characteristic...a narrower(as narrow as an S3!??!?) legwing.

Any BASE suit should allow a PC location that can be reached in full flight with no chance of the wing covering it. That is why any suit with a arm wing root extending too far below the hips is a no no for BASE.

Don't think I am knocking Tony's suits. I simply don't believe in that design. I'll gladly pay 2-3 times the price he's charging for his top suit if he make one for me with the characteristics that I specify.

Kris.

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Is it me or in the last year or so that Tony has been building suits and selling them he has put out 45 different suits? The next question when did Tony and or Jeff start BASE? Seems like a good time to slow down and perfect your line before you create something for such an intense and demanding environment.

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Do you have GPS data on your forward speed and related winds aloft data? i.e. What's your forward speed and what were the winds at the alt. you were flying at.

Foretrex 201 is a good tool to have and cost between $75.00 refurbed or $125.00 new sits on your wrist about the size of an altimeter.

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Do you have GPS data on your forward speed

Foretrex 201 is a good tool to have and cost between $75.00 refurbed or $125.00 new sits on your wrist about the size of an altimeter.
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thank you I need to get somth to help us test these things, its not enough to just listen to people say they out track everything off the cliffs

or watch as other suits drop back and down when one of us in a super mach one kick's it out when we head for home after a long flock when we skydive,
and to answer broken back there, i did jumps from 800 feet back in 1970, :)ive base jumped and Ive been working on making the pull oh so easy,
also i think saying that we've released 45 suits in 1.5 years is a small exaggeration, don't you?

Life is a series of wonderful opportunities,
brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.

tonysuits.com

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Ok Tony not 45 maybe 44 and yes I was exaggerating and I did know you had made BASE jumps. Was referring to more recent days. So the super mach one is that a new version of the Mach one. Just so you know I like Tony I have two freefly suits, pair of shorts and pants from Tony and owned two Jedei's.

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We definitely have made way more variations than that, but to date have released only 9 suits. who knows at the rate we are going we might have 44 suits released by next month, and Tony will defy you to out fly him in any one.:):ph34r::ph34r:

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or watch as other suits drop back and down when one of us in a super mach one kick's it out when we head for home after a long flock when we skydive,



I'm going to jump in here behind Tony.....maybe he doesnt have th GPS data to prove it.....but go try one and see for yourself.

I have one of his suits and have very limited time/experience on it...but even now the forward speed of it is just simply immense....its huge.
The presuurisation of the wings is huge too....yesterday I could feel pressure in the outermost arm rib pushing back with some force on my fingers which were on the arm wing gripper

If either of these attributes make it to the next design for a BASE suit.....we have two very desirable characteristics right there.

Personally I kinda like the idea of someone continually enhancing suit design based on feedback and performance characteristics....its positive.

KrisFlyz...why not speak to Tony about what it is you want in 'your' suit.....he's quite flexible and willing to help.
He might even be able to addd a couple of snaps on the front on the suit to attach to your rig so you dont have to bother whith a chest strap.:ph34r:

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or watch as other suits drop back and down when one of us in a super mach one kick's it out when we head for home after a long flock when we skydive,



How many super M1 are out in the field? I missed Jeffro @ perris but heard he had some demos which might have been Super M1s.

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That is a sucky time squeezey, for me with chicks rock- CreW camps- wingsuits in Lodi all in around the same time frame. Hopefully we can get you down to SanDiego towards the end of your stay. There are some people that really want to try super M1s there.

I'm not worried about the hill billy. I'll be fine as long as I stay on this side of the rockies:o.

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its not enough to just listen to people say they out track everything off the cliffs



Who are those people? Are you saying that the best BASE flyers donated their Vampires to Salvation Army and are now flying Apaches? ;) Names, please.

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or watch as other suits drop back and down when one of us in a super mach one kick's it out when we head for home after a long flock when we skydive



The transition from the 45-degree angle of attack, L/D~1.0 "flying" regime which is typical for flocking (nowhere near ~10-degree AoA, L/D close to 3.0 for best pilots) to maxed out glide can produce all kinds of illusions, in which wingloading is one of the major factors. Put up some numbers from BASE jumps. Exit altitude, opening altitude, horizontal distance, weight. You don't even need to spend $75 on GPS. Just use a topo map.
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Tony,

The biggest suit(due to lower wingloading) will look like it is kicking everyones arse at Breakoff. This may not always be true if the same people have an opportunity to have an even race. Like the one you guys had at Zhills and the one at Stupino.

Yuri,

Even BASE has its fair share of polluting factors.

a) Zero winds at the landing area don't always mean zero winds all the way to exit altitude. Even though we like to sell it like that :P.

b) Like any glider, if the mountain allows flying in the region of local conditions(ridge and thermal lift), a wingsuit pilot should take advantage of this. Smellveggan allows 1100m+ of the flight to be in a region of ridge and thermal lift.

ITW has strong updrafts in the bowl. Best taken advantage of during the cooler months.

Best glide performance at a mountain is always tied into the local conditions.

Having said all that the best suit someone can get for BASE is a V2. That is not to say that the V2 does not have problems. Just take a look at 'Fly the line'. The V2 itself can be improved a lot by making the armwing inflation more consistent.

Any suits that will perform well in the BASE environment will look like the V2 Planform. The sooner more manufacturers realise this, the better. Afterall, PF has gone in a new direction with the Ghost. Why can't other manufacturers do the same?

Kris.

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