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ph8068

Ghost

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It made my day when this arrived in the office post. I was up for the obligatory office pics but the looks I got when I pulled it out of the envelope were already too strange! As you can see from the colour of the sky at the DZ, the suit remains in its unflown pristine condition. Fingers crossed for next weekend!

Things I like:

- The angle of the wing tip grippers which feel really comfortable

- The inflation mechanism of the torso

- The great fit

- The v v bright orange!!!!!!

Incidentally, my old GTi's now for sale in the classifieds (shameless plug!)

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I love mine. Depending on what you were flying previously it might be tireing on the first few jumps. Not plug and play compared to other suits but not so weird that it should be hard to adjust. Took me a few flights to get a better idea of the "how" to fly it. I am still learning but I am much more comfy now in it! Once you get it more dialed in you will not get very fatigued even on Max time flights..

Scott C.
"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

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does the tail flap when you fly dirty ?

like i said - im a fan



Tail flap is not someting I have really noticed when dirty. On my Phantom I did notice it at times but so far I have not felt it with my Ghost

Scott C.
"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

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If it was the same suit he had at F&D 3.0, that was Robi's prototype. The new design has what looks like ram air inlets on the front and and improved inlets on the back with airlocks. I have felt no flutter, even flying dirty. The suit pressurizes nicely.
50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

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I made three dives on a Ghost the other weekend. I'm not sure I like the hand position for the grippers, but I liked the suit. My first thought is that it's pretty well suited for it's intended purpose. Wide range, low flappage. If you can get your hands on one, give it a jump.

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Well I finally got to put the first three jumps on my Ghost this weekend, both solos and flocking. Fantastic!

Flying for max glide, the suit feels wonderfully stable. And digging the wings in, you can a huge amount of instantaneous lift to maneouvre within a flock.

Maybe vertical numbers mean nothing, but going for distance, I blitzed my personal best on my old GTi according to my Protrack - shows how the technology has moved on if nothing else.

If you get a chance, try one :)

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I did 4 jumps on the Ghost at the Moab boogie. The demo suit fit me like a glove and I couldn't have done better if I had one custom made for my measurements.

I'm very impressed by this suit. It was very easy to fly and flew very stable dirty as well as when maxing it out.

A lot of people at the boogie complained that the suit was physically tiring to fly. I never experienced this. Quite the opposite. The arm pressure felt light and when I rolled my shoulders forward to max it out, the pressure never increased to a level of discomfort. Perhaps I've been conditioned by flying my Super Mach 1, or maybe some people just weren't finding the correct arm position.

My first flight with it, I was a little too ambitious and decided to lead the flock on my back. Considering I'm still working to reduce my fall rate to flocking levels while back flying on my SM1 (and to a lesser degree, my Acro), this was not a good idea for a suit I had never flown before. So unfortunately I sank out. The suit few stable on its back, and I'm sure with more experience on it, I could find the sweet spot for lift. But on that first jump, after sinking out about 1000 ft, I gave up and flipped to my belly. I gunned the suit and was able to make it back up (off to the side of course) before breakoff. That kind of lift recovery really impressed me.

Subsequent flocks, I led on my belly and that worked out much better. I was able to maintain a good speed (both forward and fall-rate) without getting too dirty, but on breakoff, I was able to punch it out and leave most others far below me.

For a big-wing, hi-performance suit, I felt this was the easiest suit I've flown so far. I took to the suit immediately, unlike the much steeper learning curve I experienced with the SM1. Of course I'm the most experienced now than I've ever been so maybe that has something to do with it...

So my only complaint/question: airlocks. If I understand correctly, this suit has airlocks. But I can't for the life of me figure out what they do. When flying dirty, the tail wing flutters quite a bit and even in "normal" flight, there is a slight tail wing oscillation. On my back, the tail material was not rigid and didn't seem to fly any different than my Acro.

Also, there is no resistance when collapsing the wings. On my SM1, the airlocks are quite evident because I literally cannot squeeze the air out. I've heard similar reports about the Blade which is airlocked as well. I was expecting at least some "push back" from the pressurized, airlocked wings on the Ghost, but felt none.

This also came into play at pull time. The giant wing on my SM1 is definitely in the way of my hackey, but due to the solid pressurization maintained by the airlock, it is very easy to bypass. But with the Ghost, the arm wing deflated as soon as I went to pull position and there was loose fabric in the way which wasn't as easy to get around. It only took an extra second or two, so I don't think this was life-threatening, but it was a consideration that makes this suit's minimum experience recommendation (50 flights) worth paying attention to.

So what do the airlocks on the Ghost do?

Incidentally, I don't really see this being a problem (even the tail flutter). The suit's performance spoke for itself and I still recommend everyone give it a try.
Brian Drake

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I blitzed my personal best on my old GTi according to my Protrack - shows how the technology has moved on if nothing else.



If the suit had the exact same area as a GTi then 'new technology' might be the reason. When you got a suit with nearly double the area, a comparison is pointless.

Kris.

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A lot of people at the boogie complained that the suit was physically tiring to fly. I never experienced this.



I felt the same thing when going from the Phantom to the Ghost. Now I dont even notice it after a good number of flights on the Ghost! Not plug and Play is the thought that comes to mind..


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So what do the airlocks on the Ghost do?

Incidentally, I don't really see this being a problem (even the tail flutter). The suit's performance spoke for itself and I still recommend everyone give it a try.



I think the "airlocks" are designed to work when belly flying to not let air out of the back inlets. So not a airlock in the sense of trying to keep air in the wings.

About the tail flutter, I do get it in dirty flight. I had not noticed it much on smaller flocks but as the requirement for dirty flying got bigger I do see it happening. No issue but more an annoyance in flight as it is not hurting my flying just making me not look as pretty in the air :) Once I kick it out the flutter is gone as it is gone on faster forward flocks.

I agree the range is huge in this suit and it really fits the described goal it was built for, High Performance Suit with great Flocking Range. Also I agree that the pull needs to fall into the "Big Wing" mentality with a dileberate pull motion to avoid the wing. I have a bunch of flight on my Ghost and I will get lazy in the pull and be reminded I need to do it right, minor adjustment and finish pull sequence so no big deal.

Scott C.
"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

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So 3 of the CO crew finally got some flights on our new suits today. I have nothing but good things to say about this suit. I was a little nervous flying this suit again after MOAB. I felt so natural flying my "old" Phacro and was afraid that I would not be able to fly this suit the same way. When I demoed it back in MOAB I was easily fatigued and felt a little sloppy flying the suit, but today I felt normal strength. I could not believe the range we all had with this suit. I was also a little worried about the tail flutter some people had talked about, but for some reason, my leg wing is rock solid, so much so that I can't close it all the way during deployment. Not as much as described with the SM1 but defiantly felt like i was squeezing a smaller beach ball between my legs. When testing the back-flying capabilities I quickly found the sweet spot and was able to fly with my buddy just a few feet above me again in a very acceptable fall rate. Aerobatics were also an easy transition from the Phacro. As said on PF website, this is suit is intended for experienced pilots. It is a great suit but definitely would recommend some jumps on intro/intermediate suit first. I would definitely recommend a longer bridle with this suit. Not so mych a big deal with the smaller suits but today I borrowed a rig today with a standard bridle and could feel some delay on deployment. There is still a lot of learning to do but I am very happy with the first flights. PF has yet to let me down with any of their lineup.

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I think the "airlocks" are designed to work when belly flying to not let air out of the back inlets. So not a airlock in the sense of trying to keep air in the wings.



That does seem kind of strange eh. I woulda thought that if you're going to design a suit with airlocks that's also deliberately designed with back flying in mind, then it'd be natural to airlock all the intakes.

Has anyone experienced anything more definite or actually know how PF constructed it?

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At first glance, the front inlets do not appear do have any type of airlock. They are essentially two large scoops on the front of the leg wing. You can actually fit your arm down these scoops into the center two cells. There is in fact a valve or loose piece of balloon zp that will cover these openings while you are on your back. I believe the back has a similar design but are inlets rather than scoops. I only have a handful of flights on the suit but have been on my back about half the time and my leg wing was always well pressurized.


I have another question regarding the design of the suit that maybe someone can answer. On my phantom, the way that the leg would inflate was through the side inlets near the hips of the suit. there were circular holes at the top of the leg wing cells(inside the suit) to allow the air to enter. Now on the Ghost, there are still these side body inlets that allow air into the body of the suit, but no holes at the top of the cells as described above. what are the point of these side inlets? is it just to pressurize the body? Also, there is no mesh covering the top of the arm wing cells from inside the sleeve. My phantom had this mesh but was curious to why it is not there on the Ghost. No complaints on the suit just curiosity with the design.

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Also, there is no mesh covering the top of the arm wing cells from inside the sleeve. My phantom had this mesh but was curious to why it is not there on the Ghost. No complaints on the suit just curiosity with the design.



I was told the lack of mesh is to reduce manufacturing cost and complexity.
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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