bodypilot1 0 #51 June 17, 2008 Quote I'll need all the moral support I can get. I'll send you all my morals, but there better be something on that suit that is held on with bailing wire for Christ sake! www.WestCoastWingsuits.com www.PrecisionSkydiving.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
howardwhite 4 #52 June 20, 2008 I'm happy to report that today, Friday, Summer Solstice day, the Hardcase had its maiden flight at Flock U campus, Pepperell. Lurch is happy. HW Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhoenixRising 0 #53 June 20, 2008 It ACTAULLY flew. I was impressed. DSE and I will be posting a video soon to show all. Good job Lurch, your still alive. JustinWingsuit organizing, first flight courses and coaching Flock University Tonysuits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fasted3 0 #54 June 20, 2008 QuoteI'm happy to report that today, Friday, Summer Solstice day, the Hardcase had its maiden flight at Flock U campus, Pepperell. Lurch is happy. (/reply] Lurch, You have given life, excitement, and inspirition to me, and I'm sure the entire wingsuit community. Congradulations on a successful flight. Fast forward 10 years. "Yeah, I fly a Lurchsuit." I like it. For now though, how was your maiden voyage? It looks like there may have been additional challanges with your suit; did you find it hard to maintain control throughout your flight? It will be great to read your story, with your traditional flare. I'll second the notion you could be a writer, and a good one. I will finish with a warning: Please take this into your calculations on future flights: from now on the Earth's gravitational force will be stronger on you because of the iron balls you now own. Be careful!But what do I know? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Tony-tonysuits 0 #55 June 20, 2008 Quote I'm happy to report that today, Friday, Summer Solstice day, the Hardcase had its maiden flight at Flock U campus, Pepperell. Lurch is happy. HW he looks in pain that is the coolest suit, too funny well done LurchLife is a series of wonderful opportunities, brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. tonysuits.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites DSE 3 #56 June 21, 2008 I won't steal Lurch's thunder...but it was a super fun jump. That sucker FLEW! Video to be found here. Give it time to load, it's HD on Vimeo...If you don't have a fast connection, it won't stream smoothly. Just let it buffer. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites lurch 0 #57 June 21, 2008 DSE, thanks for putting up the video, I was expecting basic youtube, that was classy. Fasted, Tony,, thank you. I needed a good old fashioned transcendently awesome experience and Damn, I got mine today. Mildly curious here, why do you say it looks like I may have had challenges? Only thing I can think of is the first pic Howie posted looks a bit like I got a bloody nose but its just the lighting... Nose is fine. Actually happy to say it was a very "uneventful" drama-free flight. The suit performed exactly as designed. I have two minor corrections to make prior to next flight: The tail flaps at several different tail positions but I'm fairly sure I know what I did wrong with that... When I set it up the tail intake was huge, and worried about overfilling the tail or controllability/snag hazards I whipped up a louvered half-assed reverse airlock/intake restrictor. It worked too well and although easy to shut down, the tail didn't inflate with much enthusiasm at all. Easy enough fix, just open the intake up a bit. The other tweak is I just have to let out the harness a bit... this thing sports adjustable wingspan and chord via an integrated harness/spectra channel layout and I got the toes to shoulderblades setting a bit too tight meaning I was somewhat restricted from going to minimum fallrate. What you guys saw was the lowest performance setting. Control and flyabilitywise it performed exactly as expected. Didn't pull to either side, had loads of lift and power, far far more than I used on this flight. I never really opened it up, topped out at about 75% of max throttle briefly around 5500 feet or so, just gave it a brief burst of speed to see how it reacted. I haven't really evaluated its fallrate potential enough to judge yet mostly because of that too-tight setting, but given what it did evenwhen tuned down, I expect it to easily meet or beat my S-6's range and performance envelope fallratewise. The thing is rock steady stable and turns easily enough, all releases that I bothered to use under canopy worked flawlessly, (I didn't test the arm chops but the legwing locks worked fine) and although the restrictive settings on the suit made the deployment feel radically different than deployments in my daily driver suit, that didn't seem to matter any, didn't take me any longer to execute post-deployment procedures than it does in a factory suit, perfect on-heading opening, no interference or interaction between the suit and the rig/canopy/deployment system whatsoever. The set-back wing position and forward center of mass had some really neat effects on the trim, stability and how easily it accelerates. My S-6 flies very neutrally, but to go fast I have to push for it. This thing on the other hand, I have to deliberately hold back. Its default flight setting is "Go like hell!" So far the built-in 10-pound weight penalty of the leather jacket is more than offset by the increase in flight efficiency I get from the trim tweaks, harness setup and building it around the body positions I felt would work best. When I get it tweaked a bit more, put a few more flights on it and start actually mapping the settings for it I'll see whether its got a wide enough range that it can climb relative to a flock even when being flown at a slow forward speed. So far I think so, with a vengeance... Justin flew an SM-1 and still had to fly a wide curve to get the drive necessary to climb back up to me after he shot the exit- so I don't think I'm going to have issues with this thing sinking out. Best of all nothing failed, got stuck, unravelled or tore. I had contingency plans, multiply redundant emergency releases, a hook knife a cypres and I pulled high and I didn't need any of em. One of my bigger fears was bizarre structural or fabric failures resulting from my total incompetence with a sewing machine that heavy overengineering might fail to prevent, resulting in sudden, complex and very durable entanglements. I found so many "I'm in deep trouble if that lets go"s building the tail that I wound up altering the design heavily and repeatedly to include lots of structural overlap and lattice effects... if anything goes, a wing blows out or a zipper fails or starts to tear out there are few places where a tear or strap failure can do more than loosen a panel a few inches before the tear runs into a strap or fabric junction or major structural intersection usually featuring a fat knot of spectra tucked in there somewhere. A knot that was tied with vise grips. Basically a "ripstop wingsuit." I gave it a fairly close lookover after the flight and found no visible damage or physical changes, so now it goes back to the lab for a much more detailed millimeter by millimeter inspection under bright lights and a few tweaks, probably fly it again late next week, start picking up speed with it as I get the settings dialed in and start getting comfy with the thing. Also could use a few ergonomic tweaks, I think in time I'll add a zipper down the front of the tail because right now it is also the most awkward-to-don wingsuit to hit the skies in the last decade at least. Even those skinny hindu guys that specialize in stuffing themselves into 5 gallon water jugs would have a hard time putting this thing on. Its that bad. This is going to be fun. -BLive and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites howardwhite 4 #58 June 22, 2008 Couple more, before the maiden voyage. The creator and his creation, front and back, in front of the Bird House. HW Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites VectorBoy 0 #59 June 22, 2008 Imagine trying to board a jumpship dressed in that back in 1999. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites zoobrothertom 5 #60 June 22, 2008 Congrats dude!! You've got mega dose of the spirit that keeps us all flying. Keep us posted on your "tweaks" and the results of your test flights. ____________________________________ I'm back in the USA!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites skyjumpsteve 0 #61 June 22, 2008 Quote Imagine trying to board a jumpship dressed in that back in 1999 2008. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Signo 0 #62 June 26, 2008 Lurch, I am proud to have taken part in the historical maiden flight of the Hard Case. Cheers. Riccardo FU 5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites lurch 0 #63 June 26, 2008 Thank you, brother bird. It'll be in the air again soon enough, and as soon as I get tired of wingset 1 I'm zippin em off and building wingsets 2 and 3. Don't know how far thats going to go this season, but I expect to be flocking in it soon. -BLive and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites oldphart 0 #64 July 7, 2008 Lurch YOU ROCK!!! can't wait to get back up north and see ya... fly safe bro. I owe you a shot... Moonshine Willy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites lurch 0 #65 July 7, 2008 Holy shit...Duane? How you been brother? Damn, man, you gotta get your ass up here and come fly with us again. Been a few little changes around here, the old AFF room is now the Birdhouse, Flock U has gone from a vague concept Justin and I were discussing over lunch with friends to one of the biggest concentrations of wingsuit pilots to be found anywhere, (on a slow weekend you're still likely to wind up on a 6-8 way technical flock of some kind, usually with some prototypes thrown in and maybe a few students) and we got all kinds of cool going on. Come on up anytime, man, we miss ya. -BLive and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Prev 1 2 3 Next Page 3 of 3 Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. 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Tony-tonysuits 0 #55 June 20, 2008 Quote I'm happy to report that today, Friday, Summer Solstice day, the Hardcase had its maiden flight at Flock U campus, Pepperell. Lurch is happy. HW he looks in pain that is the coolest suit, too funny well done LurchLife is a series of wonderful opportunities, brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. tonysuits.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DSE 3 #56 June 21, 2008 I won't steal Lurch's thunder...but it was a super fun jump. That sucker FLEW! Video to be found here. Give it time to load, it's HD on Vimeo...If you don't have a fast connection, it won't stream smoothly. Just let it buffer. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lurch 0 #57 June 21, 2008 DSE, thanks for putting up the video, I was expecting basic youtube, that was classy. Fasted, Tony,, thank you. I needed a good old fashioned transcendently awesome experience and Damn, I got mine today. Mildly curious here, why do you say it looks like I may have had challenges? Only thing I can think of is the first pic Howie posted looks a bit like I got a bloody nose but its just the lighting... Nose is fine. Actually happy to say it was a very "uneventful" drama-free flight. The suit performed exactly as designed. I have two minor corrections to make prior to next flight: The tail flaps at several different tail positions but I'm fairly sure I know what I did wrong with that... When I set it up the tail intake was huge, and worried about overfilling the tail or controllability/snag hazards I whipped up a louvered half-assed reverse airlock/intake restrictor. It worked too well and although easy to shut down, the tail didn't inflate with much enthusiasm at all. Easy enough fix, just open the intake up a bit. The other tweak is I just have to let out the harness a bit... this thing sports adjustable wingspan and chord via an integrated harness/spectra channel layout and I got the toes to shoulderblades setting a bit too tight meaning I was somewhat restricted from going to minimum fallrate. What you guys saw was the lowest performance setting. Control and flyabilitywise it performed exactly as expected. Didn't pull to either side, had loads of lift and power, far far more than I used on this flight. I never really opened it up, topped out at about 75% of max throttle briefly around 5500 feet or so, just gave it a brief burst of speed to see how it reacted. I haven't really evaluated its fallrate potential enough to judge yet mostly because of that too-tight setting, but given what it did evenwhen tuned down, I expect it to easily meet or beat my S-6's range and performance envelope fallratewise. The thing is rock steady stable and turns easily enough, all releases that I bothered to use under canopy worked flawlessly, (I didn't test the arm chops but the legwing locks worked fine) and although the restrictive settings on the suit made the deployment feel radically different than deployments in my daily driver suit, that didn't seem to matter any, didn't take me any longer to execute post-deployment procedures than it does in a factory suit, perfect on-heading opening, no interference or interaction between the suit and the rig/canopy/deployment system whatsoever. The set-back wing position and forward center of mass had some really neat effects on the trim, stability and how easily it accelerates. My S-6 flies very neutrally, but to go fast I have to push for it. This thing on the other hand, I have to deliberately hold back. Its default flight setting is "Go like hell!" So far the built-in 10-pound weight penalty of the leather jacket is more than offset by the increase in flight efficiency I get from the trim tweaks, harness setup and building it around the body positions I felt would work best. When I get it tweaked a bit more, put a few more flights on it and start actually mapping the settings for it I'll see whether its got a wide enough range that it can climb relative to a flock even when being flown at a slow forward speed. So far I think so, with a vengeance... Justin flew an SM-1 and still had to fly a wide curve to get the drive necessary to climb back up to me after he shot the exit- so I don't think I'm going to have issues with this thing sinking out. Best of all nothing failed, got stuck, unravelled or tore. I had contingency plans, multiply redundant emergency releases, a hook knife a cypres and I pulled high and I didn't need any of em. One of my bigger fears was bizarre structural or fabric failures resulting from my total incompetence with a sewing machine that heavy overengineering might fail to prevent, resulting in sudden, complex and very durable entanglements. I found so many "I'm in deep trouble if that lets go"s building the tail that I wound up altering the design heavily and repeatedly to include lots of structural overlap and lattice effects... if anything goes, a wing blows out or a zipper fails or starts to tear out there are few places where a tear or strap failure can do more than loosen a panel a few inches before the tear runs into a strap or fabric junction or major structural intersection usually featuring a fat knot of spectra tucked in there somewhere. A knot that was tied with vise grips. Basically a "ripstop wingsuit." I gave it a fairly close lookover after the flight and found no visible damage or physical changes, so now it goes back to the lab for a much more detailed millimeter by millimeter inspection under bright lights and a few tweaks, probably fly it again late next week, start picking up speed with it as I get the settings dialed in and start getting comfy with the thing. Also could use a few ergonomic tweaks, I think in time I'll add a zipper down the front of the tail because right now it is also the most awkward-to-don wingsuit to hit the skies in the last decade at least. Even those skinny hindu guys that specialize in stuffing themselves into 5 gallon water jugs would have a hard time putting this thing on. Its that bad. This is going to be fun. -BLive and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
howardwhite 4 #58 June 22, 2008 Couple more, before the maiden voyage. The creator and his creation, front and back, in front of the Bird House. HW Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VectorBoy 0 #59 June 22, 2008 Imagine trying to board a jumpship dressed in that back in 1999. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zoobrothertom 5 #60 June 22, 2008 Congrats dude!! You've got mega dose of the spirit that keeps us all flying. Keep us posted on your "tweaks" and the results of your test flights. ____________________________________ I'm back in the USA!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skyjumpsteve 0 #61 June 22, 2008 Quote Imagine trying to board a jumpship dressed in that back in 1999 2008. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Signo 0 #62 June 26, 2008 Lurch, I am proud to have taken part in the historical maiden flight of the Hard Case. Cheers. Riccardo FU 5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lurch 0 #63 June 26, 2008 Thank you, brother bird. It'll be in the air again soon enough, and as soon as I get tired of wingset 1 I'm zippin em off and building wingsets 2 and 3. Don't know how far thats going to go this season, but I expect to be flocking in it soon. -BLive and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oldphart 0 #64 July 7, 2008 Lurch YOU ROCK!!! can't wait to get back up north and see ya... fly safe bro. I owe you a shot... Moonshine Willy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lurch 0 #65 July 7, 2008 Holy shit...Duane? How you been brother? Damn, man, you gotta get your ass up here and come fly with us again. Been a few little changes around here, the old AFF room is now the Birdhouse, Flock U has gone from a vague concept Justin and I were discussing over lunch with friends to one of the biggest concentrations of wingsuit pilots to be found anywhere, (on a slow weekend you're still likely to wind up on a 6-8 way technical flock of some kind, usually with some prototypes thrown in and maybe a few students) and we got all kinds of cool going on. Come on up anytime, man, we miss ya. -BLive and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
