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Sangi

Inflation

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Hey,

I noticed that some wingsuits don't seem to inflate (or am I wrong).

For example some Birdman suits and S-fly ones.. They just seem like a simple piece of cloth with no air inside them, while wingsuits like Raptor, Vampire 3 seem very puffy and full of air inside them, fully inflated...

Why's that?
"Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

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All wingsuits are just copies of other suits. Kind of like Infinity is just a copy of the Javelin container.:P

The picture of the BM suit is on the ground. Hence no inflation.
The S-Fly suits are a "monowing" so the whole body pressurizes. It won't look the same as a PF or Tonysuit. The V3 and Raptor are also newer designs and have newer inlets with airlocks to maximize pressurization.

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A lot of factors effect inflation Sangi.

How well the suit fits the pilot can effect inflation for one. Some suit designs are ultra critical of the fit. For example the acro/phantom1 series had indirect inflation of the leg wings. If the suit didn't fit right the inlets could be totally obscured. This design flaw was cured with later versions of the acro/phantom with direct inlets and airlocks.

Most of the mono suits ( S-fly, Matter suits) are one big internal shape. Easy to pressurize but not in every orientation to the oncoming airstream. Easy in and easy out. They have smoother contours across the span and less air mattress effect.

Some suit designs feature uncomplicated but yet very effective inlets and airlocks that hold in the air pressure very effectively during transitions through less than optimum angles of attack like the Tony suits. The air mattress stays tight longer until pressurization can resume. Some elements of this design has gone back to improve versions 2 of the acro-phantom-ghost over the version 1 but tested on the stealth ( as a test bed) from the PF line.

One aspect of the new V3 arm wing is the completely closed off cell with simple inlet/ airlock design. The V3 has excellent air mattress like pressurization. The newer Tony arm sleeved suits and the V3 are the only suits with completely enclosed arm wing cells.

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But it's not good having poor or no inflation like in the BM/S-fly photos? This means lower performance unlike the mattress looking V3?

If you look at this video, particularly at the 5:36 part where the whole wingsuiting starts, you will later see (6:28) a guy flying a black suit with red arm/leg wings and the one with white suit and blue arm/leg wings (6:26) and they don't seem to inflate at all, it just seems like a simple piece of cloth without any inflation whatsoever..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOjMV3nIVUQ

Why's that? Is that just a very old model? Also, what about it's performance?
"Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

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Performance is based on a lot of factors.



True, but I'm talking about inflation now...

The guys in the video (6:26 and 6:28, black/red and white/blue wingsuits) seem to not have any inflation. So basically my question is: why make a wingsuit without any or poor inflation? Isn't it better to make hugely inflatable mattress type of WS?
"Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

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The older designs and some of the newer ones that don't have gigantic don't require bulging mattress inflation. The smaller suits can get away with normal airfoils with smooth contours.

As the big and bigger suit come out the super mattress inflated structure helps take some of the load off of the arms and legs of the pilot. Rigidity by pressurization.

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Because when those suits were made they were still learning. Those were old suits. Classic 2's and Maybe some GTI's




Take a look at some of the original Classic 1 suit pictures. You will see they have a very puffy inflated look to them. I believe there is an old Robi post in the forum where he discusses the benefits of a smoother skin profile. The lack of a bulging appearance doesn't necessarily mean the wing is not being properly inflated. The wearers body position, to a certain degree, can influence how well a wing is allowed to inflate, as well as suit fit, during any given moment of the flight. Suit inflation in general has improved over the years which has resulted in less felt strain to fly a given suit when the wing is inflated. It is also common to see suits flown today in less than optimum body positions while still maintaining wing inflation while not losing performance.
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How well an inlet works depends on how much of its opening area points into the relative wind.

In the attached picture, the inlet is marked in red. As one can see, how well the inlet works depends on how much pressure the pilot puts on the wingtip.

It is always better to fly relaxed than tear the wing apart. Look at the leg wing in the below picture(overextended.jpg). That is an example of how not to do it :).

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photos of the under surface of the wing will look uninfated due to the external air blasting against it photos of the top surface will look puffy for lack of air blasting against it, der! take a look at the photos in your example the ones that you claim to have great inflation are just photos of the top surface and the ones that have bad inflation are just photos of the underskin

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photos of the under surface of the wing will look uninfated due to the external air blasting against it photos of the top surface will look puffy for lack of air blasting against it, der! take a look at the photos in your example the ones that you claim to have great inflation are just photos of the top surface and the ones that have bad inflation are just photos of the underskin



Neither picture is presented as an example of great inflation!

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Hey,

I noticed that some wingsuits don't seem to inflate (or am I wrong).

For example some Birdman suits and S-fly ones.. They just seem like a simple piece of cloth with no air inside them, while wingsuits like Raptor, Vampire 3 seem very puffy and full of air inside them, fully inflated...

Why's that?

The inlet could be as small as a cigarette burn and the suit would inflate, as proven with the "smoke pants" of a few years ago. They all inflate.

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