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kusgra

crossfire/canopies with wingsuits

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Everyone is gonna tell you to never jump an elliptical canopy with wingsuit. That is very good advice. But, if you are an experienced wingsuiter with solid and stable body position on opening, you could get away with ellipticals (that is based off of my past experience). The risks involved are a lot greater and you will eventually get spun up.

Now, I have done many wingsuit jumps with crossfires and I believe that if you want to wingsuit with any elliptical, this would probably be the best one to do it with. It is very stable on opening. I ony got spun up a few times with it, and each time I was able to get out of the twists.

If you want to wingusit with and elliptical, make sure you understand that there is no special way to reduce the chances of a cutaway, and a cutaway is bound to happen. The best thing you could do is have plenty of wingsuit deployments under your belt, and make sure that you have a very good body position on deployment.

I slightly modify my deployments when using an elliptical. I'm a big pussy and wont deploy an elliptical in full flight. I typically shut the whole suit down and allow myself to freefall again for a few seconds before I pitch. I feel that this gives a safer opening for the elliptical due to the decreased foward speed and increased vertical speed. it also gives me a little more time to see if my body position is a little off (like in a slight turn, for example).

The general concensus is that its bad to wingsuit with ellipticals. I agree with that, but its all up to you and how much risk you are willing to take. Don't be upset if you have to chop a little more often.

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Yo dude,
Did about 100+ jumps on crossfires/wingsuit ranging from 139-109. At lower (1.3-1.5) wingloadings, I found that they were fine and sniveled well, few twists, questionable heading performance, but worth the swoop. The 109 was loaded at around 1.7 or so, and got very spicy on a couple of jumps. Elliptical in itself is not that bad, the higher the loading, the more potential for a cutaway, just like any jump. Also Katana 107, seemed to be a good idea 90% of the time, but when it went bad, i was glad I pitched at 5500.

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Everyone is gonna tell you to never jump an elliptical canopy with wingsuit.


Or jump a canopy you are comfortable with.

I got 50+ on a Pilot, 100+ on a Triathlon and some on a Cobalt (WL 1.6+).

I prefer to have a fast/clean opening canopy < WL1.5.

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My wingsuit canopy is a Stiletto 150 at 1:5 (no cutaways, yet). However, I am experienced and have a stable body position at deployment. Load up a Stiletto anymore, like most canopies, and I think your odds of a cutaway will go up.



"I promise, I will never die."

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worked super nice for me for 150+ jumps now.
i use a lazy bag and dynamic corners, a combo that really helps i think.
the thing is when jumping the v3 the legwing can do funny stuff on the openings, since the are so slow and snively.
i didn't try it yet but i think with proper technique you can use the legwing to spin yourself out of beginning twists :P. or into some...i make sure to really have it collapsed.
i did a couple of jumps with a katana 120 and thats a completely different thing, 4 jumps, all horrible, 1 chop.
crossfire2-super nice openings, and i load it at 1.8.

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And how about a "semi"-elliptical Electra 150 loaded at 1? Just curious.



I'm not very familiar with the Electra. It sounds like it would be similiar to a Sabre2 or a Silhouette. If thats the case, then it would probably be fine. Also, your wingloading is pretty conservative, so that should help keep the canopy docile.

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My choise for combined wingsuit and swooping canopy is Icarus Extreme FX. I have about 400 flights with wingsuit using FX with wl ~2.4 (sizes 79 and 70 sqft). Line twists maybe 3-4 times, no spinning, no reserve rides.
V

"Fear is the path to the Dark side"
(Master Yoda)

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Hey Buddy

To be honest, I reckon you should just go square. I recently sold my second rig with my Samurai 111 in it as I was not doing any FF anymore, I only do WS now.

Like the other poster says, you will just have a chop sooner or later. The canopy is not really the important thing, its the wingloading... I jumped my Sam 111 (@1.9) and nearly chopped it each time. Spins and dives are no good when your limbs are tied together. My solution was to retire into squares. I have a high WL on my pilot 104 ( about 2.0) and it flys great, opens nice (500 jumps on it now) and NO chops. not even close. My honest opinion is to err on the side of caution, if ya wana FF then go small and ellipital, and swoop the pond, if ya wana WS then just enjoy the WS flight and be happy with a square, even load it up a bit if you want, and it will fly great for the landing, but an elliptical loaded at greater than about 1.2 is just gonna be a chop sooner or later.

just my 2 pence

darren

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Darren,

I completely agree with you. I fly Mach-II with Samurai-136 (1.8 lbs/sqft) but this is because I just have it this way right now B|, not because it's a smart thing to do. If something goes wrong, things will happen and I'll pray my zippers won't jam. No chops, so far, but there is definitely some feeling in it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRQZKAPKUuo

Samurai is a great canopy, but when wingsuiting I try to deploy it no lower than 4000ft. This is a part of price to pay for using the same canopy for everything.

Never say never
http://www.youtube.com/villu357

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Hi all:
Anyone out there jumping a crossfire with your wingsuit? Good or bad experience?

Or other suggestions for an elliptical swoop friendly canopy that won't lead to a reserve repack once a week?

Thanks!

Virgil

What's most important is that you are comfortable with the canopy you're flying. I fly a Katana 97 load at 2:1 with a wingsuit with no issues, but know the canopy really well. I spent some time learning the canopy before I started jumping it with a wingsuit.

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Nice video!!

That is EXACTLY what happened to me on the 3 occasions I jumped my Sam 111 with my S3. I pulled high, and was just about clear by 1500. I knew that I was going to chop it sooner or later. or lose my life....

So now I jump my square, and I have not even come close to chopping it.

The Sam is a great canopy for swooping, but I would not recommend anyone jumping ellipticals of any brand IF HIGHLY LOADED with a WS.

Just a matter of time if ya do........

Darren

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My wingsuit canopy is a Stiletto 150 at 1:5 (no cutaways, yet). However, I am experienced and have a stable body position at deployment. Load up a Stiletto anymore, like most canopies, and I think your odds of a cutaway will go up.



I thought much the same thing about my Stiletto and my experience... until I had two cutaways in a month in a wingsuit. Then I bought a Spectre for wingsuiting.
...

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

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