Need some help flockers

[millertime24 8]

So here's my dilemma. I'm flying my p2 with my buddy (in a t-bird) and I just cant seem to stay with him. I literally have to keep my legs pinned to my ass to fly on the same level. Is there any other sort of inputs I can use to keep with him? Here's the vid. If you notice at about 8K I extend my legs and he drops like a friggin rock. Hope you guys/gals can give me some usefull input.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSOxE6ClKH0

Muff #5048

[jumpsalot-2 2]

Weird, he has more suit, but you still float on him. He looks like he's holding back alot, maybe you could ask him to pick up some forward speed and see what happens ??????

Life is short ... jump often.

[mccordia 73]

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Weird, he has more suit, but you still float on him.

Its not always the amount of suit you have that makes you fly, its the forward speed that provides the lift. So 'more suit' doesnt always aqual more lift/float.

Though idealy everyone flies max, often speeds can be lower so learning to match all flight speeds is definately good. Also the slower ones.
Try varying the width of the legwing, instead of bending at the knees.
So you can fly legs straight, but with a narrower legwing.

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[SuperGirl 0]

Gotta love how the P2 just wants to take off! So much aerodynamic power in such a small wing.

To answer your question, Yes. There are a few things you can do.

Have you ever seen the position I fly in for vertical formations? It's the one trick I've found to get the Phantom to bleed off a lot of its awesome forward speed without compromising any lift and still leaving a lot of range for control. It's all about cupping as much air as you can, with your entire body.

Rather than relying on bringing your knees up on your butt for slow down (which gives you less to work with as far as leg inputs go, too), try bringing your knees forward, so the lower surface of your legs can still be fairly parallel to the airflow and allow you to use all kinds of minor inputs. Sometimes this position can be done so aggressively it looks like you're in a sit. I've gotten quite a few laughs and "wtf"s for this style of flying I like to do... but if fucking works pretty damn well!

Keep the head-low profile that the phantom likes to fly in, shoulders nicely rolled in, but use your chest-hips-knees surface to cup air (as well as your armwings - wingtip grippers brought in) and you'll find an interesting position of great control for slow forward flight.

here's a picture

Also, beware when you're docking with someone that the no.1 reaction they have when taking a grip is to slow down forward. Everyone does this. We take a dock and all of a sudden we forget to fly with our legs because we're too concerned with what our hands are doing. So expect that to happen before it actually happens and consciously compensate for it throughout the docking process.

Also tell your buddy to focus on keeping those legs out throughout the dock. It's something that takes a bit of practice. I remember whenever we were working on the bigger docked formations we all had this same reflex to bring legs in as soon as we docked, which has a bigger forward slowing effect in the TBird than in your phantom.

If while doing all this you still find yourself too high, bring your arms back more. As much as you have to. As much as your body allows you to. Also, as Jarno mentioned, vary the width of your legwing. That'll fix any further up&down tweaking you need to do. But mostly what needs to happen from what I see in that video is you need to bring down your forward speed, while your buddy needs to bring theirs up a notch.

[gzimmermann 0]

definitely miss the "like" button for this piece of advice! thanks!

[millertime24 8]

Thanks for the advice everyone. It kind of sucks to not have any experienced coaches around the dz. We basically have to watch videos try stuff and see how it goes. Not really a good learning tool.

Muff #5048

[Butters 0]

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Keep the head-low profile that the phantom likes to fly in, shoulders nicely rolled in, but use your chest-hips-knees surface to cup air (as well as your armwings - wingtip grippers brought in) and you'll find an interesting position of great control for slow forward flight.

I've been flying like (and promoting) this style for a while. I learned it while tracking when I was practicing for wingsuiting ... works great!

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[BenediktDE 2]

You now got a lot of ideas how to fly your suit. I would like to talk about your buddy. He flies his suit with full brakes on: he flies rather head high, therefore very slow --> not much lift.
Additionally he pulls down his knees below his hips. This again pushes him head high, creates drag and puts the back part of his legwing in the burble of his rig and of the front part of the wing. If he would stretch his legs and lets the suit fly instead of braking you would have a much easier flight with him.

The pitch is the key!
When trying to understand pitch level, speed and lift it is not a bad idea to have a look at our fixed winged friends. Learn how planes are flown and you learn a lot about your suit as well.
Maybe start with the brief but very good tutorial for flight simulators: http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showforum=90

Enjoy!

For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.

[aarthus 0]

hahahaha

Patrick de Guillebon

[gstarnet 0]

Definitely a lots of good advices for you to match your body.

But not much was mentioned that could help you to help him..

1. He definitely need to work on his legs position .. I could see him bending it a lot.
2. His chest area and entire body looks like his trying to arch. He needs to roll in his shoulders to keep chest area more straight. Keeping chin down to chest usually helps ..

good luck , just get more practice ..

[LloydDobbler 2]

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Thanks for the advice everyone. It kind of sucks to not have any experienced coaches around the dz. We basically have to watch videos try stuff and see how it goes. Not really a good learning tool.

...and that's why you come to Flock & Dock. In the 'awesome advice' department, it's kinda like drinking from the fire hose...
Looking forward to seeing you there!

Signatures are the new black.