CrashProne

Jump more.

Came here to say the same as posters above. Eloy or Perris, both great choices.

What do these mean? I’ll take a shot. 1. You don’t have to do anything. It turns itself on and off, and you don’t need multiple profiles for different types of jumps. 2. It just speaks into your ear at preselected altitude intervals. Simplest means of full time altitude awareness I’ve come across! So how does one get the proper alarms for tandem, wingsuit, free fly, or belly alarms? Or different canopy alarms? Easy, I just have mine set (by iPhone app) to tell me every 1,000’ from the door to 5k, then every 500 till pull, plus every 100 from 1,200 on down. I know that sounds like a lot, but in reality I don’t even notice it, I just ALWAYS know my current altitude. I don’t change anything no matter what the jump. When they first showed up at our DZ, everyone assumed all that talking in your ear would get annoying, but that’s absolutely not been my experience.

What do these mean? I’ll take a shot. 1. You don’t have to do anything. It turns itself on and off, and you don’t need multiple profiles for different types of jumps. 2. It just speaks into your ear at preselected altitude intervals. Simplest means of full time altitude awareness I’ve come across!

At our dz, it’s common to see 20-30% of every load wearing wingsuits. Of the remainder of the folks on each load, probably another 20-30% are current wingsuit pilots. 10 way and larger w/s jumps are a fairly common occurrence. I wouldn’t expect that to be the norm at too many other places.

In my opinion, the Funk and ATC are diverging paths of wingsuit progression, and you should choose the one that suits the type of flying you plan to do and best matches up with the prevailing suit types at the DZ's you jump most. If you want to get heavy into acro, and the other jumpers you will likely by flying a bunch with are on mid size acro suits like the Funk/Carve etc, then you may want to go that direction. If you wanna fly fast and dynamic, and the more experienced flyers you are hoping to hang with are on Freaks/Strix/etc, then the ATC is definitely the correct choice out of the two. It flys fast enough to hang with all the big suits as long as they aren't raging TOO hard or trying to leave you. In my personal opinion, if you are hitting it hard for 100 jumps on a Swift 2/3, you shouldn't have any trouble transitioning to an ATC. You will DEFINITELY however, be very impressed with the increased performance it brings. Happy hunting!

I've been jumping the new VOG talking audible for about two months now, every jump, all day long. I absolutely love it, recommend it every time I have a chance. https://vog.ee/

Judging by remarks I’ve heard from those who have considerable experience with both Freak 1 AND 2, I would think comparing Freak 1 to Rafale would be akin to comparing Freak 1 to Freak 2... In other words, Freak 1 - Rafale may be useful as a point of reference, but Freak 2 - Rafale is a more ‘apples to apples’ comparison, no?

I snatched one up and I absolutely LOVE it. Especially so while wingsuiting, but I find it super helpful on all my skydives since dropping it in my helmet. I’ve compared it to several different visual Alti’s and find it to agree with them perfectly. I wondered if I would end up finding it gimmicky or annoying, but that certainly hasn’t been the case. If I lost it, I’d buy another immediately.

I struggled with that early on too. I’ll tell you what helped me... Try keeping your eye on the airplane until you feel yourself flying stable. I think this helps for several reasons. First, you won’t be looking down, which is honestly a bit scary in the beginning. Second, looking up promotes a proper arch, which helps immediately. Also, watching the airplane flying away gives you a point of reference, especially regarding your heading. The airplane will always be flying away and into the relative wind, so if you’re facing the airplane, then so are you. Good for stability. Plus, it’s fun, so there’s that!!!

Lol, where I jump, the radness quotient of wingsuit jumps is pretty closely aligned with the inverse of free fall time!

Dammit, had no idea. Only met him a couple of times, but he was sure fun to be around!!!

190/170 rigs are fairly easy to find used, and can be had for a reasonable price. If you buy it right and treat it well, you could sell it later for nearly what you paid, not so for gear bought new. I’m a bit bigger than you, my first rig was a used Infinity setup with a Pilot 210. Bought it used, put 150 jumps on it and sold it for $100 less than I paid. Current rig is an Infinity I-46. It held a standard ZP Pilot 188 easily and now a ZP Pilot 150 rides back there just fine as well. You might look at an I-45 for an LPV 188 and you’ll be more than fine down into the 150 range.

The jump from 230 to 190 may or may not be a dramatic one for you, based on too many factors to list. However, add in the change from one parachute type to another, and it's starting to add up to a LARGE change in performance. I'd recommend you consider that before making a decision. PERSONALLY, I feel the safest course would be to use the provided rental gear until comfortable on a 190 before jumping your "new" gear (which, judging from your description, isn't very "new" at all).

not a Porter. That’s an Atlas Kudu Regarding this stall/spin video... Does anyone other than me have a creepy feeling that this was intentional? I’ve stalled a bunch of airplanes and spun more than a few (always intentionally), and I’ve NEVER been in a situation that would have taken 1/10 the time to recover. It has been my experience that a concerted effort is required to keep an airplane spinning that long and hard. If you watch carefully, you can see at several times during the developed spin, he’s still holding UP elevator, which of course is opposite what you would do to recover from the spin.

Easy, just answer one question first... Do you want to be a skydiver, or a tunnel flyer? Sure, of course you can do both, lots of people do, but they're both expensive, time consuming and demanding to learn. They're also just different enough from each other to not be a direct skill crossover, if that makes sense. I think you've already received great advice. Concentrate on jumping first. Getting some good gear and putting that first 100 jumps on it is huge, you're going to learn a TON!!! Don't rush past the basics, there's plenty of fun to be had flying on your belly. Someone mentioned to fly on your belly until you're comfortable in a 4-way. Why stop there? The skills you need to dock 12th on a 12 way or turn 10 good points on a 4 way will serve you well no matter where this sport takes you later! I also feel you'll save a bunch of money at the tunnel if you show up there with 100 skydives (or more!) and a solid flying foundation. You will progress quicker, and also, by then you'll know and be friends with coaches and tunnel instructors who can help you find ways to fly in the tunnel a LOT cheaper. Of course, that advice is worth exactly what you paid for it! ;)

There are airplanes over 12,500# that can be waivered for flight by a single pilot (Citation series comes to mind), but it's more the exception than the rule. The hoops you have to jump thru would be more than most DZ's would have interest in.

If you're only going to pull ONE handle during an emergency, it had better be the reserve and you had better have nothing else out. When he puts both hands on the cutaway handle/cable, it's him trying to bundle it up for storage inside his suit, he believes he's DONE with his EP's at this point. Uh, NO...

Cool airplane, but I'm not sure about that wing... Most popular jump planes share a common trait, that being a wide, fat high lift wing that does well at slow speeds. This wing looks like it may be optimized for a little faster flying than may be ideal for a jump ship. I'd love to be wrong!

I've been rockin a pair of UnderArmor basketball shoes purchased from a local discount sporting goods store (Big 5). They are awesome when landing on wet grass (slide forever!) I would stay away from any hi-top with aggressive tread, scary for the ankles...

Honestly, I would recommend you grab someone you jump with, and ask them to film a couple of your landings. Watching those and getting some critique from a canopy coach can go a long ways to improving your landings. Make sure you're 'finishing' that flare, I'm willing to bet you're leaving some energy on the table before touchdown. The Pilot has PLENTY of flare to produce soft standup landings.

Kapowsin is rockin a Porter when there aren't enough jumpers to fill a Caravan or Twin Otter load. Great plane!!!

No problem! There should be a few instructors at a DZ near you versed in some of the particulars, but shouldn't be too big a deal. What part of the world do you live in, maybe someone will have some suggestions?

First rig? “Buy used” is the correct answer probably 90% of the time.

Icarus don't make the Crossfire 3 - that's NZ Aerosports. Icarus make the X-Fire. And unfortunately, demoing a crossfire 3 in the US is nowhere near as easy as anything from PD or Aerodyne. I know, I tried and couldn’t.