birdynamnam

On 8/25/2022 at 4:23 AM, skydave89 said:

I have the WinX and really like it. Demoed the Pilot 7 and thought it was good but the WinX did the same thing just smoother with it. The P7 has a sorta hard transition during the opening sequence compared to the WinX. Also had a Pilot 9 cell for a long time that I loved but obviously being a 9 cell it’s more aggressive if you spin it up and it starts diving. My Spectre I thought was great but the snivel is a bit longer than I think you want in a WS canopy. Never jumped the Epicene/Omicron/Horizon.  

ditto that. I am a very happy user of the Winx ZP 150. It is flawless basically and does everything very good. I was in Norway when a fellow wingsuiter was demoing a Winx 150 and a Kraken 150 comparing them back to back. He found them very similar and mentioned that the bigger difference was that the Winx felt more "sporty/lively"

I remember when they began to show up, back then in the Birdman days where we where mostly flying Gti's and Skyflyers 1 and 3s. These where the days where newly launched models would look super cool and very different design wise - but with little improvement in performance.  First time I saw a Jii was at a flocking event, someone was flying that Jii and it was the first time I saw something where performance or glide if you like that was noticeably improved. He was a bit less flocking experienced than most of us I guess, he came in to the formation burbled himself like a champ, got into a spin on his back and spun downwards for quite a bit until he was a small dot. Didn't count on seeing him again but he came back up like nothing I had seen before. He did say it was more twitchy to fly, but that he loved it. Did not have a chance to fly it myself unfortunately

On 4/10/2022 at 9:30 AM, skydiverek said:

 

JAVELIN reserve pilotchute:

 

 

On 3/17/2022 at 9:23 AM, Paf said:

Maybe somebody will find this video useful.
Icarus Om7 149sqf lots of openings one by one. No single commercial bullshit word that always everything is the best.

Check by yourself and think :)

Configuration: 

• Squirrel FREAK4,
• Aerodyne ICON Long with dynamic corners and semi-stowless D-bag,
• 30" SkySNATCH,
• Icarus Om7 149sqf loaded at 1.65

 

 

it looks fine indeed. Good job Icarus on that OM-7. I find that the wingsuit type, even particular model of that type, combined with your current deployment technique on that suit, added to the general properties of your main canopy, is A unique combination --> when it comes to the end result, a stable canopy over head. Either it works, or you sometimes and to your surprise you find it suddenly don't; as you changed one of the parameters :) But, in general, I have a whitelist of canopies that tend to work and be calm about things, and a black list of a few even 7C's that does cause problems for people. At one point we had a surge of cutt's from spinners here, as people blindly bought the PD Storm that was "suddenly" advertised as a perfect WS canopy by PD. People sold them off rather quickly and got something else, and after that we are back in business :) 

I have been doing several hundreds of jumps on it now and am very happy with it. Answering questions below

durability?

No problems, so as any other rig I have owned. 

comfort?

Top notch. This could be the very best feature of the rig. Came from an Icon rig, Aurora is soo much more comfortable to wear. In the air, the deployment flying a wingsuit is a breeze. You can also place the PC in multiple positions, so put it where you like. Personally I put it next to my back, so around the corner towards my back. There it lies well protected and super easy to grip. The neoprene collar up around the yoke is in fact removing air travelling btw the rig and your back - when going fast aka diving. Gives you a more calm ride, at speed, especially at competitions. 

ease (or not) of packing main container?

Packing, you have to learn it, but for me it was quick. Packing is much easier this way I find. Relaxed, spend much less time deflating the canopy, it doesnt matter too much as you will form the bag, once it is closed, with your knees

does your rigger swear at you when its time for I&R?

No, its just a Jav...

harness configuration (rings at lateral / leg strap junction or other)?

Tie downs (hip connection) are adjustable which is not needed really. So I got advice from Sunpath after complaining about them moving having to be adjusted every jump, to let my rigger stich them on a preferred setting. Done. Happy now.

other?

In general I am not a big fan of the Javelin reserve container system; I take issue with the "weak" reserve PC. I like a stronger spring really - get the hell out there. The weaker spring is okay if you are blasting downwards at terminal speed. In a wingsuit situation you are in a different situation completely and so I would have liked to see Sunpath acknowledge that fact. I spoke to them about it of course. Anyway, if Sunpath announces an upgraded and stronger one, I shall order one.

On 11/17/2021 at 10:19 PM, carrier louis paul said:

no comment

Have a video of my Javelin rig at a rigger shop for the annual repack, reserve being activated, same horrible result as in your video. The bridle was not positioned optimally since too much of the bridle was placed under flaps by the previous packer. I then immediately bought an Icon… but since then I am back to the Jav system as I bought an Aurora rig. I make sure to visually check that the bridle is placed correctly when it comes from repack

just keep on flying it. It does take a lot of skydives to get used to new suit. Think of it this way; the ATC is flying or wants to be flown in a certain way as the designers/testpilots favor. Eventually you will get it 

Squirrel SkySnatch 30" or have a look at the new Aerodyne Extractor which is almost identical to the SkySnatch design. These evolved designs comes with kill-line ready to be mounted and are a lot better than the normal standard ones that comes with a container. But in general size >= 30", 8-9" kill-line, fresh f-111 fabric (beware of f-111 material getting worn very quickly) or rather just go for ZP (superior durability and best choice) 

I’m late to the discussion. I do have a formed opinion on the matter as a wingsuit’er with a lot of experience and having been in charge of safety in this area in my country. My opinion is basically simple. Reserve: pls go by the wl chart of the manufacturer and stay within the recommended range and do not exceed it. Yes it means a larger chute for most people, due to the fact that people think it is smart to go small, weighs less, looks neat etc etc. It can be problematic if the jumper also e.g. is a freeflyer and want to have a small compact rig, but there you have it... so maybe own two rigs.... or go for the larger option if you want to avoid spinning reserves as a result of an unstable WS cutaway. It has happened many times this way. Even with mega experienced WS’ers. I remember one recent chilling video posted by a Red Bull WS pilot cutting, then having a small Optimum reserve twisting and then going down in crazy spins. He got out of the twists seconds before landing. Be smart. Go big. 

16 hours ago, Lukasz Gladki said:

Anybody that jumps a wingsuit with this setup?  I have a PD113 in it and did probably 20 slick jumps with Epicene 150, it was a tight fit but not really that bad. I never had a chance to jump it with a Wingsuit yet though. I know that I should downsize to 130 or smaller but I would love to just keep the 150 I have. I jump mostly with a Freak 2. 

a correctly setup wingsuit rig is consisting of parts that are all wingsuit adaptable. And that are fitting well together - for sure meaning inside manufacturers recommended ranges. You don't want a main that packs super hard which is the case here as your container is built for a zp107 or low bulk 120 main. And also are you sure you want to be under a overloaded PDR113 - with line twists? I know of one who had reserve rides because of poor or none main extraction at deployment due to to mains sitting tight in the rig. Best advice is to upsize the rig (and reserve). A small rig and small canopies is quite basically bad for wingsuiting  

1 hour ago, Heat said:

Yeah, I just saw that. Starting a new company? 

time will tell

On 11/21/2020 at 12:54 AM, Heat said:

Just noticed the Hög and Pelican are no longer on Tonysuits website. Is something new in the works?

the two designers left the company recently. So interesting what they will do now

it's a gainer exit. Advantage is that you stand there and see the dz and fly straight towards it half a second later by doing that gainer. We just did it for fun in the old days. It flips you automatically around so you fly 180 back home. We did it like on the video, multiple guys side by side, plus also multiple rows for a big formation. Of course some got e.g. a foot to the face and a bloody nose and what not... We did not have any severe issues as I recall it, But glad we don't do it anymore

ok. Got approx 50 jumps on the Pelican now, and I also let others try it out to get their feedback. First of all it's very easy to fly, intuitive and stable - and not the least it's very comfortable. It can feel a bit nervous, but it is not. It just reacts quickly directly to input. It has some serious power and it is in the same league as the SQ Freaks / TS Hog. It has a natural flatter glide due to high up arm sweep design and so at first it feels slower, but if you know how to change angle of attack efficiently it can fly as fast as Freak's. However, naturally it wants to just hang up there which it certainly can do. It's just a glide thing out of the box. Transitions to backflying is very forgiving like a Havok and easy to learn. Flying it well/fast on the back is a bit more demanding than similar suits due to the high up arm sweep design again, but once you find out how to do this its is ok fine. It excels at XRW not more to say about that! It has a very beefy abrupt flare and pulling is totally easy. So in short; it does what it is supposed to do and excels at XRW. It has way more power than it is said to have on the website and to be quite clear it seems to have slightly more power than the TS Hog (flocking with friends its obvious) even though it is advertised to be less powerfull which I find is odd. I could need some heavy duty reinforcements on the booties to minimize wear and tear. I certainly recommend the suit to people that are not too lightweight; if you are skinny you will float up there for ever and flocking might be hard work coming down. 

14 hours ago, 20kN said:

I am curious what you consider is 'done optimally'. I am fairly sure the way I pack my PC wouldn't match what you consider optimal (I follow Brian Germain's PC folding technique), but I've never once had a PC hesitation, not even on race suits in 1050 WS jumps. WS BASE is another story and I pack my PC very specifically for that type of jump.

I do agree about the gear though. Having a really good PC (e.g. SkySnatch) is important. That said, I've also jumped my Freak 3 with a Katana and Zulu on several occasions--I do ensure I use my SkySnatch at the minimum and my WS container though.

I repeatedly find this on people's gear: main trays to tightly packed (solution: loosening the loop "a tiny bit" can improve on that, but as explained the parts Rig, Canopies must fit together), all the bridle packed into the PC roll (solution: taking some of that out stuffing it under flaps with slack in both ends), PC not formed good enough and just stuffed into the BOC (solution: taking the extra time to pack it neatly tapping it to fill out the entire pouch provides lighter pull, and yes I also use Brian's way of packing). Those are the main culprits and I have solved severe issues for people just focusing on those. I just recently nailed that bug down with a highly experienced wingsuiter that kept getting linetwists and a lot of cutt's. All 3 mistakes above was in play. He thought it was improper deployment technique or sloppiness at that. Anyway I solved the problem completely. Sometimes the problem has simple solutions

200 is fine and most of my first flights are with 201 people and it is a great "number" to be at starting ones wingsuit journey and that is universally accepted as the minimum - and it is a minimum. As stated above, its not so much the numbers other than that minimum, its how your skills really are at what at you current freefall discipline you do now plus how current you are right before the wingsuit flight. I also usually ensure that the student I am about to train, is deemed good at what he/she does at present. For older / more experienced skydivers that wants to join the flock, I focus on some things a bit differently than for the youngster. Experienced / youngsters it all good and same'ish. 

Numbers... current skills... but gear matters A LOT.

I ensure that the students gear is actually adaptable for wingsuit use and do not compromise. If its no good, its no wingsuit jump. Bridle length (if its way too short I have a PC with bridle/bag they can use), proper PC size and that they are at an acceptable wingload below 1.4 having a docile compatible canopy. If they borough'ed it for wingsuit use, I make sure it fits not too tight in the main tray but actually fits as it should, and sometimes I repack their main if I am in doubt it will work well just to get a feel for it myself. I always repack their PC to ensure it is done optimally. I am serious about gear and I find zero reason to jump with a guy who will probably be having crazy deployments and guaranteed linetwists  

6 hours ago, GoneCodFishing said:

Oh come on. Unless you are hoping for dick picks why don't you just share it with all of us? (And you can share those dick pics by pm if you want)

Fwiw to the OP, the transition from dive to level before the flare works best if it's done smooth and slow. Put the earphones in that flysight set to ping you the speed, and work on levelling and staying level without losing speed. More often than not a too quick levelling just causes a lot of drag due to changing the angle of attack too much, when at that stage you want to change pitch while maintaining the AoA as much as possible.

oh well, since you posted the best advice here now, we are all good

4 hours ago, EvilDuck said:

Hello. Beginner (~300 ws jumps, 200 in a small suit, ~100 in intermediate) wingsuit pilot looking for advice here :) I am trying to learn how to gain as much altitude as possible in my WS, but I really struggle at the moment. I jump a lot of solo jumps where I just dive-level-flare the whole jump using Flysight, but most of the time is can see I waste all that energy I have at the beginning of the flare. I have of course watched and read all videos and articles on the topic. What causes the most confusion for me is the input needed to start transitioning into level flight. In Squirrel video they say "push your toes down". What the hell exactly does that mean? I'm assuming my toes should still remain pointed and stretching the suit. Where should this movement come from? Does it mean adding pressure to the legwing through bending in hips using your abs? I have noticed, my best flares so far (12 and 10 meters (39 and 33 feet)) came from jumps where I did not do a steep dive and was going full power at GR 1+ and then started the flare, which again indicates I waste all power transitioning from the steep dive. Could someone help me out with the advice on this? 

I fly AG Inspire 2 which is very similar to ATC2, here is an example of my better flares (https://skyderby.ru/tracks/51391, https://skyderby.ru/tracks/46946) and here is the example of "wasteful" (https://skyderby.ru/tracks/51356)

PM me

20 hours ago, Bluhdow said:

Anyone who compares a Havok to a performance suit clearly has absolutely no experience with acro flying.

or performance flying

I loved the old Havok, so if price is right...

1 hour ago, Heat said:

Appreciate the input! Please tell us more about the Pelican when you can!

will do

4 hours ago, Gideon Yampolsky said:

Indeed my intention is to stay high above terrain.
I booked Eiger WS flights, which is considered skydiving rather than BASE.
Obviously there are still several dangerous situations which can develop, such as quick loss of altitude due to bad exit, or flying in wrong direction.
Are there other dangers which I should be aware of ?

Listen carefully when briefed as the Heli is a bit fragile here and there, door etc. We are sitting a bit cramped in there, so make sure all your handles are securely in place both when boarding the Heli and climbing out at exit. Briefing is thorough, and coach will plan exit point according to your skills. Enjoy the views and focus on that instead of doing multipoint flocks, you are there for the views.

On 1/31/2020 at 3:51 PM, Heat said:

I would like to hear about your experience with the Hög. Not much info available online, and Tonysuits website is dogshit.

What do you like/not like about the suit?

What options do you have (storage pockets, soles, hook knife etc)?

How does it compare to the Freak-series/the Strix-series if you have any experience with those suits?

 

Cheers, Magnus

We have some Hog's at our dz, general consensus is that it is easier to use for back/acro flying than the Freak's even though it is has more surface area. When it comes to performance, its sort of in the same area with Freak2's, Rafale's but the Freak3 is more powerful. I have flown all. Hog is a good flawless suit and you would not be let down if buying it. Btw I demoed the Hog's little brother the Pelican and flocked with the Hog's and Freak's. Everyone was impressed with its performance and it was top dog in the flock. I just got one myself - it is a formidable weapon. So never mind whats described on the website, how it is classified, the Pelican has them all easily 

Once a year me and some buddies travel to Swiss for the "Eiger Scenic Tours", so yeah Heli to the top of Eiger mountain. Northside of Eiger is pretty vertical, and so you get out, and have like a normal skydive, right next to the wall of that Eiger and you end up deploying like in a normal skydive (so no BASE gear required). Check this out: https://www.facebook.com/dfu1963/videos/491228498102808/ 

Jumps are ~140 EUR each

For more info go here (Patrick Reuter is the organizer): https://www.wingsuit-fly.com/ 

Looks like it