romus

In practice, it does. I think I understand this. Glide ratio and wing loading is affected by design (possible shape of a wing to the weight and size of the flyer) and then skill of the flyer (which is how best they can make the shape of the wing and pitch angle). Size of the suit, even if the same design gets an effective design alteration such as with fatter, taller, weight to size difference of each flyer - each Wing is made to measure. So glide ratio and speed estimates should be talked about as ball-park average except useful when comparing your own flying performances. If a flyer wears an advanced suit design which has high wing to weight ratio (low W/L) - like it seems some of the newer advanced designs - then their glide ration should go up. In this case the speed forward would only go up if the suit is a better design than they had before with better aerodynamic shape and less drag. If the same person uses a design with less wing area to weight ratio (high W/L) - beginner and intermediate designs - then the glide ratio should go down, with fall and forward speeds increasing.

I am about to get a Wingsuit and am interested, apart from other things, in the aerodynamics. From my searching I have found some info and am putting my sometimes guesses below. There must be some variation, too depending on whether a suit is beginner, Intermediate or advanced. Thought others might be interested to have a thread on this. Glide possible: 2:5:1 (TonySuits 3:0:1) Stall speed: 40 Kph? Forward common flying speed range? 50 - 120Kph? Forward flying speed cruise(medium body position): 60 Kph? Forward flying speed max(best body position): 140Kph? Falling speed range: 40 - 80kph? Lift Coefficient: 1.4 Drag Coefficient: ? Wing area: 12 - 17 Sqft for 150 - 170 lb naked body weight? Wing area: 18 - 120 Sqft for 180 - 200 lb naked body weight? Other: ?

You know those stretchy trrip wires they use on aircraft carriers to catch-hold the palnes as they land. How about usiug that idea, but in the air? The wing suit flyer can toss a catch hook at 2,000 feet, which trails behind them. The catch hook hangs maybe 50 feet from the wing suiter. Landing is into a valley (like those bridge valleys where they do base jumps. That valley is bridged with a bold coloured stretched bungy cord rope across it. Or two towers, or two tall buildings. The wing suiter needs to fly over the bungy cord so the hanging catch hook catched the bungy rope. Then the G forces kick in! If the wing suiter missses the bungy rope, they fire their reserve, or base rig canopy. If they catch it with the catch hook, it will slow them down like a bungy jump, first from forward speed, then I presume pulling them back then to leave them hanging. The bungy cord can be set to the right elasticity. At the end the assistants lower the bungy rope so the wing suiter is on the ground. I have no idea where such as suitable place would be, but I could imagine some bungy people working with base jumpers, so a first step would be flying canopy ober the bungy to hook up. Slowly increase the Wing Loading, to test elastisisty and G force effect. Then a jump is make for someone to try in a wingsuit. That's my idea for waht it's worth.

Sure can see that W/L affect. Very interesting. Proves WL doesn't transfer just to more lift and i think it shows that turns on high WL dive more vs flatter turn effct on higher WL. The big question for Wing suiting seems to be the opening characteristics, as the biggest safety concern. Secondly, I can see short recovery arcs are helpful if landing off, the chance of which is increased. Yeah, exactly I am NOT comfortable with my vengeance to take it to Wing suiting. Presently, I need to take hold of the rear risers on opening to control the heading. It wants to dive to the side more than it wants to fly straight - actually good training for me on body position and steering with harness on opening, too. So, I need another before I get into Wing suiting. I can switch to my vengeance for other dives, if I want to. Hmm, did look at the Firebolt, since it is eliptical with good heading openigns, but in the end the Pilot seems to have the best write ups for on heading openings.

I am planning to get a Pilot, get well used to it, then do wing suiting. Not at the same time. Because I know I need to change out of my Vengeance for Wing suiting I am wanting to do it early, so I can get used to it's deployment - practice opening with a tracking suit using wing suit opening procedures. hey, what you say about the effect of higher W/L is pretty clear. It seems that higher wingloading makes any canopy more twitchy, whether changing canopies or going up in W/L on the same model. So, yep. no way am I increasing wing Loading. thanks for the feedback.

Yes that's relevant. Hmm. packing variable one issue. Seems, just from my reading, that opennign in full flight reduced stability of on heading opening and of course stable body position. I am just planning on Wingsuit jumps in the future. At the moment I am practicing Wing suit deployment procedures with a tracking suit and plan to do this with a new Pilot for quite a few jumps before I do a Wingsuit course. Hmm, clearly though, I'm not going to increase my W/L when lookign at new Pilot options.

Good check question - thanks. Yep, the airlock does make the vengeance 170 pack volume (~468) greater than many other canopies of the same size. Depends on different canopies, aye. Similar to STILETTO 190, SPECTRE 190, Pilot 210, Triathlon 160, FIREBOLT 200, P D 210, SABRE 210. Actually I have to role my vengeance real tight to get in in my bag. The main thing is my bag size and what is standard fit according to Relative Workshops ( I have a Vector 3). A Pilot 150 Zero-P is a standard fit in my V348 bag according to relative Workshops. the Pilot 168 Zero-P would be a tight fit, so since they say ZPX packs the same as one sise down, I figure a Pilot 168 ZPX will also fit standard in my bag. Actually I am double checking this with them.

Well, maybe you are right, but I still cannot be satisfied with a judgement just on my skydiving jump numbers. I wanted to know some info on flight characteristics of the Pilot in relation to W/L. that is useful information, if I can find it out. that means I can make an 'informed decision'. I don't think decisions on W/L just relate to Skydiving Jump Numbers. I mentioned I have flown my vengeance down mountains. By that I mean proximity flying, let's say 10 - 20 kilometers of skimming the ground, using front and rear risers and toggles and landing in tight spots. this has some effect on my canopy skills. Here is my question put another way: Q1: Does a 1.6 W/L on a Pilot give on heading openigns as stable as a 1.4 W/L on a Pilot, in terms of desired stability of on heading openings for Wing suit jumps? Relevance to me: If the answer is that a Pilot 1.6 W/L is more twitchy, then I would be staying at my same wingloading. Q2: Does the shorter line length of a Pilot 150 have an effect on this question? Relevance to me: Just interested in the effect of line length for stability of on heading openings.

My injury (as I have referred to it) is worn cartilage from too much swimming (used to do open water swimming). There is some affect on arm nerves. I can feel it when I lift my arms up from my side, but the pain is not too much and I don't worry, except if i aggravate it such as sometimes after a jump I might feel it a bit (noticed when packing. Hmm, interesting comments so far that some designs bring the bulk of the list closer to the body.

I am looking for advice on my canopy change decision to suit Wing Suiting. I am 1.4 WL on a PD Vengeance at the moment and now am looking to change to a Pilot, but what size. NOTE: If you look at my profile you will see my WL is high for jump numbers, but apart from skydiving I built up to flying down mountains with my vengeance (Groundlaunching/speedflying) which has made my canopy skills comparatively good to jump numbers. I could do Pilot 168 with their FXS material or a Pilot 150 with zero-P material. Either one would fit will in my bag as a standard fit, which is presently a tight fit for the Vengeance 170. If I go to the 150 my W/L goes up from ~1.4 to ~1.6 and I want to know if my ability to fly Vengeance 170 on 1.4 might parallel the skills to go to a Pilot 150 on 1.6? If not maybe i will go for the 168, which no doubt will be more placid than my 170 vengeance. One consideration is the shorter line length of the 150 ie if shorter then there is some reduction of risk of line twists, right? Does wing loading 1.4 to 1.6 have much affect on the Pilot landing? From what I can tell the wing loading difference won't affect the stable on heading opening characteristics of the Pilot, right? I am in Australia, so not sure here if I can demo. I think with a bit of advice I can settle on a decision. Thanks for any feedback.

I am starting to look at Wingsuits and would be interested in any info on shoulder pressure and wingsuit design/brand options. I have an old shoulder injury that does not cause problems skyding, but I could imagine it coming back if I chose a wingsuit that is very hard on arm/shoulder pressure. Any info on which designs/brand options may be better or worse in this area would be helpful.