yuri_base

I wouldn't even reply to Jarno's useless noise post, but today I learnt (an update was posted in Russian forum about May 24th accident in Kolomna, I missed that thread first time around) about this and that Vasily's (and his mother's) lives are essentially ruined by this guy who even has this hutzpah to post here his nonsense with insults accompanied by a bunch of smilies. Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

Like this guy with the last name starting with "C" who almost killed another jumper (who's still recovering and has a long recovery road ahead and a lot of $$$ to pay for somebody's agile mistake)? http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4886029 Happen to know this agile pilot "C"? Perhaps, brush his teeth every morning? Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

Found this on alibaba: [inline SimpleAR.jpg] Basically, just a smartphone holder with a couple of mirrors to obtain upright image and move the focal plane to comfortable distance. For a smartwatch, can be much more compact then this, and voila! - cheap HUD which achieves exactly what we want - just show the screen with a custom Android/Wear app. Edit: LOL, in the picture she forgot to put the phone in the clip on the top left. Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

Here are some pics I found in my archives that show someone's homemade Pitot tube on a vane for a glider. As can be seen, since they don't know the special point(s) I talked about above (like where the Pitot is placed on your father's plane), they place it far away from the wing, from the leading edge, and on a vane to give more accurate measurements: [inline PitotVane1.jpg] [inline PitotVane2.jpg] [inline PitotVane3.jpg] [inline PitotVane4.jpg] Unfortunately for us, a long unicorn on the helmet pointed forward won't be good in terms of safety. Same on the wing. So I think long enough stick with a vane on the belly is the best compromise. Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

It's funny (and sad at the same time) to even think that if all this theory, apps, and instrumentation was offered not by "some dude Yuri", but by one of the WSMs, everybody would sing alleluias and scream in orgasm, "wow, this is amazing! ingenious! so revolutionary! our King is so great! shut up and take my money!", sheep stuff like that. Probably, the situation is a great illustration to the famous Dostoevsky's quote: The Grand Inquisitor These weak men can only kneel to Authority they worship. They can't accept the Truth presented by one of their peers. They can't handle the Truth. Such shame! PS. Haha, found even a better quote from the genius: Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

It's possible that because of the wing's aerodynamic shape, the disturbed air does not extend that far from the surface, especially ahead of the leading edge where the head is placed in the picture. With our unaerodynamic bodies, we're not so lucky. But I'd be very happy to be proven wrong! I guess, a good experiment would be to put a thin long (1m?) pole on belly platform and tie several wool threads at intervals and see their 1) angles to the pole and 2) frequency of flapping, to see at what distance the threads start being parallel to each other and flap at the same speed. For inline pics, use [ inline nameofpic.jpg ] with no spaces between opening bracket and "inline" and the ending one. Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

I'm trying to make a ~$50 HUD out of Moto 360 Sport smartwatch and simple PVC tubing, just need to find my Dremel somewhere: [inline 20180908_162038.jpg] [inline 20180908_163741.jpg] [inline 20180908_164004.jpg] I hope in the near future we'll see cheap Google Glass-like eye projectors that simply mirror the smartphone's screen into the eye, i.e. without its own CPU, like the expensive and bulky Microsoft Hololens or Epson Moverio - just receive video by adhoc WiFi (or even cable) and project it into the eye via a small display and an ocular. Then it's all about specialized software that we can write for wingsuiting or general skydiving. Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

Both of these are too close to the body: [inline TooShort1.jpg][inline TooShort2.jpg] Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

0.5m minimum figure comes from experience. When I created my first vane-based device in 2007-2008 which I called Z-Device ("Z" from Z-Hills), it had a short telescopic pole extending from the belly platform. I don't have it with me right now but I think it was about 8-10 inches total. What I found from Pitot measurements, my measured airspeed was only about 70% of my normal speed for max L/D (about 90mph in Phantom-1, I knew this flight mode very well). Also, the vane was visibly oriented too parallel to the body, like almost zero AoA. Which cannot be true, as my real AoA was somewhere around 15 degrees. It became clear to me that the vane is simply too close to the body and is already experiencing the slowdown and deflection of the air. Later, with L/D Magic running on iphone on a vane at about 0.5m from the belly, I found that the results are in general agreement with other methods of determining L/D. That's how I concluded that 0.5m is probably a reasonable minimum distance from the body. Now, the planes' Pitots, as far as I can tell from NACA articles, are calibrated to account for their position near the wing or fuselage. It is also possible that the exact position of the nozzle by the wing was found in windtunnel experiments as having the same airspeed as at infinity. Since airplanes have fixed wing/fuselage configuration, there exist stable locations where the airspeed and pressure will be equal to that at infinity; these location can be used for Pitot and then no calibration adjustments are necessary. There was this guy, Gibolin, active here in about that era, he made his own suit using very slick materials, and claimed L/D of 3.7 with it. He used a Pitot tube mounted on the helmet, at very short distance, like 2-3 inches maybe. That is why his measurements were wrong, he was sampling disturbed air, and that's why he's got this bogus 3.7 value. (In reality, his suit looked like a V-1, more or less, so L/D was probably about 2.5.) Only vane. Only good distance from the body. No other choices. "Go vane or go home." Life's hard. Even paraglider pilots put their wireless Pitot tubes on a vane on a string far away from the body: [inline PitotPG.jpg] Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

Also, for a smartdevice (each smartphone/smartwatch these days has an accelerometer) on a vane, the components of apparent gravity perpendicular to the vane, and parallel to the vane (i.e. direction of the relative wind), are related to magic coefficients as: [9] g_|_ = g*Kl*V^2 g|| = g*Kd*V^2 And, of course, it follows from this, the classic - the accelerometer-on-vane principle: [10] L/D = g_|_/g|| (this is used by L/D Vario to measure L/D in real time) Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

Here's the algorithm for calculating L/D and sustained polar speeds (aka "flight mode"), as well as absolute values for lift and drag, and even dimensionless coefficients of lift and drag - from GPS data of a jump in *no wind* (which sometimes happens in WS BASE - but not always, even if there's no wind at exit and LZ!). Start with Wingsuit Equations, [1] ax = g*V*(Kl*Vy - Kd*Vx) ay = g - g*V*(Kl*Vx + Kd*Vy) If Vx, Vy are known from GPS, then V=sqrt(Vx^2+Vy^2), ax=dVx/dt, ay=dVy/dt can be calculated. Then, we have 2 linear equations with 2 unknowns, Kl and Kd. The solution of it is, [2] Kl = ((g - ay)*Vx + ax*Vy)/(g*V^3) Kd = ((g - ay)*Vy - ax*Vx)/(g*V^3) Their ratio is equal to lift-to-drag ratio: [3] L/D = Kl/Kd = ((g - ay)*Vx + ax*Vy)/((g - ay)*Vy - ax*Vx) Sustained horizontal and vertical airspeeds: [4] Vxs = Kl/(Kl^2 + Kd^2)^(3/4) Vys = Kd/(Kl^2 + Kd^2)^(3/4) These sustained speeds can be normalized to sea level by multiplying them by square root of ratio of air density at current altitude AMSL h to standard air density at sea level: [5] Vxs(0) = Vxs(h)*sqrt(ro(h)/ro(0)) Vys(0) = Vys(h)*sqrt(ro(h)/ro(0)) The pair of such normalized sustained speeds [Vxs0, Vys0] is called a flight mode and is a point on this pilot's/wingsuit's polar curve. Lift and drag can be calculated, if the total weight is known, W: [6] L = W*Kl*V^2 D = W*Kd*V^2 Alternatively, weight is not necessary if we determine lift and drag as percentages of weight: [7] L/W = Kl*V^2 D/W = Kd*V^2 Dimensionless lift and drag coefficients can be determined if we know weight W and planform area S: [8] Cl = 2*W*Kl/(ro*S) Cd = 2*W*Kd/(ro*S) (even if we don't know planform area, Cl and Cd can be calculated in "per square meter" sense, by using S = 1m^2). Since calculating accelerations from speed data amplifies noise, the results calculated straight with these formulas can be quite noisy. To reduce the noise, advanced filtering using Kalman filter with WSE serving as its physical model, can be used. An example of using Extended Kalman filter for a vane with an accelerometer, is here: http://www.pureflyingmagic.com/Content/Knowledge/Resources/Articles/en/HowLDMagicWorks.pdf Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

Here's a good read from the past RE: "next advancements in wingsuits". http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=2030077;page=1;mh=-1;;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC I like these quotes from it: Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

This chart is a perfect demo of the trick I mentioned above. Look for intersections of GR and L/D curves: at these points, Vx has an extremum (i.e. horizontal acceleration is 0, but vertical doesn't need to be - it doesn't need to be a sustained point!) This trick is useful "in the field" when someone shows the data from their flights (straight, no wind) - look for extrema in Vx, and in these points, L/D will be equal to [air] GR. This immediately follows from the 1st WSE equation: ax = g*V*(Kl*Vy - Kd*Vx) if ax = 0 then Kl*Vy = Kd*Vx, or Kl/Kd = Vx/Vy, or L/D = GR. Several other useful tricks exist as well. WSE are like a Pandora box, one can pull so much useful stuff out of them! Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

http://www.pureflyingmagic.com/Content/Knowledge/Resources/Articles/en/WingsuitEquations.pdf You don't need physical data to prove it. If you accept the underlying physical equations: F=ma and lift equation, and if there are no mistakes in the proof (I don't see any, but onus is on you to find one), then the equations are valid. That being said, I've played with them, and applied them to real world gps data, independently of yuri's software, and they appear to match observed reality. For example with wingsuit starts... using WS equations you can observe the L/D being close to 3:1 throughout the whole start arc, whereas the GPS glide ratio varies wildly and takes much longer to reach "steady state". This is what I would expect to see from a true L/D measurement. The number of people in the Solar System (and possibly, in the Universe) who understand Wingsuit Equations and their value, has just quantum-leaped to THREE. We might reach 4 by the year 2019, 2020, 2022, 2025 2030, or... never - but this might need a poll. Maybe, time to start the WSE number system: WSE #1 - Yuri WSE #2 - Hartman WSE #3 - Kenny Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

1. Explore putting the body at zero AoA (like airplane's fuselage) and varying AoI (angle of incidence) of both arm and leg wings (requires separate arm/leg wings, like in old style suits, and leading edge on the leg wing, like Vampire series). Make several suits with 5 degree increment in AoI, study their max L/D using, for example, L/D Vario on a vane. The pilot, of course, needs to learn new style of flying, where the body is in line with the airflow, creating minimal drag and zero lift (all lift is generated by wings only). The idea is (like in airplanes) to exclude the very inefficient generator of lift - body/fuselage - as much as possibly, leaving pretty much only its cross-sectional drag. 2. Explore a sealed, weakly inflated (just a bit above dynamic pressure in flight) shaped leading edge made of rubber (like a bike inner tube, but profiled), with significantly more forward extension (3 inches?) than current foam inserts, yet having minimal force added for pull, etc. In attempt to make a really nice airfoil profile, not what we have now with big radius of curvature on the leading edge, which creates a lot of drag. Quantify the improvements with L/D Vario. 3. Combine 1&2. Quantify the improvements with L/D Vario. 4. Make a wingsuit with foam wings (closed cell polyurethane foam like one used in cushions, etc.) This will eliminate the need for inflation and big scoops creating drag. I've started making a prototype long time ago (2010-ish) but haven't finished and haven't flown it (the leg wing was almost done, but I don't have it with me now to post a picture). The foam is easily foldable, so the pull should not be more difficult than with regular suits. The foam wing will maintain the airfoil shape more precisely than inflated fabric can. (Also, possibly to try stepped airfoil.) The leg wing should have a large leading edge (i.e. it should start in the knee area) to maximize its efficiency, not just be a surface where de-energized, turbulent air rolls over it. The wings should have a non-zero AoI as in #1. Better yet, make wing attachment with adjustable AoI (on the ground, not dynamically in the air). Quantify the improvements with L/D Vario. 5. Superman's half-wingsuits (leg wing only). Flying with arm(s) stretched forward, or in regular tracking position. Need to fine tune the trim/balance, since with my half-V-4 stretching arms forward was producing too much "front momentum" (not enough momentum from the leg wing). Quantify the improvements with L/D Vario, compared to tracksuits. Quantify max horizontal speed and set a new world record, leaving full wingsuits in the dust! (since it's naturally close to L/D=1.4 and lacks extra fabric of full wingsuit which at this L/D is only a burden) 6. In A/B tests, quantify the effects of [in my opinion, gimmicks] innie-outie, cross-hatched fabric (?) on the bottom surface of arm wings, rubber-like leading edge material. Remove them if they, indeed, turn to be just gimmicks ("this material is used in space shuttle!" type of BS) 7. Quantify effects of various elements on max L/D, just to know, how much of a bite each is taking off the absolute max performance: helmets, cameras, shoes with flaring out soles (like on most sneakers), various rigs. 8. Study the effect of increasing surface area on L/D to see if the curve (L/D) vs. S shows an asymptotic slowdown or there's still some potential. 9. Make a gigantic suit similar to Antoine Laporte's and measure its max L/D precisely. 10. Make goal-specific wingsuits for speed, time, and distance rounds in competitions. The slowest (in fall rate) wingsuits will be amazing for BASE starts! (will be almost a ground launch). A giant suit with ridiculously thick airfoil. For speed, probably Superman's half-suit. For distance, probably #1 or #4. Let the pilots use 3 different suits in competitions! In triathlon, they don't require athletes to run and swim while carrying their bicycle, do they? Each round requires a specific tool, why not in wingsuit competitions? 11. Make a compact, low drag air intake on the helmet or short tubes protruding from armwings, with the delivery of ram air into wings via flexible tubing, to eliminate large draggy scoops altogether. 12. Overall, explore the old split-wings designs more, since no scientific study like this has been done in their era in early 2000's. I believe they still have the potential if we're made to look like little airplanes, rather than mattressy squirrels. Should be plenty for a day... No, I don't think so. People are different, differences between them and the variations in flying of the "reference" pilot are not as precisely quantifiable as aerodynamic instrumentation. In aviation, they study planes with instrumentation, not flying relative to another plane. Dynamic effects (slow planeout/flare) also cannot be excluded (while L/D Vario excludes it in real time, since L/D measured by accelerometer is not affected by "fake" changes in glide ratio). WSE cannot say which one to work more on, lift or drag. As "magic" L/D's show (1.414, 2.61, 3.567), the dynamic behavior of gliders does not depend on the nature or their absolute lift or drag, only on their ratio, L/D. For example, sqrt(2) as the L/D for max horizontal speed, applies to both wingsuits and canopies or other gliders (hang-, para-). As mentioned before, L/D is like a reverse of coefficient of friction, one should make coefficient of friction lower. So, we should always strive to increase L/D by all means, even if it means decreasing lift, but decreasing drag even more so that L/D grows. I think that airplane-like planform, with proper AoI and wide leading edge on the leg wing (much wider than on Vampires) still has a healthy unexplored potential. The mattresses reached L/D=3.0, in my opinion, purely by dumbly increasing surface area which makes the negative contribution from the body in overall performance less noticeable (like diluting very salty water with clean water makes it less salty). *crickets* Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

So, here's a suit back from 2009. [inline 2009.jpg] 2018 suits... what's the difference from 2009, other than various gimmicks and slight changes in trim? Other than my estimate of L/D = 2.8 from Matt G's flight off High Nose (short altitude flight, so most likely, average L/D was lower than the max, as short flights for max distance naturally lure the pilot into a slow flare after the start arc, to milk the initial energy into higher GR), there was no other reliable data, but I have a good reason think that the max L/D of that suit was about 3.0, virtually the same as of modern suits. Just to illustrate my point that 2009-2018+ was and continues to be the era of The Great Stagnation in wingsuiting. All manufacturers copied this design and that was it, nothing new since then... The airplane-like design with separate wings was quickly abandoned, without even trying the basic thing all airplanes have - non-zero AoI. Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

Here's how to set a world record of true wingsuit flight with infinite glide ratio, flying many miles without any loss of altitude (or even gaining altitude - negative GR). Take a flatbed truck, install a large cage on it so it sits high enough to clear the cabin and be in clean airflow. Install a large 45-degree platform in it that deflects air. For a light pilot ("Pterodactyl") in a big suit, he should be able to surf the airflow at speeds of only perhaps 50-60mph. This is: - true contactless wingsuit flight - it's not a windtunnel - pilot is only supported by lift and drag Can be used for training, aerodynamics research, etc. Similar to this extreme sport gaining popularity: [inline WingSurfing.jpg] - but totally safe. Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

As a result, they essentially fucked up other capable guys who fly (relative to air) as good or almost as good as these guys, but are now far below in the table of records, for a long time (2 years already). Only because these 2 guys did "wind-shopping" and did a downwind jump in hurricane-strength uppers. These "records" are as moronic as someone recording a GPS track of their run to bathroom on a jet liner, extracting a 100m length of it, and claiming on Wikipedia that they ran 100m in only 0.4s, much faster than Usain Bolt's 9.58s. Here's my proposal to Paralog: 1. Stop this fucking nonsense, games with wind, fake "records", cheating. 2. Mandate the following rules, for any distance/speed track: Rule A. The ground track must be a straight line with no more than 100m deviation from the line start-finish of 1000m altitude window. Rule B. The ground track heading is established before each load as a line that is at an angle to cross-wind line (in downwind direction) equal to arctan of half wind speed divided by average horizontal speed of top 3 pilots in previous competition or maybe a test run before competing. This is to make the ground speed as close to air speed as possible, as the crosswind line will bisect the airspeed-groundspeed-windspeed triangle. Pilot's actual start-finish line should not deviate from this heading more than 5 degrees. Rule C. No tracks are accepted if winds at 500m window level are more than 20kn. This is to minimize the difference between groundspeed and airspeed, since the bisecting cannot be done perfectly. 3. Standardize all speed results to sea level by dividing the speeds by a factor of [square root of (density at sea level) /divided by/ (density at middle level of 1000m window)] 4. Standardize all time results to sea level by multiplying the times by a factor of [square root of (density at sea level) /divided by/ (density at middle level of 1000m window)] 5. With wind-corrected ground tracks and standardized speeds and times, add calculated L/D to graphs according to the formula L/D = (GR + z)/(1 - GR*z) where z is dimensionless ratio z = ax/(g - ay), ax is horizontal acceleration, ay vertical, g acceleration due to gravity. (ax and ay are calculated from Vx, Vy data as derivatives.) GR here is glide ratio relative to air (which should be close to ground GR if the flights follow the above rules). Then we can stop talking all this BS and cheating and not only give all pilots a fair game to play, but start really analyzing data - sweet real data, not BS data. Pilots who participate in PPC and read this and agree, please let PPC know. (I won't.) Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

Wiki article is a disgusting pile of self-promotion. Link 6 leads to tonysuits.com, article on Dean Potter. Why? What it has to do with GR? (other that to point search bots to index the site) Self-promotion! Link 8 leads to Aura3 on squirrel.ws. Why? Is it the only suit made of various materials? Self-promotion! Link 9 leads to flylikebrick.com. Why? Is that some official historical record? Self-promotion! Link 10 leads to The Great Book of BASE ISBN. Self-promotion! Link 30 leads to tonysuits.com again. If the record is "verified" by official entity, the link should go there. Self-promotion! This BS is exposed above, link 32 goes to Paralog. Self-promotion! Link 38 goes to WWL. WTF WWL has to do with Gypsy Moths?! Self-promotion! External links go to "How to Start Wingsuit Flying & Prices, Where to Learn, Videos, Risks & News" wingsuitfly.com and flylikebrick.com (2nd time!). This is the state of the union in wingsuiting today. BS, self-promotion, fake records, lies, hiding truth, stagnation, no scientific approach. Very sad... Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

Never submitted anything to Wikipedia and never will. Self-promotion is what 99% of the wingsuit article on Wiki is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsuit_flying I don't give a fuck about self-promotion. Since I gave up on seeing any hope from existing WSMs, I post here for new wingsuiters, who are not familiar with old stuff they may find interesting, as well as relatively new stuff, and hopefully it won't take that long (another 12 years) for new WSM to be born and embrace the new technology and delight all of us with refreshing line of wingsuits, backed up by hard numbers, not marketing BS. They'll last as long as the people who think they're correct, and the server hosting on his website. It's on web.archive.org, as well as countless other servers, search engines, people's computers, my apps on app stores (which are also duplicated by various app discovery sites)... The information on the web these days is indistructible. (no wonder - it's evolution of military network design built to withstand nuclear war) Whatever anyone posts on the web stays there forever, in one form or another. That's why it's fun to come back many years later and read silly posts by all the stooges, including many "airspice engineers" (yeah, many of those who trolled in my threads back 12 years ago, were/are airspices.) Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

Haha, reading the old threads is so much fun! Here's a fun one: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=3100837;page=1;mh=-1;;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC Those were interesting times, people were actually interested in wingsuit progress then! (Unfortunately, it was stopped right about that time by T-intersection, I mean, T-planform. Haven't moved from there in the past 10 years!) Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

Here's something else interesting regarding PPC. Check out the results at a place called "Rochelle". Sort by timestamp, descending. https://ppc.paralog.net/listtracks.php?place=Rochelle [inline Rochelle.png] On 2016-10-23, two guys went to Rochelle (only 2!) and set "world records" in distance and speed. Wow! They must have flown some secret new wingsuit prototypes! Or is it some kind of "distance/speed PPC tourism" where they look for forecasts of strongest upper winds (with acceptable landable ground winds) and go to this place and set these fake "world records"? Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

To further show that PPC data (other than overall measurements - distance, time, avg. speed - necessary to determine winners) is useless for wingsuit R&D, imagine this hypothetic scenario: They reduce the altitude window from 1000m to 1000ft. (more than 3x) BAM!!! Now one can ask around best pilots about what is top L/D and they will say something like, "15:1... not quite yet 20:1". Because in smaller window, you can maintain much higher average GR than in large window. Isn't this complete ridiculousness? The wingsuits haven't changed overnight, but their L/D increased many times overnight! Wow! Huge progress in wingsuiting! Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

By the way, is 100% true. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_vane, I didn't invent the vane. I invented the accelerometer on a vane as L/D meter principle. [inline GlideAngleMeter.jpg] Besides sustained flight, I proved that it measures L/D also at any time of non-sustained, 2D flight as well. About 3 years ago, I also proved that the principle is valid for 3D gliding flight as well (not published, but mentioned here on bj.com, still in one of my Moleskins), as long as the turns are coordinated (no side slip); even if turns are a bit sloppy (not as if on rails), the difference in measured L/D from the actual L/D is quite small. Besides accelerometer, a simple bubble can be used as an analog L/D meter: [inline BubbleLD.jpg] (The marks are from 1.5 to 2.5 in 0.1 increments; black one is 2.0; the curve is special mathematically derived curve precision laser-cut in acrylic. My max L/D in Phantom-1 measured with this device was 2.15, consistent with data obtained with other means, such as L/D Calculator in Wingsuit Studio from BASE jumps.) They didn't invent this principle in China and Greece in the 2nd century BC. It was invented in the USA more than 2000 years later, in 2006. But it has been totally ignored by the stooges (WSMs and most WS pilots except precisely one) for 12 years, and counting! Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio

I dont know about accuracy, but GPS seems repeatable. I was trying to determine the opening distance of my canopy using both a FlySight and conventional digital altimeter. The altimeter varied by more than 200-300' each jump, but the GPS almost always said the same thing. Sometimes it showed a longer or shorter deployment, but in those cases I could physically feel the canopy taking longer or shorter to open. I seem to recall the GPS tells you what its accuracy is for each measurement and for most measurements it was telling me it was accurate to less than 1 MPH and less than a few feet of elevation. I'm not talking about GPS accuracy, it's GE (good enough). I personally own several excellent GPSs: Dual XGPS160 (10Hz), XGPS-150 (5Hz), Bad Elf GPS Pro (10Hz), Emprum UltiMate GPS (5Hz, 30-pin plug for iPhone 4), owned but lost WBT-201 (5Hz). (Never owned Flysight, since for its price I can buy two fast GPSs that can send data to the phone via Bluetooth, as well as record it in internal storage. So they can be used with many apps, compatible with these devices.) Besides high enough sample frequency, they are also very accurate. (The first 3 are also compatible with L/D Magic; Emprum was compatible until Apple froze ios version on the 4 and the app had to move up.) I'm talking about WIND. Wind can never be subtracted from GPS data. Not with precision we need (1mph minimum). Nobody knows exact winds at altitude, exact wind profile. I found the aviation wind data to be very inaccurate; can't be relied upon for our purposes, it's just a ballpark for aviators. The closest to measuring the exact wind profile is to record the track of balloon's ascent on a balloon jump. Even then, wind profile is very time and place dependent - balloon moved several miles for 20 minutes, it's quite different winds there! (And I know this from experience, as I did a looooot of balloon jumps back in 2005-2011.) Even in BASE, it's quite often that there's no wind on exit, no wind in LZ, yet there's full-stop (20mph) wind at opening altitude and, no doubt, somewhere between exit and opening - this will affect wingsuit GPS data as well. Even if it's a crosswind - still, 1mph precision we need is easily destroyed by crosswind. Also, thermals are a huge problem in BASE for GPS data: last year, I had a truly bizzare experience (and not me alone, a bunch of other jumpers as well) - jump, and after only 2-3 seconds, you're flying purely horizontally for about 10-15 seconds , because of insanely powerful thermal column cancelling your vertical speed. Too bad I didn't have a GPS with me - could show to naive folks, look, I flew at infinite "L/D"! As I demonstrated above, the same pilot in the same suit - very, very experienced, very consistent and very good at flying and competitions, multiple champion - flew 80mph slower (!) in one place than the other. That's the difference between headwind and tailwind. Unaccountable, because the wind/profile is unknown. GPS data is useless, unless it's just to measure the total distance in competition (since that, not L/D, is what they agreed to compete on). I've long gave up on using GPS in wingsuiting. The only reason, for example, Smart Altimeter and L/D Vario support GPS, if the smartdevice doesn't have a barometer, is to please the Google/Apple/Microsoft app reviewers and get the app approved in the stores, because when their testers were opening the app on their test device, it was showing nothing, although the app clearly stated that barometer is required. After rejection and dragging this for weeks, I gave in and included GPS for altitude measurements. Just to please them dumb testers. GPS is slow, loses signal and overall just PITA. Barometer works always, and is very fast and accurate. Fuck GPS!!! Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio