Kookaburra

Congratulations Jeremy, enjoy your new toy

Not bad the photoshop montage Well really, thumbs up for that... although not so new a discipline, Loic did it a few years back with a sailplane in Gap!

Thanks Boris for your input... over the months I've been reading James articles on performance flying and your post too; of course an excellent base to start with, but I agree, the secret is that there is no secret... just Do It, and above all Keep Smiling all the way.. so yes definitely we will meet in Arezzo in September as I want to make sure you guys are only made of flesh and blood!

OK, this is a reply to my own query... "la nuit porte conseil" probably the spirit of air visited me this night and thinking about it better I guess I have the clue and here it is: I'm not getting enough drive because of some slack in the tail wing, in fact even spreading legs and pointing toes as hard as I can, trying to emulate Rudolf Noureev, the tail wing never get taut... I realised that, when I tried on the Ghost I just received, which tail wing gets really taut... reminds me of my sailing the Tornado: just an inch more pull on the main and here it takes off like a jet... so I think I've got the answer, anyway Boris I'd like to hear your point of view. Ho, by the way, that Ghost is simply a work of technological art!

"Now I know what numbers are possible but I also know how I have to fly to get them - fast horizontaly" Wow 39 mph average in a Phantom, this is phenomenal, I have a hard time keeping it at 50 (exit weight 170 lbs - 5'10") how about telling us the secret? By the way, all the praise has been said about the performance of the flight and I will add to that compliments for the artistic editing of "Norway terrain flying" and the planning music and especially the end with the fondu of Robi in the mist and the tribute to Stevo... beautiful!

After "parler a l'oreille des chevaux" now we've got "flirter avec le roc" and Robbie is becoming very much Roc'n Roll, difficult to imagine better than that, looks like a marvellous dream flight... chapeau bas, guys!

Actually I find your query very pertinent... first when the grippers are trying to escape our little hands it's because the wing is in a deep stall and the vertical speed (VS) has increased, when the wing does not act as a parachute but really fly smoothly, ideally laminar, then we can hold the grippers lightly, no sweat, also we can feel air passing overhead, so it's not too hard to know whether we are flying or just falling and we can use that to monitor VS as an indication of the type of flight we are doing either for time or for distance. Logically VS would be slower for time and faster for distance. So knowing what is the optimum VS for either, a brief look at Viso set for speed would tell us about the flight configuration. So far we don't have a real-time way of checking flight parameters with GPS (unless Herwig comes up with it) besides the fact that GPS is relative to ground, not ambient air, so not really indicative of GR... so the idea of checking VS is very valid as far as I am concerned... untill we become really perceptive like the pro... afterall birds don't need all that electronic, do they? or to paraphrase Virgil, "They fly because they think they fly"

Ever thought of another pseudonym? Something like KrisSmartAss for instance

Oooooooops... something does not square up there, If the fwd speed is 157 mph and the GR is 2.1.... then the vertical speed should be 78 mph, not 35.... or am I missing something?

Hello Ted, here is a quote from Atair Radical manual: "The Radical is available in six precisely scaled sizes: (Note – Atair measures surface area by measuring the span x chord of the bottom skin. Stane Krajnc, the designer of the Radical feels that this measurement best represents a flying canopy) * 95 ft.2 = PIA spec 100 ft.2 * 100 ft. 2 = PIA spec 105 ft.2 * 105 ft. 2 = PIA spec 110 ft.2 * 120 ft. 2 = PIA spec 130 ft.2 * 135 ft. 2 = PIA spec 145 ft.2 * 150 ft. 2 = PIA spec 160 ft.2 " I was surprised when I first jumped the 135 Radical as it looked the same size as my previous, a BT50 (which is said to be about 150 sq.feet)... The BT50 remains for me a master sail (dispite all the bad publicity about hard opening; for me not harder than with the Sabre, just brisk and conforting as you know straight away that you are under a perfectly flying canopy) although the big difference is in the phenomenal flare power of the Radical... so my next one will probably be a Radical 120!

a) yes, same as Cobalt as the size is determined by measuring the intrados instead of the extrados as the other manufacturers do; in addition the exceptional flying characteristics of this sail make it fly and fly and fly, so it said to fly bigger than other canopies of same size, the powerful flare will bring a big smile on your face but it will also dive steeply on front risers action, so careful at not downsizing too much! . b) actually Radical is not just another name for Cobalt, it has quite a few improvements... the best would be to talk to Stane form Atair to find out about technical details.

Line twist don't have anything to do with the make of the sail; just do a lazy throw and/or become a little asymetrical and/or perform a trash packing and you may end up with line twist with any brand of canopy. So in this case the Cobalt performed extremely well in continuing to fly straight even with twist and therefore did not go in autorotation. The jumper was able to get out of trouble without cutting away, so, as far as I am concerned, good point for the Cobalt! As a matter of fact I know quit a few top wingsuiter using this canopy, now known as Radical (from Atair http://www.basetroll.com/)

Great respect goes to these pioneers of wingsuit flying; already jumping out of airplanes was considered a daredevil exploit in the 30's so let's think how amazing it was jumping with wings... after all, the three wing design of today is not much different from yesterday's design, and so sixty years later Patrick revived the project of human flight for our present mass enjoyment. Three cheers to them all!

Never mind whether a smashing video has already been posted. Thanks for keeping us untertained, James!

Very cute... beware old timers:new generation coming up!

Nice miss J... so, nobody even wanted to end up in chichkebab style in the city of the frankfurter!

What a great way of making fun and royalties, meet! o come si dice in Francese: joindre l'utile a l'agreable!

Ciao Tristan, long time no see! Let me help you explain what you are saying. When you say relax, it does not mean get floppy, it means use your chi (or qi, but mind you, not your Q.I., as intellect is often our enemy). It is a phenomenon well known in the internal martial arts: a small guy with skinny muscles will send flying a muscle builder, three times his/her weight. These people obviously don't use their muscle power (they have little of it), they rather use a formidable source of endless energy, they don't get tired and keep smiling achieving incredible performance. When applying this principle to our art, the problem comes from the fact that we must lock the joints and precisely this is what prevent chi from flowing, so Robi how about designing a new sail in which the pilot will not need to go into a rigor mortis state? All this to say I agree with you, Tristan: let's keep smiling as we do it and the parasite muscle tensions will dissolve. JJ radis, sel, rôt!

I would like to advertize a canopy for which there is no commercial advertizing at all: Radical from Atair, a true elliptical with the fun which comes with it without the usual problems usually associated with ellipticals, in particular autorotation under twists... in case of twists (due to trash packing in my case), the canopy still continues to fly straight, no worries! otherwise nice two stage opening like falling in a feather pillow, light front riser tension and powerful flare.. along with superior craftmanship and high quality materials. Here is the address kept secret for too long: http://www.basetroll.com/

James, petit canaillou, you really "poped up" on that one!

Thanks Marco, might see you and other pipistrllli next week end in reggio Emilia. till then, keep smiling!

Ohe Marco, is Garzigliana still on for next week end? How about other meetings? could you wite down the scheduled dates and places? Greetings, JJ

People are going to wonder why you keep smiling all the time!

What a great time we got and that was truly international: Europe and also Canada Grazias Tonton Charlie...

Radical was released last year, it's the successor (mind the root word!) of Cobalt, already a fine canopy (as long as you followed the rules of packing i.e. roll the tail ++, nose in, squared slider and nicel flake... same rules for Radical): improved airfoil profile, modified line trim, end cells divided in 3 to improve internal pressure and therefore reducing drag, shaped slider to make it stable and not swiveling during inflation and probably other inprovements that I am not aware of; I'm far from being an expert, certainly Stane, the brilliant owner and aeronautic designer of Atair products or James, alias Uncle Charlie, who knows Atair from the inside would be the people to talk to. Definetely a canopy to consider for fun wingsuit use: a dependable true elliptical, fun to fly and land!