nickfrey

Hey doc, will ya quit calling yourself an average pilot? The truly average might start thinking they can wingsuit places like Brento.

And 10-20 BASE jumps, with ZERO Wingsuit, in a Venom. He was testing a little more then luck.

or the Squirrel Swift

Like this guy? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zyZA4cVLnk

I'm planning to add velcro backing to the zippers, similar to the way it is at the beginning of the zippers on Phoenix fly suits, at the final position of the closed zipper in outie mode. I'm not a fan of the bungee program, they defeat the locking mechanism of the ykk zipper by tensioning it and unlocking the zipper. I also know at least one Apache owner with zippers, that just uses tape on the backside of the zipper to prevent it from moving. Haven't had any problems that haven't been corrected before exit, though I have had to make adjustments in the plane due to unlocked zipper creep while sitting.

That should just about get rid of all of those pesky basejumpers.

What about the us? Your least expensive option would probably be lodi. Assuming 6000 nzd 5000us... Plane 1500 Camping at dz, free aff and mandatory tandem 1100 Jumps to finish a liscense inc packed rig 35$*17=595 3200 usd to a liscense include plane fare to us. I believe coach jumps including rig rental are 100 each.

Funny you should ask for pictures when Squirrel has a far more detailed website with a ton of upclose photos of the suit then any of the other manufacturers site.http://www.squirrel.ws/colugo I can tell you that the build quality is as good as it gets, very impressed. Large/thick zippers throughout, no mesh internal ribs, it's all crossported lightweight porcher skytek and cut with a hot knife. Zero flex grippers. It's very clear to me that they design each and every suit based on the measurements you give them, I believe they cad model each one. Customer service is top notch, and direct from Squirrel, no third party communications. On the day the suit arrives I also got an email from them asking how everything was. In the box was a pamphlet about the suit, and the "care and feeding" of your squirrel. Innie outie mode is very straightforward and as long as you hook it up right I have no worries that the handles will disappear into the suit in Skydive mode. Infact I think this system is superior in that it can be adjusted to fit just about any rig and the zippers will move with the rig to prevent opening shock from ripping seams on the suit around the openings, which I have seen on a number of suits. I wouldn't want to see it on beginner suits though. Initial flight impressions, very fast and naturally trimmed for a lower AOA then some suits. No need to drop arms behind the body to build speed, rails turns at speed. Rock solid inflation, no flapping at all and I mean NONE. Natural glide seems pretty high. Rapid arm deployment system works very well, could fly canopy and land with all zippers closed if necessary. Inflation is rock solid for deployment, little to no chance of getting wing instead of PC on deployment. It's clearly designed to be an all around terrain flying Wingsuit BASE suit, capable of crisp and agile handling. In my opinion backfly inlets would be a detriment to the design and purpose of the suit. It's not for acrobatics or slow flight, not to say it wont do both though, I'll backfly it next time out. If I want to party, I have a ghost for that. If that's what you are after there are much better choices out there. FYI, the only suit I have jumped of similar size is the V4. I found the Colugo to be easier to fly physically and technically and to have a greater range of stable flight speeds. I didn't feel the need to haul ass to generate lift like I have experienced in the V4.

Of course the shadows are going to be the same... The differences are going to be airfoil shape, thickness of wings, inlet feeding, cross-bracing/stability of shape, changes in leading edge design and wing sweep just to name a few. All of which will change the characteristics of flight substantially. Surface area isn't everything, it just makes you fall slower and it's not what makes you fly. Lift and drag are, changing the thickness and taper of the airfoil is just as important, as are better ways to help the suit maintain that shape and reduce drag. Performance changes are going to be from the things not evident in a photograph of the suit on the ground, and will still be difficult to visualize even in flight. They will be very subtle changes and gains will come in small increments. Also, Squirrel looks to be concentrating on some safety improvements they felt were lacking from other designers, perhaps because PF and TS were too busy trying to keep up with production and demand for ever increasing surface area. Like better inlet feeding and pressurization stability. The more they copy each other and add their own ideas and improvements the better it is for us. I would love to see all three take the same suit as a base and go from there.

Let me guess, you also believe god created man...

I don't doubt that it's possible, and that video is more convincing than others I've seen, but it's still not a perfectly objective perspective. Parallax through a long zoom lens can do some really funny things. Watched the entire event, you could very clearly see pilots flying above their own smoke trails. Unquestionable in my opinion. Can't remeber which pilot but one of them was on course to hit the cable and dove under it then clearly climbs back up, side shot it's very clear.

How much will jump tickets be for the event?

There are many situations where CPR may be clearly futile. Often it is performed for the comfort of those in attendance and except when the body is damaged to a point where cpr is not possible or decapitation should be performed until EMS personal arrive on scene EVEN by trained off-duty personal on scene. I would expect that the training for combat is different as continued CPR in a combat situation is a waste of resources and possibly dangerous. Every civillian first responder program I have been through (red cross first aid, CPR for professional rescuers, OEC WFR and EMT-B) teaches CPR even when clearly not effective should be performed. Except when there are others that could be helped, such as in a triage situation.

Its amazing how many local (nor-cal) jumpers claim not to go to lodi, and then turn up there. And I could swear dave must have an automated search for any mention of Lodi, he is always the next post telling everyone to stay away from the scary place. There is nothing wrong with bills aircraft. Infact other dropzones lease them all the time, the scary horseshoe thread is bills plane at another dz...

Lodi, ca. 0 to 25 jumps (a liscense minimum) $1700, including gear rental.

its not so much the forward speed or the vertical speed you have to worry about - but the combination (or vector). Your 3d speed or vector really isnt that much faster if at all. For example, falling straight down @ 120mph is a 3d speed of 120. Tracking @. 6 glide or 60mph forward with a 100mph fallrate, thanks to pythagoras we know is 116. Ifyou flare to pitch, not only do you slow down, converting that speed into more lift. You put yourself into a more head up body position, lessening the swing through of the opening. I almost always pitch in a track, rarely if ever does it cause a problem and i get softer openings.

Davis has tickets for $18 right now. The extra 3 bucks is more than worth it for peace of mind. Just sayin. Except every time I've gone to Davis on a weekday your lucky to get on three loads with 2 hours in between. Lodi... Show up at 10am, easy to get in 5 or more with little waiting most days for 65 dollars. $7 less then 4 will cost you at Davis. it's 5 dollars to 3000 officially, occasionally you'll get 4000. I have never had a hard time finding someone to jump with there. But yeah, the culture is a little different then most if not all places.

Yep, lawyer. And likely not a very good one, somebody got bumped around on an observer ride and is trying to make a quick buck.

Continued thread jack, sorry I haven't flown either one. What I should have said about the contour is that storyteller reports 3D in the playback, at least according to the rep I asked a while back. Using the data you could export it as GPX and import it to flysight or paralog to analyze it. You could also export CSV and look at it to see just how accurate the data is. ie. how much erroneous data there is. If you want to export the data from your flight I would actually be interested in seeing it. To export the GPS data from a movie, start with the movie already imported in to Storyteller. From the Library view of Storyteller, select the movie whose and then choose File -> Export -> Export GPS data. You will then have the option to choose a location for saving the file. You will also be able to select between .GPX, .CSV, and .TXT formats. Send me gpx and csv and we will see whats up... V4 on the way 10 days or so. Like i said you should win, but 3 miles out, first one to the highway and above 4000 wins... Edit to add, I looked at a few gps tracks and my 3d speed at deployment ranges from 65-95 with most being about 80.

Never tried to discredit the V3 speed, many known pilots have reached about the same speed in that suit. I was not discrediting you or calling you a liar, chill out... I was discrediting your method of measurement/equipment. Started typing that reply before your last post, got sidetracked and posted it after you said you were head down. My bad... but as I stated before, contours only give 3d speed, not vertical (fall), not horizontal(ground). Entirely possible to reach a 3d speed of 140, in fact you could do it without a wingsuit and I've reached 3d speeds in excess of 150 in a ghost, with an accurate GPS, fall Rate was 93mph and ground speed 120. You are not wrong, but your contour is. PS, Hi Cliff... Lets race next time, you should win...

the Contour GPS is horribly inaccurate for sky sports, especially out of the otter since you are sitting under the wings spars during the climb and it lacks DGPS. Add in the fact that it's only 1hz, only gives you 3D speed and shows you in level flight. The Data from it for anything other then a semi-accurate track history is completely useless. Get a real GPS with at least 5hz plotting, Agps and Dgps. and use either Paralog or the flysight program to look at the track. The free version of Paralog can load one track at a time, you just cant save it. If you see me in lodi (red/blue/black Ghost 3) I'll loan you my GPS for a flight. Assuming that clip is the whole flight and it shows your at 3900' at 1:47 exiting from 13000 your average fall rate was about 58MPH, so either the gps is dead wrong or you were diving the crap out of that suit.

Board the plane legs zipped up. Above 1500, plane in level/controlled flight, zip up arms, exit, fly for seperation dump reserve. above 2500, same as above, except dump main. Unstable aircraft and/or below 1500 and/or rushed exit unzipped arm wings hand on reserve handle, tuck legs into ball, exit, clear and pull. In the event that the plane is high like 5000+ and exit rushed, exit on back, zip arm wings in freefall while on back, roll over and fly to normal altitude. I would never want to try and find a pc handle with flapping fabric all over the place. I dont think a leg wing cutaway is an option on any of the currently available suits.

Use it as a backup, set it for lower then your pull altitude and set a goal of deploying before it sounds.

Skydance skydiving, davis California. September 21-23

Actually was not referring to the riser covers. Which at least on my perigee are designed so that the tuck flap is all the way down at the large three ring providing little to no resistance to the risers during deployment. I would be more concerned about the riser channel next to the reserve as it would have a much greater impact on loading over a greater length of the riser. Compounded by the use of wider risers and likely a big grab or maybe even WLO toggle. During most wingsuit deployments you are a good distance from object strike and should have some time to deal with any issues. But the reserve will be of little to no use. So why bother with it in the BASE environment. I totally understand using it to skirt FAA requirements from aircraft for low altitude deployments in places where there are no restrictions on opening altitude, but the benefit seems to end there. I wonder if it is equipped with a skyhook?