VectorBoy

Once again its time for the Ira boogie, bring your wingsuits to Otay this sunday 22nd. ROB~BASE has a new S3 he wants to work out.

Flying "dirty" and in control is a SKILL. Bring it! to Eloy

Hey JP don't forget Girlfalldown she needs to get her own suit but she has a distance record. The longest distance that the DZ pick em driver had to drive for an Off dz landing. The CReW guys are pissed let me tell ya

I just conduct mine as a free fly jump as I know I won't be covering the distance I can get on a regular wing suit flight. We still go out last and fly a tighter pattern but I won't except a long spot. But when strictly wingsuiting it I request a very long spot. The pilots at our various dropzones are very helpful with this request for wing suits.

Fuckers! wife says I can't go in 2006 unless I deliver a kickass vacation for her in 2005. Do you think I can get a swedish judge?

It was nice to meet you Peej. Bonus I'm glad you got to flock at Rantoul.

Its a latino station on my radio. Iiieeeeeyyyyyyyyy!

How does it compare to a grand carravan?

QuoteI know that I don't like the narrow ones that Rigging Innovations sometimes uses. Quote Awh shucks these are my favorites.

Someone with 300 wingsuit jumps where only 10% are solos dedicated to maxing out on performance will most likely be lacking in glide ratio and hang time, IF you want to do some performance flying. So, I wouldn't say "flocking is where its at." I'd say, "Flocking is where half of it is at." Of course -- free instruction versus not-free instruction. What do you expect? Much like getting into BASE -- why go pay for the BR course when you have experienced jumpers nearby that are willing to help you go in, er... take you in? No its not just about money. The flockers are there pretty regularly, sometimes organized ahead of time en mass. On the days we are there its for the duration. Back to back multi ways with everybody coming down having fun is pretty intoxicating. This draws people in. The BMIs aren't always around or sometimes have to commit to more lucrative income skydiving, tandems, video etc. Some have to turn down offers to come to boogies, hey but If we are there its all good. I've got a great deal of faith in some very capable mentor types out there. Don't discount them. Remember that the purpose of a BMI is to get you through your first wingsuit flight in a bird-man suit safely. To help get you a first taste. How good you become after that is up to you.

Huh huh,.... like move it to where there aren't squall line thunderstorms and umpteen weather holds, .... huh huh.....< beavus vioce off>

I went on my first jump with a BMI. I paid for my jumpticket. The DZ pays for his slot whenever he takes a student on his/her first flight. Kris. I love this DZ very progressive! I can understand Chris G's frustration with the attitude that there must be a BMI on the first jump. There are five brands of wingsuits, only one the biggest, has a built in instructor cadre available. The others are more self instruct styly. And I don't think that is going to change, bet on it. Although the lovely Kim Griffin handled our big group's ground school for our first jump course a few years back, we could not fly that weekend due to low weather, very rare at our DZ. Most of the jumpers felt comfortable just winging it on their own ( pun intended ) later that week weather permitting. All had great results. I, on the other hand, played it by the book paid the BMI ( first generation ) flight fee+ slot. Exit the van the BMI flails into a gruesome ball of shit right next to me and is never to be seen again on that jump and oh yes indeed I looked hard as I didn't want to have a collision with another wingsuit. I did remember my practice touches, my bird-man wave off and had a nice deployment. Forty bucks wasted that could have been used for extra flights that day. My buddies laughed at me for that one. Flights months later with the same individual had exactly the same results. When Chuck and Jari enacted the new certified BMI program I'm sure they were trying to keep hyjinx like my experience and a few other similar suspect situations from happening during other first flights. Also keeping out the "masters of self promotion" and those without the requisite flight skills and capability to instruct. For the most part it has been a success story. But the local flavor here has not changed its much preferred to go with a mentor than a BMI. As I don't want to steal anybody's lunch money I refer people to the local BMIs and have done so publicly and also on this forum. Yet it seems that first time jumpers always find it back to our flock for their first jump course, even after this referral. I would have to say we've conducted exponentially more FJCs than the local BMIs combined and have the video to prove it. We provide a suit, sometimes video, debrief a little and then do it again all day for nothing. Two or three ways at first then on to bigger badder flocks with docks as more of our group shows up. On occasion loaning the suit for a few days or a couple of weeks, even loaning it to the BMI to conduct a FJC. The only time there is a charge is if one of us has to make special trip to the DZ and that is usually just slot. Many of the people I'm talking about lurk this forum. We've even had comments from experienced jumpers that come to play on their way through, who typically fly solo at their home DZs. They have a lot more fun, learn more in a handful of jumps flocking than on their own at home and can't wait to flock or hook up with other wingsuiters soon. If you want someone who makes a living skydiving to travel to your neck of the woods to instruct then compensation for their expenses isn't out of the question as none of the suit manufacturers can afford to cover this. Its not like calling up XXX canopy company for a demo to be shipped to you. If you can travel to where there is a better size group of flockers you probably won't be disappointed and they may give you a brake on instruction fees. Do a little research and I'm sure you can find a good mentor with a spare suit around. There may be leg work involved. Call some dropzones get some names or emails find out who may be in your area. I know for a fact that some of the BMIs on the list don't charge a dime, they didn't back when they performed the mentor role and still don't now that they made the list. This is just my personal ( and maybe unpopular ) opinion but I don't believe its that critical whether or not your first flight is a solo or not but its always nice to have somebody there for feedback or to corral you back if navigation is an issue. Even though navigation can be an issue for experienced guys too focussed on the grip and don't watch the spot. Is there an excuse for landing out when flying a wingsuit? Flocking is where its at, its how you learn. With real feed back or video and challenges other than just staying stable and flying for time. Slot flying and getting use to flying in larger groups. Regardless what you do for your first jump in a wingsuit don't carry on your lonesome self. Don't just fly in a vacuum its not uplifting, get out and "meet the flockers"!

QuoteI think he means that the Neptune is prematurely logging a deployment altitude. Been happening to me on literally every wingsuit jump.Quote Yes thats exactly what I mean. BTW I have two neptunes one on the wrist and one inside the helmet, both shut down the timer when wingsuiting never on regular jumps. They will give me rates of descent but not the overall time. I have a protrac in the helmet too but that timer just gets maxed out most of the time@ 119 seconds. I use three to get better averaging when I care about fall rates. I only consider the data valid when they are all within 10%. Its nice when two of the three are very close. Never have the three agreed. I can't wait for the software to get up to speed on them or for L&B to expand their timer function for that matter.

When you say 45 degrees to the ground do you mean back behind you? I never had the upper wings not inflate. I did have to work at keeping the leg wing trailing edge from flapping, this took about seven flights. It is effortless now. It is almost as if the material has softened now as I don't even think about this. The hardest part for me on the wing is tensioning my arm forward and keeping it straight. On solo flights I get some very slow descent rates ( maxxing out the protrac and shutting down my neptunes ff time) but usually get tired later in the flight. I need to teach myself to do this and stay relaxed. I also squeeze my shoulders up towards my head and this helps tension the suit from my shoulders down to the booties. Normally I fly fast by maintaining a powerlifter (doing squats with the foot pointed, knees bent) position from the waist down getting more drive by playing with the pelvis angle. I heard Cedric and a few others were playing around with a position that was straight feet and legs with one forward bend at the pelvis only then straight upper body and arms back behind you like you mentioned earlier. How much I don't know, you will have to experiment. This is the stuff we are trying It may not work for everybody. It is work for me as it is so different from the way an S3 is flown.

I think you will get much better answers from the people on the base forum. I know something about wingsuits, own an S3 and the matter2. Yet without knowing anything about your flying style and much more importantly anything firsthand about base and how the right suit for the right exit and the right flyer I cannot give you any usefull info and may in fact give bad, bad info. Good luck and fly safe.

We were both flying pretty dirty - we'll have to try the high speed birdman barbie pass next time... I just didn't want to drop her! Thats not flying dirty thats just flocking. You need to get one of the G I Joe chicks to loan you a parachute from their collection for her just in case she is ever dropped.

I'm glad it flies well for you. Not to imply anything, but a well-fitting and well-flown S3 generaly outglides MTR2. You should be getting about the same time and noticeably more horizontal speed/distance in S3. As a reference point, my old S3 prototype was going about 60km/h vertical and 2.4 L/D on better flights. bsbd! Yuri.Quote Most of the best wingsuit pilots have had an S3 for a few seasons now and had the time to tune their style to the way it flys best for them. The matter is less than a season new and it will be curious to see what the same very best pilots achieve with it after a while as it is different enough from flying the Bird-man suits. Maybe nothing new and the generalization that the S3 maintains more drive will stand or maybe something interesting. Yuri please tell us about your old prototype S3.

I believe you Bjorn. Although I don't base my M2 starts flying sooner than my S3. A few weeks ago it was already inflated just sitting in the helicopter and of course it was flying right off the step. My S3 takes a few seconds longer to inflate. I cannot wait to do some balloon exits with the Matter. As far as getting the fattest and flatest glide I tend to believe its the pilot that makes the majic happen less so the suit.

Slim isn't Russian. And UncleCharlie isn't Russian, but it looks like he put the pouch to use. Am I mistaken or was the event held in Russia? Thats was my reference.

What I do to stay on heading while going over is to keep my eyes on the rabbit as I'm going over. If I'm in the lower portion of the swarm I stay on my back as I turn and track away on my back finding clear air to deploy in. One eye on the horizon and still looking up and back a ways. If I'm in the upper portion of the formation I fly the whole brake off on my belly and look back over my shoulder just prior to deployment.

Very nice pictures. It proves that the Russians know how to go big. I didn't see one wingsuit useing their wingsuit base pilotchute pouch, is it common or not to use it?

Yeah Burner is the way to go for vivid balloon jumps. Mass exits on the same side make for nice video. Suprised more wingsuiters didn't take advantage of his services back in December but more deffinatly should if you are at the wingsuit boogie in october, I will.

I have, some people have claimed they believe that this design somehow stiffens their airfoil to a degree. Not quite as much as an x-braced but enough to assist in performance.

If the gunrack is like my halfrack then you just change the liners to get the right fit. They are all the same shell size. Oh yeah the gunrack is an improvement on the older styles- you guessed it more comfy baby.

It is an opening from the front side of the body to the rear. If you look closely at the leg wing inlet vents you will see that this the start or leading edge of the legs wing area. The deflector is just a hood over this opening. This makes the skyflyers a two wing design. two completely different and separate airfoils. The Matter 2 has a deflector also, really it is just a fairing as it is not open on any side rather it is inflated via crossports from within the suit.