VectorBoy

It doesn't matter where you learn to wingsuit. You can get the absolute best instruction, go through the excersises on the ground over and over until you are raw . BUT once you are in the air the feedback sensation may be overwhelming and nobody regardless of their ability to teach or your previous experience and ability to absorb this will be a factor in predicting the outcome of your first flight. You can have the very best instructor with you in the air and in the case of instability or spiraling the showcase instructor will be powerless to "TOP DOCK" and fix your situation. YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN IN WINGSUITS. So yes a PDF with simple verbal description and graphics would be acceptable so would having a good instructor if you want. Literally ANYBODY could state they have a fool proof way of exiting to avoid tail strikes or skydiver proof way of navigatiing the dropzone pattern and then not give at least a verbal discription of it. My guess is verbal description just wouldn't be that revolutionary.

That is the whole point of large flocks & RW formations. To freeze and not be seen. God forbid you get noticed. I was just curious and didn't know you flew wingsuits, So I had to ask. Nowadays if you're not grinding the crack, are a major organizor, bombarding the USPA BOD with one sided reports or uploading your grandmother's EKG er I mean your glide vector upward thrust ratio squigly line thing nobody knows who you are in this forum.

[reply I'm so over the majority of the wingsuit community. Its always been a disfunctional bunch. Just curious but do you fly wingsuits or is this like the freeflyers making fun of style and accuracy posse?

Not much to talk about. Just like in freeflying everybody needs to stay on level whether the brake off is solo or in groups until deployment or near deployment. Once you are well clear yeah you can feather the fall rate out and get extra separation but it should look very flat. Corking is just bad regardless of discipline.

What is the short zipper close to your handle mod for?

A couple of questions if I may. What would be the path for those currently flying wingsuits if the first flight under instruction becomes mandatory. I guestimate its a few thousand people. Would they be grandfathered or would they need a " recurrancy" jump with one of the new instructors? And as to the current batch of factory instructors, would they be grandfathered or have to receive additional training from a USPA wingsuit instructor examiner?

With hundreds of CRW exits and deployments pretty much right over the lake, we always make it back to the DZ. Unless of course we are chasing a freebag. Now back to your simple minded single discipline skydiving existance wit ya.

The cast: $20 Plaster, $6 for ky unless you have a whole bunch laying around. $ 75 ~100 for the dive hood- liner. The plug: Minimum $ 20 to $30 for various waxes ( free if you work in molding business or car detailing. $30 to $40 for 2-part expanding foam. This just gets you to the foam plug of your head stage and we are way past $100 dollars. Yes I only spent $40 on fiberglass but $60 on enough resin to do 1 CCM ( I really spent $120 whether I build two or not) You might be able to get marine resin cheaper but not by much. You will spend minimum $50 to well over $100 for hardware depending on if you want a cuttaway. Add in your choice of mounts, sights, electronics this thing can go well past $1000. I didn't have to buy a single tool or any sandpaper. I didn't pay a lick of shipping, everything sourced local. My hood was free, My mounts home made from material I already had. I didn't have any re-dos or do overs and I'm up to over $400. That is not counting paint which I did myself. The biggest hit will be your skill and perseverance during a 200 man hour project that requires much patience. That is for a bare bones unit following the instructions if you plan to deviate or customize add much more time. I had help which is essential the instructions are good but not perfect. Advice is cheap.

That is awesome. I wish I had some fiberglass experience to do that. Experience is a plus but not needed, with the instructions. Patience is what you need for this project. most people who start never finish. Those that finish take take upwards of a year or more and the cost of all of the supplies cost more than just buying a vapor or flat top pro. Wes Rich was giving them away at $1500.

Negative I never stated training of any kind. The Apache design is an evolution but the factory never has control of the choice and design of rig to be used ( integrated really) with the suit. Hence every user now becomes a rigger and a test jumper of their combination of wingsuit + rig + environment for use. You are not going to find that in any course, structured or otherwise. Suits like this require a lot of respect, experience and knowledge. I doubt they are the magic ticket to doing XRW. These fall into the category not for everyone. Regular " entry level" wingsuits are much simpler and easy to use. I could teach 10 year olds how to use them all day long...... or they can read a manual and follow a few few basic rules to stay safe. This, BTW, is the target audience for the wingsuit instructor rating not big suit jumpers. This is off topic for an Apache thread but we train people to do CREW about once a month. The gear is VERY specialized. There are things you can't do with it. Like take it to terminal. You will use ALL of your controls and some others you don't see on regular gear like riser trim tabs or 2 to 1 handles. The deployment system can be a throwout, a pullout or combination of the two. The thing might be stowed in a bag or a tail pocket. Bottom line the gear is special. The emergency procedures are no longer pull right, pull silver on the left. The EPs are now like 12 pages long depending on if you are wrapped

Be real, the Apache isn't just another wingsuit. Nobody is claiming it is and since the design changes as new models come out every Apache pilot should consider themselves a test jumper and bring that kind of experience before flying. There are probably very few wingsuit instructors that have enough knowledge of the Apache to be of any real assistance. A better resource would be individuals who actually fly the suits in this case mostly BASE jumpers not somebody who has one hanging in a team room un jumped. You are using the Apache's extreme example of wingsuit complexity and rigging to sell the wingsuit instructor coach rating to a would be new flyer who would never fly the suit to begin with.... you got to be smarter than that.

Yes I have exactly this on my Hang glider in conjuction with the logging gps vario. What speeds do you want to study free fall or just canopy? A stand alone wind meter like your S&TA uses would be better and cheaper and a very simple " Hall meter" can be bought even cheaper. Basically its a floating ball in a tube. All of this is for canopy speed studies not for freefall. Hope this helps

Blah, blah, blah, pay me to jump with you, blah, blah, blah, for some additional money I can teach you how to get others to pay you to jump with them too. sounds like you are referring to some shite a handfull of dode gurglers led by an "Artieeste" are pedalling in regards to wingsuit coach rating ATM. In Brugge there is a saying that there is a fine line between an "Artieeste" and a cocke zurker.

There is no hidden agenda its sitting like a turd in the salad bowl and alarmist is the name of the game around this forum. Normally I would agree 100% with you but there has been a few tail strikes in the last few and I believe it is completely possible to probable a couple of out of the way tandem mills are reviewing the value of sport jumpers and their smaller segment of special needs ( on exit) wingsuit jumpers and their impact on overall operations and maintenance...... and that is never a crime from an owner /operator standpoint. Starting this post but not naming the name .... suspect. Maybe some local jumpers at the DZ(s) in question will shed some light and ask for the rest of the WS communities patience and support while they attempt to work things out at a local level. I can really respect that approach.

Its a simple request. Its a very easy answer. I'd like to shout a thank you to the Lodi wingsuit posse for being Frank, up front and open with information..... not Kryptic when previously, through no fault of their own, their home DZ also had a hard ban on wingsuits. A fairly large group of regular and talented wingsuiters asked for patience from the rest of the community while they try to work things out... which in the end they did. Props for them for having faith in the "rest of the community" but still sharing the information, for not treating people like children. If a DZ has banned Wingsuiting or swooping or perhaps turns greater than 90 under a 1000 feet there is probably a very good reason from their recent history. It should not be hard to grasp why but it is good to have public knowledge it is partly why these forums exist.

Yes please and which DZs have banned WS while we are at it?

You can back them up with nukes. Although I do agree that windmills are mostly a scam supported by tax payer money and the only real 'green' energy tech is nukes. You could in theory but the nuke operators don't like to swing their units. They like to bring them up and base load them without upsets. There is nothing green about huge stock piles of low grade spent fuel nobody wants to dispose of. Geo thermal and hydro are as close as you can get but very location limited until somebody perfects the free gravitron beams.

No such thing as green power in an atmosphere, like here. In order to make up for "free" solar's lack of reliability issues the fossil burners have to be on in spinning reserve mode to back it up just in case a cloud happens. The fossil burners are not efficient ( or clean) at lower loads. Think running your cars engine in second gear until 4th ,5th and 6th are required to get you there. Don't even get me going on how "green" windmills horizon to horizon are. If you are worth your salt as a mechanical engineer you can figure a lot of machinery requiring huge maintenance for very little actual generation spread across a huge landscape " oh how natuaral"

Really? Has the prof signed off on your understanding of Glide Ratio? The flysight is made in Canada. Where is your cheapo flytec made? Ha, I wish it was cheap. made by the swiss. But to be honest I don't use it for WS nor speedflying just Hang and Paragliding so I can't use it as tool in G/R arguement I promiss not to engage in. Don't take this as part of an arguement but I believe the Prof has several fixed wing ratings ( as do I) glider licence to if I'm not mistaken, he would have to verify. So if I was to take a side, which I won't, it would be his. Last I heard he owns a mooney not sure which one and the only fixed wing you own are those winglets on your cranium. But I could be wrong.

VB...there is this thing called a flysight and if it says its a glide ratio..its a glide ratio. I know what a G/Ratio is....... you will never catch me arguing G/R round here. There is this other thing called a flytec, it gives me more info. Mine is bigger than yours. It logs my G/Rs.

Sorry got busy watching swoop videos. It made me horny.

OK but rule #1 No brand war. BM is no longer a brand, its a museum piece, so leave Scott and Chucky alone. Your following sentence is correct, next. The hot topic is all about safety and glide ratios ( and what is a glide ratio. How would you know if one came up to you in a bar and made a pass at you).

He wasn't very good at it and he really was doing us all a favor.

A comparison: Canopy pilots dominate the podium at competitions. Wingsuit pilots have a forum where they bitch about Jeb, mostly cuz they are extremely EPIC jealous and lets face it he is having more fun than 95% of you... sucks to be you. Almost forgot:Heil safety! Yawl have a nice flight.

Quote I just can't let him walk around with an alien on the back of his neck...... suggestions? You are in marshal arts and you haven't learned the five point exploding cyst trick, sheesh? BTW I loved the Meat curtains uh meen ..... labia post God put them there for a reason ... festive!