voilsb

I spoke to the Icarus rep at Carolinafest, and they do have Omnis and Omega they can demo. When I get back I plan to demo both and write up some good reviews comparing them both to each other and to the Storm and Spectre with which I already have experience. Brian

Likewise, I always tried to speed up my openings when I jumped a Triathlon because it opened soft and slow. I imagine "Split roll" refers to rolling the left and right three cells toward the center cell, but that's just a guess. Brian

I had 600 jumps on a P2 and then bought a P3 ... OH MY GOD, that suit has a lot more to it than a P2. It's faster, more strongly pressurized, more agile ... it's definitely an upgrade. I always wanted a suit between my P2 and a V3 or V4 ... the P3 is that suit. Brian

I think the point is, regardless if a coach is teaching a Cat H jump, or a 4-way team each with 3000 jumps, he's still *teaching skydiving* and therefore is building the skills necessary for higher ratings. Brian

Where I've jumped, I've generally found the wind and ceiling forecasts to be pretty inaccurate. I usually just call and ask instead, and end up spending a lot of time at the DZ moaning about the weather. Brian

From what I've seen Spot has always been great about sharing practices and information. He has frequently posted a link to the wingsuit manual he uses at Elsinore and to videos of all his dive flows ... I just don't remember the link at the moment. Brian

I suspect that, in the future, these will happen less often because his minimum pull altitude was raised from 2,000 ft to 2,500 ft. Brian

I have a friend who has done this with her Sabre2 150 for the past few years, and claims it is more true to the original Sabre2 trim. I don't know if this is true, but I do know that she likes how it flies and it doesn't appear to be dangerous for relatively conservative piloting. She doesn't do speed-induced maneuvers. Brian

omnomnom Ok, I think conventional wisdom says something about 500ish jumps before jumping a wing like that. It's not a rule, though. More importantly: do you want to switch to a katana or other elliptical canopy? If no, then don't. That simple. If yes, then ask yourself: why? What do you hope to get out of that wing you can't on your current one? And if yes, some more conventional wisdom says don't rush. For the sake of conversation I'll assume you can fly your current canopy pretty well in any situation. Try an intermediate wing like a Sabre2 107 or even another 120 and add weights if it's not zippy enough. And try coaching. I hear it's not just for girls. Brian

They don't. What you probably remember is that they installed some Inifinities with a RAX for test jumping purposes: http://youtu.be/aqxjHOSKTT0 Brian

No, I was borrowing one in Puerto Rico because I was considering getting one. It's a great suit, and of the Tony's I've flown definitely my favorite. But I never got around to buying one. Brian

How heavy? I'm 5'11" (180 cm) and 205 lb (93 kg) without gear and I fly a Phantom 3 pretty well in most situations. Honestly, when I had 200 wingsuit jumps, I felt like you do. Thought about going to a Ghost or S-Bird. Since I couldn't afford to at the time, I kept jumping my P2. When I was able to buy another suit, I bought a P3 because I learned how to fly it. Brian

Could actually be quite useful for people jumping high performance canopies at night ... might make a chop easier to find. Brian

Absolutely. There are just two types or repairs according to the FAA regulations; Major and Minor. I asked that specifically because I know Master Riggers and DPREs who would answer that question both ways. It seems to be in dispute. Are those regulations being followed if a Master Rigger signs off on his work? Brian

Does that apply on a non-certificated canopy? What if he builds the line set and delivers it to his local master rigger for inspection, and then is only charged an inspection fee for okay-ing it? On the bit for building a line set, it's not terribly difficult and on a square 7-cell canopy the consequences of being a couple 16ths of an inch off are minimal, so I see no reason why it shouldn't be an option for a curious riglet to attempt. Brian

About six months ago I had a VisoII get broken off during a backfly wingsuit rodeo. I told them what happened, and that I only had the back of of the altimeter, and asked if it qualified for service. They said yup, send it in. Got a brand new one. On the same jump my 4-year old Optima also stopped working, because the case was too badly cracked that I couldn't even tape it shut anymore. They said to send that one in, too. Got a brand new OptimaII. Of course, I never e-mailed at all about one a friend broke while borrowing it, or one I lost in freefall. I just bought new ones. Brian

What's your height/weight? I'm 5'11 and 200lb, 230lb exit weight, and I fly a Phantom3. When I had 100ish wingsuit jumps, I had your mindset. I demoed a Ghost2 and didn't like it. Not as responsive as the P2 was. somewhere around 200 jumps on the P2 my mindset changed, and I started being able to keep up with people, etc. I switched to the P3 with about 600ish jumps on the P2. It's got a lot more range than the P2. Honestly, if you spend another 100ish jumps on the P3, especially with coaching, you'll have no need to use another suit to flock with others. You'll just make other wingsuiters jealous :-P Brian

Maybe write PD with your issue. I fly a Storm 150 at 1.6, and it doesn't have any of the issues you describe. A buddy of mine demoed a Storm 120 at around 1.7 and a 107 at about 1.9ish and had none of those problems either. Also, have you tried a Sabre2? Wingsuiter and Canopy pilot Chuck Blue swoops the snot out of his Sabre2 97 on wingsuit jumps. Also, may try contacting NZ Aerosports about demoing a Matrix2 (5-cell cross-braced CRW canopy) with a sail slider. Brian

Foam: http://www.seattlefabrics.com/neoprene.html#Closed%20Cell%20Foam I can't help you with the stiffener off the top of my head. Brian

This is wisdom. I'm 230lb and 5'11" and I've frequently done 2:30 with my Phantom2, and hit 2:45 on it once (all 13,500 to 3,000 ft). On about my 10th jump or so on my Phantom3 I also did 2:45 from 13,5 to 3 with no references. After I put a hundred jumps on it, with a puffy ... I bet I could easily top 3 min. Brian

My bad, IMDB had it listed, but it's not on the actual soundtrack album; I guess they listed the music credits, not the actual album soundtrack. Brian

"Señor Matanza" performed by Mano Negra http://youtu.be/rVXiVsy2vI4 It's on the sound track. Brian

I remember what you're talking about, and it was Infinity risers, and I can't seem to find it in the search. I'll keep looking. Brian

That's a good one. I use home-made slinks very similar to the HiPer ones here: http://www.hiperusa.com/Softlinks.html I put the soft link on one leg pad, and the bungee on the other. I put a loop on the end of the bungee (I use an end-of-line bowline), and attach the soft link to that. I've started making them for people at my dropzone; especially newer wingsuiters who haven't figured out their own method yet. Brian

Can you elaborate on that, other than the obvious that a smaller suit always feels more agile Just seemed to take more imput to get change. Whereas a phantom, vampire, or s-bird will go from flock to afterburners for breakoff almost instantly, it seemed to take the ghost longer to get moving. Likewise to stop from a dive (like from last out in the plane to the formation) the P, V, and S go from 100% to stop pretty easily, and I had to start slowing down the ghost significantly earlier. Same thing with turns. Brian