edid

I figure pushing out has to give the best performance advantage; albeit small perhaps. Spreading the rears flatens out the canopy and a flatter wing is a more efficient wing yeiding a better glide. What do you do when you want to get back from a long spot? Most everyone spreads their rears (except Velo pilots it seems who seem to be able to hang up there better in brakes).

I can't see any cross-bracing on the canopy in the video. Curious. I thought the onyx was cross-braced.

Also, be very careful with buying/importing a birdman suit. Parachute equipment and accessories do not carry any duty/tariff. However, clothing carries a 25% tariff. And customs in Oz want to classify the birdman suit as clothing. Hence, a $500 (say) birdman suit now becomes $687.50. That's 25% duty plus 10% GST. And, you guessed it, they charge the GST on the total amount including the tariff (i.e. a tax on a tax), which, you would think, would be illegal double dipping. Well, it would be illegal if it was anyone else doing it other than the government. Bletch.

Did anyone do a reserve only drill? i.e. no main out at terminal.

Do you have much time under a Stiletto? Very little. And it's been a long time since I flew one. I am going on my personal experience. While my first Cobalt was on the way I flew a 135 Stilleto a few times. I felt quite nervy on it at the time. So much so that I wondered if I was in fact stupid to have ordered a 135 elliptical. But when my Cobalt arrived and I flew it, as I said, it felt a very natural, intuitive and easy transition. Also, interestingly, I know and know of many who fly highly loaded Crossfires, Samurais, Cobalts etc but I don't know anyone keen on highly loaded Stilletos. That's gotta say something. But indeed, at this stage I must again borrow and jump a few other canopies to extend, refine, confirm or amend my current judgement.

I went from a Sabre 170 to a Cobalt 135 at 200 jumps and found the transition very easy and intuitive. However, I had studied, read, asked, practised and done absolutely everything on my Sabre and was bored with it. When I got on my 135 I went back to the start and learnt everything over again on the new canopy. I would say, if you're ready, go with the Cobalt. I reckon you're better off learning to fly a canopy that dives more; as all modern HP elliptical canopies these days are designed to do. Stilletos are old technology. I think a Cobalt is a very smooth, easy to fly, intuitive canopy. I liken it to (and I'm not claiming this analogy; I think it's been likened this way before) doing 80mph in an old car. It feels fast, jittery and scary. But do 80 mph in a modern car and it feels smooth and controllable.

"There can be NO dorkiness in an SF3".?? Oh yes there can. Lemon and tangerine boy proves it. But hey, I'm a ardent birdman too, however, I agree with Quade, something's gotta be done about that pose. Ah, but thanks for the laugh guys. It was minutes before I could get my breath after seeing those shots and reading LouDiamond's "Bwaaahaaa..." post. No wonder a friend of mine calls it my Birdbrain suit.

What part of ..."(and for the sake of quick and helpful reference, nothing else please)"... did you not understand, Mr Moderator? Can we just have the data please, in any form then, OK.

Seems like there are a lot of discrepancies between everyone's Vladiball experiences as far as fall rate and ball flight. Perhaps an exacting compile of data wouldn't go amiss. So how about making this thread for that purpose (and for the sake of quick and helpful reference, nothing else please). Posts to contain... weight: type of weight and size: tail length /width / material: fall rate (use 1st half TAS): flight comments: (plus, for the sake of correllation and comparatives can we put all data in one standard. Metric would be best. I know America likes to work to the old imperial standard of inches and pounds but metric was adopted in most other modern countries because it is more exacting easily divisible; and every modern tape measure and scale is calibrated for both. Cheers)

Interesting figures from people on fall rates and steel/lead shot etc. They all seem to differ. I just got a Vladi also. Can't find steel shot in this country so had to use lead. Got some 7&1/2 LEAD shot. Filled Vladi to the brim and it only weighed 1.65lbs. Hmmm. I'm going to cut the tail down by 1 inch (making it 6&3/8). I'm hoping that will produce a straight fall rate of around 165-170mph (my comfort zone). Will post my data. P.S. A couple of things I've found. 1) When filling Vladi, open up the cup section and fill one half full. Then close it and fill the rest through the little hole. Makes filling half the hassle. 2) The little bum bag that comes with your cypress (when you buy a new one) is the perfect size for Vladi. Worn around your middle with the pouch on your belly it makes easy stowing in the plane and after freefall.

I've also heard that you can considerably lengthen battery life if, when putting the new ones in (after waiting the prescribed 2mins) you then leave the Pro-track/pro-dytter 15 mins before turning it on or doing anything with it.

Great idea thanks. I'll see if I can get some footage this weekend (if my only wingusit mate is around) and post a little movie . Ed. P.S. Dan, that comp cobalt is one rocking silver daddy canopy. Cheers.

I have 15 or so jumps on my Gti now but I'm damned if I can get my butt below 60mph. I did a 62 average (TAS; pro-track helmet mounted) on my 3rd jump but try as I might I haven't managed to beat that on any further jumps. Incidently, do wingsuit flyers use SAS or TAS? As a freeflyer and tracker I'm no slouch and have good air sense but I must be missing something. Also, I'm 5'11" and only 75Kg (165lbs) so I'm no anvil either. I've tried every combination of arm and leg position I can think of. My suit is definately a bit big for me but as I understand it from Jari this should only have the effect of increasing suit inflation and thus lift. However, could it being too big around the shoulders mean that I am not able to pull the arm wing into the correct poistion? A tuck and stitch of the excess material along the the shoulder perhaps? Or would that be deleterious to the suit? There's only about 3 wingsuits around our DZ (apparently) and I've only ever seen one. And he's not much more experienced than me so I don't have the opportunity of flying with an expert. Any knowledge, tips or tricks appreciated.

Oops. Should have read the further posts on the 'small canopies' post. Question answered.

OK, it seems Birdmen out there are quite comfortable jumping their usual small mains with wingsuits. But small mains, say 120 and below, have small pilotchutes (somewhere between 20" and 26" I am assuming). Are you small canopy Birdmen comfortable and problem free with small pilot chutes? Or are you guys changing PC's everytime you do a wingsuit jump? Which would be kind of a hassle, no?

Go with manufacturers recommendation. But, if you get given or find something that works for you. Stick with that. I now favour the old, 'if it's not broke don't fix it' rule. I say this becasue I had an interesting experiment with pilotchute size. I fly a Cobalt 135. I was using the the standard 28" ZP pilotchute that came with my container. Out of about 20 jumps, 16 or 17 would be beautiful. I'd get the very occasional brisk opening and a few off headers. Pretty good stats considering all the variables that come into play at opening time. But I thought I could get 20 out of 20 picture perfect with the recommended pilot chute (22" ZP). So I put a new 22" ZP PC on and wham. I got a noticeable delay in bag liftout and then 3 absolute slammers. I tried dumping slow, fast and in a track. Same thing, hesy then whack. Why? Who knows. I put my old 28" back on and am enjoying lovely two stage openings again. If the occasional one is brisk and a few are off heading that's fine. It's undoubtedy my packing and body position anyway. I'm not saying manufactuers recommendations aren't extremaly well founded. Atair definately seem to do an incredible and laudible amount of research. But whatever size and material you get, if you try it, and it works, and as a bonus with a slightly larger PC, you get less chance of any hesitations , great. Just my experience and 2c

I've been flying a Cobalt 135 for a while now and have been wringing it out and looking for a bit more speed and swoop to turn my game up a notch. I've been interested in getting the Competition Cobalt. My question is (Chuck, Dan) how does a standard and competition model compare blow for blow. And if for instance I was prepared to make no more of a jump than say to a standard cobalt 105, then would I be looking at a comp cobalt 120. As a bonus, getting a comp 120 would mean I wouldn't have to downsize my container.

I'm interested to hear from experienced or instructor birdmen. Wingsuit flyers and suits are few and far between around my home DZ (bar the occasional Skyflyer) so getting a classic to lend and start with is a problem. So I figure I'll just buy one. I have heard though that if your confident of your flying ability and emergency proceedures then, for your money, a GTi will keep you happier for longer. Not looking to make learing unreasonably difficult or dangerous for myself but is a GTi as a first suit a viable choice for those that have the requisite 500 jumps and are up for the challenge or is that just crazy talk.

I mounted my PC5 on the right side. It just felt more comfortable for me that way. I just moved the dytters over to the left side. However, I wished I had mounted it on the left for battery reasons. The little PC5 1 hour batteries are crap. They last maybe 30mins if your lucky. Now it means I can't jump the camera with a bigger battery (unless I want to cut a hole in my helmet and have the battery sticking in my head). And I made a beautiful permanent custom moulded camera mount on the right side which I can't now move. Bletch. Mount it on the left for battery and screen facility.

The area around the bridle attachment point on my canopy is looking and feeling dirty, greasy and limp. When I pro pack, lying on the canopy squeezing the air out of it, the bridle attachment point rests right under my chin. Thus, a lot of grime, sweat and skin oil is rubbed into the fabric. It may look worse than it is because my canopy is white but it definitely feels very greasy, thin and limp compared to the rest of the canopy. Does this pose a problem? Or rather, if skin oil is degrading to ZP fabric, how long before it becomes a problem. Now that I’ve noticed, I try to keep skin contact to a minimum, but, short of packing in long sleeves, a polar neck and gloves (not an attractive option in the heat and humidity of summer), skin contact seems unavoidable. And since the bridle attachment point is a pretty important point of the canopy that gets and lot abuse, I’m keen to see it stays in good nick. What can be done to clean ZP fabric of skin oil, dirt and grease especially around this point? Thanks.

I just took a flight from NZ to OZ with my rig as carry on luggage (had to take some weight out of my suitcase so I just wore it on). No-one, not customes, not security, not air crew, batted an eye at it. Only one security official commented, "how does that baby harness work". Go figure.

Post deleted by edid

I’m putting this poll (I hope it works; I’ve just l copied how to do it from the FAQ section) in this “Safety and Training” section because it doesn’t really have it’s own category and I felt it was more serious than the ‘General Skydiving Talkback ‘section would assume. I hope everyone will answer honestly so a true gauge of sentiment may be gleaned from our collective ranks. During a jump something happened resulting in you sustaining some serous injuries. You are told by lawyers that they could argue a case of negligence for you. Do you... Sue the person, DZ or governing body for all the money you can get. Sue the person, DZ or governing body only for your medical expenses and/or loss of earnings. Realise that, despite all care and responsibility taken, gear and humans are sometimes fallible and you accept the injury as part and parcel of the adventure that you chose and signed up for being aware there are risks. Just interested to see what the current attitude out there is. Thanks

Can someone please explain how you quote lines of text from someone else's post in a reply. Thanks.

In reply to: ---------------------------------------------------------------------Actually, if I'm remembering correctly (it's late, I'm at home and I don't have my container/canopy compatibility list handy), I think the T1 is too small for a 120 - either the T2 or T3 is built specific for a 120zp main ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Unless there is a difference between the US configurations and the Australian configurations I think you'll find the T1 is the correct size for a 120 main. I've just been through all this buying my new container. I have a T2 which fits my 135 perfectly. btw, how do you do the "in reply to" thing properly so the quote shows up configured right in your post?