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Showing results for 'fluid wings'.
Found 119 results
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getting into swooping - crossfire2 characteristic
EvilGenius replied to honest.py's topic in Swooping and Canopy Control
I'm also 70kg and started my 90's at similar height (~420) on a Sabre 2 it dives more than a Saf2 and possibly more than both the Crossfire 2 & 3, the 3 doesn't dive a whole lot more than the 2. The Gangster from Fluid Wings is the one I'd choose (and I did) due to the recovery arc, I prefer it to the JFX (haven't tried the JFX2) but it's still a high perfomance wing and please please check with some smart people whether you're ready for it! -
Sorry, nothing to do with performance, both are great wings with similar characteristics that come with the type of planform both use. It's just a mere subjective appreciation. I had to adjust the brakes on the X-fire in order for it to flare better, until I did that the toggle stroke was very long and I found myself a whole weekend comparing it to the Tesla. Which flew awesome the first time. I think this is the reason why I said that... The next weekend when I adjusted the brakes, I felt much better under the X-fire, and the wing performed great. I would be super happy owning any of these wings. Now, Fluid Wings is local, not a huge company like PD or Icarus, my friends fly their canopies and I like them. This also plays part on how I feel about the Tesla. Felipe -- Blue Skies NO FEARS, NO LIMITS, NO MONEY... "A Subitánea et Improvísa Morte, Líbera nos, Domine."
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heya marco, ill pull the maths up for you to have a look at later lets hit the parachute term- parachutes are known as aerodynamic deaccelorators. they in themselves do not create lift but can change their angles of attack, and go slower or faster by changing the drag profile the same goes for wingsuits in terms of lift- are you going upwards? no you are not... you are merelely changing the drag profile more or less. its not the same as a wing being accelerated to move upwards those arent the facts...have a look at the following equations.... Lift is the sum of all the fluid dynamic forces on a body perpendicular to the direction of the external flow approaching that body. The mathematical equations describing lift have been well established since the Wright Brothers experimentally determined a reasonably precise value for the "Smeaton coefficient" more than 100 years ago,[2] but the practical explanation of what those equations mean is still controversial, with persistent misinformation and pervasive misunderstanding.[3] Sometimes the term dynamic lift or dynamic lifting force is used for the perpendicular force resulting from motion of the body in the fluid, as in an aerodyne, in contrast to the static lifting force resulting from buoyancy, as in an aerostat. Lift is commonly associated with the wing of an aircraft. However there are many other examples of lift such as propellers on both aircraft and boats, rotors on helicopters, sails and keels on sailboats, hydrofoils, wings on auto racing cars, and wind turbines. While the common meaning of the term "lift" suggests an upward action, the lift force is not necessarily directed up with respect to gravity. Lift is generated when an object turns a fluid away from its direction of flow. When the object and fluid move relative to each other and the object turns the fluid flow in a direction perpendicular to that flow, the force required to do this creates an equal and opposite force that is lift. The object may be moving through a stationary fluid, or the fluid may be flowing past a stationary object— these two are effectively identical as, in principle, it is only the frame of reference of the viewer which differs. The lift generated by an airfoil depends on such factors as the speed of the airflow, the density of the air, the total area of the airfoil, and the angle of attack. The angle of attack is the angle at which the airfoil meets the oncoming airflow (or vice versa). A symmetric airfoil must have a positive angle of attack to generate positive lift. At a zero angle of attack, no lift is generated. At a negative angle of attack, negative lift is generated. A cambered airfoil may produce positive lift at zero, or even small negative angles of attack. The basic concept of lift is simple. However, the details of how the relative movement of air and airfoil interact to produce the turning action that generates lift are complex. Below are several explanations of lift, all of which are different but equivalent descriptions of the same phenomenon from different viewpoints. A fixed-wing aircraft's wings, horizontal, and vertical stabilizers are built with airfoil-shaped cross sections, as are helicopter rotor blades. Airfoils are also found in propellers, fans, compressors and turbines. Sails are also airfoils, and the underwater surfaces of sailboats, such as the centerboard and keel, are similar in cross-section and operate on the same principles as airfoils. Swimming and flying creatures and even many plants and sessile organisms employ airfoils; common examples being bird wings, the bodies of fishes, and the shape of sand dollars. An airfoil-shaped wing can create downforce on an automobile or other motor vehicle, improving traction. Aifoils- An airfoil is a device which gets a useful reaction from air moving over its surface. When an airfoil is moved through the air, it is capable of producing lift. Wings, horizontal tail surfaces, vertical tails surfaces, and propellers are all examples of airfoils. The human body is not an airfoil shape guys, no matter how much you want it to be While any object with an angle of attack in a moving fluid, such as a flat plate, a building, or the deck of a bridge, will generate an aerodynamic force perpendicular to the flow called lift, airfoils are more efficient lifting shapes, able to generate more lift (up to a point), and to generate lift with less drag.
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What lines do you use on your cross-braced
daffes replied to Travman's topic in Swooping and Canopy Control
PD has done a full review video series on line types https://www.youtube.com/user/PDBlog/search?query=line+types, watch parts 1 to 8. Vectran is part 4 and HMA is part 5. It's an 8 years old video, so more knowledge is available since then. The video also contradicts skow's comment on HMA being more stretchy. The extra word of mouth knowledge I have is that Vectran lines are easier to evaluate for wear, while lasting about the same number of jumps as HMA, making them, theoretically, safer to jump. I also heard that depending on where you jump, a line may be preferred over another, because of how they react different due to local climate. Fluid wings (Airwolf, HK), PD (valkyrie) and NZ (leia) all ship their xbraced canopies with vectran lines by default. I couldn't get an information on the Petra and Peregrine, but the HK is also shipped with vectran. -
I am using a fluid wings RDS (slider only) on my Crossfire3 129 (loaded at 1.7) and it works great. No issues, and it still opens beautify. I just like being able to get the slider completely out of my way.
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Pretty sure one (the skydiver) of Fluid Wings' original band members is an engineer (not sure which specialty) by training............Did I read it on their website?
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Stowing detachable slider (Without removing it)
daffes replied to DJL's topic in Swooping and Canopy Control
Check the multiple designs too. The icarus ones are the slowest ones to attach IMO, then PD. TST and latest Fluid Wings models are the fastest. -
https://www.facebook.com/Icarusworld/videos/1471057502917912/ Looks similar to Fluid Wing's Tesla. "Schumanny" planform, partially closed nose, inflatable stabilizers. Unfortunately it is nothing more than a promotional video, so I have no idea how it compares to Crossfire 2, Crossfire 3, Tesla or Katana. It seems like it has a somewhat long recovery arc, but it is very difficult to say from the video. It also seems like a Tesla contender for most beautiful non-crossbraced wing . I was leaning towards Tesla as my next wing, but without demos in Europe I might give priority to this one if it turns out to be a worthy canopy. Fluid Wings, are you sure you don't want to reconsider having a demo program in Europe? Hit me up if you need help to set it up Interesting times!
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So, Icarus world ended up producing a new wing. Fluid Wings had something (Tesla) and then there's no more info...The Echo seems to be th the new proposition... -- Blue Skies NO FEARS, NO LIMITS, NO MONEY... "A Subitánea et Improvísa Morte, Líbera nos, Domine."
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Fluid Wings Helix 79 / VK79 / Hybrid Leia 79
danielcroft replied to danielcroft's topic in Swooping and Canopy Control
It's clean coming off the rings for sure and it's not prone to the VK's slider hang ups which is good but I'd say the Fluid Wings slider takes me twice as long to attach than my VK slider. I've learnt to pack nice, slow openings to make up for the RDS slidered VC (that's why PD doesn't recommend it, I'd say) and have dialed that back a little for the VK (and, as it turns out, the Leia as well). Like I said, I'm not a fan of high performance wings opening that slow but, it's certainly really fun to fly once it's open. The guys at Fluid did a great job. -
As my 'starter fluid' was being topped off, I found this old idea I totally forgot about: how to measure L/D on the ground, either with real wingsuit/pilot, or a scaled experimental model - all without a wind tunnel! [inline LDMeasurementWithoutWindtunnel.jpg] Imagine a WS model suspended from a balance scale, precisely balanced with counterweight, outside on a windy enough day. The model is held in place by horizontal rope as to keep the suspension cable vertical. Then, rope is released. What will happen? Aerodynamic force (with lift and drag components) will push the model at some angle up from equilibrium state. As shown, horizontal and vertical accelerations in the first moments after release will be ax = g*(D/W) ay = g*(L/2W) (this assumes that scales' arm weighs negligibly little compared to model; if it can't be neglected, then the factor 2 will be replaced by a bigger factor that takes both extra weight and moment of inertia; or instead of balance scale, a lightweight pulley can be used as pictured on the left of the scales) So if we measure these accelerations with a smartphone's accelerometer, we can find out L/D! L/D = 2ay/ax If we're only interested in measuring L/D, even accelerometer is not necessary - since ratio ay/ax is equal to the tangent of the angle alpha of initial movement to vertical, L/D = 2*tan(alpha) We can also find out absolute values for lift and drag, if weight is known: L = 2W*(ay/g) D = W*(ax/g) And, if we measure wind speed with an anemometer, we can find out Kl, Kd: Kl = L/V^2 Kd = D/V^2 And from these, sustained horizontal and vertical speeds for this flight mode: Vxs = Kl/(Kl^2 + Kd^2)^(3/4) Vys = Kd/(Kl^2 + Kd^2)^(3/4) And these, for different AoA, will form the polar curve! How cool is that?! We can do fast-iteration wingsuit improvements right on the ground, and without making rich richer at $1000/hour! All you need is to build a balance that can support the model or even the pilot, and probably ~20mph wind should suffice. A model can be built using modeling clay and armature like this one: [inline ModelingArmature.jpg] With polymer clay, the shape of wings, angles of incidence, body position, etc. can easily be adjusted and studied. Or, 3D-print a model, make it from several parts and connect them with adjustable armature. MWGA! Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio
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I need to get an RDS for my VK (the seller only included the drawstring slider.) Does anybody have any thing to say on the TST or Fluid Wings RDS' from Chuting Star in relation to PD's stock slider? I want to make sure I'm not making a mistake by saving money on these other companies. Thank you for any and all help.
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The Tesla isn't on the Fluid Wings website anymore. There's a spot labeled "Coming Soon" where the Tesla used to be on their canopy comparison chart. Any info about this new canopy? Has anyone seen or flown the prototype?
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Fluid Wings Gangster 135 Exit weight 195 Wing loading 1.44 Jumps (513) Test jumps 19 Packing: The first thing I noticed about the canopy is that is packs HUGE. I have a 135 max container and its stuffed like a Saussage. I know that cross bracing packs larger and that it would be tight, but this was next level stuffed. After 10 jumps things started to get a bit easier, but its still not really meant for a 135 container. It fits, but its certainly tighter than Sunpath would like. Openings: The first few opening I had were a bit of a mixed bag and I think that is mostly due to packing and over stuffing the container. The initial snatch force of the canopy is stronger than I anticipated but at no point was it hard. Once the canopy stood me up in the harness the openings were soft with a very staged inflation. The “bad” openings I had were not slammers or spin-ups but they weren’t exactly the expected beautiful openings. Again, I feel as though this is due to packing and I hope to have an opportunity to jump this from a larger container before I make final judgement. 15 jumps in and im in love with the openings. The snatch force is still a bit higher than I would think but by no means is it hard. Its staged and usually on heading. Ive had a few off heading openings but they were super manageable and I never felt like it wanted to spin up on me. So far its the best opening canopy ive flown. Toggle pressure: The toggle pressure felt easy/ moderate. There was light pressure at first and built slowly and steadily to the bottom of the flare. It was super intuitive and as it was what I expected I’m finding it difficult to describe accurately. Flare: Holy shit guys. This thing has flare power. ( thats what happens when you finally have some real speed) Tip toe landing and metric fuck-tons of range Font risers: The fronts were light to moderate and built steadily and progressively as you dove the canopy. Im really working on getting into the fronts and the more comfortable I got with the canopy the better they felt. Rear Risers: Wow wow wow wow wow. Even with my harness only approaches I had enough speed to plane out and feel just how powerful the rears are. Rears for Years! Once I can really dive the canopy I’ll be able to play with the rears more but for now they still have tons of range and power. Harness: The harness was not nearly as sensitive as the Tesla but it felt more intuitive and controllable with more of a dive. I think that once you increase your wing loading the harness will liven up a bit, but as a step up canopy its exactly what you want. On the largest size you make it was fun and easy to fly while letting me know that she has a lot more in her when I’m ready to start ringing out some more performance. Trim: It was steep but not scary. Fast but controllable. It felt steeper than the Tesla by miles. I have a Gangster 120 on order and it will be here in august. I cannot speak highly enough about this canopy as a step up canopy. I liked it a LOT more than the crossfire.
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Fluid Wings told me that a Gangster 90 would pack about the same as a Comp Velo 90.
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What manufacturers recommend double wrapping elastics?
Deimian replied to pchapman's topic in Gear and Rigging
In a fluid wings video they also use double wrapping: https://vimeo.com/210294491 No such thing as a manual though. -
If, like me, you weren't at PIA you probably didn't see that PD released a hybrid order option for the VK. This means that, within a couple of weeks, we'll have the option to use white or black sail for the internal ribs on their order form for $100 on top of the regular VK price. That's ribs only, not cross braces or tail ribs. They'll have demos out "soon" - I'm not holding my breath literally as I can only do that for a minute or two but I am figuratively. This gives people like myself who prefer the VK's flight characteristics over the other wings in that segment a higher performance option without going all the way to a Peregrine (which I wouldn't). It also gives CP peeps a wing to take up against the NZA Hybrid Leia and now, Airwolf from Fluid Wings. NZA has had this option for a long time, I'm glad PD has now made this available as well. I haven't had a chance to fly one yet but, I'm looking forward to getting a demo VK79 hybrid to compare to mine.
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I just love that every discussion on wings degenerates into tribalism. Hey, anyone seen video or pictures of the Fluid Helix/HK yet? Did they copy PD or NZA? The Schuemann-y* planform has been used in speed flying and sail planes and paragliding for literally YEARS if you want to make the case that someone copied someone, maybe try making a better case than something you could learn on Sesame Street? /rant As to the subject at hand, NZA already said they were working on a couple of different versions of the Crossfire 3 and they've released info about the Safire 3 as well. Sounds like maybe PD is revamping more than just the KA if they're talking about multiple projects? I kind of assumed it was the KA they were working on but, who knows. I'm stoked that we're all able to take advantage of the competition between two great companies. With Fluid coming onto the market, we may really get to see some epic competition and you know what? WE win. * There's been some discussion about whether or not a wing needs to have 100% of its taper on the leading edge to be considered a Schuemann planform. I look at it like a continuum but that's not necessarily accurate.
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Fluid Wings is working on The Gangster... To fill the first crossbraced wing type class (velo/jfx/ect)... very very promising... Teasers and Release Dates coming soon! I was that kid jumping out if his tree house with a bed sheet. My dad wouldn't let me use the ladder to try the roof...
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Good plan demo demo demo everything try pd. Try aerodyne. Try fluid wings. Try Icarus. Worth the money then you can make an informed decision i have on occasion been accused of pulling low . My response. Naw I wasn't low I'm just such a big guy I look closer than I really am .
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Interesting that you said this, because the manufacturers were asking me if I could specify the flavor: was it cinnamon, black licorice or banana? (I don't know. Smelled overwhelmingly like caramel/coffee to me.) Evidently some flavors can be corrosive to and/or interact with plastic ... or nylon. The rig is a WIngs, the reserve a PD. Both the most excellent Heather at Wings and the folks at PD have been very helpful with this. But it's a new one for them, too. Obviously when in doubt about any substance: wash it out and test when dry. Any further doubt about degradation to the nylon: contact the Mfg and send it to them for testing. We don't know who spilled the juice on her container. I'm taking care of it, and won't charge her for it because this was an unfortunate accident that wasn't her fault. We do have a new rule: No vaping or vaping fluid allowed in the building or hangar. Outside only. I appreciate everyone's input - thanks. -D
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The Safire 3 is the result of five years of research, development and refinement. She is the most modern mainstream all-rounder canopy to hit the market. She’s not just different. She’s a beginner and intermediate wing that let’s you take advantage of parametric design software and Computational Fluid Dynamics technologies used formerly only in high performance wings. She’s been engineered to fly better. More efficiently. More responsively. Safire pilots will find her completely familiar, but entirely revolutionary. She has all the things you love about the Safire 2 – great openings, safe predictable flight, a short recovery arc and a smooth flare – and everything else you asked us for. You wanted the same consistent openings. We made them smoother and more progressive. You wanted to have more range. We made the Safire 3 more efficient and gave you the glide to get back from that long spot. You wanted more fun. We made all her inputs more responsive. You wanted even more flare. We found a balance of more power, without inducing an early stall. The Safire 3 is perfect for your first canopy or a fun intermediate canopy at slightly higher wingloadings. We recommend loading her between 0.8 and 1.5. She’s available in any size you want, so you can load her exactly what you want. If you’re not sure, ask us. Loaded lightly she is the vehicle to carry any beginner or even the most nervous canopy pilot to the ground safely, and for the intermediate jumper she will make your flying experience come alive with quick turns and a powerful flare. If you’re looking for superior opening qualities, outstanding slow flight stability and confidence-inspiring flight, the Safire 3 is your perfect choice. It’s time to take to the sky the way you were meant to – on a 9-cell sports machine that keeps it as real as you do. -
Wondering if anyone has got jumps/views on the Fluid Wings HK Terminal. How would this compare with Hybrid Leia etc. Cheers
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Hi all, I am about to get a new canopy, and I am looking for an upgrade in performance from my current safire3. I want to progressively get into high performance landings, and am considering a fluid wings tesla, or a NZAerosports crossfire3. Has anyone had the chance of jumping either, or ideally both? I would like to know how they dive and how is their recovery arc. Thanks for the help!
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So a couple of year pass and we now have two Schuemanny planform non-crossbraced canopies with inflatable stabilizers, the Tesla (Fluid Wings) and the X-Fire (Icarus). Seems odd that neither PD or NZ aerosports seem to be in a hurry to start down this path, any ideas what's going on? Has anybody out there flow one of these and a Katana, I'd love to know how they stack up? p.s. Pretty sure the crossfire 3 doesn't have these characteristics
