V-1 Flight Review

[unclecharlie109 0]

I flew the Vampire V-1 this weekend. I was totally blown away. The suit is simply awesome. The first thing I said to Robert when I landed was "When will mine be ready?!"

Whilst attaching the suit to my rig I began to notice all the great new design features that Robert has incorporated. Not just the performance increasing stuff but also the attention to detail that makes the suit more comfortable to wear and use. For example:

- booties are made from high grade leather (same stuff they use for Porsche seats!), so will be long lasting and provide better grip
- cut away handles are protected by a small cover with a stiffener inside, keeping the handle in place and making stowing the leg wing after deployment much easier
- rear inside edge of the booties has this cool grippy rubber cuff material that keeps the bootie in place.
- the adjustable swoop cord is sweet
- etc

As you would expect the suit is extremely well made using durable high grade materials.

I put the suit on and immediately noted the wider leg stance. The wing tip grippers are simply great, the wrist position feels so natural (not uncomfortable like the S3). The inside of the arm wing is padded so is super comfortable.

On the first flight my exit was not very good but I just focused on maximising my horizontal speed and trying to get the suit flying towards max glide to see what it could do. I chipped a little as I got used to the new body position. The arm wing grippers are surprisingly sensitive, giving you a lot of control over the pitch angle - which feels awesome. After about 20 seconds I got sorted and started flying smooth and fast. The suit flies at quite a low pitch angle and like a missile!

Even though it was my first flight I flew further and opened higher than I have ever done with my S3! The glide performance coming from both increased horizontal and reduced vertical speed.

On the second flight we made a 2 way, I didn't see Robert after the exit and figured he was way higher and ahead of me, I carried on playing with the my body position, concentrating on feeling the lift and air flow over the suit. Towards the end of the flight I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, it was Robert 5m on my right with a huge smile on his face. He tweaked his position and immediately accelerated up and away from me

Arm pressure - not an issue, about the same as S3 but feels easier due to comfortable wrist & gripper position. The leg wing pressure felt slightly more than S3 but not by a great deal.

I have some video of the suit in action that I will post on skydivingmovies.com later today.

I'm happy to answer specific questions people have; post, PM or email.

Can't wait for my suit to arrive, but I know it is going to be worth the wait!

Long flights,

J

[leroydb 0]

side note: i don't thinkdave has the new drive on the server yet

Leroy


..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio...