what wrong with a batwing?? I keep hearing splatwing

[jasonatokc 0]

I have a batwing 134 1:1.48 and its a nice canopy to me I was wonder why this canopy seem to get a bad name is there any design flaw's anything i should watch out for thanks in advance for the input
Jason
jasonatokc@aol.com

Jason

[DJL 235]

I jumped one a few times and thought it was a pretty nice canopy. But then again I jump a triathlon so everything is radical to me.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[hookitt 1]

The canopy is nothing special but it's ok. It's a SplatWing cuz it's easy to convert Batwing to Splatwing. A Stiletto is called a Spinetto for the very same reason. But the Stiletto kicks ass.

If you already have it just fly it. It's not worth much so if you choose to sell it don't expect to get a bundle for it. That's all.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[GravityGirl 0]

If you don't like SplatWing, we can call it a BratWing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[FrogNog 1]

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If you don't like SplatWing, we can call it a BratWing.

What about "flatwing"? Oh, that's sort of like splatwing...

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[keviused2jump 0]

Because they are ground hungry. People say they have a steep angle of attack in normal flight.

[diablopilot 2]

Quote

Because they are ground hungry. People say they have a steep angle of attack in normal flight.

I've only ever found the ones with the "speed kit" to be that way. The "standard ones" fly as flat as a Stiletto.

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[sdctlc 0]

I put well over 1000 jumps on Batwings. Most on a 134 loaded at an average load of 1.75 and a good but lower number on a 116 at a little over 2.0... I liked the canopy line and always laughed at people that called it a "Splatwing" Personally I never had any problems and found its flight characteristics it was similar to a Stilleto. People that had a bad opinion of them I found 90% of the time were going off of hearsay and had never flown one. Some people had trouble landing them and therefor the canopy was "bad" and with people having not so gracefull landings it gotthe name Splatwing... Since I got good surfs and good landings under the canopy I thought it was kinda silly.......

I do believe that the Batwing had better bottom end flare then a stiletto. It did dive a little more but was close unless you had the speed kit line set that pitched it down for faster flight. IMHO, I did not like the speed kit at all since it dropped out of the sky too fast and I did not think you got that much more in the surf with it. It seemed to be a little better on opening calmness compared to a stiletto. The one thing that the stilletto did faster was the initial portion of a turn, the Batwing seemed to start a bit slower in the turn and then speed up to what I found to be about the same turn rate. The Batwing was/is much nicer when in a front riser turn compared to the Stiletto....

End result is it is a nice canopy and is in the same class as the stiletto. When it came out it was a HP canopy. It is not in the same class at the highest performance canopies these days but it is still a HP canopy, no question.... I loved mine and found the different ones I jumped to be nice and had no problems...

Next time you hear someone say that the Batwing should be called a "Splatwing" ask them how many jumps they have on it, I guess it will be "0"

Scott C.

"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

[jasonatokc 0]

thank you very much i agree it's a good canopy anyone with jumps on one please respond to this post otherwise please dont as i am not looking fo hear say just exprience yeah that thing dives and has a great flare i think alway's feel safe some people were saying they collapse on you but dont seem that way and that's why i posted this wondering about that if there is any truth to it i dont have the speed kit also
and thanks for your repy much thanks blue skies jason

Jason

[hookitt 1]

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The Batwing was/is much nicer when in a front riser turn compared to the Stiletto....

Wow, I found this to be the exact opposite. High front riser pressure, les surf and an ok flare. Ok meaning I didn't see any thing wrong or difficult about it. When spirlaling, the initial turn was mushy as can be... read slower, and then built up speed.

I thought it was decent canopy but did not fit in the stiletto class.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[karenmeal 0]

I have a couple jumps on a batwing loaded at around 1.3 or so.. the reason that I chose a stiletto over a batwing is because I found the front riser pressure to be too much for me to handle on the batwing. (But I am just a weak girl..) I also just like the zippy feel of a stiletto.

Maybe the batwing has a bad reputation because they used such hideous fabric? What is that stuff? Its like gross old wallpaper! hahaha...

But seriously, I think its a fine canopy.. and I don't think it deserves a poor reputation.

*cough* c-*ough*-rossfire *cough*

"Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

[tommymc 0]

I have a Batwing 171. Loaded at 1.25:1 it's fairly docile and almost floats. Front riser pressure isn't bad - a good thing because the flair is weak without a little speed. But, even with a fairly long aspect ratio and that funky trailing edge cut it doesn't seem to be quirky.

Anyway, on the Batwing subject, does anyone have a manual or at least the trim spec's for one of these canopys? Precision doesn't seem to want to acknowledge that they built them.

Blue ones,
Tom

[hookitt 1]

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Precision doesn't seem to want to acknowledge that they built them

That is not true. Groundzero (Chris Martin) will and has, publicly provided the specs for the batwing. I don't recall what thread it was on but I'll try searching for it.
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ANNNND I spoke too soon about publishing the line trim, however I did find a couple links about Batwings. They will and do acknowledge the canopy.

Here's one

An here is a much better one that includes all of Chis's contact information.

Good luck.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[diablopilot 2]

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*cough* c-*ough*-rossfire *cough*

A-hem! *cough*junk*cough*

C'mon Karen, you've got that pretty Stiletto, I know you'd love a Katana!

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[sdctlc 0]

Quote

Quote

The Batwing was/is much nicer when in a front riser turn compared to the Stiletto....

Wow, I found this to be the exact opposite. High front riser pressure, les surf and an ok flare. Ok meaning I didn't see any thing wrong or difficult about it. When spirlaling, the initial turn was mushy as can be... read slower, and then built up speed.

I thought it was decent canopy but did not fit in the stiletto class.

I guess we will agree to disagree about the class it falls in..... Maybe I had a good Batwing.

Though we do agree that the initial turns are slower and then picked up to about the same as a stiletto. I did find the riser performance better. I also never had landing flare issues and it performed well for me.

It is a good canopy though that never really seemed to be marketed right and with the exception of sales in the South, never really sold well.

Scott C.

"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

[EricTheRed 0]

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..... Maybe I had a good Batwing

Well I must have gotten lucky also, I love my Batwing.
No, it's not the hottest thing around anymore but it's still plenty of fun. (And damn good looking too)

Overall I'd agree with Scott

illegible usually

[jasonatokc 0]

if you ever find those manuals email me at jasonatokc@aol.com and i will email you if i find them im looking too

Jason

[tommymc 0]

Thanks for the link to the 116 line table. With Excel and the published chord/span ratios I've been able to come up with a table that should work for my 171. Mind you, I'm just trying to check the trim differences, not building a new line set.

Tom