When to start Birdman?

[Skypup 0]

When do you think is the earliest experience level, jump number and skills aquired, that you would advise someone to start flying a wingsuit?

Are there some specific things I could work on now to prepare myself?

What are some of the specific gear requirements? (I want my next rig to be Birdman friendly.)

T.S.S # 5
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To dream great dreams is itself an act of daring. -Eric Shipton & Bill Tilman
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[kevin922 0]

First of all let me express my feelings towards jump numbers, requirements, etc.

I personally feel every skydiver progresses differently, i feel going STRICTLY by jump numbers is not only stupid, but a hinderance for skydivers in their progression. Jump numbers give a good baseline but other than that, they are just numbers.

Every discipline in skydiving should be carefully considered before taking up. Research (such as your questions) should be done, experts should be talked to, etc. YOU should evaluate the risk against your experience. Others such as people you jump with most often, and your instructors have a good idea what your experience level is but you yourself should know for sure where your experience level is. Don't jump into something you're not sure you're ready for.


Now with that being said, here is how I got into birdman. I emailed Jari @ Birdman and gave him a heads up I was going to be in FL one summer and wanted to go through the first jump course, I told him my jump numbers were a little low by birdman standards and asked him for his advice. He told me about what to do as far as practicing (see below) and so I started doing that. Unbeknown to me he showed up @ my DZ before I made it down there.. he and I talked some more, I did a few more non-birdman pratice jumps and then went though the course. I was around jump # 150 when he took me up. I admit the first 5 jumps were scary.. and at one point I second guessed myself as to if I should be doing this or not. (Mainly during the deployment sequence -- which IMHO is the most difficult of the jump, the exit would be the 2nd.) I continued on and by jump 10 I was very confident in myself. I now have 30 something birdman jumps and i'm no expert by any stretch of imagination but I'm safe.

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When do you think is the earliest experience level, jump number and skills aquired, that you would advise someone to start flying a wingsuit?

I started @ around 150 jumps with instruction from Jari himself. I feel I've progressed quickly during my skydiving carrer, but there is still a lot to learn.

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Are there some specific things I could work on now to prepare myself?

Tracking dives. Jari had me doing a lot of them and the big thing was going through the deployment / waveoff procedure. (Specifically putting both your hands behind your back and deploying symmetrically) as well as doing the wave off with your legs.

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What are some of the specific gear requirements? (I want my next rig to be Birdman friendly.)

I jump an older mirage (not a g3, has the velcrow riser covers) with a standard bridle, BOC. Collapsable pilot chute.

No mods on the rig for birdman and it works just fine. If you're wanting to spec out a rig specifically with birdman in mind check out the Wings container..

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I (as a BM-I with a lot of flights) am not going to take anyone on a first flight with less than the stated minimums (200 jumps within 18 months) unless they REALLY show me something on a non-wingsuit eval dive. I feel that the odd opening possiblilties make it that anyone who has not had to deal with a great amount of opening situations common to high jump-numbers can not be cut out of a less-experienced argument. There is a LOT that can go wrong in a wingsuit, I can promise you that. If you don't have your shit together you can find yourself in a world of hurt in a hurry.

Chuck