Need Advice for Beginner

[superwolfi 0]

I'am 3 year's in sport (with around 450 jumps) and i try to start wing suit flying, i think that i will targeting acrobatics.

So I'am looking now for an wingsuit to order.
The first suit which jump into to my mind, was the phi from birdman, but i read a few posts hear, and it seems to be that this birdman is not as good as it would be after you read the homepage from birdman.

Here are my two questions.
Is it not too supid to start with the phi model?
Is the phi mature enough to fly it saftey in unusual situations (if you had to throw the wings away) or how is the handling of the suite.

[tr027 0]

Try this:

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1875957;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

"The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it. " -John Galt from Atlas Shrugged, 1957

[TomAiello 26]

Be aware that you are opening a giant can of worms in which a bunch of people will post telling you that one particular brand or another of suit is the "best." It seems like everyone thinks that whatever suit brand they own, work for, are sponsored by, or whatever is automatically the best, and that all the rest are terrible. Take all of these opinions with a grain of salt.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[nathaniel 0]

A jumper at my dropzone purchased a phi as his first suit, and other than not having much time to jump it on the weekends (he's a packer), I get the idea that he's having a fair time with it.

I borrowed it from him for a couple jumps & it was a fine suit (I jump a GTI myself, and I'm thinking of upsizing). I only put a couple jumps on it, but my impression was that suit did fine when I took care to keep the wings inflated -- not collapsing the wings when doing a maneuver. This entails a bit of technique for instance when doing a barrel roll, which I'm at a loss to explain for lack of experience with the suit. The wings didn't seem all that keen on re-inflating when the suit wasn't belly-to-earth, although for all I know there could yet be a secret technique.

It seemed to have a fairly solid construction--sturdier-seeming material than was/is being used on the GTI & the Firebird. But the suit was new, so it's a little hard for someone with very little fabric knowledge like me to predict how it'll age & wear in.

If you plan to do any flocking at all you'll also want to keep in mind that the larger flocks have been going anywhere from 60-80 mph, and more toward the 80 mph end than the 60 mph end. Tall & skinny folk like me can get away easily with smaller suits like the GTi. Having a bigger suit can actually make things more difficult because we'd need to fly it dirty to get down to the flock. In terms of flocking, denser people typically benefit more from bigger wings, especially when they are still getting the hang of things.

My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

[The111 1]

Quote

It seems like everyone thinks that whatever suit brand they own, work for, are sponsored by, or whatever is automatically the best, and that all the rest are terrible.

Here's some advice that does not include my "company preference": new wingsuit flyers should not be focusing on acrobatics. I'd recommend doing 100 jumps on a beginner/intermediate all-around suit and focusing on normal, flat flocking skills before worrying about acrobatics.

If you're buying a Bird-Man suit, I think the Firebird is much more suitable for a new bird than the Phi.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com