adamT

I looked into it a bit. I tried it with a Wintec WBT-201. At the time it was a hot item in the wingsuit community. It allowed logging at 1Hz which was apparently fast for loggers at the time, may 07. It was kind of fun, you could see your track and even overlay it onto good earth. I found 1Hz to not be fast enough to really get a useful map of your hook turn. Even the biggest competition turns are only 10-11secs from initiation to 0agl. I wanted more fidelity. The technology may have progressed since then so you might be able to get more data points. The wingsuit guys are ontop of that stuff, i would check with them. Either way it makes for some fun tinkering. adam

They definitely know how to talk care of their customers.

Keep in mind it is being marketed to skydivers and the meat of the trip is the heli jumps, with the goal of swooping high performance skydiving gear down mountains. The speedflying experience helps greatly with flying the terrain, more so then any number of flat land swoops. But it doesn't help with the jumping and deploying of high performance equipment at high altitudes as well as entering the terrain from a high altitude(big turns into the run, ye haw). Hence the skydiving requirement. If it were primarily a speedriding expedition I would consider the requirements to be unreasonable for people with prior experience. I would give them your skydiving and speedriding experience as well as references and see what happens. I'm sure the speedriding experience would have some weight.

PDs 500hma is definitely thinner then their vectran. I noticed alot of positive flight characteristics with the hma on a ve90 loaded between 2.1 and 2.4. That said I never had a set that lasted over 300 jumps :(

What is this "chest strap" you speak of.

Is he using the same lens with both bodies. Failing lens can cause all kinds of weird stuff to happen. adam

That was a bad ass run.

:) No feelings should be hurt, and I would never argue against clearly designated landing areas and efforts to keep said areas clear. But if you chose to fly you must take responsibility for the path you take.

Your arrogance on this subject goes a long way to show why an unfortunately large portion of the skydiving community views swoopers as reckless, inconsiderate and dangerous. I normally don't post here but i felt the need to speak up because attitudes like the one you are presenting can have a negative impact on all of us who love to swoop. You are flying the wing, it is your responsibility not to run into things regardless of whether or not those things are supposed to be there. At competitions there will often be people in the pond, camera men, chowed competitors. Guess whose job it is not to hit them, the person flying. And if i did run my dumb ass into someone I would apologize. I will leave this thread now and go practice controlled and accurate high speed canopy flight. So that when i do have to abort or alter my trajectory because of someone or something I will be able to do so safely, just like i always have in the past, and get on with my day. As opposed to lying broken in a hospital bed pointing fingers and placing blame.

You are wrong to think you have the right of way over stationary objects or people in the landing area. You are in control of the faster moving more maneuverable vehicle. In all forms of aviation that gives you less right of way. Please don't tell me your the type of person that yells at people to "watch out" on the ground while your on final.

Read again, she wasn't in the lane she was on the edge. He chose to exit the lane and aim for her. Besides one should know that unless the camera person is using a very wide lens your not going to get jack from them by swooping inches from them.

Looks like she came up nice. Hope to get to fly one someday. adam

Got any video of a real zero wind run up? thanks

The 4 105s i have owned do not have a way to set the focus via the menu. I have had one with the same malfunction, if you are comfortable taking apart small electronic devices you can pull it apart and reseat the button, i remember that helping mine. adam

That "I don support" is "I do support"

Well that thread was just more of the same sitting around talking instead of going out and experimenting. I now can accept your original statement that is some conditions it may be detrimental. But I still think you are underestimating the effect that drag has on your forward speed. Next time you are flying next to someone with a similar wing, play with it. Watch how reducing your body drag will drive you forward relative to them. And don't just play with pulling your knees up. Try putting your heals on your ass, leaning forward through the harness and arching hard. I see though that if you are backing up at a rapid rate and the reduction in drag still doesn't allow you to move forward, then it could hurt you. What do you think a reduction in body drag combined with front riser input would do? And I don support you in that a modern canopy at anything above student wingloadings best gilde will be with a little bit of rears even into a moderate headwind.

So how about you explain your methods (canopy, wingloading, reference) that have proved to you that when you decrease the drag of your body your forward speed also decreases. The 45 degree rule is easily observed as bullshit. So far you haven't present any real world test that prove your statements. I have given several of my actual real life experiences in controlled situations that prove otherwise, and you haven't attempted to address them. Please indulge us.

I have never experienced a reduction in body drag resulting in a loss of forward speed, just the opposite actually. So i maintain that reducing body drag will always be beneficial even when going backwards. I don't know the math. But i have plenty of real world experience referencing other canopies, the ground, and the sound of the air, and that is enough proof for me.

But when combined with better forward drive you will be penetrating more and making more forward progress. Foot launching stiletos(very flat trim) in winds so strong that you are pretty much paragliding(able to stay aloft as long as you want), the only way to move forward is to fly a efficient body position.

Belive me the effect is not small. This is tested time and time again. At wingloadings from 1.3 to 2.6. I challenge you to go fly any canopy next another canopy of simillar loading and design. Get level and beside them. Have them fly big legs and dearched. Now you arch hard and tuck your legs behind you. You will begin to out fly them both in float and forward drive. The effect is much more noticable with smaller canopies at high loadings, but it is there on the big ones too.

So you are saying that in a headwind situation it will reduce your forward speed and ultimately reduce you glide. I would argue from experience, both way up high and on the ground swooping and ground launching, that a reduction in drag always increases your glide. Im talking about a configuration that is settled not one that is still bleeding off energy from a high speed maneuver. I think that even though you flatten out the glide you maintain speed due to the lower drag. I get plenty of hands on experience with this flying down hills after foot launching or exiting a plane. Big lazy legs hands all the way up, sink down on the hill. Tight body position, lean forward, legs tucked up behind, arching. Fly away from the hill. I out run people on my way back to the dz all th time. People with the same size wings, bigger wings, head wind tail wind, strong light. Body position has a lot to do with it. And the goal is to always have as little of you in the wind as possible. adam

I what situation can you imagine where reducing the drag on the bottom half of the system will reduce you glide. adam

Thank you so much Dan and Christy. This is an awsome tool and a very generous gift. thanks agan. adam

Very nice meat Andy. Looks like you've been practicing hard. Sorry i wasn't there. Took up the opertunity make some needed money.

could probably get that going more then this 105 i've been jumping since last weekend. Broke a line on the 90. Its funny my body keeps trying to get this 105 to fly like a velocity but it just doesn't want to.