Costyn

Yeah I'd recommend getting it. If you're ever in trouble, for instance low under your reserve and finding yourself having to land downwind (for example), it's nice to be able to get that leg wing off quickly. Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch, the scenario, but I have heard of a story of a guy who was in the habit of just leaving his leg wing zipped up (it was a Phantom I believe, so enough "leg room" to walk out most landing), but this guy made a downwind landing one time and he got really badly messed up. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Really nice pics! I'm also looking into getting a flash on my helmet (on the bracket where the video camera usually sits). What kind of flash do you use? Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Yeah same thing, just screw the plastic cover off on the side that flips open when you put in a tape. You better have good eyesight and a good set of screwdrivers. It's a pretty damn fiddly job. You can also remove the pins where the straps go so it doens't stick out as far and you can mount the camera closer to your helmet. And, make sure you know how to put it toghether again. Take pictures along the way if you have to; don't come crying to me if you mess up. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Yeah and then add longer grippers and some more flappy material and you have a V1. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Classic (I and II), GTI, S1, S3, S3S, Phantom, V1, S-Fly Expert. edit: o yeah and Glen/VectorBoy's strange S3 prototype with backvents, which was about the most exhausting suit I've flown (my theory was that it was leaking air from the backvents, but Glen says its not so.

When I bought them 3 years ago they were about 50 euros. Funnily enough I've repaired for about the 4th time just tonight. The tiny wires inside get worn out after a while and require patching up with a soldering iron and some gaffer tape. But then again I have used them nearly every day since I bought them. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Actually Fly Your Body has fixed this in recent suits by adding some magnetic snaps to which the 2 velcro ends of the release cables can be "stowed" while you are getting in and out of the suit. And yes, I'd prefer to keep the release system as it is. Zippers can fail, I for one would NOT like to be under canopy not being able to reach my toggles and heading for a river (or any body of water), a forest or other places you don't want to land. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

I know some people using wingsuits and a traithlon with a retractable pilot chute (same guys who do CRW after they're done wingsuiting

I concur. You should be able to handle any big suit if you have that many jumps on the GTI. Yes, it'll probably fly you a couple times in the beginning, and frustratingly you'll be getting faster freefall speeds than you were in the GTI, but you'll learn to fly it. So, depending on what you wanna do, you can go for several options: * all round & flocking: PF Phantom, Firebird (R), Vampire, S6, S-Fly Expert * performance: Vampire, S6, S-Fly Expert * acrobatics: Acro, Firebird, Phantom, S-Fly Expert, S6 These are not designated categories by any means, but merely an indication of what they were somewhat designed for. I know a guy in an S-Fly that can outfly many a pilot in a Vampire, for example. And you can do acrobatics in a Vampire, it's just that the Acro is a suit specifically designed for acrobatics. edit: o yeah, considering that Loic flies an S-Fly and won the Russian Wingsuit competition with it, I guess we can put it in as performance suit too. Cheers, Costyn. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Gotta love The Shark! Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Hey Ruido, I fly an Skyflyer S3 Special (S3S) from Bird-Man. I love the suit because (to me), it feels very stable and comfortable, and I like the maneuverability it has, the range of flight that is possible with it. You can fly it hanging on your arm wings , with your feet on your butt (when flocking with others having a very slow forward speed), or you can max it out and stay up there forever. I like the S3S because when you release the arm-wing grippers, the wing stays rigid and doesn't start flapping (which happens in some other suits). You now have your hands free to take docs or give signals or whatever. I have tried out some other suits, but none feel as stable and solid during flight. I don't want to start a flame-war; these are just my opinions. My S3S works best for me, as there are suits that work best for other people, whom I'm sure will chime in with their reasons for flying their favorite suit. Cheers, Costyn. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

There's 2 guys in Belgium jumping a Matter (2 or 3, I'm not sure). You might spot some footage of them in these videos: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=4306 http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=4834 And here's some pix of Matters (these are the suits which you should be able to spot in the videos too): http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=165665619&size=o http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=165665714&size=o I'm assuming you are considering buying one. If you are going to get a mono-wing, I'd suggest an S-Fly Expert. The newest series are really very well built and they are a lot of fun (and easy) to fly. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Very cool, respect to Yves! Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Hey guys, nice flying. I really like the tight stack at 2:50. Cheers Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

We're not being pessimists, we're being realists. Sure, you might not be pointing the camera at anything special, but you're still going to be fussing with your camera when you're gearing up (while you should be concentrating on getting all your gear done correctly), in the plane before you exit (you might forget to put on your goggles - you wouldn't be the first), and even though you just want to record some scenery, you'll still be conciously thinking about where you are pointing the camera during your jumps. Plus, you'll likely be adding snag hazards to your helmet if you want to mount it there (assuming that since you don't want to spend much money, you aren't getting a camera helmet (built for that purpose) with a no-snags cover for your camera). Like the other poster said, ask your instructor how he feels about you strapping a camera to your head. I'm sure he'll be able to explain to you in better detail why you should wait. Yes, it's nice to be able to show others what you are experiencing, but for now, just show friends & family video's made by other people. Cheers, Costyn. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Yep, Team Fly Like Brick can vouch for the in-ear earphone types like the Sony MDR-EX71. We have all jumped occasionally with these in freefall, for listening to music during the flock. Good fun, but a bit distracting.

Yes, stupid. Please don't do your first wingsuit jump out of a balloon. Just do a normal jump out of a balloon and enjoy it that way. You can always in the future still do a wingsuit jump out of a balloon. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Nice pix, Matt. Very cool. And it looked like you guys were doing some tight flying. nice work! Cheers, Costyn. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Dude, that's an excellent line to draw between a wingsuit and not a wingsuit. I like it. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Cool, wiki's are extremely useful for putting all sorts of knowledge into a nice format. However, there seem to be some pages which are extensively covered on wikipedia. I've already put some links in to the articles, but perhaps we can put some skydiving specifics, tips & tricks into the wiki. Nice initiative. I'll be contributing with what I know and can help out with structuring and formatting as well. Cheers. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Very cool, thanks for all the goodies. Now where to find a Palm PC. Are there minimum requirements for the model? (USB/bluetooth and earphones plug are obvious, of course). Cheers, Costyn. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Cool pic, what kinda plane is that? (edit: it looks like a SMG Turbo Finist 92?) Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Thanks, but it was Jarno that did all the hard work (aparently the greater part of an evening?). It was actually a series of 17 photos over 6 or 7 seconds, of which Jarno used a selection to get the composite you see.

Yes, I have done this a number of times in the past and I know some people that regularly join tracking dives in their wingsuit. It requires some unusual wingsuit flying. Firstly, the smaller the suit the better. A Classic or Prodigy is ideal. As for the flying bit: just collapsing all your wings will usually not suffice to keep close to them. However, if you dive down, you will also gain forward speed, getting ahead of the formation. The best way I've found is to fly circles: just do a quick diving 360; you will lose a lot of altitude that way and quickly catch up to the tracking formation. Do another, and you'll be on level, you can fly next to them for a while. Theoretically it should be possible to also carve underneath the formation, flying on your back. However, I haven't tried this yet. When I was joining the tracking jumps, I wasn't at all proficient in flying on my back. Flying a wingsuit in a tracking dive does give you god-like (like Tim Porter) manueverability, but it is also somewhat harder to control. The guy whom I learnt it from was a little heavier as well, and he was able to just "float" above the base by collapsing his wings. Pretty cool visuals, to see a wingsuit in a tracking formation. Like Jarno said, a rodeo flies at tracking speeds, and they can be an ideal base for a tracking or atmonauti jump. Good luck and have fun. Remember the 360's, they're they key to staying with the formation. Cheers, Costyn. Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

Heh, well Alejandro and I kinda ironed that out a while ago. Actually I think I only rolled into Alejandro on the first try ever, after that there was no further carnage. The hardest part is bleeding off the sideways speed after you come out of the roll and you are next to the "base" again. Jarno made the video for sunday, I made the one from saturday (Jarno was off playing with a Fokker F60). FLB Schaffen Weekend - 9th of September 2006 Video Enjoy! (edit for spelling) Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News