lyosha

Some designs are more intuitive to use and forgiving of mistakes than others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDpCSxErk_E Packer's fault, but alternate design choices may have had less dire consequences.

You shouldn't make that assumption. I was aware how Vigil's firing logic works when I commented on its simplicity. Extremely demanding but extremely cornered and extremely simplified. Skydiving, as a class of activities, is extremely variable. On one end you have people swooping and at the other you have wingsuiting. And then you have something like XRW - where someone under a fully functional canopy will have the exact same profile as someone in a wingsuit. I wish these guys the best of luck and hope they succeed, but for me to trust something that wants to make all the decisions for me with 10x the complexity of anything that already exists and probably 100x the complexity of what I use, I would need a VERY detailed decision tree and to be able to read data from it to gain confidence in its sensors and logic, and have the capacity to turn off features that don't apply to me. If I'm wingsuitting, I'm probably not swooping, after all.

are you sure you understand how your AAD works ? I assume lyosha is talking about either a loss of altitude awareness wingsuit flight, when the pilot passes below 750ft in full flight, or in a "where's the hacky" fumble position where the descent rate will be higher, but not 78 mph. What were you thinking he meant? If even that. I have more than one friend that believes their AAD will not fire in their medium to big wingsuit because their descent rate will not be fast enough if they are unconscious. Because I feel that's the real issue AADs are trying to solve, not altitude awareness. Come out with "wingsuit" mode for an AAD and I feel you have a niche market.

If that is all an AAD had to do then yes, it would be simple. It is all of the exceptions that make it complicated. For example, what is "freefall" speed? We have wingsuits and canopies flying with each other now. It's complicated. Good point - I would want the ability to change my freefall speed. When I wingsuit, I may not reach the ~80 mph required. Honestly, I've been thinking of switching the thing to student mode for wingsuiting, but would really prefer ~50 mph. The other thing that I want to be able to do is to download the data from the unit - see what it sees.

This scares the shit out of me. The reason I don't use a Cypres and instead use a Vigil is because of Cypres's "trust us, our black box knows best" attitude that's certifiably gotten people killed already. At least with a Vigil I know exactly what the behavior is, and adjust settings as I see fit. The thing is it doesn't take a whole new AAD to do a really simple job - measure barometric pressure and fire when it detects enough speed at low enough altitude. So why do I need to know that my AAD just recalibrated? Are you solving a problem that doesn't exist?

pics?

Is it true what they say about it? ... Has it gotten you laid yet?

My last cutaway had me under a good canopy in 400 ft. If I have 500 ft. and suddenly need to, I'm chopping, but that's just my personal rule. Everyone sets limits for themselves.

I'm taller than you and was able to use a tonysuit i-bird that wasn't mine. Worth a shot, honestly.

How would skydivers know this and have a basis of comparison? I doubt many here are airplane mechanics...

They are adjustable by a surprising amount. When trying them out in my local skydiving store, XXL was the most comfortable fit and what I got. But then I wore a friend's that was more broken in and L fit well. I've adjusted the spectra on my own helmet to be more snug and have no issues.

The main reason I'm not going to Sebastian with my friends is that neither I nor my girlfriend could wingsuit there. Apparently even 200+ WS jumps isn't enough to satisfy the skygods there, while someone with 1 WS jump but 500 jumps total is "safer". I was told by a friend that someone went in on a WS flight there because he didn't correctly buckle his leg straps causing the over-reaction by the owners. Whether true or not, I see no logical reason why a dropzone that offers AFF would be so draconian with regards to wingsuiting.

How about SFly and Intrudair?

There's a crossfire3 coming out?!?

Screw you all, I'm getting an S-Fly Hawk.

I'll gladly take your money. Yes, there are places where your local DZ senior safety official determines whether or not you are mature enough to handle ________ (insert common source of risk i.e. cameras, downsizing, etc.) and there is no mandatory laws from a common regulatory body. Because, you know, your local canopy coach that's seen you fly will know best how far away you are from downsizing. That sort of reasoning, only applied to also gopros and wingsuits.

First rational thing I've seen in this thread in a while. It's funny to see how quickly some people abandon their beliefs that self regulation works best for skydiving when it comes to gopros. In other countries you have to get an S&TA (or equivalent) to sign off on not just cameras but every downsize, wingsuits, track suits, etc. While beaurocratic, it's certainly better than the "21 to drink for everyone" equivalent in place at the moment.

... where do they plan on landing said otter? Palencia looks like a sliver...

Yes, technically someone could recommend a Sabre1 but fly a 2.7 loaded Petra. But realistically, why? And how often? Not to get into a flame war, but can you please provide some kind of evidence to the widespread use of high performance wings with wingsuits? I have yet to meet anyone that would recommend anything other than recommend against that sort of thing, let alone anyone that flies one. If you think everyone I know is full of shit, please be more direct about it. Thanks.

Well - 5% or less. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=4632068;poll=results

A "solid wingsuit canopy" should be (in my opinion) docile as hell to not spin up on you on opening. Which is the exact opposite of "a lot of performance". Most people recommend wingsuitting with a canopy with very mild "performance" at best. This is why the Sabre1 is such a popular wingsuitting canopy - opens up quick, docile, takes more to get it to start spinning sideways...

an eliptical canopy for wingsuiting? I heard there's some guy in Russia that wingsuits with even a velo. But that doesn't make it a good idea.

On my hundredth jump someoone punched mine and it did a full 360. And then went back to a 180 and stuck there in that position. I have a nice video of my feet on landing. It didn't come off. No clue how hard your friends got punched in the face, but all GoPro mounts are capable of getting ripped off? oh oh. you just admitted you had a camera on you for your 100th. bold move. Not really. The mad skillz are already well-documented. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4678217;#4678217 No mad skillz here, sorry. Some dropzones are more liberal than others with the "camera" issue. Seek the advice of people you trust to help you gauge the amount of risk you take.

On my hundredth jump someoone punched mine and it did a full 360. And then went back to a 180 and stuck there in that position. I have a nice video of my feet on landing. It didn't come off. No clue how hard your friends got punched in the face, but all GoPro mounts are capable of getting ripped off?

I put on a GoPro sometime around jump 70 after I had my first cutaway and regretted not having it on video to try to debrief myself over it. First ~50 jumps of so as a "video logbook" without any intention of videotaping anything of value. Since all footage was "throw away" by default, this kept my attention away from the camera. I bought a grellfab mount for my G3, which places the camera in the location with the least chance of snagging something, and had a cutaway to boot. I also have worn a hook knife on every jump. As an added benefit of the camera, it is visible from the helmet, so it's less of a distraction ("is it blinking?" is not something I have ever uttered thanks to this mount). I now have >200 jumps and still use that same mount and that same GoPro. Honestly I see how inconvenient other options are and have no idea why people use them. I encourage those I feel are responsible enough to attach a camera to themselves in a responsible manner to get used to it before it becomes a distraction. Because most people I see use a GoPro view it as such a privilege that they crave that they completely lose focus in their bliss and desire to play with their new toy. My $.02