ManBird

No way, man. Two classes as follows: 1. Steve and animals 2. Other humans I'm bound to win in the first category. Though that walrus is getting pretty good on his VX... might make for some tough competition. If he pulls that freestyle shit during the distance round, then the competition is mine! MwuhaHAHAHAAHAAA!!! For really, I'm for just one class. Having separate distance and accuracy comps sort of automatically creates two classes. Guys like Stu and myself will probably do pretty well with accuracy, while guys like Dan, Renfro, and the walrus will rock on distance. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Be careful with that. A sudden move could result in a handful of dude package. This method of checking the leg straps requires the stealth, speed, and accuracy of a ninja, and maybe a little time in the military or prison. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I generally teach the same chair technique that Chuck just mentioned (or ground if no chair is available). I personally put it all on standing up. What makes a really big difference, IMO, is where the leg straps are in relation to the suit's leg before putting on the suit. I aim to keep the leg strap very visible and intrusive in the donning process. More outside the "pants" than inside. If it's outside the suit and you manage to miss it, you'll have a lot of trouble zipping up (saw someone don the suit like this in Eloy... of course s/he caught it and fixed it right away). If the leg strap is all the way in, it's easier to slide your leg in and think that it went through the leg strap, when it was actually put off to the side. Here's another way to look at the unzipped-suit-before-boarding thingy. If you're getting a gear check, technically, you'll need to unzip the suit to get the leg straps checked. May as well just leave the suit open for all gear checks, rather than zip/unzip a few times. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

It really baffled the jumper, too, as this jumper is experienced with wingsuits and very experienced with skydiving in general. In all honesty, I find it strange, too. I've put the suit on without leg straps, just to see what it feels like. It feels really weird. But it still happens. I think the point is getting missed here. You can tell people to get a gear check until you're blue in the face. If they are injured or killed, you can wash your hands and say, "Hey, they didn't get a gear check like I told them to." One could argue that others are just as liable for not offering a gear check. However, the goal should not be accountability -- it should be safety. People forget to ask for gear checks and people forget to offer them -- that's the reality. If there isn't something there to look right or wrong when no gear check takes place, you have a disaster waiting to happen. It's happened (at least) twice. The negative and positive attributes of this process are listed in a previous post. If anyone finds a way to retain (or add to) the positive attributes and reduce the negative, I'm all ears. We're still working at this process. The Otter is back at SDO now, so we didn't need to have the suit open to use the seatbelts. On a couple loads, we left our body zippers open right up until boarding, as the plane was arriving. It was on one of these loads that the missing leg strap was caught. So, we didn't have to have our suits open on the plane, and the legstraps were exposed for long enough to catch the error. This takes away some inconvenience with little to no compromise in gear checking. It also allows to you be zipped up and ready to fly right after you board. The only way to notice the leg straps is if they are exposed. The only way to expose the leg straps is by leaving the body zippers open. Do you really believe that a BM-I isn't teaching someone to don the suit properly? After someone puts the suit on correctly fifty or a hundred times in a row, and then messes it up once, are you really going to blame their instructor? Does the instructor have permanent control over a wingsuit pilot's leg? In the most recent incident (which spawned this thread), I'm willing to bet my S3 that the student was properly instructed on how to don the suit. People make mistakes. Having a routine with backups just makes too much sense. If the student (or wingsuit flyer of any experience level) forgets one step in the routine, another step that was taken can point out the error. To paraphrase another -- a wingsuit flight is an exceptional skydive that requires exceptional safety measures. PS Exited at 3,800' in my S3 yesterday and flew it down to 2,500'. Even threw in a front loop. This may just be me, but I say there's really no reason to be afraid of a low(er) altitude exit in a wingsuit. :) "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Nice! I'm definitely there. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

So... it may NOT apply to modern one-wingers. That aside, I'm looking to keep it from happening on the Crossbow I'll be using. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Four guys did a few BASE jumps and cost Red Bull $600,000.00. Beat that. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

A tug on the front risers will bring your slider down better than rears. However, at 94 jumps, you're probably (hopefully) jumping something big and don't need long risers (and probably have a lot of front riser pressure). "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Totes. I load my Sabre2 at 1.8 and have observed loadings between 1.1 and 2.0. The only negative effect of factory setting has is a little bucking on front riser turns. I let mine out four inches and fixed that. This canopy has endless flare. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Short brake lines fo sho. Sorry I didn't make it out today. We had full tude at SDO... and some serious wingsuit activity involving 8,000' "cloud canyons". These don't happen very often. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Just under 14k. Average was a wee bit under/right around 40 MPH. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

It's been mentioned that a mod needs to be made to the original Crossbow to keep the suit from "eating" the handles. Would someone please post it if they know it? I'll be borrowing one for a few dozen jumps, but that's good information to be made public. It may apply to modern "one-wing" suits, as well. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

3:11 on Friday and deployed at 3k. Ironically, it was my legs, not my arms, that ached on Friday night. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Yes. Post edited a bit for "benefit of the doubt" reasons. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

A wingsuit flyer that I'd mentioned this process/theory to has been leaving both zippers open before boarding. Because of this, a (single) missing leg strap was caught and corrected before the jumper boarded today. Granted, the jumper may have caught it upon getting zipped up, but then again it may not. Point being, it's easy to skip a leg strap or two by accident, and it was caught by leaving the body zippers open. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Uh... um... uh... er... No. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Priceless. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Kamloops is a city in BC. It has one of Canada's oldest drop zones with one of the longest running boogies (37 years). Max Cohn will be there, and I'll be buying my lens from him. I might try to cut out early today (Friday) and get to SDO. The traffic sucks ass getting down there, but I'll try to make it in time. On a completely different tangent... my girlfriend was using her practice poi (fire spinning thingies) last night and was trying a different way to do this one move. She kept sticking her elbows out which caused her to smack herself in the back of the head. I came up with a way to prevent this problem. See attached. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I have 60 - 70 jumps in my BirdMan Pantz (the BASE version). I have an average fall rate of about 76 MPH and a forward speed of about 85MPH (no wind) when going for "float" -- 1.12:1. When going for distance, my fall rate is about 80MPH and my forward speed is about 90MPH -- 1.13:1. With wind assistance, the glide ratio goes up quite a bit. I also have just under 400 wingsuit flights. In a Skyflyer 3, glide ratios of greater than 2:1 are commonplace. Many are doing over 2.3:1, and some are over 2.5:1. That's in no wind. With wind assistance, you're looking at upwards of near 4:1. In a recent video, I covered 1900' horizontally in a 1700' freefall (including deployment) in 15 seconds in BirdMan Pantz. That was a glide ratio of 1.12:1, a fall rate of 77MPH, and a forward speed of 86MPH. In a normal freefly suit, my forward speed is about the same, but my fall rate is usually mid-80s to low-90s -- the glide is still around 1:1. There are at least a few supertrackers (to whom I hail) who're getting over 1.2:1 in a just a RW suit. Data sources for the above are ProTrack, GPS, and video. Talk to manufacturers of high performance canopies that also really understand wingsuits, and they'll tell you that you get a better glide from a wingsuit than a small canopy. This is something I've witnessed on many occassions, as well. In other words, glide ratios greater than or equal to 1:1 are very common with just about any apparel configuration... except naked or shorts/t-shirt -- where 0.7:1 is pretty damn good. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I'll be offering first (wingsuit) flight courses in Davenport, WA at the Memorial Day boogie. It's sort of informal at the moment. I'm trying to score some demo suits, but no guarantees. I'll have a GTi there that seems to fit a lot of people. PM me if you're interested. I'll post back here as more details become available. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Is that because it's a 30mm? If so, you shoudl probably just go 37mm with a stepper ring. It's $10 for the adapter, but the 37mm lens gets a little more picture. I'll be buying mine from him up in Kamloops next weekend. I could pick one up for you so you don't have to pay shipping. Unless, of course, you'd rather just get the 37mm and not mess with an adapter. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I'll be in Davenport on May 29 and 30 and will be doing first (wingsuit) flight courses. If anyone is interested, please PM me. I think that sums it up. This is how I felt with my Sabre 120 after 400 jumps on it before buying a new canopy (which I purchased two weeks before my Sabre 120 was stolen). It felt like an extension, a limb... it just did what wanted it to do. I could quickly react to a situation, and the canopy would only react as much as I would. It's kind of like when your girlfriend punches you in the back of the head, then you immediately turn around and flick her in the leg... just enough to keep it from hurting but enough to say, "Hey, don't punch me in the back of the head". "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Oh, hell yeah. Very nice. However, I think 5 megapixels will only eccentuate the badness. And I don't mean the good badness. I mean the kind of badness that is in Kim's attachment. Headed to Davenport for West Plains' boogie on Memorial Day Weekend. Anyone want to cruise along? Also headed to Kamloops next weekend, but... not driving. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Hmm sounds like another Pro Swooping Tour Freestyle move It's called the Batman. Clint Clawson has alreaded evolved this trick into the no-handed BlindBatMan. He used a 39 cell canopy. He had to do a slider down Utah McRollover to open the canopy safely. It was rad. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

You can flare a wingsuit to a degree. I wouldn't want to do it into the ground, but the reduction in overall velocity is VERY noticeable when you go from "--" to ",-". "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click