ManBird

Yeah, I have the forearms for sure now... that used to be my problem area. It's the shoulders that still need work. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Oh, I don't doubt it. I'm just messing with you. Or on you. No... with you. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Yeah, that looks like slightly-larger-than-S1 wings with the S3 tail. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Yeah, I heard about. Not hyper-interested just yet. My camera helmet shipped last week, and I do have a video and still camera for it. Still need one of those mouth clicky thingies. Just going to do video at first before getting a still camera on top. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

NICE! Congratulations. However, you need a little more altitude than that to really enjoy it. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Yeah, but keep in mind, I'm a wuss. Either that or you aren't flying hard enough. ;) Hey, man... get under 40 eight times in a row and you will be sore. I'm lifting those dumbbells, running those miles, and living on a Vietnamese diet right now. It's actually helping out quickly and significantly. I used to break down after about 45 seconds of full S3 flight, now I can push it for who-knows-how-long-these-flights-are. I need to get one of those ProTracks that go over 119 seconds. 44 MPH overall average for 10,000 feet is well over the two-minute mark. :) "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

The GTi is such a wonderful suit. I flew mine yesterday after having put 36 jumps on my S3, and I loved it. It's very well-rounded. You can get a great fall rate, good forward speed, and perform the full array of aerobatics without all the effort/muscle of the S3. Fly it right, and you'll have no problem staying with Skyflyer 1/3 flocks or even high performance canopies. I think I'll be flying mine for as long as I fly wingsuits. When the S3 has thoroughly done my arms in after four - six flights, I can throw on the GTi and keep flying for the rest of the day. I just wish I would have gotten more options on mine, as I did not realize at the time how much I'd fly it. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

At it again. Only three attempts this weekend. Very, very close on all three, but not there yet. We're matching our flight perfectly, now it's just a matter of approach/positioning ourselves in the sky. I was pleased to find out that the best way for me to match Zaz flying his VX 68, is to simply let him fly it straight. No front riser input, spirals, or anything. I love doing this, as it forces me to do things I did not know I could do. I've been getting the S3 down to about 44 on my solos as of late, but when flying with Zaz, I keep it down between 38 and 42 for very long periods of time. We've made five attempts so far. We'll have it soon. I flew my GTi yesterday, as I haven't flown it in awhile, and I just wanted to see how I'd do after doing so much S3 flying. Definitely my best GTi flight ever. It was effortless to get a 52 MPH overall fall rate. Looking at the charts, the fall rate ranged between 48 and 56... then on up to about 61 at deployment. I heartily recommend getting back on your GTi or Classic after you've developed technique and strength flying the S1/S3. It's a whole different experience. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Very nice. Welcome to the flock! Which suit did you fly as your first? "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

...and please say BirdMan or wingsuit competition... BM competition just looks so wrong. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Don't forget foot races. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I do these three, as well. I think it's sort of a common courtesy, as well as a safety measure (most packers don't let my long ass brake lines hang out, as there is no pocket/velcro for them). I highly recommend against the use of pullouts on wingsuits. Especially on the Skyflyer 3. I can see getting away with it on the Classic or GTi, but there is a LOT of material on the S3's wings. Being that I still have the occasional hesitation even with my large PC and 108" bridle, I must strongly warn against the PUD/WS combo. One's luck just may wear out. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

A hard pull isn't necessarily a 100% fucked situation until you hit your decision altitude. I believe that same thing about line twists, spins, etc. I think too many people go straight for their handles nowadays, and put too much faith into a reserve parachute that they probably didn't see get packed and have flown a handful of times, if ever at all. Though, I've been in a couple uberfucked situations, like risers under a wing with uncountable line twists leading up to a locked bag, that are definitely chopworthy at any altitude. Like this one time... "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Should mention that I check my hackey like crazy, and this jump was no exception. The half near the mouth of the pouch came out just fine, but the other half was bunched up. I have a 28" PC on a Wings container. Somewhat (for skydiving anyway) large PC and a somewhat small pouch (lengthwise). Packers tend to double fold the PC and leave too much hanging out. Some will take it out and triple fold it, other will shove the excess in, which is what happened here. French Canadian Fred (aka Fast Freddie) double folds and leaves it, and then calls you a pain in the ass as he takes your money. He's also a kick ass and very fast packer (no, it was not him that packed my hard pull). I get nothing but good from him, however, he was too busy with tandems at the time... damn... "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

That was Martin Rosen and Per Flar. They didn't BASE that building with the wingsuits, as that would be a bad idea. They BASEd it as one usually would, and then the wingsuit flying footage was shot on a skydive. And yes, the sequence of the appearance and use of the wingsuits is a little weird. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Yes. He "shoved it in there". "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Personally, I'd like to see more people speak with their S&TA. Fortunately, the S&TAs at SDO are also high performance canopy pilots. Before I try a new canopy, I approach the S&TAs and say, "You've seen my landings on my Sabre 120 lately. I want to try this Crossfire 109. Should I do it?". If the response is yes, they usually go on to give me all the warnings advice they can provide, and prepare me for the jump. If they don't say enough, I proceed to bug the hell out of them, "is there anything I should look out for? Is this canopy going to do anything that I think is weird, coming from a Sabre 120"? I usually get asked a lot of questions, as well. On top of this, I've taken canopy control classes on different levels of canopy flight, and, in fact, could go for another one pretty soon. I've also been flat out told that I'd kill myself on a particular canopy that I was curious about flying, so I didn't fly it. People who don't know their bounds need to be taught their bounds by those who are more vastly experienced. The only reason people can downsize as quickly and as much as they do nowadays is that there is so much information available to inform them how to do it safely and properly. Some people, however, want to move down as quickly without getting the information or the training. I was loaded at 1.6 with 400 jumps, but I was taught how to do it safely, and I, nor my S&TAs thought I was going outside of my training (and therefore understanding and ability). When someone else isn't properly informed or trained, and it shows in their canopy flight, the S&TA needs to step in. Right now, I think that they do, but the jumper may still choose to continue to fly outside of his ability. I don't think we need BSRs or licenses. I think we need S&TAs to straight up prevent jumpers from flying canopies they shouldn't fly. If the jumper resists... hell, chop that canopy the second he walks into the loft and tell him/him to hook up something bigger. If that's all s/he owns, they shouldn't consulted their S&TA before buying it. All that aside, I am 100% pro-hardcore-canopy training. I bet the same people who have crappy skills for their canopy have gone to camps or undergone training for their freefall discipline. I bet the last canopy training they received was in their AFF course. I don't recall learning anything about high performance landings in my AFF course. We all fly canopies. We should all continue to learn to fly them for our skill level the same we continue to learn our freefall disciplines. Edited to add: I'm not saying I have ultra skills, just that I'm having fun safely. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Congratulations guys! Argh... Kirk (Talonsky) and I need to go down there and get our BMI ratings. We basically have a wingsuit school going on here at Skydive Oregon. It's been going great. Now we just need BMI ratings. Oops! Maybe we should start charging so that we can afford a trip down there. Hell... all the biz we're bringing to BM... Jari should get his ass out here. Well... I guess the students need to get past the "saving up" stage and move onto the "buying" stage. My GTi has about as many jumps as I do now. Sheesh. I actually learn a lot from first time wingsuit flyers. I end up doing really weird things to stay with them, and I end up flying away with a whole new set off odd skills... like diving, diving, diving, diving... "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

They say you get what you deserve when you use a packer. After a big fat Skyflyer 3 flight and tons of front risering, the last thing my arms want to do is pack. I wussed out and used a packer, and I got what I deserved: The hardest pull I've ever had. I start my deployment sequence at 4,000 feet with the S3, so I had time to deal with it. I follow altitude more than the two try rule, but that's just me. I had my eye on my altimeter and my left thumb in the reserve handle, but I finally worked the PC out and made sure to chuck it hard (critical on a WS) at 2,900. That's 1,100 feet of fighting. Seven and a half seconds of hard pull (though it still got out at a good altitude). Here's my new policy, what I recommend, and why. If I pay a packer, I take out my pilot chute and repack it myself. Pretty much any packer on any given day will give you a pack job that will open safely. Even if you get something fast or off heading, chances are, they didn't pack you a mal (yes, I know that isn't always the case), especially if you know the person packing and their abilities. However, you are used to the amount of strength you need to get your pilot chute out. Hopefully, you know how to pack it so that it will stay in in freefall, and then come out when you want it to without difficulty. To prevent hard pulls (and inversely, premature deployments), if you use a packer, at least take the ten to thirty extra seconds to pack your PC the way you want it to be packed. Even if your parachute opening isn't the greatest, at least your parachute will come out, and you won't have to take a terminal reserve ride (or rely completely on your reserve for that matter). NOTE: This is not a knock on packers at all. Many, many packers pack my parachute better than I do. I'm a crappy packer. Yet very, very few pack my PC the way I'd like it to be packed. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

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

Going around in the rumor mill is a tri-cell cross-braced and airlocked canopy from PD in the future. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Yeah... that's what I meant. That. I swear. Take it from the man who knows this stuff. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

They might, but I'm assuming that when they only show up in one spot over a drop zone, no questions are asked. But when something appears on the radar, travels for a couple miles, and then disappears, it probably looks a little weird. Also, a big may not be "shaped" in a way that would trigger anything on a radar. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Riser pressure was way too high for my liking. Felt like a front riser turn on like a Spectre 170 loaded at 1:1 or something. The dives felt really smooth and solid outside of that, though, as did the rest of the flight (until about 3k when some insane turbulence kicked in all the way until landing). Can anyone in Oregon lend me Vengeance 107? ;) "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I did a naked wingsuit jump in my GTi on a very hot day. Then lent it out to two people. Then I washed it. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click