ManBird

Talonsky and I had a couple great flights together (as well as taking Zenister on his first flight). We stayed very relative for a most of the flight on our first jump of the day. When we flew right next to each other, we suddenly became "big" enough to appear to be an aircraft on PDX's radar. Some heads were scratched when something appeared near the Mulino airport and then disappeared over Skydive Oregon. Joe Weber (DZO) had to call in and explain what happened, and what wingsuits are, to PDX. :) "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Welcome Zenister to the flock! Zenister was the first victim of our new wingsuit flyer policy at SDO, and it seems to be working very well. He's definitely going about it all the right way. He had a great forward speed... just needs to work on fall rate a bit. I was able to stay with him alright, but I think it'd be much easier in my GTi. In the S3, I've found that I can't really put my arms out at all with anyone doing their first GTi flight. I think I'm ready to hook up with Jari and go for a BMI pretty soon here. That way I can give legit instruction, and not this fly by night stuff. No pun intended. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

That's really odd. Are you arching at all, and thus "hiding" the inlet from the air in front of you? Is the entire leg collapsed, or just the last 6 - 12 inches? ARe your legs straight or is there a bend at the knee? "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Flew it again. Flew just fine this time. Chalk it up to pilot error. CHALK IT! "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Definitely not. 800 jumps and is already in need of new lines. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Get with the program, monkey. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Oh... just saw these. Yeah... the S3 is already almost impossible to fly hard for the whole flight. And the extra material would just flap around. Parachutes need suspension lines between the canopy and your weight in order to stay rigid. We have to use our bodies between the fabric. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Most people are flying well under 70 MPH. Some people have their Skyflyers and S3s down to 35 MPH. Most Skyflyer and S3 flyers are in the 40s. Plus, the idea of building the wings like a parachute, as well as a cutaway system, are on all modern wingsuits (every suit since Patrick's). You can get the main out properly and get the PC inflated just fine already. Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing this. Hurry up and get some jumps going. Then you'll get to experience it, and not just think about it. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I think that same V is the one I've seen some amazing of. Where there's a turn to the right half way down. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

So... I think I may have found the problem. If you pulled all the lines together, evenly, and not really hard enough, everything would look just fine. I pulled the right upper control lines and the steering line away from each other and it appears that (and I'm not a rigger so I don't the terminology exactly) the finger trapped portion of the line on the main steering line slid WAY out... I don't know enough about this crap to speculate, but I do know that it just needs to be re-finger trapped. Does that make sense? And next time, I'll loosen the other leg strap. While what I did DID work for me, when several people with ten times as many jumps as me tell me otherwise, I listen. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Woah, just saw Dag's (Norgies) profile on there. Didn't know he was THAT experienced. He was my roommate in DeLand. Super, super cool guy. In fact, he is so cool, he never once gave the impression that he was the shit. I had to visit PD's site to find that out. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Anyone who has this logo on their suit is hyper old school. I'm not hyper old school. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

If one riser is lower than the other, the canopy will turn in the direction of the lower riser. I may have done it in a backwards way on this one, but it worked. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Sky - 1,300 ft (got out at 1,800... collapsed the slider beforehand) BASE - 196 ft (PCA) "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Hell, I almost want to buy a Classic II just to have all the suits, AND a some Pantz. Plus, I'd like to get some Classic II skills. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I know advertising isn't supposed to happen in the forums, but I'm more just passing the word along than advertising, and I'm not a BirdMan employee, so... I hope this doesn't qualify as an ad. For those who are interested in getting a wingsuit, now's the time, just got this in the inbox today: Spread the word! The BirdMan Buddy Deal is back. Buy any wingsuit and get one pair of BASE or Freefly Pantz for FREE. Here are the terms: * This special is good from today until midnight EST August 31, 2003. Any order received after August 31st will be billed at the normal wingsuit and Pantz prices. * Pantz must be from the available stock at the BirdMan headquarters - X Small, Small, Medium, Large or Extra Large * Wingsuit and Pantz orders must be received at the same time. * Wingsuit and Pantz must be shipped to the same address. * The term "Buddy Deal" should be written on both wingsuit and Pantz order forms to insure that you will receive free Pantz. (Yes, you can be your own buddy.) Direct your questions to either BirdMan president Jari Kuosma jari@bird-man.com or new business manager Asaf Fishelson asaf@bird-man.com. Send your orders to the contact information below or to sales@bird-man.com. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

There is in existence a Xaos-21 150. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I guess either way would work, but your method is probably better. What it boils down to is, in this case, having the ability to drastically offset the risers and keep right side lower than the left. My method work. Yours would, too. If it happens again on my next flight, I'll try to other way. But if I have to chop, you owe me beer. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

By the way, what you guys are saying is correct. Normally, if you evenly distribute your weight and one side is looser than the other, you will turn towards the tighter side, since that side is being pushed down. I'm just saying that what I did works, as well, as it allowed me sit much more of my weight on the right side. It's not normal procedure and doesn't apply to normal flight, but this wasn't a normal flight. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I definitely checked to make sure my leg straps were even before the jump... moreso than usual. When the turn first happened, I thought I was accidentally harness turning. Loosening the right leg strap fixed the problem, for sure. The results were immediately noticeable. I was spiraling. When I loosened the right leg strap, which allowed me to slump to the right, the spiral turned into a slow turn. Definitely a fix. Braking on the right side turned the slow turn into straight flight. Before I let the right strap out, I had to keep the right toggle almost fully braked to fly the canopy straight. Think about it. When the canopy turns one way, you apply downward (relative to the position of the canopy) to the opposite side. Either way would work, and I did think about which one to loosen, and which one would be easier to fly for 12,000+ feet. I could loosen the left one and push down on my right side, but the effort it would take would most likely fatigue me after awhile, and landing keeled to one side would have been difficult. Loosening the right strap allowed me to just slump over effortlessly. One way you harness turn to the right is by lifting your left leg and dropping your right, right? This basically gave me a fixed right harness turn to counter the canopy's left turn, and it definitely worked. If loosening the straps the way I did made it worse, I would have spiraled more, not straightened out, and that canopy would have been chopped. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

You slump in the direction of the loose leg strap. I loosened the right one to turn right, because the canopy was turning left. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Nice. Was that also you that had supplemented my velcro theory with a device that would keep the velcro PCA attached to the bridle? "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

So, my first (yes, bought beer) Crossfire 109 flight didn't exactly go as expected. Dumped out the door at 13.5k. The opening on this Crossfire is fricking amazing, even that high. Even with that snivel and my crappy packing skillz, it stayed right on heading without touching the risers (no bumpers right now). I checked everything out... looked OK. Collapsed the slider and put it behind my neck (tabs on the risers). I unstowed the toggles, flared it once (very powerful flare), turned left, turned right. Now as soon as I completed my right turn, the canopy started to go left. It went left for the rest of the jump. In order to get it to fly straight, I loosened my right leg strap a lot, and really tightened the left one, leaned to the right, and flew the right side half braked. I spotted for the gear if I needed to chop and decided by 4k whether I would or not. Pressure on the right toggle and fatigue increased, but I decided to land it anyway. I flared it nearly two dozen times on the way down to make sure I was going to land it OK, and I did. The canopy and lines were inspected twice before the jump, and once, very thoroughly, afterwards (inspected by a rigger once before and after). All the lines are the same length as their counterparts on either side of the canopy. No ripped ribs. No twist in the risers. Physically, everything was OK. Any ideas what happened? I checked that canopy up and down like crazy for the flight. No lineover, but I did notice that the upper control lines on the right side had noticeably more slack in them than the left. Is it possible that there is something wrong with the lines that I don't see until my weight is suspended underneath them? I'm going to have another rigger look at again and give it another shot if it checks out. Maybe the molecules were rarified. ;) I must say that I was impressed with Crossfire nonetheless. Even with, theoretically, 25% of my flare gone, the flare was extremely powerful on a straight in landing loaded at 1.7. Up top, I went ahead tried the front risers out a couple times. The riser pressure was higher than expected, but this also probably due to the fact that it was a right front riser turn, and the left side was essentially half braked. Even then, it got into a dive and stayed in a dive for about 700 deet (180 to double front for the remainder of the power band (at about 10,000 feet)). Not bad for a f*¢ked up ride. (Edited for spelling) "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I can believe that. How long (in seconds) do you spend on a 180? You can snap a 180 and only drop 280 feet, or you can spend a full five seconds on it and lose 500+. That's why I'm more interested in the altitude loss over time, rather than the degree of the turn. I'm not making assumptions or criticisms or anything... I can drop my Sabre 120 350 - 400 feet with a 180 that I spend my entire power band on. I would assume that the same kind of turn would drop much more on the XFire. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Oops... I drew it wrong. The bridle would be sandwiched more between the parachute and the flaps, not between the flaps (unless you really fucked up). "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click