ManBird

BTW, the day after jumping the suit naked, and sweating like a bastard in it, I let Chris (don't know last name) borrow the suit for his forst wingsuit jump. I think I forgot to tell him what I did the day before. Oops. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

SSSOOOOOO close. A tad more lift and a tad less forward drive, and we would have had it. Jason Zazlaw flew his VX 68 and I flew my GTi. On our second attempt, we got very close. Visually, one of the most amazing jumps ever. Flying a wingsuit around puffy clouds while Zaz his flying his parachute right next to me. Our average fall rate was 60 MPH down. I had to fly knees down to keep from outdriving. I think that looking back at him too much caused me to spill air and lessen my d-arch, as I could hear my speed pick up after looking over my shoulder. Frickin' amazing. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

It has been done! SO, wore nothing under my wingsuit, and earmuffs on my head for my 500th. Flew with TALONSKY (sorry to bring you into this), and it was a great jump. We both hooked nice and low to finish it off. Yay. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Frame grab of my first pond swoop. Yes I made it out, and yes I bought beer. (edited to make clicky) "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

You should also mention the sponge slide. It's the point under canopy where you feel special. REALLY special. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

[replyI was flying dirty and had a fall rate of something like 110 so that he could maintain with us. Isn't funny how anything in triple digits is just screaming fast now? Hell, my freefalls without the suit don't even break that anymore, and they still seem fast. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I'd imagine that it'd be VERY difficult, but doable. An example: 1. Passenger is on BirdMan A, and BirdMan B is on the left. 2. BirdMan A and BirdMan B dock, or at least stay very relative. 3. Passenger releases the left risers on BirdMan A and grabs the right risers of BirdMan B with the left hand. 4. Passenger quickly moves left leg from left side of BirdMan A to left of BirdMan B's right leg. 5. Passenger, in one motion, pushes off of BirdMan A, moves right hand to BirdMan B's right riser and right leg to outside of BirdMan B's right leg, while moving left leg to outside of BirdMan B's left leg, and immediately releases BirdMan B's right riser with left hand and grabs BirdMan Bs left riser with the left hand. 6. BirdMan A goes corks like bastard. Transfer complete. All of the above should happen in the span of about 0.5 seconds. It would require BirdMan B to be an excellent flyer, BirdMan A to be rock solid, and the passenger to be quick, and respectful of the BirdMen's suits and gear. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

http://www.bird-man.com I recommend starting with a GTi. Welcome to the flock. Your life just got a whole lot better. ;) "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Very nice rodeo. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I think the FFX has ports that allow you to hook it up without removing the camera, though it's a different story for batteries. I would have bought an FFX if it fit a PC10. In all honesty, I think the FF2 is just about as snagproof as the FFX. I think I'm really going to like it. I'll post pics when I get it. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Damn... bastard. I'm gonna cry. SHitty weather for like 1,000 weekends in a row here in Oregon. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I believe it. I spent most of a WS dive at about 110 MPH without having to dive it while lurking an instruction jump. Hit 160 head down. ;) Beats the hell out of your wings, though. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

It's been done before, actually. I forget the guy's name, but there's a Red Bull sponsored BASE jumper/skydiver that can track with people in wingsuits in half flight. The tail end (about seven seconds) of my jump start heading up went up to 78MPH, but the average (excluding the first four seconds of building up speed) was 67 MPH. I wonder how the forward speeds would compare, though. You can actually get faster or as fast forward speeds without a suit (compared to basic wingsuit flight), but you have to be doing about 90 MPH down (a good track at 90 down will also put you at 90 forwards), whereas you fall rate would be drastically less when matching or exceeding that speed with a wingsuit. Beef. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

It's easy to run to the restroom with a backpack, or go on a smoke break, or something. 2 GHz laptop with 533 MHz FSB. Running Premiere 6.5, I ripped down raw swoop footage, edited it down to just the swoops (two minutes down to about 30 seconds), threw it back on the MiniDV in literally about four minutes, and drew no attention. It's very possible, and I'd say easy to get away with as a show off video. However, seeing how quickly those tapes are grabbed at meets, I doubt it could be pulled off in competition. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

At Skydive Oregon, our pond is 200 by (I think) 60 feet, 3-4 feet deep, and it's a great size. The lip is pretty minimal, as well. The width allows us to have three "lanes". A big wide one for amateurs like me. A super narrow one down the middle for practicing accuracy. And a "normal" one for general practice by people who know what they're doing. Though, coast to coast is very tough on my Sabre 120 loaded at 1.5. On a no-wind day, I have a 198 foot swoop on a 200 foot pond. Unless I set up closer to/over the pond or there's some wind to push me, I get a bit wet. With a stiff headwind, I can only cover about half the length. Here's a vid of one of my weak-ass-four-miles-per-hour-set-up-way-too-far-in swoops in the big lane, along with a shot of the three lanes. http://www.deepart.org/files/sdopond.wmv "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

On Sunday, we couldn't get more than 5,500, and I felt like going for the pond, so I disconnected for the day. I got out at 5,500 feet and tracked like a bastard. Dumped at 3,200 and was in the saddle at 2,900. Got a 29 second delay in my FireFly freefly suit, according to the ProTrack. Looking at the chart, it was more like 26 seconds from 5,500 to 3,200. It felt like I was in a wingsuit for the whole track. I was basically in the same position, but with my "wings" collapsed... just keeping any air from slipping out. Before getting the GTi, I did about 25 tracking dives and got my consistent fall rate down to the low 80s and freefall time up to 87 seconds in my freefly suit. After flying the wingsuit this much, it's gone even lower. I'd really to try to track on the same jump as someone taking it easy in a Classic or GTi. It'd make for some interesting footage. Now I REALLY want some Pantz for tracking on hop and pops. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Nice. I have to try that one. That's got to have a cool visual effect. Must get video. Can't wait 'til I get my FF2. :) "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

...is fun. Just make sure you get the right one. The person I meant to buzz and a person I did not mean to buzz had the exact same color tandem parachutes. Regardless, the other guy got a kick out of it, and it was probably my closest buzz to date. By the way. The S3 is a f**kin SCREAMER! TALONSKY had his on a three way today. I was maxed out, legs completely straight, definitely in full flight, and he still had another 15 - 20 MPH in forward speed on me. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Nice. I didn't even think about that one until Jari mentioned it to me right before I left DeLand. I tried it the first jump back in Oregon, and it was really frickin' fun. Might be sketchy on a S3 at first (which Jari also warned me about), but was both quick and easy to control with the GTi. Definite respect for pulling it off on the "harder" wings without a flat spin. Did you run into flat spins at first? I'd love to see someone else do it in the air. It feels like it looks ridiculous. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Are you closing your tail on barrel rolls? The only times I've seen people drop on barrel rolls is when they leave the tail open. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Dead fucking on. People feel like that if they can keep others from doing something, then others will be no better, or even worse, than them selves. Combining that with the "fear of the unknown" is all it takes convince people to abhor, and sometimes pass laws prohibiting, shit they don't understand, see, or do. Fuckers. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Facing the nose or the tail? IMO, diving exit = front flip. Not in a bad way. I've just found that the easiest/fastest way to get in a stable position when diving towards the tail is to do one front flip. The amount of time it takes to get flat from a flip as opposed to recovering from a dive is, for me, significantly less. Either way, it's kind of a diving out, though I did bang my leg pretty hard on the step of a 182. Jump farther, I guess. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Any tricks/sequences to try? My favorite one right now is a backflip, as opposed to a gainer. When you bcakflip from the belly to earth position, you're actually doing a gainer. Try backflying and then doing a backflip. Not too tough. Then try flying on your belly, half barrel roll, backflip, half barrel roll back onto your belly as one move. Then add a barrel roll or two to either end of the maneuver. Like half barrel roll, backflip, then 2 and half barrel rolls our of it. One I was working on yesterday was one and half barrel rolls, backflip, half barrel roll, front flip. You can also fly backwards for a little bit. The easiest was is a super fast and flat 180 (try not to flatspin). You could also half barrel roll onto your back and then do half a front flip. If you're flying next to someone that just drops throws a knee into it, you'll notice that you can stay with them, going backwards for a moment. Then just turn back around when you start to fall to far behind. You'd think that you'd drop like a rock while performing the larger sequences, which you kind of do at first, but get them a bit fluid, and you can actually ride all the tricks down the momentum of your flight. On the flights that have been pretty much all aerobatics, I'm still getting 105 - 116 in the GTi (though it was more like 90 when I was first figuring most of this stuff out). I'd really like to hear what other people are doing out there. In any board sport, there is a desire to invent and teach new tricks. I still have that desire for wingsuit flying, and think it would make this stuff even more fun (if that's possible). "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Nice. I kind of figured that since the way the mouth is facing, it'd stay in pretty well. And I did mean flying backwards, not backflying. ;) "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Would backwards on my belly be alright? "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click