ManBird

Um, no. Worst case scenario some worker spots it, wonders what it is, keeps an eye on it, notices that it shifts position, hangs out and waits for you, and calls the police... You get the idea. Not if the birds eat it. I bet you didn't think about that one, eh? Er... "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

The best advice I heard is this: Add 100 to the weight of your naked body. That's the size canopy you want. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

$3,000 will get you a SkyRay. ;) I think it's actually like, more or less, two pieces of material sewn together to form three wings and a place to put your body, as opposed to a suit with wings assembled to it. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

No cypres. Don't you have to be going 78 MPH down to fire one? Actually, I've collapsed my slider before some 1800 foot hop and pops with just the plain old skydiving gear. Damn it! I want a delay! "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Worst case scenario, you're out six bucks (if you didn't make your own). I'd imagine a lot of low objects like that (save maybe towers) wouldn't be too tough to go back up and get your stuff. I'd imagine that a velcro PCA would definitely come apart pretty easily. So let's say your PC and bridle are out. You have a strip of velcro on the bridle near the PC, and the velcro PCA attaches to it. You securely tie down the velcro PCA. Is there a downside to the velcro being too weak? I'll see if I can pull test some different velcros tomorrow. I'd like to hear other people's results, as well. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Yes, you do. If you ever want to sell it after moving up to a different suit (I'm assuming you aren't ordering a SF), the LQRS will claim a higher price in less time. I don't have a LQRS on my GTi, but I could have used it on one particular jump in DeLand. Oops! "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

People do want Classics for BASE... you can run with one on. I like the single cutaway on the CrossBow, but what I don't like is where the wings are cutaway. Cutting the wings from the body is FAR safer than splitting them on the arm. If for any reason you have to cut wings in freefall, the errant wings will have less effect on body position and will hide your handle much less when cut from the body. Plus you have a degree of control over them when they are still on your arms. Large, uncontrolled wings will throw you around like a baby riding a tetherball (what?). Take it from someone who's left the plane with their wings unzipped, and had a malfunction because of it. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

The best way to go, for sure, is to find the nearest BM-I. You'll learn to do it right and safely. I didn't say this, but if you can't find a BM-I, find someone with at least 150 wingsuit jumps. You could also just get more jumps in, read up like crazy, and practice, then do it when you're for sure ready. I never formal instruction, but I read the manuals, talked to people, and then did about 25 tracking dives, all BirdMan style (exit, flight plan, and deployment). My first wingsuit jump was with my own suit. ;) And I'm not the only one to have done this. Try borrowing a camera suit, too, and do some tracking dives on that. But seek out a BM-I first. Travel if you need to... it's worth it. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I fly a Sabre 120 loaded at 1.5. I can only vouch for my own experience, but here's something to consider: Wingsuits are very sensitive to body position. Line twists with wingsuit are caused by body position about 99% of the time. When you deploy a little off, and your canopy wants to dive or turn in one direction or the other, if you try to fight it right away, you will give yourself line twists. My little trick is to not fight it. If my canopy comes out wanting to go right, I'll go with it. I raise my left leg and grab the little bit of riser I can reach with my right hand and just let it go to the right. If I go the opposite way that my canopy wants to go... line twists. I may have to do one or two full revolutions before it runs out of steam, but I haven't had line twists since putting this into practice (mods help, too, of course). "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

The MRT-1 is the Crossbow with a different name and some minor improvements. http://www.matterclothing.com I'm assuming it performs the same way... somewhat floaty, little forward speed, slides around a lot. Supposedly, if you really know how to fly it, it could outperform a GTi, the Skyflyer and Skyflyer 3 are still way ahead. I just don't see any advantage to the "single wing" system over three independent wings. Inflating the suit too much messes with the profile. If it gets too thick, it induces drag. Drag means less speed. Less speed means less lift. Less lift means no chocolate. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Yeah, that's bad. I wasn't thinking of PC extraction, though, that is, indeed, the intended use. Rather, I was thinking more of using it to tie off the PC, like a reusable and, more importantly, relatively consistent breakcord. It might not be too good of an idea, after all. The jump is almost that of #30, only the PC would be tied off on the ground, not pulled from the BOC. Was that R-------- (I think that's what it's called) that she went in on? The one the BR guys jump a lot? "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Actually, you sort of just answered my questioned. I figured it needed less force, but wasn't quite expecting it to be that low. Just taking a look at this: http://www.paragear.com/templates/base_template.asp?group=163#M5450 A configuration for S\L using this is supposedly safer than the breakcord type (in skydiving). I was recently discussing with someone the possibility of using it in BASE, and was wondering if practical experience was out there, and most importantly, how much force is needed. Thanks. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Curiosity has risen after a recent conversation. Any experience with velcro PCA, as opposed to a breakcord, on a BASE jump? How does it compare to , say, a 60 lb breakcord? "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Damn, that rig is so fu¢kin' sweet. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Yeah, he was my roommate actually. Him and the Norgie Basics. Edited to say that I partied with him and the Norgie Basics, not that the Norgie Basics were also my roommates. Though one would have thought otherwise on Friday. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I received coaching from Evolution when they were starting the program at Elsinore, and also took a class from Jim Slaton at Skydive Oregon. The results have been great. If I got a swoop before, it was basically luck, and a wonder I didn't hurt myself. Now, I actually know what's going on (especially after Jim Slaton explained a few things). I won't say I have the skill yet, but I know what to work on, how to do it safely, and have vastly improved the quality and control of my flight, openings, and landings. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

No, stab as in using a knife. I don't actually. I just think it's fun to talk about stabbing stuff, like Rod Driver's grandmother. No, I'm not actually afraid to talk to people. It was more than I spent so much time jumping and subsequently sleeping, that I didn't get to put in a lot of hanging out. Though, I did party with Norgies until 5am on Friday night. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

'Tis I. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Ray, I saw you at DeLand quite a bit. I recognized you, but I didn't make the connection until just now. I didn't know you flew wingsuits. WORD! Yeah, Vladi, is a sick ass swooper. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

One person who was jumping the SF1 at DeLand and now jumps the SF3 claims that he couldn't get up the steps to the Otter with a zipped up SF1, but has no problem walking around with the SF3. I'll try running in mine as soon as it comes in. In fact, I'll wear my Heelies and go rolling through downtown with a wingsuit on, shouting, "COMPACT GUITAR!". It'll be awesome. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

No. He had video, but that doesn't really help. My battery just died, and I don't have a hemet assembled yet, anyway, but I would have liked to get some stills on the ground at least. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Plus a great document to keep around for those minute calculations: http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~marsden/lectures/clausthal.pdf Plugging in GPS, ProTrack, and known weather data to applicable Euler equations may help to return accurate of performance in various stages of flight. Though most of this is applied to liquid, it can still be applied to gas... or so I'm told. I need a good function reference, as I am rather dumb with this stuff. I just want to plug figures in and go. None of this "knowledge" junk. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/bernnew.html Rod turned me on to this page. The Glenn Research Center answers the question of how lift is generated using principles established by both Bernoulli AND Newton. Definitely worth a read. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Whilst in DeLand I jumped with Nels from Denmark, who's heavily modified a Crossbow into a very different suit. The suit is huge. It inflates to maybe 9" thick (very rough estimate). It's almost all one wing. It's concave from the wrists to the ankles, but doesn't really seem to have three separate wings. There were five or so silver dollar size holes in each wing, as well as large inlets over the shoulders. There was a small leg inlet, as well, and the standard inlets under the arms. He's using a very low profile rig that has zipper teeth on each side and the bottom, and the suit zips to it, making the rig flush. It's an older rig modified for BASE. He flies a Spectre, but uses a tailpocket instead of a d-bag. A pilot chute pouch was on his belly, and the bridle was routed from the rig, around the wing, to the pouch, tightened by rubber band stows every few inches. I forget if there was velcro to hold it or if the stows just got rid of the slack, and it held that way. Cutaway system is essentially that of a Crossbow. I'm not recalling other mods at the moment. This was only his sixth jump on it, and the first with another person, so there's no real way to judge the performance yet. This was my 136th GTi jump, so familiarity with the respective suits is a big factor. In this particular flight, he fell about 70 MPH for about a thousand feet after a clean exit and then stayed in the high 50s for most of the jump. In the last few thousand feet, he was going about 50 MPH (70 KMH on his ankle-mounted ProTrack). Per my ProTrack, I was averaging 58 down in that part of the jump, and he was higher than me. We had the same fall rate for most of the jump, but fatigue set in, and I fell below. His suit seemed to require much less work. The suit slid quite a bit from side to side, like an amplified Crossbow. Stabilitywise, his flight was rock solid, and the entire suit inflated like crazy. Very rigid. He had a lot less forward speed. I had to drop my knees (I've found a use for my bad habit!) to stay back with him, but maintain a solid upper body to match his lift. The flight started with me going very up and away, and then dropping back. We synced up on the fall rate and forward speed, but never our horizontal position. It moved a bit like an air hockey puck, and there was a lot of side slide chasing and crossing over each other. His deployment system worked, of course, and he finds the PC very easy to reach. I find it a bit frightening to start with the PC in front of the wing. Overall, the dive could have been better, but it was still a great experience, and an honor to jump with someone that is making such an effort. Not to mention that he's about as nice a guy as there is. He seemed disappointed with the performance, and his disappointment actually saddened me. He's THAT nice of a guy. I'd like to see how he progresses, both in flying technique and in modifications. It lacks in deflectors. It inflates a LOT, but doesn't put as much air OVER the wing as it might with deflectors or an adjusted body position. It's definitely a totally different beast than what a lot of us are on. Keep it up, Nels. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Crazy. I just returned from Florida, as well. I never saw you there. Got a great flight in with Scary Perry. Hell of a flyer. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click