Pendragon

Talk to Omar (OmarPR on the forum). He is quite literally writing the book on it. He and some of the guys at Z-Hills have been doing a lot of interesting stuff.

Actually it comes from the basic premise of all wingsuit flight - awareness of one's surroundings. A low jump # guy/gal is unlikely to have sufficient awareness of where they are over the ground to be able to navigate successfully. Wingsuits can cover a lot of distance horizontally and, typically, the jumper is getting out after tandems and AFF. Last thing they want is a wayward wingsuit pilot buzzing around in the wrong place - AFF students can occasionally panic and deploy unexpectedly high. You need to be heads-up enough in order to plan where you need to be. Also, what about (as here in the UK) airspace restrictions? I fly in some of the busiest airspace in the world near London - and there would be hell to pay if I got caught outside our 1.5nm radius. Similiarly, what about DZs with few/restricted "outs"? Again, it all comes back down to flying a good pattern. Of course, more regular skydiving skills are important, and that is the other aspect or requiring a certain skill level. BTW - wingsuits serve to complicate things; recovery from instability, deployment, reserve drills. Best to have all those second nature before you make them more difficult! BTW - I would take a 200 jump "wonder" with backflying skills, good recovery from instability and lots of tracking dives (and has a sensible attitude towards wingsuits...a real prerequisite for me!) over a 1,000 jump guy who's only ever done 4-way and taken 14 years to get there (just an example - no offence to RWers intended ) The former has useful transferable skills, the latter - whilst experienced - has not learnt that same breadth. Richard -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

WTF? You're obviously not from our side of the atlantic. "Riggers" to us are people who are able to construct containers and, as a result, make modifications to all sorts of equipment and pack reserves in accordance with their own methods rather than have to stick rigidly to manufacturers' instructions (providing their actions can be justified). An "Advanced Packer" OTOH, is licensed to pack reserves only, and may not conduct unsupervised work that can materially affect the parachute system. Not everywhere conforms to the US way of doing things. -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

Do you have a bungee cord between your leg straps? If not, you should do. -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

If you haven't flown a wingsuit, learn first on a demo suit. Won't take too long if you're a good tracker and have some freefly experience. Then I'd go with a Phantom, and have the back-inlets installed. Easy to fly, quite forgiving; you'll be able to flock in it no problem, and it's actually got great performance if flown correctly (to the point that some flyers can just about keep up with Vampires being flown hard). Oh, and you can do some basic acrobatics in it for fun, when you're experienced enough and fancy it. Firebird is ok, but I found it a little slow. Don't get anything with ribs in if you're a low-timer (applies to Firebird and Phantom options) Acro is fun, but I feel a little less user-friendly for beginners. -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

Firstly, head down is dangerous. Firstly, if you haven't already, make sure you're using a rig with adequate bridle protection. Prematures are more dangerous. Secondly, the only thing you can really practise alone are half-transitions from/to a sit. Don't try and go head down on your own; you will easily lose orientation and, when you think you are head down, you probably are not; instead tracking up/down line of flight (and boy, you can really track a long way in an "almost" head down position), creating potentially dangerous scenarios with other jumpers. The truth of it is, unlike sit flying, it is very difficult to start - both in terms of disorientation and having to be ultra-relaxed in order to start. Recovery should be a sit, then transition back (half-cartwheel preferred). If you can't do that, learn sit first. Most instructors will recommend that you not only learn a sit, you spend a season on your feet first, before learning HD. Everyone is different, and fine-tuning is especially important. Higher speeds = greater responsiveness to control inputs. The basic position is legs wide apart (don't allow them to relax inwards; speed picks up and with it loss of control, at least at first - and it's difficult to brake!). Legs should be almost fully extended, but relaxed - not locked out. Leg position is straddle - the "daffy position" you may see (with legs fore and aft) is an advanced position and you should avoid it at first. Body should be straight; you need a coach to observe your hips and whether you have a tendency to drive forward or backslide. Fly with legs; need arms for docks etc; these should be relaxed and held out not right in front of you, but not at the sides either. It's much better to get someone to actually show you. Your aim is to turn yourself into a kind of shuttlecock - legs wide allows you to "hang" off the greater air resitance - and it's quite stable (when you get the hang of it, so to speak) Put your head in the relative wind and adopt the position (relaxed!) Absolutely. Don't try head down for more than a few seconds on your own (see above) Being held HD by someone (once you're competent on your feet - see "corking" later) will help you understand the feel of the wind on your body. Don't try to stand on your head before you can stand on your feet. Falling off HD onto your belly/back is very dangerous as you will "cork" (change relative speed with the rest of the group) dramatically, and at high speed. HD typically 180 mph; belly typically 120 - 60mph difference!!! Learn half-cartwheels first. I found these difficult at first; what worked for me was extending just one leg then the other from the sit. Other techniques may work better for you. Seek advice locally. Don't ask on the forums. There's too much stuff that can't be articulated appropriately, nor can advice be tailored (and for HD, it really needs to be tailored) If, like you imply, you can't sit-fly yet, forget HD this season. Get comfortable on your feet (learning sit isn't too hard) then practise until it's second nature. At this point, you can come back to HD. Not before. Richard -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

Saw him last Sunday. Don't have contact details, but you could try posting on the UK BASE board. www.basejumper.org (deliberately not clicky to avoid lots of random traffic crashing the system!

Dunno about that... but there's a fair few N. Americans that fall into the same category. You guys experience the same canopy incidents through lack of experience/advanced canopy combinations - possibly even more so. Chicago, or The Ranch may be a long way from the Florida DZs in terms of distance but culturally they're not too dissimilar - and you have a common governing body. The cultural differences between European countries is nothing short of stark. I can drive at any speed I like on (an ever reducing proportion of) the German Autobahn, but if I was caught over 100mph in the UK, I would be considered "crazy" and "dangerous" regardless of road conditions. Similarly, the UK governing body (BPA) is very prescriptive - now requiring a "qualification" before unsupervised swooping is permitted (and at my home DZ, this must also be gained before a certain W/L can be jumped) - whereas in Germany no such rules exist. That's not to say that skydivers in Germany have more accidents, and I'm not sure of the statistics either. What you will find is that how prescriptive/tolerence to rules the national governing bodies have varies. In Germany for example you are much more free to do what you like than the UK - but if you muck up, they'll be down on you. In the UK, you can find ways around the rules, and CCIs seem less able/willing to do much about it. I'll try not to take any. Back to the main topic... -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

Let's look at it this way: It is not necessarily true that the additional force to slow a heavier jumper is directly proportional to the mass difference. Force is a function of acceleration (negative in this case) - so stopping an object with only a small amount of kinetic energy but within a short distance can require the same force as a much larger object brought to a stop more slowly. If a heavier jumper's deployment consumed more altitude, then the forces would be lessened. Similarly, a lighter jumper having a premature whilst head-down is going to subject their canopy to much greater stresses than someone just overloading it and going through a belly-to-earth delployment, especially since the excess energy is only proportional to additional mass but to the square of the velocity. Body shapes may dictate that 2 jumpers of different exit weights fall at the same speed at terminal due to drag differences. If this is the case, and the loss of height during deployement was identical, only then would the braking forces have a ratio identical to that of the exit weights. In reality, I'm not sure whether anyone can say for certain how the canopy will open under a given loading: this is a function of how the canopy pressurises, stages and presents drag to the relative wind, and may not correlate linearly with the speed of the relative wind. This in turn determines how quickly the body is slowed and the forces involved. -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

Robi from Phoenix-Fly contacted me to ask how I found the V-1 about a month after he'd shipped it. I wasn't a PFI at the time either. -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

Doesn't make any difference. For starters, the air runs across the rig in opposite directions between head-up and head-down flying. Secondly, air only is most likely to get underneath the flap and lift it out when you're on your side (i.e. during a transition). Most likely, it will come undone if it snags on anything. Security is key, not the orientation. -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

I am familiar with the Pilot; I got >350 jumps on my 150 before I sold it, and it's the canopy I learnt to do high-performance landings on. Double fronts only really increases your sink rate; it doesn't really dive the canopy. Sure, this will speed things up a little. I could get my 150 (at 1.35 lbs/sqft) to dive on a 90. You're right though, it does have a very short recovery arc, hence my input was really quite low. I did also notice an increase in speed at 45. It doesn't dive much, but there is an effect like you would get coming out of any turn. Besides, 45s are good to get used to putting single front riser input in, even if it doesn't do too much, before moving on. I'm not suggesting that anyone spends a great deal of time I think that at my W/L, there wasn't much point going above a 180; no appreciable additional dive beyond this point and the front riser pressure got too high. Be careful measuring height lost up high; you will always underestimate the height lost in the recovery phase. One reason for this is a height gain after the surge, so you're not measuring the maximum height lost when you stare at your Neptune before and after. I was initiating 180s on that Pilot at around 350ft (if I recall correctly), like you from a depressurised canopy. -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

All canopies will do this; it's just that pilots don't generally notice as the effect is often subtle. Don't CReW jumpers use this as a technique though? The reason is simple: trim and brake lines are adjusted such that "toggles up" on a parachute is way faster than maximum glide (which actually requires brake/riser input to achieve). This is to have the right characteristics for a good opening. When you use a small amount of toggle, it converts some of that excess speed and actually generates lift on that side, inducing bank and causing the canopy to turn in the opposite direction. More brake input will degrade wing performance on that side, losing lift - but also slow it down - so the canopy both banks and yaws in the direction of the toggle input. The question as to why it is quite pronounced in your Nitro (as compared to other canopies you've flown) isn't obvious. Might it have something to do with the way it is trimmed? -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

Hi Matt, Try 45s next. Double-fronts don't really do much; all that's really happening is you're folding the wing in half spanwise and killing the glide, which then recovers with a small surge not too dissimilar to the effect of releasing from deep brakes. At least with any form of rotation, the canopy becomes displaced from above your head and you swing back underneath it once the canopy begins to plane out (hence the surge of speed). Do a few of those before you migrate to 90s, but do lots of those before going beyond that; you'll find anything over 90 a little disorientating when you start. -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

I was deliberately providing a one-sided view to emphasise a point; specifically that a certain widely-held stereotypical view of BASE jumpers is wrong. The text you chose to quote just happened to be true and, because it was recent, I remembered it. In my experience so far, BASE jumpers come from a broad cross-section of backgrounds although usually they have had access to a decent disposable income at some point since it can be a bit of an expensive game to start. Also, I am only too aware that "academic" or "intelligent" does not neccessarily equate to having "common sense". Lastly, I would like to add that I don't have any tatoos and have yet to fall off a fence. Oh, and I would jump with you anytime. -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

Can I join you guys too? I have a masters and PhD in chemistry from Oxford, now work as an advisor in M&A transactions Guy who trained me is an engineer Guy who trained with me works in a hospital My mentor is a programmer One of the guys I was with last night has a PhD Not all "thrill seekers" are tatooed-up, uneducated "ruffians". -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

No amount of coaching is too excessive. Some people get it straight off (then struggle with head down later!) other's don't. Some think they sit-fly well but they don't. Besides, there's potentially a lot you can cover beyond a basic sit (docks, for example) - and staying relative to people who aren't compensating for you all the time! You're right to get some solos in-between though.

Nothing in freefly is ever rigid; any position will require some degree of dynamic input and it helps to be relaxed. Check you've got your sit right; if you're not flying that properly, any problems will just be exaserpated in a stand as it's faster and the balance point is even finer. For example, some people have a tendancy to fly with their arms too far back (they're usually compensating for poor body position and not sitting upright.) Going into a stand from there isn't going to work too well. Ease into it slowly.. you're not trying to lock your legs out! BTW - are you wearing a suit that's particularly baggy around the ankles? There might be too much volume for you there, causing you to "pop-up" -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

Exactly. You just need to have been around for a while to get a BPA D (Red) You don't need to : - have done anything more than a 4-point 4-way (once) - have any night or water jumps - have landed within 10m of a target consecutively more than 5 times (they've updated that a little now) - know anything about minimum visibility requirements, all sorts of air law - have ever spotted an aircraft more than once - be able to pack You just need to have been around a long time... (unless you go abroad where the weather's better! ) -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

Nice try Avery... -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

Back inlets on a Phantom are a more recent addition - but they're definitely available.

Get a PF Phantom. no mylar (best not for beginners or the perennially uncurrent), but might as well have back vents. It's a fairly easy suit to launch and fly, works well in flocks, doesn't have massive arm wings that interfere with a pull (as much as say a Vampire) and you can do some basic acrobatics on it when you get comfortable (front/back loops, barrel rolls and, of course, back flying!)... and when flown well, you can pass guys flying Vampires! BTW - if you haven't jumped a wingsuit yet, even though you have over the minimum # jumps, I would still recommend getting some coaching just to start - even if it is just 1 jump! There's a lot of avoidable silly mistakes first-timers can make! Richard -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

I bought my first rig 2 years ago for £1700. It was a Teardrop SF with a PD 170 main (quoted as having 350 jumps), Tempo 150 reserve and a CYPRES 1 which was about 3 years old at the time... and I got that through a shop. £1750 should buy you a good rig. -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

Fore one thing, the angle [of the nose] may be different; by that I mean if you imagine the top and bottom skins at the nose forming a plane, the amount of pitch would alter the rate of inflation. -- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13

What a daft comment. Anyway, back to the subject, the way I was shown to get these on (by Clem, incidentally ) was to grab the silicone tubing in the left hand (with the top of the hand orientated towards the links) and with the right hand, take 3-4 wraps on the lines for leverage. Give a solid pull and, hey presto, they go on all the way.