mariavon

QuoteMost recently the last suit came back and it had been taken apart to see how it was made Quote It was probably taken apart to make a pattern. I'm sorry you are experiencing this kind of ungratefulness. I don't blame you for raising your prices. Those suits ain't free![/reply We had a situation where a customer took our suit to a pattern maker (who I know) to copy the pattern, and then claimed the design was his. Luckily losers like that are also generally incredibly stupid, and don' have a feel for the bigger picture. Who would want to buy a suit from someone who so lacks in ethics and integrity? Not if your life depends on it! (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

____________________________ God that is impractical ! Just ask for a demo ! (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

But seriously: I prefer if the manufacturers bring out well tested and safe wingsuits on the market, there is no real need to rush something... But on the other side: I am always tempted to fly the newest high end models on the market... __________________________________________ Wingsuit manufacturers do this for love not money..this is still a tiny market but the demands on the manufacturer are enormous. The level of quality and safety required, the hours and hours of labour and the cost of materials is barely covered by the selling price, a meagre $1200 at best. Now add development cost- the GS1 took 6 months for the final stages and cost $ 250 000- .. so each suit out there has cost us $5000- .We do not expect to cover R&D for years..and yet it continues, the market wants new ,better , MORE all the time , so do we all as designers, but innovation and development is very expensive . A business plan for a wingsuit business falls dismally short for investors who expect even modest returns. Perhaps the market can support ONE company, but not three or four. and therefore I have to say that you guys are all getting basically a free ride with all the options available to you. From the tone of this thread I can tell you are mostly SPOILT for choice. Innovation in this field is driven by passion and the realisation of the huge potential for direct human flight - this is art and science, not business. In our company we recognise that we need a patron, not an investor, to support our development . I don't think I am wrong to say that all wingsuits coming to the market are subsidized in some form or another either by other products, or by the desire of the manufacturer to stay in the market at their own expense -like us, or as a marketing cost for a sponsoring brand. It's fine to comment on the design of a suit and speculate on performance but to question the integrity and ethics of those skinning themselves to bring these wingsuits to y,all is wrong (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

The GS1 is designed to interchange arm and tail wings so that we can try out new designs quickly and bin them if they don't work. The add-in tailwing you saw has a slit with mesh to spill air through the middle, basically to improve stability. I visualise the wing like a large flat dish with water pouring into it. If one is holding the dish and one moves it slightly, the water begins to slosh from side to side,increasing in momentum and causing a very unstable situation .With a slit in the middle of the dish however, the sloshing left to right is greatly reduced. This was my motivation for designing the wing with a slit. There are still some problems with that wing and we are doing modifications to it before it is officially released. The add on tailwing is longer than the built-in one , to adjust the pitch and angle of attack to be more flat . (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

dude ... forget runways of any description or landing gear .. i am saying that with the right design a wingsuit can land on the dirt right in front of the usual blase crowd at the dropzone ok! thanks anyway .. i need a good dose of the same scepticism that your claims met with .. its a big motivation to succeed, not so? (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

I totally agree that it must be the wingsuit itself that provides the conditions for a safe landing (almost anywhere ) before it can be called a "wingsuit landing ". For the record, our serious development of a wingsuit that can provide for a normal wingsuit flight and then a safe landing, does not involve landing gear or contraptions and changes to the environment to cushion the "landing " . (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

Yes it is true that Julian has left the team and has withdrawn his support of the GS1 after we launched the suit on the 7th of July. A number of factors were involved in Julian and the team parting ways, some more pertinent to this discussion than others. We wish Julian well in his future and we have parted friends, although his leaving – and the timing of his leaving have been a PR and morale disaster for us – as the rampant speculation here illustrates. In December 2004 I introduced myself on this forum as the designer of the SugarGlider wingsuit. There was no challenge made to my assertion because it is a fact that I can prove beyond any doubt. I made the decision then not to continue making and selling the SugarGlider but to finalise the development of a much improved production model with more scope and value for the market. It is here – the GS1 – my own improvement of my own design. I have given credit to those who have contributed to my understanding of wingsuit flight and I will not withhold credit where it is due…. At the same time I cannot allow others to take credit for my designs and insights, where their role was one of consultation and feedback. Julian was present throughout the development of the GS1 and I discussed and explained all the changes and refinements I was making to the wingsuit with him and had his support right up until our launch. I fully acknowledge and accept the critical importance of the wingsuit pilot, especially in light of the fact that I do not fly myself (nor will I ever – terrified of heights!), however it is equally important to any team for each person to respect and acknowledge the contribution of the others. We will be releasing all the details of the new suit over the next couple of days and we trust that the GS1 will speak for itself; we will also be introducing our new test pilot who we are delighted to have on board. Since we launched we have been overwhelmed by the positive response and encouragement we have received from flyers (including a couple of wingsuit gods) from all over the world and we look forward to our continued development with you. (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

We take into account the dimensions of the rig (as supplied by the manufacturers) when we build the box. In general though, the rig box will be slightly bigger than the rig. The most important factor though is the final position of the bottom of the rig on the back - which is why we ask for a pic of you wearing your rig. It is not so much a question of fit, rather the smoothness of the profile. (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

If you look closely at the pics of the new GS1 you will see that the rig lies submerged in the wing. I designed what I call a "rig box " into which the rig fits and the wing ends up being on the same level as the top of the rig. The whole wing has been attached to the body on a line very much to the back... see the side view shots... So the body of the pilot is completely exposed and hangs well below the wing thus lowering the center of gravity which has maximised stability and improved steering, the body now acting as a keel in the air. The top of the wing has been raised to the level of the deflector, in fact wing and deflector are one continuous thing, with rig lying in its "box" We are sending a pre-inflated model for air flow tests in a windtunnel this month so we will know soon exactly what is happening with the air flow. From the perspective of a wingsuit designer a rig is very irritating... I spend a lot of time plotting its demise ... Yes - I am designing a wingsuit to land... end of story.

HIZIT SIMON. TRY COMPEGPS.COM. THE TRIAL SOFTWARE IS FREE JULES (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

pm sent! (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

Thanks for asking Beverly - our new production model will be suited to all shapes and sizes, men and women and levels of experience.... we will be offering a choice of "fledgling" or advanced wings and as each suit is tailor made, the grading of the sizes is proportionate and maintains the integrity of the design through all sizes. Obviously being a mostly female team we are extremely keen to get some girls up there! (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

by intimidating - do you mean you were scared?? well... from now on we're going to send out with each suit the cammo nappy that Cate designed ages ago for this particular problem (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

mccordia!!! what have you been doing inside my head!? this is a pic from our archive (very low res - sorry) of one in a series of suits we made for Shaun Smith about 18 months back. The lovely round extended tail that dear Jarno lifted out of my brain while I was sleeping is trailing behind Shaun on the floor. We will look for more pictures that illustrate better and post the here. You can see the vents at the tips of the wing cells - those we had to put in to stabilize the suit. Someone - ManBird I think, remarked on this forum way back in 2004, after seeing this suit that it would be like a piece of plywood in the air... he was right. It just stopped up there and then started skidding and spinning and being extremely willful, doing it's own mad thing... well I'm exaggerating, it was not that bad but it was definitely too wild. The vents helped a lot and I wanted to get the feet to become fins in the air to correct spinning and sliding. So we built these fabulous fins down the middle from the knees to the toes. Great! that worked too - better stability and control, but again.... a whole new set of challenges and problems to solve and this is at the heart of our current development... What we are bringing out this year will really put expel some of the more gruesome "ghosts in the machine". Jarno - we definitely share an uncanny sense of beauty. Thanks.

Hey Lurch ... Gee! I am really getting it for the short tail wing today .. had two flyers in our studio today roasting me about it .... well about 18 months ago we tested suits with long, then looonger tails and big, then bigger wings .. "TAIL - UPS" on base jumps (causing head -downs) put me off the long tails at the time .. also i figured that the legs and especially feet are working hard to stabilise and steer almost like rudders and we all thought it felt better to leave them hanging last . There is plenty of lift in that area already from the armwing which extends to the heel and the back deflector inflates and catches air down at the heel too ... forward drive? .. mmmmm ? yea I am waiting for the maths on the optimum total wing length for our new profile .. one thing is sure if the tail extends its gotta be stiff .. damn embarrasing to have this flappy thing at the end .. my choice for long tail was toe to toe to get the best tension .. I still go there .. long tail ?..its gotta be usefull to slow you forward and vertically if you observe that a bird flares its tail before landing .. we are kinda happy with our vertical speeds so we have been working on our forward speed to get a better balance ..( Jules has always raved about the forward speed however .. he cant understand the slow forward debate ) ..stability has also been an issue on our big wings so thats been under correction in our new design .. the wings on the sugarglider in the pics are of an average size in the range we have been testing .. that suit has come up best for comfort , effort and performance . My idea has been to build a suit that fits in well with the current wingsuit paradigm , as a baseline from which to develop really amazing things .Our production model is a highly polished version of the suit you see in the pics..with some fun surprises .. big photo session this weekend and then you can see .. yea by the way the cameraman Jules flies a same suit as Tim .. hey Lurch you know you made me think old stuff over again .. still bugs me .. thanks .... God it feels so amazing to be working on getting people to fly ! (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but i still struggle to turn my cell phone on. If you tell me which modle and settings to use i'll give it a bash, if i can turn it on. Flappy, flap. fly lots, smile more bi joools (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

Hi there all, Aussie Scatty and I both had sweet flights that day. I managed to fly to right over my tent before i pulled. Think i could have gone further, but pulled a little early because i forgot to swap my 32 pilot chute, we were in a hurry trying to bumb a lift when the ferry arrived. Wasn't open very low, had time to undo both booties and arm zips and admire my sexy little tent again. Its very cool to not have to pay for the boat ride back. Work it out, twice the jumps if youre short on mooola in Norway That flight was for Shaun Smith, the man who concieved this beast. beware the salty water. jools (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

Hello everyone. Jules here. Here are some photo's i took of tim-o-t a while back. So this is it. Hope ALL flyers fly, it's much better than walking. Ka KAAAAAAAAA..... (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

The back deflector pouch is vented through a tube from the front which allows air to inflate the pouch (this smoothes out the line/airflow coming off the rig ) but air is also escaping between the leg wing and the pouch, acting like a slotted wing to smooth out airflow over the top of the wing ... like the birdman suits ... we have just tapered the shape of the pouch down to the ankle to create a more even and flowing line for the air to flow into and over ... in general you can say that we have simply refined existing features of both the birdman and crossbow suits.. and more importantly I think, filled in the gaps... I have to credit the makers of those suits though because we have based our Sugarglider on them.. where we go from here however is gonna "come out of the blue"... we have 9 pilots flying our current production model... we are taking orders on this suit although we are constantly testing new improvements... our wingsuit development is dedicated to to taking the possibilities of direct human flight to a totally new level... (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

um .. Quade ... well i made Fantastic Paper Jets in class at school .. and i can clearly remember assembleling a kite or two .. but i dont like things tied to strings so much .. no honestly most theory i have come across on aerodynamics is from guys that fly our suits and you boffins on this forum .. to explain myself i have to say i OBSERVE nature and form and the inspiration comes ... and otherwise i am a very expierienced designer and pattern cutter ... frankly though .. i cant be bothered to second guess my insights .. after all what came first ? the bird or the science ? dont worry though .. i am very thoroughly advised and checked at every point by various expert minds .. our development methods and procedures are safe and sensible ... (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!

hi everyone .. I am the designer and developer of the Sugarglider wingsuit . i started the project when Shaun Smith brought me his Birdman suit and an early Soulflyer ... i had never seen or heard of this sport up to that point but my heart started beating like the wings of a bird .. oh my .. so piece for piece we "grew " the wings and i made design changes while Shaun and Jules tested the suits .. well we have come a long way and we have made a few suits even bigger than the suits some of you have seen fly .. I have followed all the discussions on the possibilities of landing without a chute , glide ratios and all that stuff and sadly i dont sense enough optimism .. ladies and gentleman .. man was made to fly .. and land his wings .. i have had a vision .. i have been busy for the last year on a wingsuit thats gonna do it .. its so very different to our current suit so no clues there but its safe and easy and so pretty .. Jules may just touch down before Jeb .. unless Jeb wants to fly with him ? i have his measurements ... ? anyway back to work now .. i feel some pressure ! ! ok .. safe and happy now everyone ... look up and smile ... (pronounced G - jii is the force that makes you fly!) Jii-Wings - no strings!