dploi

Lots of great times together. He made the party. Fly free, brother.

Just to add a little fuel to fire... I believe it is the pilot. But I jumped with someone that had a fraction of the jumps - winsguit and overall - I have, him in a V2, me in a S3, and he smoked me in distance. We traded and I ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY SMOKED him in every aspect, had the best flight (both fun and performance) of my life. I've tried many suits, have jumped with many people, and have been on many flocks. Never have I seen such an enormous performance margin. There's more to be said for a suit design what is politically correct to state.

Za? My comments had zero to do with wingsuit manufacturers. There is no GPS device on the market tailored for our application. Microanalyzing bad data leads to inaccurate conclusions. The BASE environment provides constants to which a flight may be compared, and therefore, more accurate and practical flight information. How is this bashing a manufacturer? Let me guess -- you didn't read the post. I'm all for anyone that is injecting competition into the wingsuit market. It's how progress happens. Who gives a shit who's "winning". Everyone will take turns leapfrogging each other and we'll get better toys. If there's a "best" for too long, we might get bored.

This is fucking funny. I'm sure that Mach 1 is a blast, but "I achieved 19mph vertical and 139mph horizontal, This is G.P.S. data from one jump." No. You didn't do 19 down 139 forward. That's a point that software charted using data from a GPS device that just went through freefall. I know you don't like the technical stuff, so rather than get into detail on how wrong GPS data is on that small level, I'll just say that creating an average across 20s - 30s of what you recall as consistent flight is where you begin to get close to accurate data. That's not saying you're full of shit, because I don't think you are. That's saying that GPS devices have a long way to go before they provide anywhere near accurate data for our application. Far better for driving directions and hiking -- or anything where you can hold still and steady for awhile. I've gotta say, I'm getting so sick of GPS this and I-broke-off harder that. Stand a couple-or-few thousand feet above and twice as far from your landing area. Report back where you opened. This will be result in far more accurate data than anything you'll get from a GPS device out of a plane.

Dead on.

Note that a lot of the reason why the manufacturer's ratings exist is for demonstrating the proper use of their products. Mainly, hooking them up and emergency procedures. But being that all/most other forms of skydiving have official instructor ratings regardless of gear (AFF, CReW, FS, etc), I don't see why there couldn't be one for safe and effective wingsuit flying.

45 - 60 minutes. It's more about technique than fitness. Practice on smaller vertical ladders (like smokestacks or whatevers around) before committing to a big A climb if you aren't sure of yourself.

All over the US, as well. Nice to see the man getting the recognition he deserves.

I believe there is a somewhat direct correlation between dayblazing the London Eye for attention and ignorance of one's own ineptitude at... well... anything. Much less landing a wingsuit.

I should have mentioned that I fly palms up for glide. I think it makes a difference in that it automatically puts your shoulders in the right place.

That's about what I've been doing for best glide, except that my arms are on level with, not blow my torso. And my legs aren't so "super-stiff" as they are "firm, yet relaxed" like you might do in freeflying. Fall rates are around low-mid 70s for me, but the forward speed is insane. Glide is up to 1.3 - 1.4 for me (1.4 with a bit of tailwind). I get better fall rates (low-mid 60s) in a normal track position, but get smoked in distance due to the loss of forward speed. I'm 5'10, 150lbs (170+ out the door) and have about 150 jumps on my PF tracking suit.

OK, but seriously. Right now, the biggest advancements I've seen are not in wingsuit technology, but in the way wingsuits are flown. The "close & long" thing on big walls is spreading. I've seen some very, very impressive videos lately that are getting passed around a bit. They aren't all ending up on the web, as you'll see them in DVDs at some point in the future.

I think that right now, the direction of wingsuiting is forward. And also down.

Some very simple BASE jumps can be safely accomplished with much ground training and no skydiving experience. Skydiving experience will always make a first BASE jump safer in that the jumper has at least some experience freefalling and controlling a parachute in a relatively safe environment. Need it be any more complicated than that?

Not if you get pics...

Wear a what?

that's the 'trashbag' Hahaha!! So true.

Crossbow? One of the originals, hello?

Awesome! He's always been a relatively unsung hero of human body flight. People can argue all day about pure human flight vs rigid wings vs whatever, but I think that what matters most is the FEELING of flight, not the means to achieve it. Climbing and hitting these speeds with nothing more than some weight on your back has to feel amazing. Great work!

Both. Care to elaborate as to why you think it's a joke? No. edit... And I was just joking. OK, I shall elaborate. This suit has potential but needs a LOT of work. Lose about 80% of the unnecessary contraptions and fringes (eg, the velcro-on collar, the weirdness around the ankles). Don't make it modular (detachable wings). This suit could easily weigh less than half what it does. The legs (not leg wing) and butt need some serious redesign to fit properly to keep from losing tension in relaxed flight. This is key to making it viable on a day-to-day basis. The arm wings fly just fine in any mode (high arm strength/endurance needed). The sunken rig tray is counterproductive, IMO. Rather than create an single smooth surface, I have a rig surrounded by a canyon of drag. While I have no problem reaching around the wing, the PC gets caught between the rig and the tray. The suit moves forward slowly in anything but an all out tracking position, even with the tail wing on; compared to the three-wing suits. It's nowhere near as responsive as the BirdMan or PF suits in turns. But this is also a different breed of suit. It's a "floatsuit". If anyone ever wants to know what it's like to come to damn near a complete STOP without a canopy over your head -- give this suit try.

Both.

I've seen several experienced BASE jumpers go fetal in the passenger seat when I drive at night.

I believe it was Space that first put this together. Pretty cool idea, and I bet it makes a difference.

You must have a hell of a track to worry about that much airflow over the top of your rig.

Right, but saving 1s or 2s that can only come from faster inflation and wing design characteristics can be critical in many cases. Some real envelopes have been pushed with the Phantom lately in terms of jumping big walls with short sheer faces that were once thought impossible to outglide.