P-dro

Yes 2 : one at 18 jumps and one at 140, and I still stood up the last one after rubbing my knees. That's why I am concerned for him. They are very aggressive canopies, very fun to fly, but they can be nasty if you're not on top of your game. One of my friend has badly messed up his ankle with has katana, although he thought he was doing fine with it until that accident, even if I told him that his choice was a bit ambitious. But it culd have been far worse. Never jumped, because they are very rare in France, and technically I'm not there yet. Plus, i'm a chicken Joke aside, I'm not trying to lecture him, I just think he is putting himself at risk by downsizing and changing planform at the same time. And the fact that he isn't able to stand up the landing in good conditions (which is for me the bare minimum) worries me when he'll have to face a dicey situation.

My on opinion is based on the information he gave us: Doesn't this phrase bother you? at least a little? and when I read I think if he wants to stay under a 150, a Sabre 2 would be safer, especially with a WL around 1.6... I would even say that he could have stayed with his Sabre2 170 longer and still learn an awful lot... But it was just my point of view... Sorry if I upset you

From you post : I would say you shouldn't be under it right now. If you can not even land it properly under good condition, what will happen when someone cuts you off on final? When you will have to land in a backyard, because of a bad spot? What will happen when you do a mistake (and you will)? You'd be better off under a Sabre 2 150 and you'd learn as fast if not faster but with a much more comfortable security margin. Walk away from this canopy while you still can.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." Mark Twain

I just put 16 jumps on my new XXL Mamba with a ProTrack. Absolutely no problem...

I started Wingsuit around 130 jumps with an Access, than started with a Prodigy around 180 jumps. Between the two I put 40 jumps before jumping a Phi around 250 and finally a Phantom around 300. So I know perfectly well what I means to start with a Prodigy. Sorry, but from my point of view, starting with a WS that binds your arms is a bad idea. I don't understand how a Prodigy could be harder to start with than a Phantom. I agree the Phantom is a really easy suit to fly (and very fun to boot), but is a has a much larger leg wing than the Prodigy, so if you don't collapse it before pulling, I dont see how you're better off than with the Prodigy.... And if a student has a bad opening procedure, he is going to be in trouble whatever the suit. The only critic i'd do to Prodigy has a beginner suit, is that it's a bit twitchy, so you have to be careful with your input, otherwise you'll be flying all over the place. Prodigy a easy to find in rental here (France) and I never heard any problems with the opening.... Just my 2 cents....

same here.

I would have said very ugly, but to each his own...

You should try an XXL Mamba. My head is 24,8" and it fits nicely....

Hey, just to let you know I bought an XXL Mamba and it fits perfectly. This helmets ROCKS!!

Awesome pictures, the fourth one is now my desktop wallpaper...

Did you bake the liner of your Mamba?

Hello, I'am 24'7 too. For my open face helmet, I asked 2Kcomposites for FF1 custom size, at no extra cost... For full face, I heard the FreeZR is very nice but Paratec told me they were out of stock for at least 8 weeks I mailed Bonehead too, but they told me they thought an XXL Mamba would'nt fit. But from what I read here, maybe they are a little conservative?

I wonder why people come here to ask advice and when advice is given, they don't want to hear. Loic Jean Albert started to jump Velocities after 2 years in 8-way RW French National Team, doing 5-600 jumps a year with Stilletoes. He started to fly similarly sized Velocities. In an article, he explained that he needed all his experience not to get in trouble, because the wing was so radical, and that in his opinion jumping a Velocity under at least 300 jumps a year was asking for trouble...

Their are fairly common in France. I made 110 jumps with an advance Out last year, it's a good rig and it's affordable.

Much better? Only 90°? I can only imagine what is was before... As far as i'm concerned, I'm looking for an other canopy.... Too bad though, because it's a first rate canopy, except for the opening...

I have had several hard opening and one very hard on my Sabre2 in the span of 50 jumps. All the normal opening were off heading (asymetric inflation of end cells). Therefore I am currently considering other options for my next canopy, to my regret because the flight performance and landing are really top notch...

Hello, I am in a similar situation, only worse (63cm or 24 6/8), I am about to order a FreeZR. All my previous attempt have been unsuccessful (Parasport Z1 XXL, PhoenixFly Stinger XL). I wrote to Bonehead, but they didn't think the Mamba would fit me I'll let you know how the Paratec fits...

Strange, I made 112 jumps last season with one set of tube stoes, and replacing only the 2 locking stoes...

I made around 10 jumps on each , I had around 130 jumps for the Access and 180 for the Prodigy. I found the Access to be more comfortable and newbie friendly. On my first flight on the Prodigy I expected nothing but a slightly more performing Access. I was wrong. I found the Prodigy to be very different in the it flies, much more sensitive to body input, much more twicthier and therefore I wasn't able to extract better perfomance. My guess is the Access maybe a better choice for jumper with fewer jumps, and the Prodigy for people with a bit more experience willing to discover "real" wingsuit with a standard body position. This my humble beginner opinion.... PS: I received a security briefing for each, but wasn't followed by an instructor in flight...

Mandatory in France for everyone, no exception...

Sorry to disapoint you but one of my friend has had a Vigil fire after he took the train with it and passed into a tunnel, the instant increase of pressure triggered the Vigil... Granted it's not really car related, but if it happens in this situation, why not when slamming a car trunk?

Hi i'm a heavy guy myself (93kg) and I received some advice from a former Symbiosis dealer: he find the Slowpo a bit "flappy" and recommended me the Lowpo in heavy cotton with a bloused cut. Worked like a charm for me, and slowed my fall rate significantly. He recommended me also to order Megabooties, the only interest of normal booties being for small or lightweight jumpers that could be unbalanced by powerfull booties.

Do you think he would have had more or less chances of survival with a malfunctioning reserve than with nothing at all over his head? Personnally i'd take my chances with the potential reserve malfunction....

Yes, I did 7 jumps with an access (since with 180 jumps it's the only thing I am authorized to jump). It's fun, but the position is indeed a bit strange... Most probably, I won't buy an Access. I will try to try a Prodigy or wait to have more jumps and buy a Phantom or Firebird...