TALONSKY

Put my vote in for Firefly, too. Kirk

You forgot to put in your poll have anything about not having to use them. I have not needed to use them for an emergancy but twice I pulled my leg cut away only because I was too tired to unzip Kirk

I have a tendency to focus on the negative without looking at the positives. Even though there is validity in my statements in this thread, some things are better left unsaid and this thread is one of them. After talking to a few more people that attended this event it is clear that far more people enjoyed the presents of Team Evolution than were offended by them. Kirk

Not to scare anyone away from wing suit flying but I would have this to say to younger jumpers. Anytime you add a piece of equipment (wingsuit, board, and camera) or go more high performance canopy; you are upping the anti so to speak in an emergency. In an emergency, you will now need a different set of procedures to deal with each thing plus needing to deal with the standard emergency procedures. I love wingsuit flying, but I can tell you I have been my most scared skydiving when things go wrong flying a wingsuit. There is nothing like being in a flat spin or almost head down on deployment. Just two weeks ago, I had my VX spin up on me on deployment (yes, it is not the best canopy for wingsuit) luckily it was flying straight but my head was pinned to my chest and I could not reach the risers. I had to guess which way to kick, I guess right. Be aware of the added risk, and always practice new emergency procedures. Kirk

You know Jeff; I have to say I find many things about your post intriguing. One of which is the way you articulate yourself. Now it seems to me that in essence what we have is a differing opinion of definitions. One being you feel it would not be considered unprofessional to “tease” (lets just say for augment sake more than twice) someone that is not jumping a canopy from the manufacture that “They” represent. In my post I obviously feel the opposite. Next would be that you feel that bringing their behavior to light is being a “crybaby”. Now once again, I have to counter and say the propose of bringing it up is so that “they”(the team) find out how others may perceive their actions and yes to may be let the company (Icarus) see how their rep’s really represent them. Kirk

The one thing I find intriguing about this thread is out side of a team member. No one is rebutting the fact that they did and do tease people about there not owning Icarus products. If I am sooo wrong I find it interesting that three people have collaborated what I have stated. Even one (thanks Jeff) that was for them. Kirk

Hey Jeff: At no point in time did I state anything other than they are not very professional. Now you yourself state in your post that they would “tease people that did not own Icarus products”. Sorry, but if it was just another jumper than; yeah, that it would be fine. However, when they are Rep’s for a company I feel a certain amount of professionalism is called for. I do not know what most would say but I would state “teasing” more than once or twice would cross the line to being unprofessional. Also at no point in time did I ever state I spent a lot of time with them, I did state I was doing tandems most of the time. Kirk

I did not get a chance to attend much that went on that weekend do to having to work as a tandem instructor but I did hear and was present at the BS that went on about my friends Katana. I am sorry but I take serious offense to anyone that comes to my home dropzone and make one of my friends feel unwelcome. My friend did not attend on Sunday do to the harrasment of your team and or entourage. Now sorry but had I known that then I would have taken it up with the person there, since I only found out later the harrasment he received this forum is one of the only places to let people know how someone in your team acts. Kirk I did get a chance to talk to Wyatt he is a great person as I said in the orignal post it is only some of them

There are a couple of containers that are probably less ideal for wingsuit flying. One of them is a Eclipse the reason is because the main packing tray at the top is sewn up toward the reserve container about 1 to 2 inch's creating a pocket for the main d-bag. Now I have not looked at a Reflex container in a while but someone mentioned to me that they to are sewn up creating a pocket for the main d-bag. You may want to have someone look at it before doing much wingsuit jumps. Now these containers can be used you just need to fully colapse your wings for about 5 seconds to burn off the forward speed and get you falling more or less straight down. Kirk

I really like that shot. I was thinking about maybe trying an exit like that if nothing else.

OK, in the general skydive forum I made a comment about Team Extreme but it was should have been Team Evolution. So Sorry Team Extreme.

I am looking for an opinion on what would be the best way to video a wingsuit Balloon jump. Our idea is to have one person leave facing away from the basket and 2 seconds later have the video guy leave facing the basket and the jumper that just left. My only thought is that might allow too much seperation for good vide. So any ideas? Kirk

QuoteI know they say to pick a pattern that is centered, but after owning (second hand) a canopy with an offset stripe I really like it. If I were to buy a new canopy I would get an offset to one side stripe. My personal color choice would be RBL,W,BLK,W,RBL,RBL,RBL.RBL Kirk

I know they say to pick a pattern that is centered, but after owning (second hand) a canopy with an offset stripe I really like it. If I were to buy a new canopy I would get an offset to one side stripe. Kirk

Your completely right, I am sorry for the mix up and have posted an appology

The only thing I demo'ed before buying is on my first downsize of reserve a PDR 143, and on my second rig I did jump the Crossfire 129 I bought before I bought it. Most of my mains I did not demo before I bought them ( Safire 169, Crossfire 2 130, VX 109, and currently a Xaos 27 cell 98). I do alot of research on line and talking to people before I make my mind up on what I will buy. The main reason for not demoing gear is lack of any local demo's. I know I can call up companies and for some small charge get one flown out here but it is kind of a hassel and so far I have been very satisfied with each purchase. Kirk

Team Icarus members - Brett, Dusty, Wyat & Jason,

I can not say for sure if it was one of the team or one of the people that follows them around, but to an extent does it really matter. So I guess my original post may be a little off it should state one of the team or one of the teams followers. If they have people that follow them around that act like an ass I would think any professional person would disassociate with them totally. I know as an instructor if one of my friends is acting vulgar in front of my student I will not ackolege them and will pull them off to the side and tell them that infront of my students they need to act professional. Kirk

Well what I was referring to more or less is the way they should carry themselves professionally. Meaning I find it OK to ruse someone for not buying their brand but I find it unprofessional to keep going on and on about it all day. Kirk

I want to start by saying I am personally a fan of Icarus products. I have owned many Icarus canopies, Safire, Crossfire, Crossfire 2, and VX. Just last week Team Evolution was out at my DZ, now for the most part they were a nice group of people. I find some of their techniques just a little questionable. A friend of mine just bought a Katana and loves it but some of the Icarus people decided to give him a lot of grief for not having an Icarus product. Now a little humor is one thing but to continually bag on someone for choosing another canopy manufacturer is totally another. (Hell one of the group or the people that just follows them around picked a fight with my friend for no known reason) I also heard several others at my DZ commenting about the lack of professionalism in the group (Team Evolution) as a whole. Now a while back Validi (sorry if I misspelled your name) came out with a bunch of demo stuff from PD. I could not get over how nice he was and how professional he was. I tried a Velocity demo and we talked about the differences between my VX and the Velocity and at no time did he ever bash Icarus. Everyone I talked to really could not get over how professional he was and nice. Hell, he went out of his way just to talk to me about a stowless bag Javelin is working on that would have a huge amount of benefits for wingsuit flying (my discipline of choice). Hell, from just my experience over this I next time I look for a new canopy I do not think I will be looking at Icarus Kirk (Title edited by request of the poster)

I agree totally, Jared. I think the only place wingsuits look good is in flight.

I would think that leaving the balloon facing out may help in getting the arm wings inflated better then just dropping off facing the balloon, like you did on your first one and I did on this one. I definitly went head low for a few seconds until the suit started to fly. Are you going to the DZ any time this week?. If not just let me know and I can bring my camera to work and we can firewire it at lunch time. Kirk

I did not catch you at deployment. After exit I tried to watch you but soon realized I needed to pay attention to where I was going. After I deployed and was relieved by a great openning on my VX I was more tuned into seeing where Ray and Scott had landed and which of the two areas I feel I could make. Looking at my video I got a great shot of Ray's exit. I did just look at your video from your first balloon jump with Jared and it looks like you had on that one right around 25 seconds on that one. Kirk

Sorry for forgetting your name, I really have a problem with names. At SDO I have to ask manifest what my tandem students name is after the jump so I can sign the right certificate. My freefall time on that jump kind of sucked since I was chicken and pulled at 3000 AGL ( I have been having some real funky opennings on my VX latetly). But I got 22 seconds of freefall in 1300 feet. I agree that the first 5 seconds off the basket is the best

Between 4300 and 5300 AGL. Steve is right it was really kick ass fun