mccordia

Being floaty is often used. But in what way are you 'floaty' If your weight is the issue, you're flying the same glide-angle as the rest of the group, and not catching up. Lacking the wingload to fly the same speed. If you're constantly overspeeding the group forward, overshooting. Than they are not flying forward enough, and need to stop using their wingsuits as camera-suits. Something a lot of people do in big wingsuits especially. Fly at okay-ish fallrates, but completely lacking forward speed. Only using their wingsuit to slow their fallrate, not using to generate forward speed. If you have more forward speed that they have. Its actually mostly their skills/flying style that are the problem...not your weight.. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

I think a big problem flocking is, that we always seem to adjust to the speed/pace of the lowest skilled performer, and even than, try and work out a speed where he/she has range. Though its commendable in a 'lets all hold hands and be friends' kinda way, ment to not upset people, teaching those people to fly at good speeds would be a much better idea. If you cant get to an FS formation, or FF bigway. You're simply off that group, and onto doing 2 ways or small groups that teach you to fly at a higher performance level. The group doesnt 'dumb down' to match the lowest skilled performer. This doesnt mean you have to be an anti-social ass, but working with newer people (or older flyers who dont fly that well) on small jumps can be much more rewarding than lying there with your feet on your butt, arms back staring at someones ankle for 60 seconds, waiting for breakoff so you can finaly fly for a bit. Sadly in our dicipline instead of upgrading skills, its often downgrading performance or buying bigger suits. The focus on skill doesnt match the focus on gear by far... That said, its also of good thing for your skills envelope to learn and fly at any speed. Be it fast down, or balistic forward. Some people are great flyers at 100% speed, but seem to not posses anything else but 'on/off' setting for the flying. Learn to work with all ranges. But for sure...try and focus on the stuff that actually flies. Perhaps trying to get the group of anvills to actually speed up a bit more. Its better to not be in your slot, but chasing a group, and working towards flying at a higher level....learning new things.... If the people you jump with dont challenge you, perhaps switch it around...fly base and challenge them... JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Phoenix-Fly is currently developing new flocking tools, for those who suffer from friends who refuse to actually use the suits they are wearing.. The Flockinator and the Speedo are two easy to use add-ons that will work with any wingsuit model currently on the market. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

I think thats only US manufacturer policy...in EU suit manufacturers laugh at you and tell you to learn to fly JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Im mostly suggesting we keep looking for a standard, instead of sticking to what most flyers currently can do. Fly it as tight as possible with a group, strive for excellence... Again, not ment as critisism on past formations. But most people can fly docks. Why not try and space formations just a few inches shy of actually docking. Its an old picture, but the spacing of the base 4 way in this photo should be a wonderfull thing to aim for.... I see a lot of formations with similar 'official' spacing, but when I see a group of beginners flying that distance/spacing easily within one or two jumps, I do think we could raise the bar a bit when it comes to 'what we're aiming for' when it comes to defining an actual record worthy performance. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

I didnt mean to stir the pot, but truly ment it as an honest question. Why not set the spacing to half of whats currently used, when group skill/experience allows for it? JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Will you guys aim for the best/close proximity possible, or set it up in the usual wide 'record spacing'? Not ment in a bad way, but man...some pictures I see in magazines of'records' do make me think 'is this REALLY the best we can do as a dicipline'? JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

If somebody needs to ask if he/she is ready, he or she should probably not do it More serious..its hard to put solid numbers on things. Same like the minimum 200 skydives before wingsuit. You can try and set a minimum in which people COULD have learnt/experienced enough to do okay. Its not a golden rule that says they are actually ready when they reach that number. On rodeo exits and dismounts you can experience unstable moments, tumbles, spins etc. A wingsuit flyers should be comfortable with flying, navigation, frontloops, backloops, barrelrolls etc. and the recovery if they go to hell...and in general be aware of whats happening. Its fun taking an exit 2,5 miles out, but spinning down with a heap of person on your back/belly/head you have to know when to call it quits and make sure both you and the rider make it home. How much experience? Id say...use some common sense and think about the jump....than see if that person is up to the task...both rider and bird. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Here in Holland students (pre-A licence) have this thing called a in-stability test. Meaning they get shoved out the plane in asymetrical bodyposition, and have to show they can recover within a few seconds. Anyone who can recover from an unstable exit (which is most likely what they will experience when they fall/jump off) would be fine by me. Granted with stricter rules here, related to being allowed to jump with others, its pretty similar to having FS1 (UK Rules). You can actually have a few 100 jumps and still dont have a licence. Lots of stuff one has to do to actually get one... So saying A licence might suffice for one country, it may be overkill for another. Not every country has the same rules for skydiving. Especially when it comes to canopies etc. holland is very strict (though not in a bad way IMHO). That said...Im more of a fan of filming rodeos (outside video) than I am of being the person giving someone a ride... JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

I know people with 500 jumps and and no licence? JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

If the suit itself tears (bar-tacks coming undone) that wont help either and might result in your actual handles going inside the suit. The GS1 also had some issues with this (it used a rubber slit for the handles) but there the person who had the malfunction ended up pulling the cables themselves with his thumb hooked behind them. Not a luxery you have if the full handles are inside the suit. All these untested rigging issues, all to loose the drag of a chest-strap....often only to compensate with 5 GoPros... JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Correction, it wasnt actually the RSL in that case, but the full front of the suit tearing (probably stress due to the harness pushing/pulling on the suit) which pulled the reserve handle out (as its not attached to the harness, but to the suit....) and deployed the reserve at the same time the main was deploying. Be carefull... JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Do check the fabric that sits close to the MLW/Mudflaps to see if it doesnt go on top of the actual 3 ring circus (RSL/skyhook if present) There has already been one reserve that fired into a main during deployment by the Apache pushing an RSL shackle loose when it got pulled over the 3 ring circus (after the suit tore some stitches as well). With wingsuits being this far integrated with gear, Id personaly recommend a manufacturer at least put a service bulletin or safety warning out on this event to see if its a potential issue more people are experiencing. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Wow..that quiz is quite amazing in the questions and answers given....and thats not fully ment in praise JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

I think agility/steering inputs needed to fly the V4 is quite a big difference as well. Its quite easy on steering, where-as the other ones require real delecate input to not make them do wild out of control turns and dives. Stuff thats often seen on some flyers skydiving and basejumping those bigger suits.... Comparing the suits the other Venom class suits also seems to require an 'arms back' flying style if you want to do agressive manouvres. The V4 flies much more 'phantom-like' in steering. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Colorwise there is a point where 'God of the skies' heads more towards 'Queen of the desert' JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Eastern Europe in the right direction? JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

I can confirm its not PF related. If it was, its someone who would never teach/instruct or sell suits under our name/banner again. Got some 'usual suspects' when it comes to low experience, big suits and a complete lack of responsibilty towards a student though JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Like many other brilliant ideas such as jeans etc Im personaly quite happy to see that one never took of either... Watching said person personaly train one under skilled and under experienced jumper showed me all I needed to know...for some 200 wouldnt even be enough. Modern 'small surface' suits are quite a bit bigger than many 'classic' designs'. For FFCs its PFs stance that for sure 100/150 isnt enough. Why cather to low experience? Urge people to work on skill! JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Orange JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Thats why some people jump Camo...they are afraid of going low on formations. The camoflage colors makes em stand out less from the background... Cool people opt for bright colors.. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

I sorta leaned more towards 'Real Life Actionman Toy' JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

Blue/Yellow/Black You're one of DSE's students.. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

For an 'extreme sport' we're the biggest bunch of color coordinated pussies alive....but here we go: Black Im extreme/emo/living on the edge/don't care about death! Im so mysterious! Im a pig, and my suit gets dirty so quick, I took it black to begin with White Im awesome! And I wanna show it! Pink Im a manly man, and I can handle pink! Im a girly girl, and I really need to show everyone how girly girly I actually am! Red/White/Black My wingsuit matches my rig, canopy, helmet and underwear. Most seen, most un-original combo possible (jup..thats me as well hehe) Camo/Pink/Blue/Red/Grey/Fluorescent Yellow I bought a demo from Tony orange/black Phoenix-Fly Fanboy Squad full orange dirty Nationalistic Dutch boy .....do add JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?

The worst students tend to be the ones who waste 100 to 200 jumps on solo 'performance' training by doing only tracking. They are great at holding one static body position, they suck at everything else. Learn to SKYDIVE! Do formations, learn basic freeflying. Tracking is included at the end of every jump in those diciplines. Learning to fly your body in al orientations, learning to fly relative to others etc. teaches you much, much more than any solo trackingdive can ever do.. The best wingsuit preparation is no preparation, and A LOT more experience than the minimum 200 jumps... JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete?