VectorBoy

It IS a good idea check and see if your P/C has cleared the burble if you sense a bit of delay beyond the norm. Just like they say in freeflying head down "where your head is pointing your body will follow". Even if you think you've compensated enough and you are flying straight. Granted speeds are slower in wingsuits than head down offering more allowance. On the occasions that I have watched my PC it was after the pull for a split second during bridle stretch. I just don't recommend it for people starting out in wingsuits. They pull high anyway so there is time to sort out slight delay vs mal issues. More important for them is a symetrical pull and a deployment with no twists. Once jumpers have more experience in wingsuits and plan on going lower deployments with hi-performance mains or enter the base environment then they will have to modify the procedure for the equiptment, the altitude and time available and the task at hand. Glen

Good way to give yourself some interesting line twists and stability problems. Staying symetrical during deployment is paramount to clean openings. I completely agree with you here Scott. People forget that the slightest amount of yaw will create a scenario ripe for line twists. Although I realize that some flyers are torn on this subject 50~50%. Glen

I only wish that was the case Glen. Well I'm tellin you to relax Dom. We are all going to die, some of us will just be dead with a cooler canopy than the other guy. You really should think about that . Glen

It could have been worse. He could have done that with his digital camera.

I know some people that do that with their married partners.... its a sick sick world.

Can you define " feels more hi performance" for us? I'm just curious. I also would like to try the blade.

I know you CReW dogs are good but I also know Nate was a PST qaulified canopy pilot who regularily finished well. He died, ~Chachi Chachi, you are right. This manuever shouldn't be promoted. But you do have to understand that CReW dogs don't look at a wrap like most sport jumpers do or they would never do CReW again. And there is a difference in catching something up high and catching something down low on an ultra diving main.

Just remember addicts go to meetings ( flocks ) Glen

And do remember the first rule of flight club? Is to ?

Not very hard to find. I don't like the cobalt, and I have jumped one. _Am Thanks Andy, you are right its there. It was before I had interest in the canopy and I didn't do a search when it came up again. Still I would buy another cobalt and would buy a crossfire also. Both good product judged by the many people that jump them down here.

Take it easy Dom it could just be some of the boys back in the stock room crank calling you...... again.

Can anyone that has a pair post pictures of how the bootie hook works and what it looks like? Pa-pa-pa plueazeee.

As I understand it the prototype still isn't completely finalized yet ( this is third hand information at best. Someone else may have more accurate and timely info. ). Then you have to consider what is involved in scaling it for the various human body sizes. I've never met or personnaly talked to Robert but people that know him describe him as a perfectionist. Its going to be a small decriminating market and he wants to deliver the best product for that market. I can't imagine that the V-1 will be a proper first timer wingsuit but I doubt it will be any harder to fly and deploy than the S-3. Who knows maybe it will be a little easier? We have heard some statements on this forum that some of the skyflyers with mylar ribs are difficult to deploy in. I've heard from a couple of owners of mylar ribbed suits its completely the same mylar or not. I know that my prototype airlocked S-3 deploys exactly like my production S-3, absolutly no difference.

I don't know that any of that information is "top secret" but as with this type stuff it is one of those "yet to be seen" as some of the very best flyers haven't had their hands on this suit yet. I talked to the Ninja on friday and he still doesn't have his. We all know he will be one of the first to get his hands on one. Please post any pictures and video you may have but I beg of you to stop teasing the civilians. Glen

Its a good thing a truck load of peanut butter didn't crash into this mess also.

Yeah I kinda figured this. And this story isn't the exception, I find its the rule when it comes to the people that hate the cobalt. Besides a few well documented cases of a bad canopy in the field ( and every manufacturer has had a few ) the real problem is with the company's marketing or one individual in the company and how they handled the problem canopys from the field. Its a shame when a product gets a bad rap not on product performance but for other reasons or worse gets judged without any testing of the actual product.

I really like the addition of the wingsuit edition to the logo. Nice work

This is a better question for the base forum and those with fixed object wingsuit experience.

Yes, very nice indeed. The plan form is as I remember. I like the soul/fly graffics imprinted into the material. This suit is an improvement over the original. You should have a blast come spring. Even find some good flocks next WFFC.That is unless you get impatient and come south with it sooner. Sounds like Loic will be in Eloy from Nov 24 till Dec. I also heard an unconfirmed rumor that he will be in Perris Nov 15 for some seminars and promotion stuff, food for thought. Its a crime about your customs experience, $200 extra is just not right.

There is a good practice wall inside of lake Perris east side.

I agree with most of the things you say Kirk, I was following along back then too. Although I don't remember the nasa and going out of business comments. Dan compared things in certain ways that some people will interpret as bad-mouthing and other people will see it as just Dan's comparisons or his opinions. Few other reps I've talked to in person won't even engage in conversations about "their" opinions, in comparisons when it come to gear, probably for fear that a customer might think they are bad-mouthing the other guys product. They do say demo theirs and that you will love theirs but they avoid getting dragged into a shoot out over gear. In retrospect Attair should have just quietly removed offending canopies from the Demo rotation and worked harder to keep unhappy customers happier. Getting on this forum to explain things was a no win situation for Dan. For various reasons the crowd here was always ready to lynch him . BTW you do realize that before Dan Preston joined attair, Stane had both a sucessfull docile student canopy when lightly loaded and a high performance swoop machine in the hands of competent pilots and both of those are the same canopy as the maligned cobalt. Well except for the different sewing techniqes for the top and bottom skin and a couple of different names? Plenty people hate cobalts but who hates vipers, spaces, impulses? Most people really love those! Dan is an engineer, you guys wanted him to be public relations guy. He is better off working towards attairs military contracts than doing debates on the gear forums. And lastly Kirk, since you seem pasionate about it, I gotta ask. Did you ever jump the cobalt?

Are you sure? Do you mean the stance is wider? The S-fly I have seen has a scalloped trailing edge. It looked to me to be about the area of the GTI but not close to size of either of the skyflyers tails. Or is it a redesign and now about the shape of the matter 2?

I agree Kirk. I'm just not sure that their ratio of bad to good canopies are as high as a lot of people think it is. Attair usa's technique in dealing with unhappy customers and dealers didn't help things. I like Dan and also understand what he was saying but some people took his words as an attack. Stinker canopies should have been removed from circulation. They didn't like the size of the PC to match the size of canopy theory as most rigs just come with one standard size PC. This is not just Attairs reasoning but many riggers that make custom PC follow this line of logic. In the end, I've deployed various size cobalts at various speeds and loadings from 1.1~ 1.8 mixing and matching PC, bridles & D-bags sometimes even going freestow and it all has very little effect on that canopys opening character. A great many people ridiculed the two stage openning as advertised on their website. I've only jumped one cobalt that did it just like the advertised 2-stage, although all opened soft... very soft. Very few dealers liked their willingness to put someone with 150 some jumps under one. To them it was reckless. Attair had years of data showing that its wingloading and not just their planform that should be such a concern. They believe that a lightly loaded cobalt behaves just like a lightly loaded sabre 2 also aimed at the new jumper market. This arguement continues. I found a lot of people that bad mouthed the cobalt have never even jumped one...... not once ever. Most people will say that they fly great. I know a few people that after many X-fire jumps prefer the cobalt. And X-fires are very popular down here. Rarely do we hear that they suck as a wing. The worst responseas far as flight goes, from some that had a cobalt grudge, stated to me that they are ok were at least as good as a stiletto. But in their opinion their were better choices out now. A small handfull of people absolutely loved it but feared having to have a rigger do hand built relines instead of factory replacement. I've got five riggers that prefer to do their own relines instead of waiting for any factory follow-up. Its how they keep up their skills. In the end I have to say jump and try em all. Don't let the mob decide what you want or need.

You are right my friend you need slack in the legs to zip up that suit. Cedric explained this to me before I put it on the first time. Cramped aircraft or sliding down the floor, as I did in one of those aluminum floored skyvans, will make things tough on you. The captain has turned on the "no skyjacking" light. Please return to your seats.

Yup! and it is interesting to see that some of the worlds top freefly personal are working on a different than just vertical plane right. I see a lot the moves we are use to seeing straight down the tube taken on angles ranging from flocking to atmonuati to full track and back. Some say this is the future.