outrager

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=32200; bsbd! Yuri.

I just pray Jesus bsbd! Yuri.

Allright, i understand the idea of GL, but still find it very funny that people decided to give paragliding with smaller faster canopies a different name... i imagine that skydiving with Velocity isn't skydiving anymore. Now it is Aircraft Launching ? bsbd! Yuri.

That explains You can fly S3 all day if you don't max it out. The strain comes when you go for maximum perfomance, which involves rotating your shoulders and arms at a really awkward angle and holding the wingtips in an equally weird way. This is where you burn muscles that aren't normally used much. Squeezing the last 10% out of the suit makes all the difference. bsbd! Yuri. P.S. Edited to add: maxed out flight is very unstable and requires a perfect balance. This balance is lost way before your muscles give up completely. This is why it's much harder to keep flying perfectly past 2 or 3 minutes, while holding weights does not seem to be such an challenge. A more precise task like writing calligraphy while holding weights might compare better

On a serious note: Could you please explain what is the difference between ground launching and paragliding? What is an objective of ground launching once you are airborne? And if you need a specialized canopy why not to use a paraglider ? bsbd! Yuri.

As in paragliding ? Or attempting to, with skydiving/base canopies ? bsbd! Yuri.

Actually, no bsbd! Yuri.

A new system designed, specificaly, to reliably penetrate any missile defence system US might put up in the near future. This is very funny bsbd! Yuri.

I fully support the statement above, but believe this discussion focused on the part about maximum perfomance, i.e. flat, i.e. max L/D. bsbd! Yuri.

"That far" is a relative term Unfortunately exit point videos offer pretty much no measurement of wingsuit perfomance (i.e. L/D). They only help to determine how fast the suit begins to fly. Videos of Classic suit flights at L/D of 1.7 look just as good as videos of S3 flights at L/D of 2.3 for example. In fact, lousy flights often produce the best videos, here is a good example i've posted before: http://base416.com/ostankino_2004/Pond_Flight.mov It takes off reasonably fast... try to guess the glide ratio. Hint: it's shameful bsbd! Yuri.

It is really simple - you don't have to fly or even own GPS! For a straight line flight, simply note the exact spot where you opened. Then borrow or steal GPS from somebody, mark exit/opening waypoints and you have both distance and altitude. Substract whatever altitude it takes you to start flying (about 100m is a fair average) and opening altitude. Divide distance by remaining altitude and you've got your average L/D. The last flight i have measured was in July '03, L/D of about 2.45 (1950m alt, 4300m distance, 100m to start, 100m opening). The suit was an old pre-S3 prototype. There should be better numbers from last summer... would love to see them! bsbd! Yuri. P.S. As a quick reference: L/D required to reach the landing area at Italian terminal wall is only 1.7 (1200m alt, 1700m distance). L/D required to use the entire altitude at another Italian wingsuit wall is about 2.3 (1700m alt, 3400m distance), and about 2.5 to reach the lake. A well-known mushroom spot is special because a small increase in L/D gives you extra hundreds of meters of altitude and literally kilometers of distance. At this point it's potential is nearly unlimited.

Classic was easier and slightly faster to start flying off a cliff than Skyflyer or even Skyflyer 3. This simply means it is easier and slightly faster to start flying, not that it has a better perfomance Another way to put it: a suit that starts flying quickly has a slower stall speed, and a slower forward speed in general. It is great for jumping gnarly exits, but does nothing in terms of glide ratio - in fact a slow suit is doomed to have inferior glide. I agree completely that the most important variable is a pilot, however a suit puts a limit on how far a pilot can push it. Consequently a good pilot will try to choose the best suit, and a vast majority of good pilots fly S3 This empty arguments of MTR vs S3 etc are rather stupid. Go out to one of the well-known cliffs, mark your opening spot on GPS, post your glide ratio. Simple enough ??? bsbd! Yuri.

Because a good half of US population are brainwashed religious freaks. bsbd! Yuri.

Well, you let yoursef... bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! I just had a freaky wind/turbulence experience at a terminal wall in Italy. A couple of people jumped before me and reported light South wind on landing. I exited about 2 minutes later and encountered very strong turbulence during the second half of the flight - strong enough to continuously throw me off balance and severely degrade the glide. I flew to what i thought was the upwind side of LZ and pulled high. To my great surprise i immediately started backing up into the woods, and front risers didn't help at all. I barely made a small clearing by the road well behind LZ. In 3 minutes it took me to exit and fly down the wind did 180 and picked up enormous speed. A couple minutes later it was a full-blown storm, and a small storm cloud came from around the corner to drop some rain. 15 minutes later it was fine again and another group of jumpers landed uneventfuly. I have been to this place a lot, and still got cought completely unprepared by such a rapid change of the wind. I used to think that a wingsuit gives you immunity from the weather - and it does when you know what's going on... but it isn't IFR-equipped and shit still happens! bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! This is currently an art rather then a science. The variety between suits, pilots and conditions is so big that a table or a graph would be useless. A stable exit is one skill, getting a suit to fly quickly is another and reaching max glide is a third. Another major factor is a safety margin you want. You will have to figure out your personal boundaries. A few years ago i would jump 5 sec rock drop spots, just because i could. I have screwed up countless exits since then and today won't consider anything under 7 sec. I know 2 people who jumped 4sec drops on rather positive walls and lived... i also know 2 dead people who didn't clear the ledges on longer drops. Your mileage may vary. Also important is an angle of the slope afterwards, once you got the suit flying. With L/D of 1 you can follow a 45 degree slope, L/D of 2 will open up a 30' slope and so on. Obviously, there should be a bit of clear air to get a canopy open in the end. So in short, yes, you just drop a rock and say "looks good to me" bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! This has been a very entertaining thread indeed. Let's keep it going Meanwhile on a serious note: 515 and 570 have been running a smooth and fun local scene in NC for many years. I am to this day very impressed with their object selection and longevity. It is very sad that certain beginners burn those objects instead of adding the new ones. It is equally unpleasant that these folks give a bad image to "NC crew", and separating the good from the bad will take some time. Fun BASE life involves a lot of travel. Your image is very important when you visit new places and deal with locals. You may be a nice person but if you build a crappy online image, it will take a lot of effort to change it later on. Specificaly, i doubt that Leroy will be invited on any jumps by those who followed this discussion, and changing such perception is going to be a lot of work. bsbd! Yuri.

Well, if Tom and Skin did it... Yuri Kuznetsov Age: 30 Height and weight: 5’10, 150 lbs Birthplace: Moscow, Russia Marital status: Unmarried Occupation: Changing from corporate IT to fun life Hobbies: BASE jumping, wingsuits, karate, scuba diving, trance music, travel Harness and container: Merlin, Warlock, Wizard Parachute: Troll, Fox, Impy Home dropzone: Entire world Records or awards: Who cares Pet peeves: Organized religions What is your favorite quote? "BASE jumper dies in senseless tragedy" - Dead Steve via 460 What is your philosophy on life? Life must be enjoyed. What is something most people don’t know about you? Never been hurt or busted Who has inspired you in BASE jumping? 175, Thor Alex, DW What is your most memorable BASE jumping moment? Looking at a friend who just started a countdown, thinking "now it's a 2-way"... Describe Yuri Kuznetsov in five words or less: Smiling

A very unusual combination I have just left the area, but a lot of people are supposed to come for the weekend. There were 17 people at the exit last Sat. bsbd! Yuri.

Old Vertigo pins were harsh on the lines - i had to sandpaper the ends, that fixed the problem. The new long ones on WLO toggles are very smooth and rounded. Regarding premature releases: did you observe it on Vertigo setup or other pin toggles ? I feel it is virtually impossible to have a premature release on a properly set Vertigo riser - just like on any BASE riser for that matter. Premature releases i have seen so far were on old sub-stadard risers/toggles (zoo toggles come to mind) or improperly set toggles. A release toggle with a cloth stub would have to be two-step: release the line and then pull the toggle to release the brake setting, possibly still in a single one-handed move? bsbd! Yuri.

I am a big fan of release toggles. However i do recognize that they are unlikely to help unless you pull relatively high. This is mostly due to a pilot reaction time: equipment would work just fine, but you cannot recognize a problem and release the line quick enough on a typical single-digit canopy ride Line twists will also negate WLO effect. That said, i have WLO on all of my rigs. It is rather stupid not to use them on slider-up jumps if you are conservative enough to pull above 300' While WLO benefits and limitations are pretty clear, the only negative side is their extra complexity. They could still be refined a bit, however a current version is not far from perfect. What turns most people off is the need to use Vertigo risers that use a snap. People either love it or hate it. I personally like it. Assuming an equally efficient version comes out for those snapless people, everybody shall be happy bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Lighten up a bit http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4042 bsbd! Yuri.

No. A very old S3 prototype. bsbd! Yuri.

370m / 1200ft The flight itself was rather poor (3rd day of heavy partying, noticeably impaired balance and judgement)... but it takes a bad flight to make a good video On a serious note - this is another example of an unintentional low wingsuit pull, that could have been very painful over solid ground. Please watch out, it's very easy to get carried away trying to reach the target in a wingsuit!!! bsbd! Yuri.

Crossposting from BASE Forum: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1309281 bsbd! Yuri.