Wingin' It Demo Programme
The fleet of suits is growing... I now have the following suits available every weekend at Netheravon to demo:
Phoenix Fly Prodigy (medium)
Phoenix Fly Prodigy (XL)
BirdMan Classic (fits 5'6ish)
BirdManClassic (more like 6')
Phoenix Fly Vampire V1 (made to measure me!)
Phoenix Fly Acro (medium)
Tony Suits Apache (medium)
Tony Suits Raptor (large)
Coming soon...
Phoenix Fly Prodigy (large)
S-Fly Expert (medium)
Suits cost £7/€10 per jump to hire, and you can go on to order a suit through me. I am a dealer for Phoenix Fly, Bird Man and Tony Suits and can also take orders for S-Flys. I can advise you, measure you up and do the order. If you borrow a suit then I need it back in the same condition as I gave it to you in - bend it, mend it!
I am hoping to add more suits from these manufacturers and more.
If you want to hire a suit for a longer period, say to take away on a trip, then contact me to arrange a discount.
Blade review
by Fergs - Australian BirdMan Chief Instructor and general cool bloke, recently did 50 jumps on his 50th birthday to raise 50,000 Aussie dollars for charity. Met him in 2005 jumping a Skyvan in Sydney :)
Pictures: front and back view.
I recently took delivery of a Birdman Blade, the first one in Australia. This short article will give my early impressions.
The Blade is not only an appealing wingsuit, looks-wise, it’s also a well designed and built product. It features a number of refinements as well as new additions to the science of building better human flight body-vehicles.
Perhaps it all started with Icarus gluing feathers to himself and soaring towards the sun? But over the past 8 to 10 years BirdMan has been at the forefront of wingsuit design and development. The Blade is not only the latest of their high performance wingsuits, but also a piece of technology that allows experienced wingsuiters to obtain and maintain flight far beyond that which they may have achieved to date.
Build: The build of the Blade incorporates the following features:
• A new leading edge design and material on the arm wings. This quatra-foam is a transparent semi rigid material seen in top end sailing craft as well as windsurfers. It is designed to literally slice through the air by giving both shape and form to the important leading edge.
• The arm wings are less swept, giving 5 degrees additional reach. This, coupled with much lower arm-to-body attachment point, translates to a greater wing area than previous BirdMan wingsuits. In addition, the arm wings are shaped and scalloped much like a bat’s wing with less wing area close to the wrists and much more closer to the body. All of this gives tremendous power, but importantly with the majority of the arm wing surface closer to the torso, thus allowing for stresses to be taken by the stronger chest and arm muscles between the shoulder and elbow. So it’s far easier holding the arm wings in an optimum position than previously.
• The leg wing also has a greater area than the S-6 or S-3s. It has a wider stance. When flying, this gives remarkable power. Straighten the legs and give some rigidity to the width of the leg wing and this suit becomes a supercharged animal.
• The back-deflector (tail wing) is also far larger than previous BirdMan suits. It is built to go down to just below the knees.
• A really nice new touch are the powerful magnets on the toe tabs. When walking around, as well as after opening and unzipping the legs, the magnets are then mated with ones at hip level. They simply stay there until the pilot decides to pull them apart. This is a very nice touch and feature. Mind you, any metal or metallic dirt will also stick to them – as I found out with the iron-ore dirt at the emplaning area of Picton. The strength of the magnets is evident by the fact that the same dirt did not blow off, even after nearly 3 minutes of flight per jump.
• The Blade comes with a high collar. So your neck will be warmer in cold weather flights. It is made of a comfortable soft neoprene fabric.
• All three of the performance wings (2 x arm and leg) have air-locked intakes both front and back. So those who like to fly on their back will be able to do so with fully pressurised wings. Wingsuit photographers take note, this is a great feature for you.
• The arm vents are much longer than previous Birdman wingsuits. The Blade achieves almost instantaneous pressurisation on exit. It literally takes off as soon as you open the wings out the door. I have yet to jump it from a tail gate, but have full expectation that it will be a great wingsuit to surf up the slipstream and climb high above the jump plane after exit.
• The arm wing cuffs are looser than previous suits. I really like this as not only is it easier to “cinch” up the zip, but also it’s just far more comfortable to wear.
• The semi rigid ribs are a softer material than my previous suit. But to date, they have not creased at all. So I expect for the ribs to maintain their structural integrity for the life of the suit.
Flight: After around 50 flights, my comments are:
• This is one powerful fun to fly suit.
• Forward speed is superior to the S3-s and S6 models.
• A lower vertical speed is achievable without too much effort.
• Holding the tiring optimum arm positions is far less physically taxing than previous BirdMan suits. This is due to the new shape of the wings, with the higher surface area close to the pilot’s torso. A day of hard-core flocking leaves you still able to walk and move your arms. This is a very nice outcome, I’d add.
• Flight is very stable, although potato chipping potential is very obviously present. This suit is not for lower timer wingsuiters, as an out-of-control situation is more likely.
• The “sweet-spot”, where vertical descent rate slows right down is achieved by maximising and balancing the arm and leg wings. The wind noise changes to a flutter and your container literally lifts off your back. It’s an exceptionally pleasant place to be.
Conclusions
This is a fantastic wingsuit. It is a very good optional progression for wingsuiters who have good and solid experience on an S-6 type of suit. Each Blade is hand-crafted by the BirdMan technicians at their Slovenia factory. It has been developed after years of experience and expertise and will not disappoint. The price is not cheap – with the base price of EU 1,200 being the highest yet of any Birdman product. Add freight costs to this and it means, at current exchange rates, you’ll be paying out in excess of $Aus2,000 for your new Blade. But for those who are willing to pay the “extra mile”, the Blade will certainly not disappoint. It’s a supercharged speed-demon, but with the ease and comfort of being able to fly as fast or as slow as the pilot chooses.
Phoenix Fly Ghost review
Review by Chirpy on its way...
Tony Suits Super Mach 1 review
Review by Darren Bull
Picture here
The 'Super' Mach 1 is a revised version of Tony Suits' popular Mach 1 , which is under constant development by Tony Uragallo and Jeff Nebelkopf. The suit was designed as a large tri wing suit , which was primarily designed with 'heavier' flockers in mind, to give them a bit more range for a little less effort. It subsequently demonstrated some impressive performance flight characteristics in the hands of experienced wingsuit pilots, mainly very good 'floaty' characteristics and a high forward speed.
The suit (well this version anyway) differs quite a bit from the original Mach 1 design. The Super Mach 1 has a narrower leg wing stance (but the leg wing is slightly longer than the original Mach 1). The surface area of the arm wing has been increased over the the original M1 as well. Another major difference is are the arm/leg wing inlets. The design is more refined and the Super Mach 1 comes with rear vents as well, which greatly aid the pressurisation of the wings when on your back.
Other differences are mainly the result of a bit more time and experience with the suit e.g. wing attachment, zippers and arm/leg release systems.
The build quality of the suit (which was supplied in less than 8 days to custom measurements) is very solid. I'ts going to absorb a bit of abuse without damage. Cordura is used on the wings with spandex/supplex on the body. The fit is very good.
The arm wings come with expanded foam inserts in the arm to 'form' the leading edge of the wing. There are thumb loops on the arm wings, which are attached to the zipper with a popper to prevent creeping of the zip during flight. The booties are held in place by rare earth magnets, instead of the traditional velcro or popper.
The Super Mach 1 also comes with a smart emergency release system for the arm wings. There is a secure velcro strip all the way along the top of the arm wing that mates two edges of the wing...in an emergency all you need to do is point your thumbs down and repeatedly pull 'up' against the top of the wing to shear the velcro, and release your arms from the wing.
Attaching the wings is simplicity itself. The arm wings are attached by a durable zipper to the body. Simply unzip the wing... place the leg straps through the hole to inside the suit, route the wing through your harness and zip it up.
It took me less than 1 minute. Donning the suit is also quite easy, simply put your arms into your rig and the arm wings... do up your straps and head out to the flightline for a check.
Before you board the aircraft, you just step 'inside' the suit , into the booties and pull up the full body length zippers on the front/side of the suit.....it really couldn't be easier.
Let's be clear from the start, this is a huge wingsuit, and along with any benefit that a big wingsuit may give, you also inherit a wealth of safety issues. I'm certainly no hotshot wingsuit pilot, and felt this suit was on the upper end of my abilities, but felt confident enough to be able to fly it safely. If you have any doubts over your suitability to fly this suit, I dont think you should be flying it.
Opening the wings outside of the aircraft (Caravan) yielded quick and stable pressurisation of the wings. The lift/float/pop... whatever you want to call it was very noticeable... I was and remained very 'high' relative to the aircraft more quickly and for a lot longer than I ever had in a Phantom Wingusuit.
The armwing grippers are intuitively placed. You can release them and easily get them back without fumbling.
I found it very easy to open my legs wide enough to pressurise the leg wing and there was little to no flapping, it felt very very solid, even with legs fully bent you could feel the leg wing was still fully pressurised. Pressure from the arm wings is noticeable but not quite as bad as you might imagine with the large arm wing.
I had initially adopted a more head low position (as I would in my Phantom wingsuit) but the suit seemed to prefer a flatter position. Too head low the drive from the leg wing was noticable and in control (the arm wings in this position seemed to just be there for the ride). In a flatter position the suit felt a lot more controlled and gave more feedback to the pilot.
Practice pulls were surprisingly easy on my BOC routed PC. The arm wing was 'there' but provided you didn't panic and reached over the top, the wings did not further impede access to the pud. With arm wings shut down and leg wing flying, the ride was stable, provided you had a healthy arch!
In a straight line the suit is incredibly fast forward and very stable. There is a great deal of feedback to the pilot from the wings and adjusting the angle of the arm wings gave noticable 'lift' .... trying to max the suit out you have this immense feeling of just hanging off your wings whilst screaming forward through the skies... in a kind of 'hold on for the ride kind a way'
Turns felt less stable and more twitchy... even more twitchy in full drive, so most turns I flew a much more relxed body position which seemed to help a lot... but the suit still needed to know that you were in control, not it, during turns.
Deployment requires just a bit more time if you don't deploy from full flight.... as the air needs to be squeezed out of the wing as you close them down... (a bit like when you pack your canopy).... it didnt cause any dramas and I had absolutely no problem finding my handle over the large wing/deploying..... in fact I had some of the best openings I have had to date in a wingsuit on my canopy (Xfire2 149)
Post deployment procedures did take a couple of jumps to get used to and actually on the second jump I had cause to use the velcro cutaway as I had a zipper jam (teething probs on a new suit I think)
Summary
A suit for experienced/ brave /stupid (pick any two) wingsuit pilots only.
Ideally suited for those of us a bit heavier than your average flocker!
The wings are absolutely huge and after three flights of exploring its range my arms were extremely tired..... I think with currency this is something you will get used to, but it's painful to begin with!
However, the performance gain is very noticeable (in particular the forward speed) and there is obviously huge range available in this suit
Very stable in full flight and relaxed (flocking type) flight, but a little twitchy when turning.
Deployment requires a bit of extra time to 'shutdown' the wings but is otherwise unremarkable
Top notch customer service, build quality and price make this a serious contender if you are looking for that next high performance suit...
Tony Suit Apache review
This suit actually belongs to Mike Smith but since he hasn't done a wingsuit jump yet, Mike Ehlas took it up for a few test flights to assess its suitability for a first-timer (albeit one with 8,000 jumps!)
Review by Mike Ehlas
This suit is very well built, as you'd expect from a Tony suit, with what looks like Parapack wings and Polycotton body. This is a little unusual for a wingsuit, but I've no doubt it will be very hard wearing. The method of attaching the arms is novel but very clever, with zips and velcro and RSL shackles instead of the more traditional cutaway cables.
Due to some rubbish weather my first jump on the suit was a hop'n'pop from 4200' - not my preferred choice but the suit proved easy to exit with and stable, but the very low cut arm wing did provide an extra challenge on deployment; obviously one I'd already anticipated but it's never the same in freefall as on the ground.
So, jump no. 2, a 'bad' spot for the freeflyers on my load - I loved it! Got out about 1.5 miles from the DZ, flew away a little distance while I got my bearings, made my turns and then just flew back. Let me make this clear right now - this is not a suit for beginners. The leg wing is roughly S3 sized, and the arm wings are somewhere between a Phantom and a V1, but the cut of the wings is more taperd than a V1 resulting in smaller wingtip grippers but quite a lot of wing at the root, obstructing the pull quite severely. This is fine as long as you're prepared for it, but you'd better be prepared for it on every single jump. As far as numbers go this thing is quite impressive - first max jump on the suit - 46 mph average - for comparison that equates to a good jump on my Phantom.
The good bits - this is a fantastic high performance suit. The hand position on the wing tip grippers is a little awkward but the suit is quite easy to fly. At max speed the suit is fast in forward flight but when flown in this mode it doesn't seem to like to turn, it results in a tendency towards instability. This may be to do with the relatively narrow leg wing, or it may be to do with me just not being used to it!
Jump 3 was a 2 way with Dave P on his S3. Dave has said before that he ususally finds himself flying very dirty to stay with people when flocking, and his high forward speed is an issue. I'm sure Dave would agree that his wing loading on his S3 is quite high. My wing loading on the Apache is relatively low, but Dave and I had no problems staying together and had a very enjoyable flight. The forward speed was cetainly not an issue and in a more relaxed flocking type position is much easier to turn and move around the sky, and alter fall rate etc. The opening proved interesting, but that was mostly my own fault - a slight lean in the harness whilst fumbling for the pull resulted in 3 complete twists. The large arm wing presents an interesting challenge but I'm sure it's somethine that one could get used to.
Overall I quite like the suit but I don't think I'd get one myself. It's a lot of fun but the large arm wing would take some getting used to. The high forward speed would make it a good flocking suit with other high performance suits, but I haven't had the opportunity to assess it against intermediate suits (yet!). I didn't try it in back fly but again, this is a high performance suit that has not been designed with this in mind (based on the location and orientation of the vents). The hand position on the wing tip grippers is a little awkward and could be improved but overall this is a great suit.
So, Tony, well done on a great suit, it was a lot of fun, and Mike, thanks for letting me use it, and I'd recommend starting with something slightly lower octane than this!
Prodigy review
Prodigy - Phoenix Fly's 2-piece beginner suit
Review by Liz
Picture here
When I first saw a picture of the Prodigy, I didn't think too much of it. I thought that although the lack of cutaway cables would make wingsuiting more accessible to first timers, it would also make for a suit that surely couldn't possibly fly that well? After all, it's got bloomin' great gaps down the sides of the body!
When I saw it in real life for the first time, I was a bit more impressed. I still wasn't convinced it would fly that well, but the build quality was superb (I'm a rigger) and there were lots of little features that made me like it a bit more. At the time I was thinking about setting up Wingin' It as a proper wingsuit school and so was going to need some beginner suits, so I took the Prodigy up for a test flight.
When I got my kit-on call, there'd been a mistake with who was having which suit at which time, and so the Prodigy that actually fitted me well was unavailable. I ended up in a bit of a farce, jumping a suit that was 2 sizes too big for me and having to attach the "booties" to my big toe with a bungee because I didn't have any shoelaces!
I did the standard flight plan that a beginner would do - hopped out the back of the Skyvan, did some practice touches and off I went. I remember being in freefall deciding that I'd unfairly judged the suit, as it really felt like flying a "proper" wingsuit. A beginner would get a real sense of forward movement, and even an experienced jumper could have fun with it. But I'd been so convinced that the suit couldn't be that good that I also thought "yeah but I bet my fall rate is rubbish".
Bearing in mind that I wasn't exactly trying to fall slowly, that I was doing things like practice touches and experimental body positions which you would expect to increase my fall rate, and that the suit didn't even fit properly, I was amazed to land and find that my ProTrack had recorded an average downward speed of 54mph!!
I was a complete convert, and Wingin' It soon had two Prodigies which have been doing me proud on first flights ever since.
Phantom review
Phantom - Phoenix Fly's intermediate suit
Review by Mike Ehlas
Picture here
I learned to wingsuit on a Birdman GTi, which I did about 50 jumps on before trying anything else, but then I decided I wanted an increase in performance so I went to a wingsuit boogie and started trying their demo suits. One of the first suits I tried was the Phoenix Fly Phantom and I was impressed right from the start. I was a little surprised by the width of the leg stance required - the GTi leg wing is about twice my shoulder width, the Phantom leg wing is about twice Arnold Schwarzenegger's shoulder width! I found I had to stretch before putting the suit on just to use it comfortably! The arm wings were much closer to what I'd been used to, but were larger with wing tip grippers to give that extra bit of performance.
The suit is a 3 wing type of suit, in that it relies mostly on the two arm wings and the single leg wing to give the suit its performance. This is in keeping with the majority of Phoenix Fly and Birdman suits out there, and is probably the type that most people have seen before. The suit differs from earlier suits of this type however in that instead of inflating the wings directly through vents in the front of the wing, it uses vents in the shoulders and hips to inflate the wings. This has two effects - one is that it make the leading edge of the wing cleaner, and two is that it allows more of the suit body to inflate, both of which improve performance. Finding myself stuck on the ground a lot during the boogie I asked a lot about the suit and manufacturing etc. (I'm an engineer, I can't help it!). The suit is made from balloon fabric, yes, the stuff they make hot air balloons from, but it's stitched together from around 500 separate parts to the same standard as a canopy, double stitching throughout. You can see and feel that the suit is well put together and will last a long time.
I started out with a couple of solos on the suit to give it a try and I was hugely impressed. The suit has no rigid ribs and so is very easy to wear and move around the aircraft in. The zips on the arm wings are particularly easy to use making zipping up before exit a doddle. I was jumping from a Skyvan so the exit was always going to be easy - just walk to the back and step off. I took a fairly relaxed exit out of the door and then started to work the position and the suit. It took a lot of concentration to remember to get everything out and tight, particularly that big leg wing, but the effect was noticeable. I could see and feel the extra forward speed it gave me and my downward speed was slow too. I just enjoyed the feeling as I flew around and back to the DZ, remembering to do a few practice pulls along the way! The wing tip grippers had a tendency to cover the BOC, but by reaching into the centre of the base of the container and sliding my hands out I never had a problem finding or grabbing the BOC.
I checked my Neptune when I got down and was very pleased. The best I'd ever managed on my GTi was a 51mph average downward speed. On my first flight on the Phantom I did......51mph. This included the practice pulls as well, so needless to say I was pretty impressed. I continued jumping the Phantom for several more jumps, including on several flocks one of which was an 11-way. It continued to impress me having what I felt was the right balance of forward speed and lift, particularly for flocking. Whilst at the boogie I also tried out the V1 and the Birdman S3S, two much higher performance wingsuits. These were both tremendous fun, although the V1 was also scary and painful (have you seen the size of those arm wings!). In the end I decided that the Phantom was for me and I ordered one before I left.
I've now been jumping it for over a year and I still very much enjoy it. It's a very versatile suit - with the right technique it back flies very nicely, although I have to admit that my success at this has been 'intermittent'. I had great fun last in the summer of 06 when Tony and his Skyvan came to Nethers and I decided to try what I'd seen in the Herc Boogie video of getting above the plane. So I asked Tony to wait until everyone else had gone and crank it up to 130 knots. I then made my way to the back of the plane, stood on the edge of the door and hopped backwards. I promptly realised that this was going to be more difficult than I thought, as rapidly exposing that much wing area to airflow at 130 knots provides some interesting challenges, not least of which is stability! So all I achieved on my first attempt was a prolonged view back into the plane, but it was a hell of a lot of fun and I couldn't wait to try again.
I kept trying and eventually on my fourth attempt I managed it! And as I watched the flashing red light on top of the plane it felt fantastic.
Overall I'd recommend the Phantom to anyone, particularly as a first or second suit, and particularly for flocking. It's manoeuvrable and has a good range, both in terms of forward speed and vertical speed. If you're feeling tired and just want to relax your arms and legs a bit and go slow, it'll do that and still feel nice and stable, but if you want to kick it up a gear then spread your arms, put some tension on the leg wing, drop your head and feel it go!
Vampire V1 review
Vampire V1 - Phoenix Fly's high performance suit (now superseded by the V2 and V3)
Review by Liz
Picture here
All the gear and no idea...
I owned a BirdMan GTi for my first 50 flights, and ordered a Vampire pretty much in ignorance of how high-performance it was. I'd never seen one, just heard that it was an amazing suit. I wouldn't recommend this as a method of suit choice!
While waiting for my V1 to arrive, I sold my GTi to pay the credit card bill and ended up doing my next 30 flights on a borrowed original BirdMan Classic.
The V1 arrived to much excitement and I set about stitching the shrivel flap onto my bridle so that I could use the BASE pouch whilst skydiving as it seemed the sensible option. By this point I'd also found out a lot more about the suit and about wingsuiting in general, and I was much more experienced than when I'd first decided to get the suit.
Trying the suit on, I could see that the wings more than covered the BOC, so I packed the pilot chute in the pouch on the suit and went up in the Islander. The first thing I was uncomfortable about was the short bit of bridle that went from the BOC to the pouch - it seemed too easy to catch it whilst moving around in the plane and I was paranoid about doing so.
The first time I got in the door I remember thinking that there was an awful lot of fabric to keep out of the airflow, but it was ok and has become simple since. Exit was fine, I inflated the wings and Oh My God!
The forward speed on this suit is simply incredible, and much more than anything I was used to. I'd compare it to learning to drive, but with your foot permanently on the accelerator - as long as there's a big open space in front of you, you know you'll be fine but it'd be nice to just SLOW DOWN a bit!
I did quite a few practice pulls and always struggled to find the pouch. I'd fumble it, get it, then immediately try again and go straight to it on the second attempt. I'd fly for another 20 seconds then repeat the process exactly - always fumbling on the first attempt and getting it second time around. I also (for interest's sake) tried some practice touches to the BOC and found that really easy. Pity it was too late to change the location of the pilot chute by then! As it was, I did 2 jumps using the BASE pouch and have jumped BOC ever since. I also found that I felt more stable with the wings out than with everything tucked in - not boding well for the live pull!
To be honest, my first 2 jumps on the V1 were a hell of a learning curve because I simply hadn't had the correct progression up to such a high performance suit. I was scared of the suit and scared of deployment. My 3rd jump was with 3 other people and the distraction of having something to fly with chilled me out and I never worried about the suit again.
My next challenge was learning to flock with the suit. The immense forward speed meant that I'd either be too far in front of the flock, or stalling to stay back and therefore sinking out. My skills were tested to the max as I really had thrown myself in at the deep end!
Now I've done a hundred jumps or so on it, I think it's an incredible suit and great for flocking because it has such a range. But it taught me a valuable lesson that the "most amazing" suit on the market isn't necessarily the one to get. I'd have been much better off getting a Phantom and learning to really fly that before progressing up to the Vampire. I skipped a stage and it worked out ok in the end, but wow!
Tony Suit review
Review by Liz
The Tony Suits arrived to much excitement which helped to while away the Saturday morning of bad weather. We decided they were an Eagle with webbies and a Nebula without. DP and I took them up for a nice 2 way on Saturday afternoon - they flew beautifully together and felt comfortably solid. We'd decided to stay together till 8k then max out and see which suit won. I was in the Eagle so 8k came and I maxed out while DP forgot about the race and carried on flying right next to me. At about 6 he remembered and disappeared off into the distance! I got whupped.
I borrowed a chest-mount alti because there wasn't anything on the DZ that would fit on my wrist/hand with the webbies. The webbies themselves were good to fly with, I liked them. They made for a funky exit cos they don't have much grip so I was sliding off the float rail as Dave was getting in the door. And then the pull wasn't the most straightforward thing either - actually getting the toggle was fine but then something weird happened as I threw it, it was almost like the right arm wing caught a load of air. I dunno, just going to have to jump it again tomorrow... shame ;o)
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