Help! Can't straighten my arm anymore!

[Jon26 0]

Hi, now that i have your attention, i'll explain.
I smashed my arm pretty bad in a BASE accident a couple of years ago. Up until then i was a keen wingsuiter. Since then, i have been left with a permanent bend of around 20 degrees in my right elbow ie. i can't straighten my right arm fully. It has improved over the years but i'm now at the stage where it will probably not get much better.
I've been regularly skydiving and have no strength problems or anything since then but it kind of took away my passion a bit.
I used to fly S-fly suits that favoured straight arms rather than the rolled shoulder slightly bent elbow suits like the old Vampires etc.
So, i was wondering, what's a good suit these days that doesn't really require dead-straight arms? Are there even any these days? Or are they all designed to be spread out flat like the older S-flys?
Sorry it's a bit of an ignorant question, i guess i could watch a bunch of videos and see, just that i've been out of the loop for a while.
Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Cheers in advance.

[mccordia 74]

Tiago 'Cobra' had a similar angled bend (due to tissue damage from being burnt) and had no problems flying a Phantom.

https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=YKLjIP3uR8o

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[dthames 0]

Never in my life have I been able to straighten my arms at the elbow. It has something to do with the way the my joints are. My brother's arms are the same way. When I first started WS, I worried it was or would mess me up. My arms caused the leading edge of the wing to be bent the wrong way. But soon I started rolling my arms to put my palms to the sky. This caused me to have a gull wing type shape when viewed from the front.

Wing types: http://i.imgur.com/TAZ76g2.jpg

In practice many people fly like this in skydive formations. Bending more or less at the elbow alters your balance and causes side slip which is used to hold/adjust your position. So it ends up not a real problem. I have an Rbird and an X2 suit. I have not noticed any disadvantage because of my arms. Here is a photo of me flying. Not the best angle for this topic but you can see the downward bend. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/photos/jump.cgi?Detailed=122813

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[WickedWingsuits 0]

I think you can fly many suits, just be sure to bend BOTH arms. :)

Summer Rental special, 5 weeks for the price of 4! That is $160 a month.

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[Jon26 0]

Thanks for the replies.
Yea, the hardest part is matching the curve with my left arm.
I guess the only thing to do is get up there and practice.
I just fancied splashing out on a new toy and wondered if my arm ruled me out of any in particular.

[dthames 0]

WickedWingsuits

I think you can fly many suits, just be sure to bend BOTH arms. :)

As I gain experience and learn to fly different ways, I am often surprised at how asymmetrical that I can be and still be flying where and how I want to.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[johnmatrix 21]

Many of the suits currently out now have more or less stiff leading edges on the arm (performance foam / inserts, stuff like that) which - while still very flexible - might lessen any assymmetry you have with that arm.

It sounds like a Phantom would be a nice choice for you.

[GoneCodFishing 24]

I have a similar problem, and found that your body/brain is very good at compensating for any body assimetries in order to learn to fly stable.

It takes a little longer to feel comfortable so to speak, and the first few jumps on a new suit are spent being rather wobbly trying to work out what or where to compensate, but after several jumps it all becomes natural and you can fly the suit normally without thinking.

It is obviously more important to start the ws progression from the bottom up and take your time on each suit size again from the beginning, and although the progression pace may be a bit frustrating sometimes when compared to "normal" people when they jump a suit for the same time and boast about how easy it is to fly, with a bit of perseverance you can fly any suit on the market no problem.

[MitchSteere 0]

Thanks for starting the thread! my left arm is 45 degrees from being straight due to motorcycle wreak, I have been writing off wing suits and been working toward XRW as a result, a nice dress may be worth a second look after reading this...

[MitchSteere 0]

update... went and borrowed a rigger mortis a friend had sitting around.... I guess I'll know how this goes soon enough