Wingsuit Deployment Technique?

[skydivinmartin 0]

I have a question for any wingsuit pilots out there.
I demo jumped a Birdman suit once and had a pretty hard opening. The pull technique that Birdman recommends is to pull your arms and legs into a tight track, hands the bottom of your main tray, pull symetrically and then pull your arms back in to keep flat tracking during deployment. I was rather tense when I pulled (I buffeted for most of my flight) and basically went into a head down delta when I pulled - KAPOW! (fast opening from by Sabre, unpleasant sensation in neck followed)
I have heard that some wingsuit flyers are using a different pull technique (legs tucked in, feet to your ass with arm wings collapsed, arching head to stay "head up"), which is supposed to work well enough (although you obviously stop flying during the pull sequence), but appears to be at odds with the technique described (rather briefly) in the Birdman flight manual.
Any wingsuit jocks out there have any comments on deployment technique? Is it very difficult to learn? I figure that if you have the pull technique down, learning to fly the suit would be a lot less stressful.
Thanks,
Martin

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I do the "jumping jack" technique and don't have any problem whatsoever, but let Dan answer that; he has a bunch of jumps on his SkyFlyer.
Chuck
My webpage HERE

[cobaltdan 0]

you were taught the right stuff, you are just not practiced.
i would have to say no to your second procedure.
(i only have experience on the larger winged skyflyer, not the smaller classic or gti.)
best way to fly is track with a flat body. head looking down not up, shoulders rolled foward, elbows bent and facing out, palms facing out, dig in toes and straighten knees. you will pick up speed rapidly. at first slightly diving and then you will level out and achieve the best fall rate. the faster you track the more lift you produce.
when you begin the faster you fly the more you may waffle. you will work this out with practice. simply put on the brakes by bending you knees slightly to gain more stability, then slowly try to speed up again.
deploy high !
a second prior to deployment, i put on the brakes (bend knees) to bleed off some speed then immediately transition back to the track described above. once stable, close all wings (arms and legs) simutaneously. and instantly fold all back out dumping your pilot. its hard ! it should be a fast single movement as in close&throw, not close then grab your hangle then throw. split second, symetrically close all wings and deploy while opening all wings. when you get it right you will continue to track straight and not dive.
by doing this your pilot is assured to go into clean air.
if you arch and fold your feet to your butt you will deploy directly into a turbulent burble.
video's of such technique have shown pilots chutes coming back in and bags touching your feet.
sincerely,
dan
as far as the hard opening : i think you have to be crazy to jump a sabre, especially with track deployments (i know bad form for a manufacture to slam a competing product, but given i cracked my c6 on deployment with a sabre 135 i am taking liberty)...

[Geoff 0]

Well, I'm not a competing manufacturer, but I also have a neck injury caused by a Sabre. I agree with Dan - I recommend you get a more predictable canopy or (less expensively) an oversize or pocket slider for the Sabre.
Geoff

[skydivinmartin 0]

Guys,
Thanks for your responses - Dan, I appreciate your detailed comments. Actually, I didn't mean to suggest that my old 170 Sabre (I now jump a Viper 135, an earlier elliptical design from Atair, "the Cobalt guys") opened badly. In fact, my Sabre only opened hard when I did ignorant things like forgetting to flare after tracking or not flaring after a faster jump such as sit flying, or on my (attempted) wingsuit jump. Otherwise, the canopy opened nicely all the time (I put 250 jumps on it. I am surprised when I hear so many people complain of Sabre openings. The slider was stock and I did not bother to roll the nose, either.
Then again, all of those Sabre-bashers out there must know something about their canopies that I didn't know about mine...
Martin

[billvon 2,990]

>Then again, all of those Sabre-bashers out there must know something about their canopies that I didn't know about mine...
Around 1996 or so, PD began using larger sliders on Sabres and the hard opening problem largely went away.
-bill von