Buried 0 #26 August 2, 2005 I was able to fly the firebird this weekend twice, as well as a few flights on the GTi and S3.. no PHI yet, maybe at WFFC. I should mention that the suit was a little long on me so the leg tension was not ideal. Overall it is a very solid suit and flew great. The leg wing is a little longer and bit wider than the GTi. The arm wings are nothing like the GTi or the S3. I haven't seen or flown a GTi with the wing extensions so I'm excluding that comparison. The arm position is slightly straighter than the other suits and the amount of force required when flying the suit seemed to be half of an S3. (~ half way between the S3 and the GTi). Even with the lack of tension in the leg wing, the suit was noticeably faster than the GTi. I'd really like to fly one that fit better, but what can you do. It fit Toad much better so he may be able to comment on that better. All I know is that he did come down with a smile. The firebird was very maneuverable. It could turn/carve/rotate very quickly and tight and could easily move in a crabbing manner with little input from the hand grip on the wing. Front flips were easy and the loss of altitude did seem a bit less than the GTi. The item that really did seem to put this in is own class was with back flying. The wings kept fully inflated - much more than any other suit I've flown and the arm position doesn't need to be as far back. The velcro less wing cutaways are a nice modification to the suit and would be easier to fix/replace than the velcro. The only thing I didn't like about the suit is that there were no snaps or anything for the booties since the zipper snap was replaced with a 'wedge' like piece of material that acted like a pocket. *edit - Sent Jari an email about the snaps and he just got back to me. He said they just forgot the snaps on the suit and the production versions will all have them. Where is my fizzy-lifting drink? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VectorBoy 0 #27 August 3, 2005 Quote If memory serves me correctly, the suit Glen has does not have the material flap inside of it. Glen could of course shed more light on that. Actually the guys are right Lou my suit does have the airlocks on all of the inlets with some very long flaps of fabric extending several times the length of the openings themselves. Kevin should have some pics of these design elements I took a few years back for him. If guys really want some pics I can take them again but the suit is really just the exact planeform of an S-3 and the inlets on the back are exact mirror images of the production S-3s front vents, with the exception of the tail vent which is not near the crotch but instead smack dab in the middle back of the tail wing. Every vent has a flap of fabric extending a good way down into its cell or cells. For the purpose of an airlock. Most of the guys I jump with that can backfly don't care if a suit has back vents, they will back fly anything from a classic to a you name it. The guys that do it mostly fly Matters or S-3s. Those are just the predominant suits out here and this could change. The ones that back fly the best happen to be the ones that have hundreds of freefly backfly tracking jumps. Not the ones with gimmicky suits. For me the best to worst backfly suit that I own in order is the the Matter-2, my prototype jari-backfly special then my production S-3. Keep in mind regardless I'm nowhere near as good as the guys that I know that do this the best. Also keep in mind I have never even seen a vampire or the new Matter three. I'm looking forward to some of the newer suits, those two in particular. But I'm the last guy who will start salivating for advertised gimmicks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomAiello 26 #28 August 3, 2005 Quote...backfly suit... With that big "rig box" the GS-1 ought to be a good backflier, too. The uneven rig on the botttom skin has got to be causing all kinds of turbulence and drag. Anything that reduces that (like the "rig box") should improve backflying efficiency.-- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bodypilot1 0 #29 August 3, 2005 QuoteQuote...backfly suit... With that big "rig box" the GS-1 ought to be a good backflier, too. The uneven rig on the botttom skin has got to be causing all kinds of turbulence and drag. Anything that reduces that (like the "rig box") should improve backflying efficiency. How do you figure? The pressure of the air against the material that forms the "inflated" rig box will unfortunatly colapse against the flyers back, same as the front of the suit rests against your chest as the flyer is belly to earth. It may work if the entire suit was pressurized though. Be safe. Edwww.WestCoastWingsuits.com www.PrecisionSkydiving.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VectorBoy 0 #30 August 3, 2005 I attribute the Matter 2s good backflying qualities to the comparitivley large openings for the rig laterals. The suit stays inflated. IMO the mono suits require proper body tension to achieve a good wing shape, more so than the Pecnick designed suits. While the Robert cuttaway suits rely more air pressure for shape and a little less on body shape. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomAiello 26 #31 August 3, 2005 Isn't the rig box pressurized? Perhaps I assume too much. I had thought that the box would stay pressurized in various flight orientations.-- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pierre3636 0 #32 August 11, 2005 haha im THAT guy who is going to ask tonto! time is ~ time was ~ times past ~ time is ~ time was ~ times past ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
