GS1 at Z-flock

[LouDiamond 1]

We got started off small today, 5 ways and put several jumps on the new GS1 that Notsane (scott B.) has. Both Scott and Neil jumped the suit and both had about the same feedback on it. Both agree that it is quite the workout to fly and both had some turning issues that may be related to body position. Overall consensus was that it has a bit of a floaty feel to it but forward speed is equivilent to a floaty person in a Classic. Quality of construction is top notch but man does it ever have a lot of zippers and things to either snap or fasten up prior to jumping. The removable wing system looks inovative and plays a major factor in how the suit is overall designed , especially the heel bootie that covers the back portion of the heel in a rubber cup with tuck tabs. Neil is going to put some more flights on it as is The111(matt) tomorrow. The suit has a lot of neat features on it, some people liked them others didn't. The rig box looks interesting and the jury is still out as to it helping aerodynamicly but it does not hamper pulling. The one thing most people all disliked was the neoprene collar/zipper cover and the close proximity of the cutaway handle to ones chest strap. Don't expect to get your hands anywhere near your risers in this suit. You will be lucky to get them above your mud flaps in most cases. Overall it is very well built and the added details like the owners name on the data placard and the serial number are only a portion of the detail put into this suit. The one here is serial number GS1 #2 and I am sure there will be slight modifications done to future versions of this suit. As of right now the advice Neil and Scott B. have for everyone is " you better hit the gym" as it wears you out quick. I'll post some more updates and pictures if we get a chance to play around with this suit more.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[Deuce 1]

Hey, Scott, it looks like there are no thumb loops to help hold that wing open. Is that the case?

Interesting airfoil design, with that much wing kept close to the body.

The tail looks as challenging as an S3, but the wing looks easier, I guess it's not, huh?

[voodew1 0]

There are thumb loops (infact they are adjustable )-- the pics just show a strange type of body position (left arm is not fully extended.

I would assume this was a first flight and trying to get the feel of it. Kind of looks like he is fighting a turn as the right foot looks low and the left arm is down to counter the turn????????

The pimp hand is powdered up ... say something stupid

[medusa 0]

I've been traing to find out how much $ does the suit coast??

I went to www.jii-wings.com and I wasen't able to find the price out.

Any idea how much does it cost?

Medusa

Get Killed or Die Trying!
Patent pending ATFK15456

[notsane 0]

Yes, Neil was getting the feel for the suit on this first dive. I got 2 jumps on the suit before this. It's definitely a different suit than a S3 or V1. That said I think it'll take more than a jump or two to really get the feel of it. My 2nd jump was a lot better than the first ... I flew base in it for a 5 way wedge.

So, right now with a grand total of 2 jumps on it, it certainly seems like a workout to keep the wing fully inflated, but once inflated it feels very stable and solid with decent forward speed. My fall rate was in the 70mph range on both jumps, but Neil (who is 4" taller than me) fell slower than Omar (Mr Lightweight) and me on his first jump. Obviously we need more data and more jumps!

[Tonto 1]

Price is ZAR 8000 ex VAT, I beleive. Current exchange rate is R6.40 to the $, so about $1250 ex VAT, Shipping, etc. That's the same ballpark as the top suits from PF and BM, right?

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[voodew1 0]

This is the suit for those who want to fall slow -- first jump (a solo) average for whole jump was 42mph TAS that included practice pull and everything.
Suit likes to be pitched head forward/low to build air speed but it doesn't appear to sacrifice fall rate.

Flocking : well in order to flock with others I flew arms way in to say the least - it is not too easy to play with others -- I have a very hard time making this suit go fast in the decent range.

Arm pressure is excessive and 2.5 minutes from 11k killed me --

Note ----I have only flown the suit 3 times -- 1 solo and 2 times with others
Note 2--- I have only flown a mono wing suit 1 time before

I look forward to more tail wing!

This suit is fun to fly if slow long flights are what you seek

The pimp hand is powdered up ... say something stupid

[notsane 0]

We got a total of 7 jumps on the GS-1 by three people .. me, Neil and Nate. You guys can add your impressions, please. Nate, who is 6' 2" and 140lbs seemed to have to very best experience. He was able to back-fly it this afternoon. Some extra tail wing would be a benefit (there are zippers to attach additional leg wing), but the forward speed was decent. I'll add more info when I'm less tired.

Helluva weekend, guys. Thanks for making 1.5 a success. Be there for 2.0, you guys are welcome anytime.

Scott

[nathaniel 0]

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able to back-fly it this afternoon. Some extra tail wing would be a benefit (there are zippers to attach additional leg wing), but the forward speed was decent. I'll add more info when I'm less tired.

The GS1 looks awesome. As far as construction it's pretty solid, but a few quirks showed through. There's a lot of zippers on the suit. The arm wing cutaway is on the arm instead of the body, and a set of 4 zippers & velcro covers are used to connect the suit to your rig. The arm wing cutaway cable was two layers of ripstop nylon, the thin stuff like the wing is made of, cut in 1-cm intervals for an attractive but not very durable looking "tubing". A regular tube of thicker nylon would probably last longer, but on the other hand it's not such a big deal since it isn't necessary to constantly disconnect the cutaway system to attach the suit to your rig.

There was a bib with the Jii-wings logo going across the neck to cover up the tops of all the zippers, but the primary value seemed to be cosmetic.

The booties are a bit unique as well, with both a toe cup and a heel cup. The toe cup is attached to the body of the suit & the leg wing. The heel cup is attached to the tail end of the top wing surface--the single piece of fabric that's continuous with the arm wings. It was a bit awkward to walk without dislodging the heel cup. Perhaps a snap could be added to affix it to the toe cup to keep it from slipping off.

I took the suit on a solo, chased after a flock, and on an acrobatic type dive. The suit fit me pretty well. It was a little short in length, perhaps an inch or so, and that made it hard to de-arch a whole lot, but overall it was pretty comfortable once suited up.

On the solo the suit was very solid with legs wide, arms straight out and palms to the earth. The suit seemed to porpoise (or potato-chip) in certain body positions, and not just when maxing out. Arm and torso turns were snappy. Leg turns were a bit more gentle and precise. Some of the other gentlemen that jumped the suit complained of arm pressure, but for me, with arms straight it didn't take very much effort at all to get a 60 mph average.

I normally jump a GTi, and I've demoed a Classic, a Firebird, and a Vampire. As Scott posted above the GS1 is most like a Classic in terms of forward motion. The leg wing is really quite tapered up, tho there is a zipper and intake on the suit where an additional leg wing can be attached.

On the flocking dive I found myself up about 400 feet above the flock in what seemed like an instant, but I was able to keep up horizontally. I had to take my arms flat in against my body to make the suit dive, and even then it didn't want to get very steep. It seems like the suit just doesn't want to sink very fast. I think a bigger leg wing would probably help with pitching the suit a bit more forward and into a head-down position to pick up some speed & get down to a flock.

Rolling the suit & back flying was, umm, interesting. The suit seemed like it didn't really want to roll over...it was /very/ stable along the axis of flight. Although I was a little concerned with how snappy the arm turns were on the solo flight, when I pushed it on this dive it recovered cleanly & quickly. In fact on more than one occasion I rolled it about 90 - 100 degrees & the suit rolled right back into a belly to earth position rather than go onto its back. Once I managed to get it on its back the suit deflated--the intakes are on the belly side of the suit--and it got fairly vertical & spun a bit like a corkscrew, but not fast or uncontrollable. Barrel rolls were slow and tended to result in pitching and yawing. Flying on its back was as steep as I managed to get the suit, tho the average descent was still around 80-85 mph through the acrobatics--all in all a very floaty suit.

In sum I was impressed. A nice bit of work for a new suit design. It seemed geared for slow flight, level flying and quick turns. I'm very interested to see how it performs with a larger add-in leg wing. Might also be interesting to see what would happen if it had intakes on the sides or the back so it could be flown inverted.

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My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

[SimonM 0]

Hi Guys,

Great to finally see a GS-1 in the air! I cant wait to get mine...

If the flying technique is similar to a Sugarglider, there is a very specific body position for getting forward speed.

On my first couple of flights I found I was very floaty but had no forward drive. Julian then did some coaching jumps and gave me the following advice:

- try and stretch your spine out straight while pointing your neck out and head slightly downward (puts you marginally head low)- strange description but it seems to be key.

- stretch legs as wide as possible and make sure you are getting lengthways tension on your toes.

- on the SG my toes need to be pointed straight out (not down) but this may be different on the GS-1 as the lower wing attachment is different.

- push out with the arms until you feel suit tension on your shoulders and tricep/bicep area, without really rolling the shoulders.

- very slight de-arch with the hips only.

All those combined made a huge difference to my forward speed.

I also find flocking tricky with the suit - it tends to want to float up and away from everybody else I am only starting to get the hang of it now- I think that it needs very subtle inputs over the whole suit. In contrast to the S3 which I found for example I could quite agressively bend legs to slow down forward speed and still flock quite comfortably.

Looking forward to hearing more,

Simon

[Buried 0]

nice to hear that someone tried a few rolls, flips and backflying on the suit. By the design it seems like the suit isn't really meant for those types of maneauvers.

do you think the heel cup would stay on more if it was fitted to your shoesize?

Where is my fizzy-lifting drink?

[notsane 0]

I doubt it. There is a neoprene-like material in the heel between your foot and the heel piece. It seems to do most of the stretching. The heel piece seems to be more for a lengthwise "hook" on the bottom of your heel. You sure know it's there when you walk in the suit. As your foot moves forward you can feel it stretch the back of the wing.

Scott

[FOJ001Nico 0]

I wass wondering , are there any vids about the GS1 ( skydive and Base ) ?

Thanks guys ,

Mail to : skygod@pandora.be

Nico

[verticalflyer 11]

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do you think the heel cup would stay on more if it was fitted to your shoesize?

The heel cup is fitted to your heel size since the exact specs are taken from your individual trainer/shoe you use when Jii Wings take your measurements. As for staying on I have had no problems with the GS1 heel staying fits like a glove on my suit, amiditt=edly I only have about 30 jumps on this suit but no problems with it coming off.


As for overall flight feel, yes its super floaty and the forward speed is lower though I have sipped in my new wing and that should produce greater foward drive, will hopefully see this weekend. As for arms I did not find the suit anymore tiring than anything else on the market about the same as my V1. I can average 40mph for the dive without going ballistic from 14,000ft and turning is veery different, requires very very little input otherwise spitfire like dives can be readily achieved! gret fun but not very efficient.

Would be interested to know hoe others find the suit as they gain more experience. For now I like both my V1 and GS1 still exploring the range on both suits, the V1 gives me great lift and awesome distance the GS1 super float and slow flights. Both fun, both able to produce very slow fall rate but 2 very different beasts. I still enjoy taking my skyflyer out just need more rigs and more decent weather to fly them all!


Cheers

Fraser

Dont just talk about it, Do it!

[mccordia 74]

I'm quite interested in the glide-ratio...
Anyone GPS a GS1 flight yet?

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[verticalflyer 11]

Will let you know once the new wing is in, but the weather is pretty miserabke at the moment over here.

Dont just talk about it, Do it!

[petetheladd 0]

I have the GS1 demo at the moment with the new wing.

I jumped it saturday and sunday and will be doing the same again this weekend.

I will post a summary of my thoughts on it next week

PtL

No, Not without incident

[mccordia 74]

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I have the GS1 demo at the moment with the new wing.

I jumped it saturday and sunday and will be doing the same again this weekend.

I will post a summary of my thoughts on it next week

PtL

'the new wing' would be the tail-add-on?
Quite curious what that does for the speed...

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[verticalflyer 11]

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PtL

'the new wing' would be the tail-add-on?
Quite curious what that does for the speed...

As am I, once the damn rain stops hopefully we'll find out

Dont just talk about it, Do it!