Just got back from the Moab Boogie (good times). I was the jumper on the load with Charlie. First of all, I love my S-Bird and honestly haven't wanted to jump another suit since I received it. It has so much range in it, and it can really haul ass once you hit the sweet spot. I jumped a phantom 2 for 100+ skydives and 25+ BASE jumps before I ordered the Tonysuit and honestly thought it would be impossible to get into a flatspin ( I even tried on several occasions, but would always end up belly to earth in a good flying position). Once I received the Tonysuit, I jumped the crap out of it. I was setting all kinds of personal records for myself. My goal was to get close to 100 jumps on it before my trip to Switzerland which was a month and a half after I got the suit (which I did). I then made 30+ wingsuit BASE jumps with no incident at all, and was flying further and faster then I had before.
On a couple occasions when I was learning to fly the suit, either a bad exit or a burble had sent me into a flatspin, but I was always able to get out of them quickly. On this particular jump we did gainer exits out of the skyvan and then Charlie and I were to link up and start doing "over unders". Once we docked, we gave each other a fistpump and then he went under me a little closer than I expected and burbled the shit out of me (focker). I clipped my right foot on him as I fell out of the sky, and it sent me directly into a fast flatspin. I remained calm, as this has happened before, and tried my hardest to get out of it by shutting down the wings and arching hard until I saw ground. This did nothing, and I was gaining more speed on my back with my legs above me. I then balled up and tried to get out of it as I have in the past, but I just kept gaining speed and kept spinning faster and faster. I was able to get out of my armwings, but by the time I was out of them, the force on my body was so intense, I couldn't move my arms at all outside my spin to reach my pilot chute. At this time I was so dizzy and the gforce was so great that I fealt I had seconds before I was gonna pass out, so I went to my last resort and pulled my reserve on my back in the most extreme flatspin. The pilot chute remained in tow above me for several seconds, until some how I was able to reach the bridle on my side and yank on it. Reserve came out (completely spun up), but another life saved. There's footage.
Ed, Instead of whining about people who aren't a "Wingsuit GOD" like yourself- who don't have rediculous amounts of skydives like yourself, sit back and realize that this could happen to someone-maybe even one of your students, and address the problem (I'm lucky to have pulled this off before I completely passed out).
I don't want my wingsuit changed in any way functionally, but with suits that have pressurized large leg wings that extend past the feet, realize this can happen. What about making a leg cutaway for these larger suits??? I feel that if I were able to get out of the legwing (which was causing my flatspin), I could have stopped the flatspin and corrected myself. Just a thought.
The rest of my jumps at the Boogie were awesome-such a beautiful place to jump. Had a great time hangin with everyone.
