Tips on Flying a CrossBow....

[imported_mknutson]

Tips on Flying a CrossBow....

I am getting a Crossbow to jump, and want to know flyging tips/techniques anyone can recommend.

I have about 180 jumps under a Bird-Man Classic, GTi, and SkyFlyer, so now I want to know what needs to change in my flying style.

[guest]

Hey Mick,
I have 30 flights with this suit and 50 flights with the Classic and GTI.

You should fly with your body as flat as possible , do not fly it as you would a Birdman. Keep your arms straight out and flat , push forward and slightly roll your shoulders do not curve your arms at all as this will make you very unstable . If you have problems during the flight,lift your hands and create a V ,with your body as the apex of the V, until you stabalise and then continue with the flight keeping your body position,arms and legs as flat as possible.

I use my legs and hands to turn.Look in the direction you want to go,keeping tension on the leg-wing just drop a leg a little and use the same side hand to cup air and turn in which ever direction you choose ,when you start to feel the turn you can make them harder and more positive by just feeling the flight and use your instincts.There may be other ways to achieve a good turn......check it out.

Also ,I lift my butt just a touch and keep my head slightly downward ,sort of look just below the horizon for more forward speed.

This is an amazing suit....be prepared to change , especially if you want to BASE it.The chest cutaway means ( for me ) you can get straight onto your risers and the extra lenght of the leg-wings ( for me ) means you dont have to mess around your leg-wing zips ,in fact I have run off all my landings with out touching the leg-wing .

Have fun.

[Dwain]

I'd have to generally agree with Shaun's tips on flying a Crossbow. Straight stiff arms pulling the fabric upward works best for me. Curving my arms (as I do with the birdman suits) does not work well.

I usually skydive with a Skyflyer on one rig and the Crossbow on another and jump both suits back to back repeatedly so I've had good experiences to compare them.
For myself personally the Crossbow is a much easier/stable suit to fly but I get far better glide ratio with the Skyflyer (fall rate is about the same). However the Crossbow inflates and gets flying a little quicker on BASE jumps making it my choice for sub 1000' wingsuit flights.

However the skill of the jumper/pilot has much more effect than the actual suit. An excellent wingsuit jumper with the crappiest suit will always out-fly a poor wingsuit jumper on the most advanced suit.

Just my 2 cents....