BASE Wingsuit Flying Practice Techniques

Robert Pecnik, the R & D side of BirdMan, Inc. sent us these useful tips to help improve BASE wingsuit flight. We thought that maybe some of you might be interested.

Mr. & Mrs. MoFo



BASE WS Practice Techniques
By Robert Pecnik (The BirdMan)


For those of you who are planning to get into wingsuit BASE, or want to improve your skills, here are some things that you can apply to your flight when exiting from an aircraft.


The most important things to remember when trying to improve your BASE wingsuit flying are:

General:

• During the flight bring the elbows up
• Do not put too much tension on the trailing edge of the arm wings, give the forward speed to your body ( I like to say: Gravity is our only engine, speed is our only friend )
• Work on forward speed in the beginning. Do not be overly concerned with the time that you are spending in the air.
• Play with the winglets and try to feel the suit. Feel the changes in your flying while varying the input and performing different moves.

Legs:

Sometimes, even when a person thinks that their legs are straightened, they are not. In every aspect of skydiving, our legs are the hardest thing to feel because we are accustomed to standing upright. The air causes a lot of drag and it is because of this that you can feel like you are in max stretched position.
• Work on thinking about your leg position; look at your legs whilst flying.
• Also take care to notice the position of your head. Forget about cameras and try to place your head slightly down and into the shoulders.
• Do NOT bend or push your knees down (this is a trap that a lot of people fall into.) It will give you the sensation that you have reached a slow vertical speed. This is true, but it is because you are in stall! Don't forget this.

Flying:

• When you are jumping, concentrate on the first 30-50 second of your flight. Do not go all out for the maximum 2 minutes. It is pointless.
• After exit, always make a slight turn to give yourself speed. Pitch the head down ( like with a BASE jump exit) and start to play w the wings.
• As you are mainly preparing for BASE wingsuit flying, try to fly using the same principles when flying your wingsuit from the aircraft. (Whenever possible, try to fly a straight flight path and make long, gentle turns, etc...