The Birdman Suit flight manual

Transcription

1 The Birdman Suit flight manual (engl.orig.vers. WARNING: 1. Parachuting and wing-flying are high risk activities which may cause or result in serious injury or death. The user of this equipment MUST NOT attempt to land a wing-suit without a parachute. Training and experience are required to lower the risk of serious injury or death Never use this equipment unless you have read the warning label, read the Bird- Man flight manual and completed training and instruction to fly Bird-Man wing suit. 2. User knows the risks of skydiving and accepts that: Skydiving causes deaths and serious injuries. Many of these deaths and injuries can be attributed to equipment problems or malfunction. - Skydiving equipment can fail, even if the user takes all possible precautions. - Failure to activate the main or reserve parachute (or emergency procedures) at a safe altitude, and/or equipment failures can result in severe injury or death. Flying Bird-Man Wing Suit can be extremely addicting and high levels of endorphin may affect your flight as well as your personal life. Maximum flying speed: MACH 0,3 flight manual: Skydiving and wing flying are high-risk activities, which may cause or result in serious injury or death. The following information must be read and understood before any use of this equipment. The user of this equipment MUST NOT attempt to land a wing suit without a fully open parachute. User knows the risks of skydiving and accepts that: Skydiving causes deaths and serious injuries. Many of these deaths and injuries can be attributed to equipment problems or malfunction. Skydiving equipment can fail, even if the user takes all possible precautions. Failure to activate the main or reserve parachute (or emergency procedures) at a safe altitude, and/or equipment failures can result in severe injury or death. It is users' responsibility to:

2 Receive proper training before any use of all skydiving equipment. Be extremely careful and cautious. Read and understand all owner's and operation manuals for all skydiving equipment. Thoroughly check all skydiving equipment and replace any defective or worn component prior to use. Review emergency procedures before each use of this and all skydiving equipment. Check equipment warnings - do not exceed equipment limitations. Never violate the training and experience requirements for the specific equipment in use. Disclaimer warranty Because of the unavoidable dangers involved in the use of this and all parachute equipment, BirdMan International Ltd. (including but not limited to all owners, officers, staff and employees) makes no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied. It is sold with all faults and without any warranty of fitness for any purpose. By using this equipment or allowing it to be used by others, owner/buyer waves any liability of BirdMan International Ltd. for personal injuries, death or damages from such use. Any promises or representations inconsistent with or in addition to this statement of warranty are not authorized by BirdMan International Ltd. and shall be not binding. If the customer of BirdMan suit declines to waive liability on the part of the manufacturer or authorized dealer of BirdMan wing suit, customer may have full refund of the purchase price by returning the wing suit before it is used to the manufacturer or authorized dealer within 21 days from the original date of purchase. Prologue Man has always dreamed of flying - now he can. Imagine soaring through the bright blue sky flying forward at 160km/h (100mp/h) but descending only 80km/h (50mp/h). You feel the wind in your face, it is quiet, you feel like a bird. You and your friends fly in formation - banking and chasing. Together you accelerate your speed and fly around a puffy white cloud. You have been flying for more than two minutes so it's time to wave off to your friends and open your parachute. History Since the discovery of the fact that freefall does not kill, parachutists have always wanted to exceed their limits in this beautiful and exotic environment. Brave men and women were pushing their limits, and unfortunately sometimes pushed them too far in

3 order to achieve the dream of human flight. From the 1930s to the early 1960s a few men tried to break their freefall and fly with the help of artificial wings. They were called birdmen. Clem Shohn and Leo Valentin were two of the most famous, but like most of the early birdmen, they gave their lives while doing what they loved the most. Between 1930 and 1961, 72 out of 75 birdmen died while trying to achieve their dream. During the mid-90s legendary skydiver Patrick DeGayardon made his own innovative wing suit. With his suit Patrick was able to fly like no one had ever dreamed - not even the original birdmen. Sadly, Patrick died on April 13th, 1998 while testing his new wing suit. Many things have changed since the days of Leo Valentin. Skydiving equipment is safer than ever. Fabrics and manufacturing have improved year after year and skydivers are jumping (and learning) more than ever before. Modern novice skydiver knows now after an AFF course more about skydiving and controls him/herself in free fall better than most birdmen ever did. For these and many other reasons all skydiving has become safer and we are now capable of things that many couldn't even dream of. Generations change, the dream remains In the fall of 1998 Jari Kuosma from Finland and Robert Pecnik from Croatia joined forces with a mission to give life to the old dream of human flight. Their goal was to make safe and functional high performance wing suits that every reasonably experienced skydiver could fly and enjoy. After nine prototypes, plenty of mistakes, many laughs and long flights the first-ever commercially available wing suit was manufactured in June The BirdMan suit was named after Leo Valentin (the original birdman), to honor all the skydivers who dared to dream of human flight. BirdMan International's mission and dream is to promote safe wing flying and the ultimate feeling of flight itself. We believe that some day there will be as many birdmen and women as in any other skydiving discipline. Wing flying is extremely fun. It is easy to learn and safe when flown with respect. A whole new world has been opened; the possibilities are endless. After all, we do have the biggest playground in the world - the sky. Epilogue Since the birth of BirdMan International, over a thousand successful flights have been made with the BirdMan suit. Jari Kuosma is managing director and Robert Pecnik is in charge of design and manufacturing. Together they share hundreds of wing suit flights, making them the most experienced wing suit flyers, designers and instructors in the world. We wish you many great and safe flights. BirdMan International Ltd. Jari H. Kuosma Robert Pecnik

4 NOTE: This manual is not a course of instruction on how to make a parachute jump nor does it contain the various regulations that govern sport parachuting and related activities. 1. Requirements for flying BirdMan suit Experience Bird-Man International recommends person who intends to use the wing suit to be experienced, current and licensed skydiver. We also recommend such skydiver to have 500 or more free fall skydives. More important than the number of skydives is whether the skydiver feels comfortable in free fall, can show ability to control oneself while long track, has ability to observe airspace and altitude at the same time and feels confident about his/hers ability to perform under pressure Practice It is necessary to practice exit, flight, pull and emergency techniques on the ground as well as in the air before you can do your first flight with the wing suit. It is very important to read and understand BirdMan suit flight manual before the first flight. It is also as important to understand the importance of communicating with the pilot and fellow jumpers about your flight plan Equipment Because of the big burble behind your back created by the speed of the wing flyer and the shape of the wings and the fact that the wings restrict your freedom of arms, there are some restrictions about the equipment the wing flyer should use. Parachute should be docile. Do not use any kind of parachute that you feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar with. Remember that you need time if you want to free your arms before dealing with any malfunction. When you make your canopy selection keep in mind that small, fast spinning canopy close to ground is not the situation you want with wings attached to your arms! DO NOT use pull-out method. DO NOT use collapsible pilot chutes which use bungee type of PC collapsing system. DO NOT use the gear which has pilot chute mounted in legstrap. Use only b.o.c. Throw-out pilot chute deployment method with wing suit. 2. BirdMan suit with Cypress, AADs' and audible altimeters Because it is possible to reach very slow vertical speeds with BirdMan wing suit (80 km/h or 50mph) your AAD will probably not fire your reserve if you are busting "the hard deck" (expert Cypress has a setup for 36 m/s (about 125 km/h)). Also some audible

5 altimeters and alarms may not function properly at slow vertical airspeeds. For these reasons it is very important to wear visual altimeter and open at proper altitude. Wear your visual altimeter as far away from your body as possible (we recommend wrist mounted altimeter) for correct reading. NOTE: BirdMan International strongly recommends using AADs' and audible altimeters! 3. Materials BirdMan suit is made of the best possible materials for the purpose. For the best durability and comfort we use AtmoTex material for the body. AtmoTex makes the modern birdman (or birdwoman) water- rain- and windproof while still maintaining its ability to breath. BirdMan suit also keeps its flexibility even at low temperatures. BirdMan wings are made of zero-p fabric made by Galvinore Textile Industry that is widely used in modern high performance canopies.cut-away cables are made of the same yellow cables we trust if we need to cut-away our main canopy. 4. Get dressed for wing flight There are two ways of dressing up BirdMan suit 1. Put on the suit before you put your gear on. 2. Attach your gear to the suit before you slip into the suit Put on the suit before you put your gear on Open the legstraps on your rig Put the suit on and release the wings of the suit. Put the rig on your shoulders, feed the legstraps through the holes by the hips of the suit, put the legstraps together around your thighs (on the inside of the suit). Assemble the wings, make sure that your emergency handles are not in any way covered. Fasten the chest strap, make sure to fasten it tight enough (like for the freefly jump). Wear booties and close the leg zipper. Secure zipper with the snap. Zip the arm zippers and put the swoop cords in place (around your thumb) Attach your gear to the suit before you slip into the suit Put your rig on the floor, facing the inside up (the side facing your back). Put the suit on top of the rig, facing belly up. Release the wings of the suit. Dress the rig on the shoulders of the suit. Put the legstraps through the holes by the hips of the suit. Assemble the wings, make sure that your emergency handles are not in any way covered.

6 Slide yourself into the suit (you will soon develop a good technique). Fasten the chest strap. Wear booties and close the leg zipper. Secure zipper with the snap. Zip the arm zippers and put the swoop cords in place (around your thumb) Make a complete gear-check before you enter the plane Make sure that your wings are correctly assembled and that the cut-away cable is correctly routed. Emergency handles in position and not covered. Chest strap fastened tight enough. Leg straps fastened inside the suit. Arm zippers & swoop cords in good condition. Pin-check on your rig. Throw out pilot chute in correct position. Make dummy pulls before you enter the plane to ensure that you can reach your throw out pilot chute, and to ensure that it is in correct position. Touch your throw out pilot chute with your right hand, while you do the same move with your left arm - symmetrically. Regain into the flight position symmetrically. Practice your opening procedure after dummy pulls. Open both of your arm zippers with a controlled hurry, all the way up and simulate reaching the ricers. Repeat until you feel comfortable. Repeat again. 5. prepare for flight Weather conditions Because you can fly long distances with the suit, make sure that the weather conditions allow you have visual contact with the ground at all times during your flight. Remember that the same physical laws apply to you as to any non-powered flyer. You travel longer and faster in compared to the ground when you fly with the wind and opposite to that when flying against the wind. Briefing the fellow jumpers, pilot, etc Before entering the aircraft you need to brief your fellow jumpers and the pilot about your wing flight. Because your free fall time can be twice as long as conventional jumpers, it is safest to exit last and fly 90 degrees off the line of flight. Your horizontal speed can exceed 100 mph, know where you are, know where others are, NEWER FLY ACROSS OR PARALLEL WITH THE LINE OF FLIGHT. Always make a flight plan before you enter the plane! WATERLANDINGS Avoid waterlandings at all costs! Without immediate help it is extremely dangerous to land on water with the wing suit. If that should happen, keep your hooknife ready, cut your wings away, undress the suit and gear, be prepared to use the hooknife to get rid

7 of the suit. All this can be extremely difficult or in same cases impossible. Once again, avoid waterlandings at all costs! 6. BirdMan flight techniques 6.1. Exits For the first flights we strongly suggest that you exit facing the relative wind. To perform a good poised exit the most important thing is to have your wings closed (arms tight to your body, legs together) the first couple of seconds you are exposed to the air. After you are safely cleared from the aircraft, spread your wings (both arms and legs symmetrically at the same time) and start your flight. NOTE: It is of a great importance to clear the aircraft before spreading the wings. If you fail to clear, you risk to make a very unstable exit and to hit the airplane (body or tail) resulting severe damages to yourself and the airplane Flight For the best performance of your wings you should maintain the wing profile. Your wings are designed in such way that no strong forces are needed to maintain the wing profile. You should fly your arms and legs extended and spread while still feeling relaxed. You adjust the flight angle by using your torso and hips. For turns simply use your torso. Use small movements. Large movements may result unstability. Imagine that you were test flying extremely small, mega-high performance canopy that has to be cutted away for safe landing Wave-off Since you can not use your arms to make a wave-off we introduce a wing flight waveoff: Click your legs together twice, while watching the aerospace around you, so that your friends can see your intention to pull Pull The most crucial part of your wing flight is the pull. The huge burble behind you (caused by the speed of wing flyer and the shape of the wings) may cause a pilot chute hesitation and an unsymmetrical body position when pulling may cause a malfunction to your canopy. For these two main reasons it is very important that during pull your body position is stable and symmetrical and that you throw your pilot chute with a symmetrical vigorous pitch. 7. After pull After your canopy has inflated: Unzip the arm zippers - ALL the way up - so your arms are completely free to reach

8 risers and toggles. After your canopy has open fully and you have secured the airspace around you: Loosen one or both bootie(s) in case you need to run or make longer steps for the landing. 8. Emergency procedures Ensure that you KNOW the placement of the emergency handles and the emergency procedures for gear you are jumping. Emergency procedures With the wings connected. Do your regular emergency procedure when your wings are connected to the suit Your suit was designed to allow you freedom to reach and pull your both emergency handles without restriction. That means simply that you don't need to cut away your wings first before using your emergency handles (and waste valuable time and altitude). However, to reach the toggles and risers of your secondary parachute you must ether open the zippers in your arms or cut-away your wings. Close your leg wing by putting your legs together before operating any of your handles. Having your leg wing inflated may cause instability and turbulence.