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~May 24, 2008-Arrived in Elsinore, so far the weather isn't cooperating, but hanging with everyone makes it fun in spite of the clouds.

~May 18, 2008-Wingsuit Skills Camp in Eloy. Scott Campos taught us many different sorts of exits, fine-tuning tricks for flocks, and we had a distance challenge that was a good experience. 164 seconds with an all-altitude average of 48mph was a "best" for me. The course went well, met a lot of new friends.
 

~May 10, 2008- Lodi event was a blast, Ed organized some great loads. It was fun flying with everyone, but the greater fun was the dinner, Ed's 10,000 jump, and absorbing everything I could from Avery, Scott, Sean, Jeff, and so many others there. What a ball!

~May 3, 2008 Magnets for my Blade arrived! Glad to receive them. Hopefully they'll be easy to install, Pete at Lodi has agreed to sew them into my Blade when get there for the Lodi event.

~April 18, 2008-Winded out. My Norman Kent-designed camera suit has arrived, so I'm looking forward to flying that. Damn, it's nice.
Haven't heard a word from Birdman regarding why I was sent snaps instead of magnets. I only received parts for three snaps, too. How strange. No matter which part of the suit is discussed, everything is in pairs, so three snaps makes no sense. Two letters to Birdman asking what is going on with them. I've now received private emails from a few people laughing about "Birdman StreetWear" and some of them are calling it "Street-WHERE?"
Seems like the company is going head-down in a bad way. I can only contrast it with my recent experience with Firefly. Sherry promised me my suit by April 1. She missed the deadline by about 11 days. It's custom, with sewn in embroidery and design. It's also *very* fitted, as it's how Norman Kent designs these things (Sherry came out to measure me personally). Suit arrived, and out of the box is what I expected it to be. She answered every email reasonably fast, and asked a lot of questions. My experience (for the most part) has been the same with Rigging Innovations. OK, Sandy was very late in delivering, but my rig is also a first-run rig, being the first of its size in the RI lineup. But customer service has been absolutely incredible. TonFly is another manufacturer that seems to work very hard to offer great customer service.
I own a small business that supplies customers worldwide. I know occasionally people screw up, and/or shipping, manufacturing, technology, or comunications can fall short of expectations. But...Birdman has had multiple opportunities to correct problems. They not only haven't corrected the problems,  they've exacerbated them/made them worse. I still own a suit missing cables and magnets. I kept the cables from my first suit, and now it's time to cut these to size. I know Birdman used to have terrific customer service, but perhaps it's been too difficult for them to maintain.
I couldn't recommend a Birdman suit to anyone, not while this is how they manage customers. Hopefully they'll change. I'm very disappointed.

View pix and measurements of the wrong/right suit here.

These aren't magnets. They're snaps. You'd think that after SO MANY screw-ups on the part of Birdman, they'd at least 'try' to send the right parts.

~April 12, 2008- Snaps arrive. In parts. They're supposed to be for the magnets that Birdman is sending me. Except there are no magnets in the package. WTF? Does anyone at Birdman pay attention to what they're shipping out?  I really wish I could return this wingsuit, get a Ghost, and end the nightmare. This particular piece of nylon, no matter how beautiful, has had all the fun sucked out of it because of the BS that has gone into it.

~April 4, 2008-My compensation from Birdman arrived!!! WOW!!! I'm so happy.
I'm stunned it didn't come on April 1, cuz this sure looks like a joke to me. I received 4 Birdman posters (bend and badly creased), 5 Birdman keychains (same ones I got in Eloy and from PIA as swag) and a bunch of Birdman StreetWear stickers. Given that I feel Streetwear (Birdman's line of clothing for rich kids) is why their customer service has gone to shi**, it's somewhat of an insult to receive a bunch of Birdman Streetwear stickers. Do I sound tweaked? I am.
Got in another jump on the Blade, bringing my Blade total to six jumps. But...the sucky weather here in Utah seems to be conniving to keep all the skydivers on the ground. Got in some fun tandems today, however. Jumping with Utah/Chuck is a blast. This guy is gonna make my head-down much better, cuz he exits fast and throws the drogue low.

~April 1, 2008-So, the saga of the wingsuit continues; Birdman is allegedly going to send me magnets to repair the suit. Except I get to hire a rigger to sew them in. That's simply messed up. I've spent nearly 150.00 on extra customs charges, waited 3 months for the wrong suit, no cables, no magnets, and now I get to wait for magnets to arrive and have the pleasure of spending another 100.00 having a rigger sew them into the suit.

~March 28,2008-Got some fun coached jumps in with Brian McCormick. He's got more freefall time than I do, but roughly half the jumps. In a V2, he was abl to stay with me and my fat ass in the Blade. Second jump out, I arched rather than de-arched, and fell like a stone. Thanks for the jumps and the coaching, Brian!

~March 22, 2008-Suit arrives, and this one fits correctly. I'm really bummed out as it does not contain the magnets that holds the bootie to the knee. The model I jumped in Eloy had magnets, the first suit that came had magnets, WTF is up with no magnets on THIS one? I email Birdman, and the response is that they "ran out of magnets" and they're very sorry. I wonder what they'd have done if they ran out of zippers, snaps, or Fastex. I was shipped an incomplete suit. I feel like I got screwed.  Jussi tells me I'm going to "receive compensation for the troubles."

~March 9, 2008-Jussi sends me an email telling me that the factory is out of cables, but I can keep the cables from the bigger suit/wrong sized suit. OK, cool, so the suit is shipped. Communicating with Jussi is communicating with a real person that actually understands what is taking place.

March 5,2008-Finally heard directly from Birdman's VP, in which he admits their office girl made a mistake in sending measurements. That's cool, he's expediting a suit to me. Maybe now I'll get some service instead of very poorly communicated messages via cryptic emails.

~Feb 28, 2008-So, after a LOT of chasing UPS, my wingsuit arrived, and it was HUGE! Don't know why, but it fits a friend of mine better than it fits me, he's 6'2" and about 240lbs, I'm 5'8" and 190 lbs. Disappointment doesn't quite describe it for me. DZO says "don't get your hopes up til you're flying it" and he's right. With 42 years in the sport...he'd better know a thing or two. The suit is going to have to be sent back to Finland. it's obviously too large. The Eloy event just wasn't the same without me flying the suit there, so I flew my old Phantom that was made for Monkeyboy, and while it flies nicely, it's not really what I need. Interstingly enough, I did have one jump where my Altitrack reported that I'd had a max of 232 and a minimum of 30, with an average of 180. I know there is a technical explanation in their somewhere, especially after an exit of 90mph. I suck at back flying and I turn into a lawn dart. But I'll keep at it til blood fills my goggles. UPS thanks to David Ochoa in Tucson, Sandra in Tucson, and Samantha in North Carolina. They were super-efficient and sweet to me.

See pix of my wingsuit here...  See pics of how we measured for it (again) here. My "taint" became an integral part of the re-measurement program. Hopefully that's the magic element, cuz I 'taint' returning it a third time. So far, Jussi at Birdman has been very good to me. We'll see soon enough where lies the final disposition of the suit.

~~Feb 25, 2008-Just learned that in spite of the "Estimated Delivery Date" listed on Birdman's website about my suit, it's still delayed by yet another week. It has not been shipped as of today. Had really hoped to fly this on the weekend. Birdman very nicely offered to ship the suit directly to Eloy, but I'm not confident it would arrive before I left Eloy. Ship date on their website is changed again, for the fourth time. I'd be stunned if it actually could arrive in the US at my home in two days though.
At PIA, it appears that Alti has launched a new product, and it looks really well designed for Wingsuiting. Scott Campos recommends it, and it appears that Paralog loves it. No user-changed battery; it charges via USB, so once you connect it to the computer for downloading the jumps...it charges. NICE!!!!! Birdman also introduced a couple of new suits, the S8 and the Tengu. Tengu looks like a Blade without the cut-in wings, and is more BASE oriented. With the smaller front wing, a couple wingsuiters are suggesting the S8 will fly a bit more head-high and be easier to stall. Since I'm the king of stall right now, I likely won't want to jump this one, but will give it a demo jump, of course. :-)

~~Feb 19, 2008-A little bummed that my Blade won't make it in time for flocking, docking, and shooting RW at Eloy over Feb 29-March 3. Birdman is at PIA, and it seems that PIA has messed up their manufacturing and shipping schedule. Not terribly thrilled that I won't have my suit for this event, but that's the nature of skydiving. My DZO keeps telling me that "skydivers believe in delivery schedules and Santa Claus." Based on delivery of my canopy, rig, and camera suit...he's right. None of em' came on time, but 'hope springs eternal', yeah? Scott Campos has posted some sweet pix of what's happening at PIA, including a couple new Birdman suits. One is camo/parapack, and very nice looking.

~~Feb 14-18 2008 Valentine's Day boogie at Eloy. Damn, what FUN! Several jumps with John Bast, Sgt Ben Butler, Dave Gibb, Faris Alaboudy, and Eddie. We had some great 5 way flocks, even if we did meander around the sky a little.  Barbara @Skydive Arizona was terrific in helping me arrange a room from which I could stage all my camera gear. Thanks, Barb!! Coca-cola and Chocolate are on their way.
Got some nice average speeds, high 50's for averages, and one flight as slow as 41 for the minimum, according to my Alti-track. Looks like I'll end up having to purchase an Alti3 or Neptune though, because the Altitrack can't manage more than 119 seconds of freefall time.
Ben had hoped to show me a docked exit that he learned from Rolf, but we ran out of sky; dark comes too early right now, even in Eloy. With luck, I'll learn it when I return to Eloy on Feb 29. Really starting to look forward to Lodi now.

~~Feb 12, 2008-Just got the update that my Blade will be complete on February 15, the day after I've left for the Eloy Valentine's Day boogie. That's earlier than the below date of Feb 22 and much earlier than the originally posted date of March 5! Yeah! ...At least I'll still have my Phantom to wear over the Valentine's Day event.

~~Feb 1-5, 2008 Just waiting on my Blade. I'd hoped to have it coming soon; Birdman told me 4 weeks at the outset, so being a good little skydiver, I added another week to that delivery time. I paid for it on January 5, and got confirmation on January 8, so I'm a bit premature. However, Birdman allows you to track your wingsuit on their website, so that's pretty cool.

~~Jan 11-13, 2008 More wingsuit jumps, this time in Mesquite. Jumping from a Grand Caravan and a Caravan, I learned a bit more about side exits. First, don't jump out parallel to the wing if you want to be stable quickly. Second, get stable quickly. I'm really struggling with roll, as it seems I keep stalling my wing. Fall rates are sometimes in the mid 50's, but I need to keep forward motion happening or I'll continue stalling. I don't like the roll and yaw that seems to be part of these jumps, but with only 15 jumps....I just want to be better. It's hard when it's not in-season, but then again, when we are "in season" I'll be mostly jumping camera for four-way and tandems. Did a couple of flock dives, and only was able to stay in there once. The third dive, I pooched the exit along with Jeremy, and neither of us were able to regain altitude to get back to Faris and Mike.
This is like going through AFF all over again, very frustrating to have this many skydives and still suck this badly at a skydiving discipline.

~~Jan 5, 2008 OK! I ordered my Birdman Blade. After a lot of thought, emails, and phone calls, I decided on a Blade over a Phoenixfly Ghost. Part of what sparked the difference was how quickly each company got back with me via email, and answered all of my questions, so if you're buying a wingsuit, that may or may not make a difference to you. Jari himself, emailed to tell me how long it would take to receive the suit. 
My Blade should be here by the Valentine's Day Boogie, but as my DZO says "Skydivers believe in Santa Claus and delivery dates...." I've yet to have any custom-made skydiving product arrive even close to on-time, so I'm not holding my breath. Sure would be fun to have it by the time we go to Eloy, however. On the left is a picture of the design I chose. I really like the blue/yellow combinations.

~~Dec 30, 2007~Final wingsuit jump for this trip, and last jump of 2007. Sad to go, but got to jump the PF Phantom. This is one mean frickin' suit compared to the Firebird. Me and Sean/Monkeyboy took this one for a ride, Monkeyboy took video on the jump. Best flight yet, 85 seconds. It was my 13th jump in a wingsuit. Trying to decide between a Birdman Blade and a Phoenixfly Ghost. The Ghost is very popular, but the Blade looks like it has a better glide, and various people I've talked to are recommending in both directions. Granted, I had a number of wingsuit jumps when I jumped this Phantom, but I was immediately stable, very comfortable with the Phantom right off the tailgate, and had a smooth and longest ride yet. You can see me fly the Phantom in the below video. I wish I'd been able to get in more jumps with Scott Campos, he is an excellent coach. If you get the opportunity to jump with him, take it. It's worth it no matter how you slice it!

~~December 30, 2007 More wingsuit jumps, one with Monkeyboy/Sean Horton. Damn...it was brilliant. I also got in on a four-way flock, and somewhat got in there. Now up to jump 13. I need to learn to raise my ass. As Monkeyboy put it, pretend I'm a "wide receiver" ready to....yeah. One of the best experiences was the gainer exit from the Skyvan. Facing backwards from the Skyvan, it was a simple jump with legs closed until you hit the wind. Open legs, then open arms, and you're flying away from the plane. The gainer was a blast, and I felt like I was immediately stable. No line twists today, no issues other than keeping my butt higher. Finally got up into 82 seconds on a jump. Horizontal speeds very high, vertical speeds as low as 75. Nice.

~~December 25, 2007, winded out today, so we went to Casa Grande ruins

~~December 24, 2007 Several wingsuit jumps today. Scott felt that with my bigger body, I could manage a larger wing. I'd started the day on the Classic, and even did a two-way with Pete Carpentier, for his second wingsuit jump. We had a blast, although I sunk very low compared to him. I need to work on raising my butt and pointing my toes outward rather than merely extending them. What was most fun, however, was the first bigway I was invited to. Scott Campos, Scott Callantine, Monkeyboy, James, Bob, Bill, John, all allowed me to go with them. My fourth jump was with the Birdman Firebird, and on exit, it kicked my butt. Then on deployment, I had seriously nasty line twists, or so I thought. Next jump, I had at least a 1080, I think more. Risers were so screwed down, my head was against my chest. I'm glad I jump a fat-boy canopy, as it allowed me to loosen my chest strap, unzip my arms, and get out of the line twists. Gotta remember to close my legs AND bend my knees on deployment. My third jump on the Firebird, I had no twists, as I was very conscious of line twists, and kept my ankles and knees tight, arched hard, and looked at my hands during deployment.

~~December 23, 2007 Third and fourth wingsuit jump! We're at Eloy for the holiday boogie. Scott Campos took me through my FFC. He didn't care how many jumps I had, so long as I had the requisite 200. Deployment, malfunctions, getting in/out of the suit, lacing the suit, checking out the rig for wingsuiting are all part of the roughly one-hour course.  Scott was very thorough in how he taught, asked questions, etc.

First jump was from the Otter. Exit is like an AFF exit, right foot in front of left, count to 2 before opening wings and legs. I arched all through the flight, I wish I'd gotten video. I jumped the Birdman Classic. Flight went well, no line twists, no spinning, nothing but pure flight. Using flight time really isn't a valid measurement, not at my skill level, but at the same time, it's fun to compare numbers. Flight time was 71 seconds. Second wingsuit jump was from the Skyvan, much easier to exit. Simply face the direction of flight and hop off the back of the aircraft, open the wing immediately, and start flying.

~~June 13, 2007 Had my first wingsuit jump today. I jumped with a Birdman GTI. I was very nervous, although it was my 450th jump. Faris Alaboudy gave me my ground school, and I learned the symmetrical deployment technique. DZO didn't want me to jump the wingsuit today; winds are very high, gusting at 20 on the ground. Faris checked me out before we got on the plane, as lacing the wings was a bit confusing at first. Lace starts with body, then wing, alternating every other one, and then skipping the third lace-tab on the wing so the MLW can have room to slide during deployment. Otherwise, the suit may rip.

Exited the aircraft, counted 1, 2, and popped my wing. So far, so good. Faris flew up and along side me. I was too tense and couldn't really do much with the suit, and I kept arching far too much. I guess that's a habit from camera flight and regular RW work. When I deployed, something gave inside my wingsuit, and my left leg strap came loose. Next thing I knew, my chest strap was up around my nose, and I couldn't deal with the line twists I experienced, nor could I reach my right arm zipper to unzip myself.

I loosened the chest strap, reached my arm, unzipped, and got rid of the line twists. I had a hard time reaching my legs to get the zippers undone, and struggled with the zippers for nearly 2000 feet. I finally got the zippers undone on both legs by 900 feet. Part of my problem was that I was fighting wind all the way down, and struggling to get back to DZ. Flight time was only 72 seconds.

Lesson learned; Don't jump if the DZO recommends you don't jump. I now understand why wingsuit recommendations are 200 jumps; a lot can go wrong very fast, and if you're not well-versed in the operation of the suit, you can find yourself in trouble.