Low-ki straight to Freak, skipping ATC

Hi bird people,

Baby bird here. I have around 30 WS jumps, just got into my Low-Ki 2 for 4 jumps. Loving it so far. It’s a little too soon to plan for the future but I wanna do it anyway. I’m planning to get the Freak when I have around 200 jumps on the Low Ki. Just wondering if I really need to get the ATC in between. Because I saw the flow chart on Squirrel website about going from Lowki->ATC->Freak. Because I don’t want spend extra ~$2000 just for a suit that’s might not even needed. 

Find a wing-suit coach and work your way through all the possible skills on your current suit before you buy a second suit.

The same syllabus applies to down-sizing canopies.

Switching to a bigger suit is like changing a class in car racing - you get more power, but if you can't control it properly things will get really messy really fast. In particular, bigger suits are more sensitive to asymmetry on openings (body-twists), harder to recover from flatspins, and it's really easy to turn yourself into a meat missile if you loose focus at high speeds.

Also, at normal speed the big suits fly you, not you fly them. What I mean is that wings have so much pressure that at normal speeds it feels like an autopilot. For experienced pilot that's a nice feature that helps to relax when needed, but for inexperienced it builds a false sense of confidence. And then when you need it to fly the suit for real (i.e. really fast or really slow, steep or shallow) you won't know what to do, or worse - you loose control of the suit.

Flying ATC in formation with bigger suits (Freaks, Creatures, Makos) teaches how to fly the suit in all configurations because you'd have to work and think.

You don't need a brand-new one. Since ATC is considered transitional suit, there's a chance someone will be selling a used one in good condition on Facebook. People are after these suits, so once you done jumping and grow into Freak, you can then sell it

These are two popular Buy/Sell groups:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1652511934998695/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/233536077183570/

4 hours ago, the.Legend said:

Switching to a bigger suit is like changing a class in car racing - you get more power, but if you can't control it properly things will get really messy really fast. In particular, bigger suits are more sensitive to asymmetry on openings (body-twists), harder to recover from flatspins, and it's really easy to turn yourself into a meat missile if you loose focus at high speeds.

Also, at normal speed the big suits fly you, not you fly them. What I mean is that wings have so much pressure that at normal speeds it feels like an autopilot. For experienced pilot that's a nice feature that helps to relax when needed, but for inexperienced it builds a false sense of confidence. And then when you need it to fly the suit for real (i.e. really fast or really slow, steep or shallow) you won't know what to do, or worse - you loose control of the suit.

Flying ATC in formation with bigger suits (Freaks, Creatures, Makos) teaches how to fly the suit in all configurations because you'd have to work and think.

You don't need a brand-new one. Since ATC is considered transitional suit, there's a chance someone will be selling a used one in good condition on Facebook. People are after these suits, so once you done jumping and grow into Freak, you can then sell it

These are two popular Buy/Sell groups:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1652511934998695/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/233536077183570/

 

 

Bravo, Sir! What a wonderfully stated and smart bit of advice. AirbornePOG, this is the word.

With 200 jumps and an average progression you probably don't. Those two suits are very similar in complexity. I hesitate to say ATC is actually significantly more forgiving than a Freak.

As advised above when in doubt take some lessons from a coach with broader experience.

Looking on the LowKi layout and size, I have impression that it is well represents mid-sized wingsuit. You don’t need another mid-sized wingsuit to make progression. With 200 jumps on LowKi you will have enough experience to switch to Freak.  At the beginning Freak will feel difficiult to control, you may need coach. But there is no reason to go through ATC practicing.