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I have been flying my PF TS from the airplane in preparation for a trip in October. I am trying to determine how well I am doing in the suit. I have been using a ProTrack, N3 and Fly Sight to log my jumps. I have been searching on here and DZ.com for some info but haven't come up with much.

As a rough average on my better flights my ProTrack fall rate is ~85 mph. The Flysight has been a little quirky but on a good flight upwind my glide ratio is about .7-.8 and cross wind .9-1.1

Just wondering if anyone has put in the time from the airplane with the PF TS and how that translated into the BASE environment?

Figured I'd try this forum first but if you think I'm in the wrong place I'll take it over to DZ.com.

Thanks guys!

I've really loved my PF track suit and used it several times off terminal antennas (and about 30-40 sky jumps). Unfortunately my protrack broke after only a little data. 85 seems pretty low. I think I was tracking at around 90mph and I'm 150lbs. I'm just a solid beginner, but from what I've heard and read it's common for people to track too flat, which would give you a decreased fall rate and decreased glide (not saying that's whats happening...just saying to look out for that). Maybe you could see what your minimum fall rate is in a very flat track? Your fall rate should be faster than that in the ideal glide position.

It's the only track suit I've used, but I've been very happy with it in the BASE environment and extremely impressed with the customer service I've gotten (in making/shipping and when I tore up the knees on a gravel-on-kneepad landing).

Thanks for the info. I am about 160 lbs. and 5'7" if that makes much difference. I have gotten then suit down to about 73 mph while really floating it. So far my best glide ratio flights have been with a vertical speed around 85 mph if that helps clear it up. One jump yesterday I really fought hard to roll shoulders bend at hips and tuck chin, the flight felt very unstable and the fall rate was around 100 so I went back to a relaxed body position and felt good and achieved the flight I described in the first post.

I bought one, practice using it about
20 times out of 2 different planes
from various exit altitudes. Then
took to ITW followed by LB, where
I stuck with Yellow Ocean (due to
weather more than any reason).

The suit and I flew very well together.
Keep in mind I have 500+ track dives
so the learning curve is a little flatter.


Yes, the best angle per seasoned guys
that I pinged for asistance was with the
head a little lower than you'd think. To
get this dialed in, practice from as high
as you can.

Once I got the flying position and pull
process squared away my favorite drill
was to exit a 182, last, at 5,000 AGL,
with the max cut, fly the suit for 15
seconds then pull, so I could clearly
see the distance I traveled. Couple
times jumpers on the ground would
be amazed by my speed & distance.


RE: body dimensions, taller is better,
thinner is better, stronger is better,
fluid, smooth, comfortable is best.

I put at least a 100+ jumps on mine prior to starting base. It made a huge difference for me. I did my first big wall jumps in LB (shame on me) with 20 total base jumps (what a retard). I was advised to take 7 seconds max of one exit (the trashy one). I was able to comfortably milk the jump for 11 seconds on my first try and was still dirty high (40 seconds canopy ride at least and my exit was shit).

I love that I can fly for so long and far that it becomes impossible to hit the vertical portion of the wall. If I get a 180 with linetwists and I do nothing, I will either get hung up in a tree or land on the talus.

Tracking from a plane really helps with getting a feel for how the suit will behave at terminal, but with no real reference, its hard to dial in the right angle, speed etc. Its all about the angle you take right off the exit and the speed you build before you really lock in your position. I have done my first 50 BASE tracks here in LB and France in the last month, and it takes a fair bit of experimentation with your body position at sub terminal before it really starts to work.

If you feel unstable you are probably flying too flat. The main keys for a good track is not very complicated. The easiest way to put it is this: go for speed. Speed = lift with all flying things. the more speed you have, the more stable you are and the more carve you can put into you turns etc. Now the problem is you won't always be jumping Trollveggen with 5000ft. of nice altitude to track out, so you can't dive and build speed forever on every jump. You'll have to transition and here is the key to becoming a really solid mountain tracker. With a good transition you'll be able to carry with you the speed you've built up and maintain a good flight in the right flying angle.
But you have to take it to the mountains to get a real feeling for the whole thing. My 2 cents is don't get so hung up in numbers, speed, freefall time etc. in the skydiving environment. Just become really comfortable in your suit tracking steep, flat, doing flips and barrel rolls, back-tracking and so on. Then go to Kjerag or another big terminal cliff and get your track on, because that is were you'll actually see how good your track is - and it is were you will become an amazing tracker with time and effort

Very good advice from Isfjordenbase there. It would be interesting for you to write more on tracking technique


Just to remind everybody the above mentioned 5000´+ cliff remains illegal with a $5000us fine and loss of all gear

Learned much from jumping behind the young guns in Måndalen BASE