Choosing a wingsuit | Phoenix Fly

How to choose a wingsuit

The intended use and your personal experience level are two large factors in choosing a wingsuit. All our products have an experience level listed for reference, but these are only rough guidelines, and more important are your personal skills.
Some of the wingsuits feature a large surface area, meaning the pull and potential instability can be a bit more complex than you might be used to from smaller wingsuit models. Therefore, its important not to just adhere to the recommended numbers, but also to make sure you poses the skills suitable for the wingsuit you intend to jump.

Build and weight

Your body type and weight are large determining factors in choosing a wingsuit.
Someone with a heavy frame may require a bit more wing to keep up with formations of different speeds. At the same time, someone with a small, light frame may not have the wingload to fly a bigger suit at the speeds his or her heavier buddies are. It's important to know that bigger isnt always better.

Choose wisely, and always 'Dress for succes'.

Comparing wingsuit models

Each of our wingsuit models have a short product overview, comparing the various aspects of the wingsuit, and its intended use. Each aspect is rated from zero to six stars, as seen in the example table here:

example - product overview
freefall time
distance
ease of flight
aerobatics
camera work
B.A.S.E.

Freefall time

Some wingsuits are easy to fly at slow fallrates. Meaning an ideal tool for GPS based competitions, or formation flying for pilots with a slightly heavier frame.

Distance

Some suits use their lift to stay up for longer durations. Others fly faster, and are more built for distance.
This table shows you how well a specific model is suited for that style of flying.

Ease of flight

Some suits are easier to fly at their maximum range than others.
On one model, it may take 20 to 50 jumps to dial in the performance, where on others it may only take you 5 jumps.
Ease of flight refers to the experience level needed to fly a wingsuit model. The easier it is to fly, the more suitable it is for novice and intermediate wingsuit pilots.

Aerobatics

Some wingsuit models are built for the long haul. Everlasting freefall and flying far. Others are built with agressive manouvers and backflying in mind.
Though aerobatics are possible with all wingsuits, backfly inlets and a design aimed at more assertive flying make some models more suitable than others.

Camera work

Cameraflying puts a whole other list of challanges on a wingsuit pilots plate.
Backflying at speeds close to stall point, agressive climbing, and quick diving are all aspects that make up a cameraflyers task-list.

B.A.S.E.

With regards to use of a wingsuit in BASE, there are several key aspects related to flying speed, easy accesable pilotchute and/or optional B.A.S.E. pouch, and the amount of surface area a wingsuit has.

I'm having trouble choosing

We are here to help you. Should you have trouble figuring out which wingsuit model may best suit your needs, just shoot us an email and let us know what style of jumping you prefer.
Do you like Long solos, tight formation flying, aerobatics, BASE? Also what is your experience level and build?

With this information we will gladly give you custom advice, suiting your needs.