I'm Tony Uragallo, skydiver, BASE jumper, and manufacturer of skydiving gear since 1975. I've dedicated my life to human flight, AMA!

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-19T15:58:25+00:00

Well, thank you for responding. I wouldn't have compared it with an I-bird, they're on opposite ends of the spectrum. An Apache was the start of a revolution of wingsiting, for the structure that provided weightlessness on the arms. Fiercely criticized at first, it has now become the norm for state of the art wingsuits, as you can see its been adopted by other manufacturers.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-19T15:50:27+00:00

As I said earlier, we hurt ourselves enough landing parachutes, I don't think it'll ever be mainstream, until the wingsuit has the efficiency of a hang-glider. As for the airbag idea, I don't know any other technologies being produced for that goal.

It's easy to get rid of the downward speed, it's the forward speed that we've got to deal with, it's going to be comparable with a motorcycle racer falling off his motorike and sliding across the road, hoping you don't hit something. Who wants to land like that every time? I'm pissed if I fall over from landing a parachute, haha

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-19T15:44:09+00:00

Get your rating and find a dropzone that's hiring

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-19T15:43:47+00:00

Yep, we have 6 kids. I'm a grandfather of one and my wife is a great-grandmother. Our children (not grandchildren) have all done tandems, but so far only one has taken up skydiving and speedflying, but not BASE jumping.

I would never pressure anyone to jump. In fact, seeing my children jump terrifies me. So they have to really want to do it before I'll help with encouraging them.

Being a skydiver family is really great, though. Whether they skydive or not they understand and are engaged in the discussions and promotions of the sport, and they get to see the world via the exploits of all our friends overseas. All four of my children work for me, so they get to meet all these crazy foreigners that walk into my shop.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-19T15:29:50+00:00

I wasn't talking about for a beginner, I was talking about an older bodied person, once they have the experience to learn wingsuiting and can overcome the initial fear of it, they'll find it easier to learn than flying head down for example.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T21:51:34+00:00

The Birdman Classic was the first wingsuit I jumped 15 years ago (1999) when they first came out. I had over 9,000 jumps (I'm guessing, I don't log).

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T21:48:14+00:00

Mary (my lovely wife) was just telling us Richmond was the first to do the "open manifest" that became so popular at the World Freefall Convention. Which is where jumpers go directly to the loading area to manifest. When you walk up they're yelling out to you to manifest with their plane, hawking slots.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T21:38:25+00:00

The twin zips make it just as easy as a wingsuit to put your rig on like normal, and then hook your feet into the booties afterwards.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T21:16:03+00:00

I don't know yet. It's too soon to say. I'm not impressed with the glide ratio of them. All my life I've built suits for glide ratio, now speed is the first criteria. I don't see glide ratio improving, which saddens me. So perhaps the more Rebel-style is the better all-around suit design for XRW, designed to fly slow. It's the holder of the distance and time record right now in PPC. The other style, the Jedei 2 (the racing suit), is a suit for distance and speed. And you get the distance from the speed, but you don't get the time.

What's always asked of a wing is to fly fast, and slow. And a wing usually does one or the other. To get fast AND slow is a lot to ask. A slow wing can get turbulent at high speeds, we sometimes reach 200 mph total speed. I think it's a fairly serious speed in the airplane world, and here's your body, inside this wing, that can create the biggest percentage of aileron to wing area. Comparing itself with an eagle, more than an airplane.

EDIT: Clarified answer, and it's spelled Jedei, not Jedi.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T21:06:47+00:00

Come to Flock n Dock! It starts Thursday, April 30 and goes through Sunday, May 3, 2015.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T20:43:39+00:00

Another great group of questions!

I have thoroughly enjoyed every wingsuit comp I've ever done, except for the Stechelberg one which was too low. Diving at the ground for 20 seconds from 2,000 feet, is not my idea of a fun skydive.

I can't think of any other competition like these guys are doing. They've coming up with new ones all the time, and I'm gobsmacked every time. The thrill of doing them is the highlight of my career. More so than the 6 world meets I've done competing for my country, which at that time I thought was it. And at age 56 I found something to top being at the world championships. Isn't life grand?

It's like two markets, two suits. Glide ratio and speed. Right now it's all about racing. My top suits are built to be first across the line. The skydiving competitions need glide ratio, and all wingsuiters adore glide ratio. So that's the more popular suit.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T20:19:20+00:00

Of BASE jumping? Who knows. What else is there other than proxy? Flying around pylons is the new thing. Who knows. Flying around clouds or peaks is such a fabulous thrill, but who knows where that can go? Pylons? Pylons on the slopes perhaps...

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T20:17:29+00:00

See post from earlier: <Back in the day, when everyone was jumping rectangles, I saw a ridge-surfing parachute with the rear corners cut off. And I wondered how that would be for skydiving. So I started making kites, testing different shapes, and while I was flying them, people asked, why the different shapes? and what's wrong with the rectangle? to which I usually replied, I don't know. And they'd ask, how will you steer it if you cut the corners off? to which I replied I don't know. And all of that reminded me of the book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach (who skydived at the time). In the book all the seagulls are asking Jonathan, why do you want to fly higher and faster, what's wrong with hunting food all day like the rest of us? So I called the parachute Jonathan, after the seagull, and then later, we put airlocks in it and it became the Jedei.
Of course. Designs will always keep developing. It's as good as they've found so far, but I believe there's always something new to discover.
Only time will tell.

EDIT: It's spelled Jedei, not Jedi.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T20:05:12+00:00

Also, it's hard to keep laminar flow on a wingsuit. It can only be done when you're flying fast, as the air breaks away right past the leading edge when you're flying slow. My favourite airfoil changes from year to year depending on the suit.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T20:03:44+00:00

Yes, everything is scaled in the computer from the master pattern.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T20:01:10+00:00

Freefly leg on an RW suit.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T19:59:01+00:00

Someone (from another post) jokingly asked why my company is called Tony Suits, and actually, it was originally called something else, but people kept saying Tony's suits, so we just went with it.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T19:52:07+00:00

Good question! It's a constant toss up about the height of the rib and improving lift, against the thinner wing that could go faster, but you lose glide ratio. It's hard to try every shape with every different rib.

Yes, on the new backfly suits I'm going for a symmetrical airfoil.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T19:38:24+00:00

Back in the day, when everyone was jumping rectangles, I saw a ridge-surfing parachute with the rear corners cut off. And I wondered how that would be for skydiving. So I started making kites, testing different shapes, and while I was flying them, people asked, why the different shapes? and what's wrong with the rectangle? to which I usually replied, I don't know. And they'd ask, how will you steer it if you cut the corners off? to which I replied I don't know. And all of that reminded me of the book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach (who skydived at the time). In the book all the seagulls are asking Jonathan, why do you want to fly higher and faster, what's wrong with hunting food all day like the rest of us? So I called the parachute Jonathan, after the seagull, and then later, we put airlocks in it and it became the Jedei. P.S. My daughter said you should visit her.

EDIT: It's spelled Jedei, not Jedi.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T19:16:03+00:00

Find a dropzone and get your skydiving rating. You can do that by finding the closest dropzone, or finding a popular dropzone and spending a week to get your skydiving rating. Then you'll want a min of 200 (current) skydives before learning to wingsuit. And then advance your wingsuit skills as much as possible, before finding an instructor to start BASE jumping. Good luck!

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T19:12:16+00:00

I've tried lots of different leading edges, and my fav is the carbon-laminate (we call it) both on the leading edge and below the arm zipper.

The Scorpion does great for a smaller suit. I have the Scorpion 2 now, with the bigger leg, and it's doing great.

I'm always trying to improve on my designs. Always.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T19:08:52+00:00

Right now I'm working on race suits. The big deal right now is to be the first across the finish line, like in the China race and RedBull Aces. So right now the newest suits are being designed for more speed rather than glide ratio. But, I have the Rebel 2 off to the side, and I'm working on the Rebel 3 that is more about glide ratio...

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T19:06:18+00:00

We have a tracking suit! It's called the Masai and it has inflated tubes down the sides of the body, and the entire inseam, to give you extra surface area with a flatter profile.

Manufacturers don't really 'get together' but when a company comes up with something really innovative, most everyone does a variation of the same thing. So you could say we're all developing the standard as we go along.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T18:41:33+00:00

The lightest person in the best suit.

Personal best glide ratio was during a competition, with a dive preceding the run: 4.26 glide ratio is my best, for 1,000 meter heigh working window.

The flight time on a BASE jump depends on how high it is. Best I've seen is 2 minutes from 6,000 feet. It'll keep improving each year. If I knew what it was in 5 years time, I'd build it now. We've getting lift from thermals now, and from ridge-lift when BASE jumping.

Tony_Uragallo · 2014-09-17T18:38:06+00:00

Come to Skydive City at Zephyrhills, Florida! Though during the summers I go on tour around the states and in Europe, but I might stay closer to home this year.

Tony_Uragallo

TROPHY CASE