Re: [outrager] Squirrel CORVID
Here are 2 jumps overlayed. This was a 2 way from a certain exit point with the A3 following me in my Corvid. This was 10 minutes after first light (so before sunrise) with a cool 2-3mph tailwind. Both exits were similar technique and both pilots have similar skill.
You'll notice the Corvid passes through the 45 at 600' and the A3 is at 630'. Watching on the 2 way could have effected his start as he wasn't focusing on it 100% or mine could have been slightly better technique. The difference in the two starts is lass than the difference between the A3 and C3. The starts were pretty much the same.
Where it gets interesting is looking at the numbers on the rest of the flight. Both suits were flying max glide to clear a notch on a ridge that requires a good start and glide to make. Because the Corvid is a slower suit, it was able to hold the glide needed out of the shallow start with the speed it had and ended up being high enough on the notch to dive down and actually buzzed higher point to the right of the notch. The A3 was loosing speed the whole way to the notch to sustain the glide (it could have easily had the glide if it took the start a bit steeper and had maybe 10mph more of speed going into it) and then at the end actually had to flatten out even more to barely clear it. The A3 should have diverted and flown around to the left of the notch. You can see at the same point in flight the A3 is 62' below the Corvid, yet the Corvid has a higher speed. This is the best example I have as the jumps were less than a second apart and the skill and technique between the pilots was similar and both were doing the same line. And it illustrates the point that you can have similar/same starts between them as long as you aren't going for max glide in the A3 right after.
All my jumps in the Corvid have been in pretty neutral/poor conditions (first light with no wing or a tail wind in pretty low temperatures).
Posting these examples is fairly tedious looking for comparable tracks, I just made the observation of similars starts with good technique in similar conditions, and then looking at rear cams to compare, better starts in the Corvid with slightly off technique. I can't post the video comparisons and don't really feel like spending a few hours going through a few hundred tracks and taking screenshots to compare and editing them together to post here. The aerodynamics make sense for why they start the same in perfect exits and why the more off you are on your push, the further the starts separate and why the slower flying suit has room to hit max glide sooner out of the start than the one that needs more speed. I'm happy to answer questions about how the suit flies or anything else you guys might have, but I don't want to/have time to keep posting all sorts of pictures and data to reconfirm data past this. If I go do some legal jumps I'll post a link to all those tracks. I don't get paid to post this nor do I make money off any suits sold, I'm just posting this on my own time to give some real life experience and info for someone trying to decide which suit to get. So if you're in between the A3 and Corvid (or C3) this has a pretty decent comparison in it and I'm happy to answer more questions. If you don't believe what I'm writing, that is fine and you not buying the suit does not affect me.
