In cooperation with the technical university and "virtual vehicle" (both located in graz/ austria) and the institut for sports science of the university (innsbruck/ austria) we researched for aerodynamics improvements of the tube3 and further projects.

A complete tracking jump in BASE implements a lot of factors which are involved to track maximum distance.  Exit dynamic, transfer, angle of attack, bodyposition, forward speed and so on. The windtunnel test reflects just the full flight section of the jump.

The live datas we got during the tunnel session showed a good practical orientation and surprisingly good accuracy.

3 different pilots got almost identical datas confirming the tracking skills of the same pilots in real flight. We measured 4 different angles of attack for every single setup. Slick jumper, tube3 and a prototype of integrated tracking suit. Beside this we measured different arm positions, helmets and rig´s.

While we are not finished with all calculations and the CFD analysis we already sorted out some few interesting results. Due to our high angle of attack (we track at about 28° AOA) drag is not only a negativ thing.

When tracking a part of the drag becomes part of the lift. The lift component on the other side transforms to an acceleration component in flight direction.

Changing the bodyposition like chin to chest or hands back changes the momentum of the system, allowing for a change of the flight angle. But this doesn't lead to a higher performance over a longer flight section.