It’s drawn somewhere short of this, I think:
wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.
(H/T to b2)
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41 comments to The Line Between Thrill-Seeking and Full-On Crazy |
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It’s not enough to be a flying squirrel. They need to see how close they can get to the rock walls. Never mind unexpected wind sheers with mountain waves.
I give these guys a rating of five brass balls. (highest!) . IQ rating of one dumbbell.
I guess the Swiss are running out of rubber rooms.
wow,
All I can say is the 2 I have aren’t anywhere near big enough for that crap.
Sure is fun to watch tho!
Want.
I wonder how many times I could put “Flying like a Squirrel” on my weekly ORM cards before someone finally took it seriously.
Frakken COOL!!!!
Look like a rush. One I wouldn’t attempt – d***.
WILCO/
Only ONE dumbbell??
okay got a dumb ?
where do they stow the “black box”? If they “crash” will NTSB have to do a reconstruction with the pieces found?
All balls. No brains. Looks like fun though!
Any guesses on average life expectancy in terms of sorties flown?
Virgil- You’re right. Will amend to 1/2 a dumbbell.
Peter- I’ve also wondered: If block boxes are “indestructible” why don’t they make the whole plane out of that stuff (nyuk)
Almost as thrilling as a night trap with a deck heaving +/- 40 ft when you are the last one to land, having provided fuel to those who missed it a few times, where a moment of inattention or just plain bad luck can take out you and likely others?
And a heck of a lot less important!
I give myself five dumbbells for the rating system.
He says “We come over here specifically to learn how to fly our wingsuits off of cliffs…”
“Learn”??? Seems to me that’s something I’d like to learn before I do. Is there a simulator somewhere?
There might be something to be said for Full On Crazy. Okay, maybe not that close to the cliffs and the roads (new flat hatting record, anyone?) but it sure as hell looks like fun!
Hope the skis were cheap.
Those guys have to elevate situational awareness to a new level.
Did you notice that they didn’t show a single one of them LANDING?
Anyone else think it would be easy to sort of get into the feeling of flight and sort of…. like.. forget to pull the ripcord?
I’m waiting for the guy who rates three dumbells to think of strapping something like an street-luge rig to his torso and landing that road. Maybe something that folds up a bit so you gets yer retracting landing gear!
George V.
Prediction: Olympic event within oh, 8 years.
Babs- Good point. In my airborne days we used to say anything is air-droppable. Once.
I think at the very end of thevideo you can see one of the guys deploying a canopy. It would make sense that you would need some sort of parachute to land – your stall speed in that configuration would not be conducive to a “soft” landing….
Wouldn’t it be more valuable to learn NOT to do stuff like this? Or is this one way the gene pool cleanses itself?
Wingsuit landing without chute (maybe):
http://www.gofastsports.com/zone/wingsuit.html
&
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2007/12/07/sports/1194817096418/a-wing-suit-landing-quest.html
I’m surprised that the SpecOps community hasn’t tapped into this yet – at the very least it would open up new dimensions into the HALO/HAHO (High-Altitude, Low-Opening/High-Altitude, High-Opening) methods of parachute insertions.
Can you imagine the look on some Taliban’s face when a half-dozen human bats descend on him? I’d pay to watch that video.
That looks like wicked fun!
Maj H, I love to see that vid too!
S/F
I saw on some cable show last week that some genius was working on leg-mounted jeTs to wear over his wingsuit. I immediately imagined SEALs in black wingsuits.
Flying into a net would work. After being launched by a huge trebuchet.
Hadn’t seen it until now, but it’s a logical step forward. First jump in 71 was on a C-9 (28′ round) military surplus rig. Along the way, the military cast offs were shed and the “square parachutes” made the scene. The first one on the DZ was viewed with awe and both front risers had a warning label (Minimum 250 jumps). Not all that many years later, students on jump one went out the door static lining squares. From there “AFF” (accelrated freefall/”harness hold”) from at least 10K became standard. Bill Booth brought us tandem (the curse of those of us who made good green Saturday and Sunday AMs teaching those newbies), but now it’s a standard “pony ride” for the “wanna check it off my bucket list” crowd and the military.
Stopped the sport before wing suits came into regular use, but we’ve come a long way in the sport, basically with minimal oversite by FAA as a result of good self regulation.
This in one venue where the military has followed the civilian developments, not the other way around. Oh, and the smallest canopies are down to 27 sq st. It’s all in how you flare to land them….
It’s very safe…safer than a two wheeled crotch rocket on the roads of anywhere, but….we somehow don’t think that’s crazy, do we?
More at UPSA’s website.
And I was watching the video thinking like Maj Harvey. HALO in wings. Talk about extending your unnoticed insertion range dramatically!
Wow guys, what’s with all the insults? I’v got over 500 wingsuit jumps and I’m not ignorunt..ignerant…..dumb. I gotta tell ya guys flying a wingsuit is the purest form of flight possible. It is also the biggest thrill in the world! The way you train is out of an aircraft and pratice with clouds before you try it with rock! Cloud busting with your face is a BLAST! All of my jumps are out of airplanes but I plan to make it to Norway someday and base jump off of the 3500′ cliffs. But being an old guy,46, I don’t think I will be scraping my fingernails on the rock anytime soon!
“Crazy” can be a kind of compliment, Scary. From some people
Scary,
What is the horizontal-to-vertical ratio with those suits?
Ken: Jeb Corliss in 2nd video nytimes URL above says: ‘forward 3 feet down one foot’. I say ‘back 1 step, not 6 feet under’.
From a SWO’s perspective, it’s no less crazy than trying to launch and recover from a flight deck in some of those same fjords….
*** OFF TOPIC ***
Anybody know anything about this?
http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2009/01/02/news/people/2people12.31.txt
A loss of confidence has resulted in the temporary reassignment of a submarine’s commanding officer at Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, Navy officials announced in a written statement on Monday.
Although there were no major incidents reported after Capt. Charles Hill’s first patrol as the commanding officer of the USS West Virginia, he was temporarily reassigned to the office of Submarine Squadron 20.
According to the written statement by the Submarine Group 10 public affairs office, Hill was relieved from his position as commanding officer due to a loss of confidence relating to the command environment aboard the USS West Virginia.
Hill took command of the USS West Virginia’s Gold crew in July and completed his first patrol as the vessel’s commanding officer, said Lt. Rebecca Rebarich.
“There was no specific incident. It was a condition relating to the command climate that was brought before the commander of Submarine Squadron 16/20’s attention after the first patrol that resulted in the commander’s loss of confidence in Hill’s ability,” Rebarich said.
When you hit it just right you can go 80-90-mph forward (horizontal) and as slow as 35mph down. If you the right ski slope you could land it. The trick is to do it twice! There is a photo of me in my suit in the photo gallery at http://www.skydivetwincities.com and yes
I’m crazy.
Looks like a great flying hobby. No annuals. No insurance.
MajH: Attack Wing: Glider Makes Waves With Stealth and Speed. “It weighs only 30 pounds and can be fully weaponized for assault and rescue. It has a 6-foot jet-wing that is steered with handheld rotary controls connected to its rudder. And it can hide more than 100 pounds of combat gear in a built-in compartment.
The Gryphon attack glider, designed to penetrate combat zones at 135 miles per hour, could revolutionize the art of parachuting.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352477,00.html
First saw this kind of stuff in the 2nd Lara Croft movie and then some others on YouTube, but this surpasses them all. Wow!
My second favorite, after this one, is of a guy who jumps out of a helicopter and wings it down a ski slope. Passes a couple of folks on the way down, does a minor popup, and deploys the silk thingie for a beauty 3 pointer…er…2 pointer.
Major,
Maybe they are…It’s a natural ain’t it?
b2
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The counter-argument, eloquently made.