Video: death-wish wingsuit flight

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Wingsuits have evolved over the past 20 years to the point where users have pretty impressive glide ratios and maneuverability. Although the concept of risk homeostasis is somewhat controversial, we've seen its principles in action in skydiving: as the equipment has become more reliable, the users have offset that reduction in risks by attempting riskier behaviors.

 

The same phenomenon appears to be true for wingsuit flight. Witness

in which a group of wingsuit users engage in extreme feats of "proximity flying," flying dangerously close to ground objects. If they misjudge their available glide ratio (compared to the slope of the ground beneath them), or if they clip an object, it's likely they won't be able to pop their parachute in time for a safe landing.

 

Jeb Corliss is famous for this kind of stuff, and he blew it once, breaking several bones in his legs in

in South Africa.

 

Makes motorcycling seem tame...

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

I have a gut feeling that hitting a small bird in the 'nads as you go through those trees might bring an abrupt end to ones control over the glide slope.

[upflying]

They seem to be well above stall speed and well trained with a lot of expereince to perform close ground proximity flying. You could do this safely with aerobatic aircraft too.

Military aircraft do this all the time to avoid radar.

Would I do it? Hell no.

[TEWKS]

It's probably the most insane reckless and irresponsible thing a human being could do. Wish I had the intestinal fortitude to try it!

 

Pat

[Bud]

They seem to be well above stall speed and well trained with a lot of expereince to perform close ground proximity flying. You could do this safely with aerobatic aircraft too.

Military aircraft do this all the time to avoid radar.

Would I do it? Hell no.

 

Most likely true.

 

But...............

 

Like the hang glider pilot that chased birds out to sea, he suddenly realized they could flap their wings and fly back to land.

 

Likewise, military aircraft have engines, these guys have gravity.

 

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

My brother said prox flyers like this often use Google Earth to identify routes that they want to fly, then they'll fly that same route multiple times, flying lower and lower each time; presumably the video in my OP was something captured after many of the higher-clearance flights had been performed.

 

I suppose it's like taking a few laps around a track at modest speed before ramping your performance up to 9/10 or 10/10. Still, unlike a track, if you screw up it's almost a guaranteed immediate death - and if it's not, it's gonna take a while for EMT's to reach you.

 

As far as wingsuit performance is concerned, I found this resource which says that for the best wingsuits:

 

• forward speed at best glide ratio is about 75 MPH;

• vertical speed is 25-30 MPH;

• best glide ratio is 2-2.5.

 

That’s pretty impressive performance. A normal skydive from 12,500 feet in a belly-down orientation takes about one minute before you have to pull the rip cord and deploy your parachute. That’s at a terminal velocity of about 115 MPH (which you achieve within roughly the first ten seconds), so if your vertical speed is just 30 MPH with a wingsuit, you could enjoy flights of around 4 minutes before pulling the rip cord. Neat.

 

[Selden]

Last summer, Google put on an impressive jump (which Sergei Brin said could go wrong in about 200 ways):

.

 

Perhaps the most impressive part was maintaining a live Wi-Fi data link from a blimp 5000 feet over San Francisco, all the way down to the ground.

[Bill_Walker]

...I suppose it's like taking a few laps around a track at modest speed before ramping your performance up to 9/10 or 10/10. Still, unlike a track, if you screw up it's almost a guaranteed immediate death - and if it's not, it's gonna take a while for EMT's to reach you....

 

Think of it as the Isle of Man TT of skydiving. Pretty similar margin for error.

[kmac]

I can not get it to load, but look up the Dean Potter wing suit jump from Mt Bute BC. It was a show on Nat Geo TV the other day. Just sick.

 

They are getting a 3:1 and more glide ratio now and he had to fly 5 miles out to get to a landing zone....life or death flight, but the whole show is cool, especially if you like free climbing as well.

 

Jeb is awesome.

I love this wing suit flying stuff...10-15 years ago...man.

[OoPEZoO]

Wow.....That is awesome.

 

I pulled it up on my iPad and let Danielle watch it last night. She just about got sick.

[JohnnyJ]

I understand the attraction if you are experienced, but there has to be a first time.

 

Can you imagine what goes on in someone's head the first time he/she does in?

 

Johnny J

[Downs]

I'd do it. In my case it's a matter of not being able to afford it.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

I understand the attraction if you are experienced, but there has to be a first time.

 

Can you imagine what goes on in someone's head the first time he/she does in?

 

I expect it's a bit like motorcycling. If you've never ridden a bike before, you don't hop on an S1000RR, put it in Race Mode, and immediately start trying to turn in world-class lap times. You start with small bikes and slow speeds, and build your skill level. Likewise, one wingsuit manual I read recommends that a first-time wingsuit flyer should start with 500 freefall skydives before attempting to fly with the wingsuit. And then when they're bombing the ravines, they do the same run repeatedly, getting more and more familiar with the terrain and moving lower and lower each time. So it's a pretty gradual thing.