Crack Flying
November 29, 2010 3:26 PM   Subscribe

 
Previously.
posted by olya at 3:28 PM on November 29, 2010


Batwingwinsane. Especially the parts where he flies into canyons/ravines.
posted by rtha at 3:31 PM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]


.
posted by Bovine Love at 3:32 PM on November 29, 2010 [3 favorites]


That's a breathtaking landscape.

Cool wingsuit, too.
posted by NoraReed at 3:34 PM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]


i love the soundtrack....anyone know who that is?
posted by lakersfan1222 at 3:36 PM on November 29, 2010


The skies over Interlachen are littered with people doing stuff like this. Kinda crazy.
posted by Navelgazer at 3:40 PM on November 29, 2010


Good lord, I hope his mom never sees this.

Super cool.
posted by GriffX at 3:43 PM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]


I would totally do this but ultra-absorbent extreme adventure undergarments are horribly expensive.
posted by mecran01 at 3:45 PM on November 29, 2010 [6 favorites]


i love the soundtrack....anyone know who that is?

Chaiyya Chaiyya
posted by naju at 3:45 PM on November 29, 2010 [5 favorites]


that kind of flying looks like it would still be fun after the tsa pulled it's cold finger outta yer ass
posted by kitchenrat at 3:47 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


It was cool, but it sounded to me like they were singing "genitalia" over and over again. Kind of ruined the mood.
posted by sharpener at 3:47 PM on November 29, 2010 [5 favorites]


Flying squirrels do this too.
posted by beagle at 3:50 PM on November 29, 2010


beagle, those wingsuits are sometimes called squirrel suits...
posted by dolface at 3:52 PM on November 29, 2010


I can never get enough of wingsuit flying videos.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 3:53 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


Is anyone else seriously agitated by the way stereo sound comes in and out during that video? Was it tapped of FM radio or something? It's way to distracting
posted by delmoi at 3:54 PM on November 29, 2010


It's only a matter of time before we get the first snuff version of one of these, sadly. In most extreme sports (except, maybe, free-climbing) there's at least a bit of room for error but here, one touch on the canyon wall and you're toast (or more likely, a jammy spread).

I'm guessing the wingsuits are only vestigially manoeverable -- at this speed you have a heck of a lot of momentum and the force required to change direction is pretty large... moreover the suits are probably producing close to their maximum lift already, so trying to steer them is pretty much like trying to steer a car whose brakes are on the point of locking.

So I get a weird feeling watching them.
posted by unSane at 3:56 PM on November 29, 2010 [4 favorites]


hole. lee. shit.
posted by msconduct at 3:59 PM on November 29, 2010


That is a pair of balls.
posted by fire&wings at 4:00 PM on November 29, 2010


I love that song.
posted by graventy at 4:08 PM on November 29, 2010


This just replaced hang gliding at the top of my list of "Things to Do If I'm Ever Diagnosed with a Terminal Illness."
posted by AugieAugustus at 4:08 PM on November 29, 2010 [4 favorites]


i love the soundtrack....anyone know who that is?
...
Chaiyya Chaiyya


Previously on MeFi
posted by bitteroldman at 4:09 PM on November 29, 2010


It reminded me of this Speedriding in Wengen Switzerland video.
posted by jjj606 at 4:13 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


It's only a matter of time before we get the first snuff version of one of these, sadly.

They're not far off, if you look down the list on the youtube page there is an interview with a survivor of a fatal accident.
posted by biffa at 4:16 PM on November 29, 2010


there is an interview with a survivor of a fatal accident.

what
posted by Rock Steady at 4:18 PM on November 29, 2010 [19 favorites]


My black trenchcoat would work pretty much the same way as that, right?

there is an interview with a survivor of a fatal accident.


It's conducted by John Edward.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:19 PM on November 29, 2010 [3 favorites]


Navelgazer: "The skies over Interlachen are littered with people doing stuff like this. Kinda crazy"

I'm guessing that the ground is littered with something similar.
posted by Splunge at 4:21 PM on November 29, 2010 [5 favorites]


The guy who was following him with another camera deserves some credit too.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:23 PM on November 29, 2010


And I want to know who the guy was who told him to "go take a flying leap"...
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:24 PM on November 29, 2010


I love that they're wearing helmuts. It's kind of touching, in a way, like it wouldn't crumple like rice paper on contact with anything at that speed.
posted by smoke at 4:28 PM on November 29, 2010 [4 favorites]


This reminds me of one of my favorite not-so-well-known Paul Simon songs "Learn How to Fall (Before You Learn to Fly)" (YT of NOT Paul Simon singing it)
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:36 PM on November 29, 2010


Kind of looks like the Flying Nun, don't he?
posted by hanoixan at 4:37 PM on November 29, 2010


Would it be possible to do a landing flare maneuver and land yourself on the back of a speeding flatbed truck? If so, that should be the cold open on the next Bond movie.
posted by planetkyoto at 4:38 PM on November 29, 2010 [4 favorites]


helmuts

Helmets. Helmuts. Know the difference.
posted by unSane at 4:38 PM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]


Would it be possible to do a landing flare maneuver and land yourself on the back of a speeding flatbed truck? If so, that should be the cold open on the next Bond movie.


I just put a big wingsuit action scene in a script I did for Warners.
posted by unSane at 4:39 PM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]


That moment at the end of the video where he pulls a ripcord and something flies out of his suit . . . it opens up the diaperchute which releases the contents of his bowels.
posted by quadog at 4:42 PM on November 29, 2010 [4 favorites]


I feel like we see this video every couple months. Another previously
posted by DU at 4:49 PM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]


All I ask is a squirrel suit and a star to steer it by.
posted by bicyclefish at 4:54 PM on November 29, 2010 [5 favorites]


"I love that they're wearing helmuts."

Helmut loves it too. There's more than enough of him to go around!
posted by sneebler at 4:55 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


I have no desire to bungee jump. I won't even ride roller coasters. But I really want to do this!
posted by haplesschild at 4:58 PM on November 29, 2010


moreover the suits are probably producing close to their maximum lift already

I wonder if ground effect kicks in when they get close to the walls/ground?

as in
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:01 PM on November 29, 2010


I am going to name my next son Helmet.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:03 PM on November 29, 2010


Reminds me of the Flying Tailor of 1912.
posted by squalor at 5:09 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


That wasn't flying! That was... falling with style!
posted by ND¢ at 5:11 PM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]


Ha - all flying is 'falling with style!"
posted by sandraregina at 5:55 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


We have met Icarus and his name is Jeb. May he have a better fate.
posted by ofelia at 6:13 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


It's conducted by John Edward.

That was a funnier mental image before I figured out who you were talking to.
posted by EarBucket at 6:24 PM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]


About. About. Dammit.
posted by EarBucket at 6:24 PM on November 29, 2010


Icarus seems ill-fitting, its not like he's going to get any closer to the sun in that suit. Gliding like that looks fun as hell though, something I'd never be brave enough to do. Thanks to the internets, I can live it vicariously!
posted by drinkyclown at 6:28 PM on November 29, 2010


3 wingsuit videos in 2 months?
posted by lalochezia at 6:29 PM on November 29, 2010


WHY DOES HE HATE HIS MOTHER?!
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 6:30 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


sorry: the 3rd one was from a coupele of years back. my bad.
posted by lalochezia at 6:30 PM on November 29, 2010


It's only a matter of time before we get the first snuff version of one of these, sadly.

Already happened, at the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado. From the wikipedia entry:

"In October 2003, while performing a proximity demonstration, wingsuiter Dwain Weston was killed attempting to fly over the bridge. Weston was wearing a wingsuit, a skydiving suit with fabric extended below the arms to the body and between the legs to catch air allowing for horizontal travel when skydiving. Weston was to go over the bridge while fellow skydiver Jeb Corliss was to go under it. Miscalculating his distance from the bridge, Weston struck a railing while traveling an estimated 100 mph, killing him instantly.."

Video of the crash (not gory, as you can't really see the accident, but just shows you how fast these guys are going and what a small miscalculation would mean)
posted by banishedimmortal at 6:45 PM on November 29, 2010


A parachute landing? I am terribly disappointed.
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:42 PM on November 29, 2010


Wingsuit? Wingnut is more like it, amirite?!

Seriously, you have to be a little bit crazy to do something like this. I wish I was that little bit crazy.
posted by deborah at 7:49 PM on November 29, 2010


I feel that I am insufficiently informed as to whether this subject has indeed been broached prior to today's date.
posted by aerotive at 7:50 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


Anyone know the glide ratio for this thing, and how it compares to other flying (falling?) devices?
posted by cccorlew at 7:52 PM on November 29, 2010


Wikipedia says 2:1, and then says 2.5:1. So, more flying than falling, but still a lot of falling.
posted by Ritchie at 8:10 PM on November 29, 2010


the suits are probably producing close to their maximum lift already...

Actually, the lift force goes up with the square of the speed -- which means at high speed the wing is just loafing along; low speed is where it's at its limits. At the lowest airspeed that an aircraft can fly, the wing is producing the most lift it can. Try to turn, or go any slower, and the wing will stall. I suspect that a wing-suit is about as manoueverable as a "regular" airplane of the same wingspan and weight, given its crappy glide ratio (which looks around 6:1). Sorry for the derail, carry on!

I've flown lots of airplanes but that just looks insane -- I want some structure between my ass and the ground! Not to mention lots of space between aforementioned ass and ground.
posted by phliar at 8:10 PM on November 29, 2010


This just replaced hang gliding at the top of my list of "Things to Do If I'm Ever Diagnosed with a Terminal Illness."
Thats cool, but I doubt I would even do it then!
posted by uni verse at 8:14 PM on November 29, 2010


Flying squirrels do this too. --beagle

So do flying snakes, and flying possums.

Can you imagine gliding along like that, with a snake gliding along side you?
posted by eye of newt at 8:23 PM on November 29, 2010


i love the soundtrack....anyone know who that is?

Chaiyya Chaiyya


... which has given us one of Bollywood's more amazing videos -- shot entirely atop a moving train.
posted by Mike D at 8:34 PM on November 29, 2010 [4 favorites]


It was cool, but it sounded to me like they were singing "genitalia" over and over again. Kind of ruined the mood.

See, for me that's what makes it GREAT.
posted by longsleeves at 9:50 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


I need to learn how to do this ASAP.

I am terrified of falling, and I always have been. So I have spent my life trying to flood the fear out, by bungee jumping and other jumpy sports. It doesn't work. I have hurled myself backwards, upsidedown, facefirst and sideways off tall things and I'm still scared of stairs.

I've not yet done skydiving, and now this thing is added to my list.

If you have to die, can there be a more glorious way to go than to go in the pursuit of one of humanity's oldest dreams? Also, maybe if I learned how to fly like a flying squirrel I wouldn't get vaguely dizzy at the top of steep stairs any more!
posted by winna at 10:25 PM on November 29, 2010


The guy who was following him with another camera deserves some credit too.

That was the angel of death. Trying to keep up.
posted by pracowity at 10:34 PM on November 29, 2010 [7 favorites]


Re: the flying squirrel analogy, a former NASA-JPL aerospace engineer once calculated that, thanks to the inverse square law, for a six-foot person in a wingsuit to have roughly the equivalent wing loading as a flying squirrel (i.e. be able to land as softly), he or she would have to either:

a) have a wing surface area of about 254 square feet
b) weigh no more than 20 pounds
c) have a wing surface area of 28 square feet but fly three times as fast, i.e. about 65 mph
posted by gottabefunky at 10:43 PM on November 29, 2010


Can you imagine gliding along like that, with a snake gliding along side you?

Must go faster: see National Geographic — High-Velocity Falcons. A trained Peregrine Falcon stoops from 15,000 feet for a lure released by falconer/skydiver Ken Franklin at 5,000 feet, and reaches a maximum speed of 242 mph. Note the bird's relative speed (and feathery streamlining) as she dives past the camera at 0:12, 0:40, 1:31, and 2:00 in the video.

Methinks Icarus has a bit of catching up to do.
posted by cenoxo at 11:23 PM on November 29, 2010 [3 favorites]


That looks cool. But do they make those suits in brown?
posted by MuffinMan at 12:11 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


MuffinMan just made me choke with laughter on my cappuccino. Still mopping up the floor...
posted by aqsakal at 12:31 AM on November 30, 2010


But do they make those suits in brown?

Indeed. If I was squirrel boy, there's more than one crack I'd be worried about leaving a huge smear across.
posted by pracowity at 4:37 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


These guys don't look like they're having much fun, though.
posted by empath at 5:42 AM on November 30, 2010


I wonder if ground effect kicks in when they get close to the walls/ground?

Rule of thumb is that ground effect works up to roughly one wingspan-length from the ground. So for him, with his arms not fully extended, maybe two to three feet off the ground. I would guess no noticeable impact.

My black trenchcoat would work pretty much the same way as that, right?

Fly, fatass, fly!
posted by backseatpilot at 8:23 AM on November 30, 2010


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