There is nothing on guinessworldrecords.com about the fastest, but i remember seeing a show on the discovery channel a little while back about these freeflyers that had head down competitions to see who could go the fastest. If i remember correctly the club record was somewhere between 302 - 312mph.
Cheryl Sterns is going to attempt to break the existing altitude record, and in the mean while they estimate she could attain a speed of 1.3 Mach (885 mph).
StratoQuest is a World Record High Altitude Sky Dive Attempt and Research Project. Cheryl Stearns will attempt to break the current world sky dive record of 102,800 by ballooning to 130,000 and safely parachuting in a pressurized space suit to the earth's surface.
I heard about the Kittinger jump (this is the one in the 60s frmo the edge of space, right?) I didn't know he got to mach 1 though, and I'm interested to know why it wasn't technically freefall... (Not being funny, I just don't understand...)
That is still a debate. He had a drogue out to stabilize him. I count my drogue-fall time with tandems as free fall time. I am on the side of counting his jump as free fall.
I personally think counting tandem jumps as freefall comes under a different set of restrictions: you're not attempting to break or set a record when doing a tandem.
Again, this isnt taking anything away from the jump in my eyes. Its amazing this record still stands so long after its been set.
As far as the Mach 1 speed, that is also a debate....
Try this site -http://www.speedskydiving.net/2000/speedskydivers.php
It claims that the fatest recorded is 524.13 Kph or 327.6mph.
Now that's impressive. [cool][/reply]
after 2000 the way speed measured was changed. more accurate data can be found on speedskydiving.com also the speed is actually averaged over 1000 meters and over 2 pro-tracks, not maximum.
well what is the avg head down free fall speed? 180-200?
Wow, good question!! Anyone?
Define "head down". Depending on the amount of surface you present to the wind while flying headfirst towards the ground, the speeds can range from less than the freefly "sweet spot", which is around 150 (actually, I have no idea what's the slowest you can go on your head, I mention this only to illustrate it better) to the record 330 mph. So talking about average speed can be a bit tricky.
well what is the avg head down free fall speed? 180-200?
Wow, good question!! Anyone?
Define "head down". Depending on the amount of surface you present to the wind while flying headfirst towards the ground, the speeds can range from less than the freefly "sweet spot", which is around 150 (actually, I have no idea what's the slowest you can go on your head, I mention this only to illustrate it better) to the record 330 mph. So talking about average speed can be a bit tricky.
As far as the Mach 1 speed, that is also a debate....
Feasibly he could have...the researchers estimated his speed to be between 614mph and 714mph during his decent. Where he exited in the stratosphere the speed of sound is about 676mph, which decreses until he hits the tropopause at about 65 thousand feet, where the speed of sound is about 660mph. The speed of sound is constant through the tropopause at 660mph, then begins to increase once he hits the troposphere at about 35 thousand feet. The speed of sound at his opening alt of 17.5 is about 714mph. So his best chance to hit Mach 1 would have been while he was falling through the tropopause, but the range they estimated his speed at leaves it undetermined as to whether or not he really did break the sound barrier on the jump.
well what is the avg head down free fall speed? 180-200?
Wow, good question!! Anyone?
Well, the freefly "sweet spot" as it was put in a previous post is around 150-155. This should be the average, otherwise you're going too fast. I was told by a badass freeflyer that you want to be able to go slow on your head, for a few reasons. 1. To be versitile and fly with sitflyers 2. because at lower speeds you have more (not much, but you notice a difference between 150 and 170, trust me) freedom to move your other limbs without moving around.
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