Hope they had some nice songs on their Ipod, and a long massage afterward, cause damn thats a long haul! That must have been killer for their arms!
Though the freefall times from lower (14k) altitude jumps quoted here on dz.com hint at around 9 minutes easily being possible from 39k, keep in mind that once you get past 3 minutes, performance decreases rapidly due to arm-strain and lactic accid buildup. The fact that they managed to do so with a ton of additional gear, and flying a loose 3 way formation makes it all the more impressive.
Browsing for more news, I noted that Birdman.com only a few weeks ago named Japanese wingsuit pilot Shinichi Ito as a runner up for the longest freefall (with a freefall time of 5'22" from an altitude of 33,5k). Though an awesome long freefall, there are at least 2 longer freefalls above that one (and by now actually 4):
Sgt. Ben Borger (with 24k exit) and 5:40 *If anyone known Ben Borgers exact freefall time, please let me know!
And our own DZ.com regular Mike Masheff (aka IslandGuy) already having flown an incredible 5:28 from 22.050 ft
Definately performances worthy of noting in the short history of these (official and unofficial) time records. Especially since Ben, Mike (and others) had 10k less altitude to work with. Because its a geeky and fun aspect of wingsuit flying, Ive made an overview on past and current flights at Wingsuitnews.com
If anyone wants to assist in doing rough calculations of the estemated sustained freefall speed (mph) for all current records, also give a shout
Browsing for more news, I noted that Birdman.com only a few weeks ago named Japanese wingsuit pilot Shinichi Ito as a runner up for the longest freefall (with a freefall time of 5'22" from an altitude of 33,5k). Though an awesome long freefall, there are at least 2 longer freefalls above that one (and by now actually 4):
Sgt. Ben Borger (with 24k exit) and 5:40 *If anyone known Ben Borgers exact freefall time, please let me know!
And our own DZ.com regular Mike Masheff (aka IslandGuy) already having flown an incredible 5:28 from 22.050 ft
Definately performances worthy of noting in the short history of these (official and unofficial) time records. Especially since Ben, Mike (and others) had 10k less altitude to work with. Because its a geeky and fun aspect of wingsuit flying, Ive made an overview on past and current flights at Wingsuitnews.com
If anyone wants to assist in doing rough calculations of the estemated sustained freefall speed (mph) for all current records, also give a shout
You are forgetting Ueli Gegenschatz legendary 17.6k flight in 5 mins 45 sec ( from 4500' )
In all media Ueli's flight is quoted at 5'45" counting exit till landing. So that one includes canopy time. If anyone has info on what the actual freefall time was, and think it should be listed as well, just shoot me an email and Ill ad it to the list..
