Jet Dragon Project

[alfonso904 4]

This is incredible… what’s even more incredible is you did this basically all by yourself! Have you thought about maybe with some more publicity you could get more help/funding? 
 

 

I look forward to videos and fly sight data! 

[Gideon Yampolsky 24]

11 hours ago, alfonso904 said:

This is incredible… what’s even more incredible is you did this basically all by yourself! Have you thought about maybe with some more publicity you could get more help/funding? 
 

 

I look forward to videos and fly sight data! 

Thank you.

Actually I preferred to do everything myself, it was more difficult but also more rewarding.

So far I made several successful flights, and they are getting better and better. Once I will feel they are good enough I will publish video and flysight. Presently I'm aiming to 8 minutes flight.

Edited August 1, 2023 by Gideon Yampolsky

[Gideon Yampolsky 24]

Results so far ...   6L of fuel consumed. I'm still learning how to fly it efficiently

jet_powered_ws.CSV

Edited August 7, 2023 by Gideon Yampolsky

[Phil1111 911]

On 8/1/2023 at 1:52 AM, alfonso904 said:

This is incredible… what’s even more incredible is you did this basically all by yourself! Have you thought about maybe with some more publicity you could get more help/funding? 
 

 

I look forward to videos and fly sight data! 

I don't know about funding but there are many talented people in Israel who would come at problems with new perspectives. Engineering trained skydivers in particular.

[the.Legend 54]

On 8/7/2023 at 2:31 PM, Gideon Yampolsky said:

Results so far ...   6L of fuel consumed. I'm still learning how to fly it efficiently

jet_powered_ws.CSV 4.53 MB · 1 download

Congratulations on pulling this off!

May I ask what's the biggest challenge in maintaining constant horizontal speed? Did you have thrusters "On" at constant RPM all the time or was it impulse acceleration?

Edited October 9, 2023 by the.Legend

[Gideon Yampolsky 24]

During the entire flight RPM was 97,000 which is turbines' maximum.
As you can see in Flysigh recording horizontal speed was not constant. This because I was experimenting with body position. When I increased pitch (i.e. tried to “fly up”) I lost some of horizontal speed but managed to achieve level flight and even climb up a little bit.
My conclusion after experiments is, that with engines thrust, the optimal flight characteristics are different than in the case of regular wingsuit. Optimal flight speed with ATC wingsuit is around 150 Km/h. But with engines I found that optimal speed is around 110 Km/h, in body position aiming to “fly up”.
I’m planning to experiment more in future. But prior to further flights I have to make significant changes in some of system components, which will take time.
Sadly saying Israel went through horrifying event 10 days ago, which drew us into an unexpected war. So currently we have completely different priorities.
 

[Phil1111 911]

1 hour ago, Gideon Yampolsky said:

During the entire flight RPM was 97,000 which is turbines' maximum.
As you can see in Flysigh recording horizontal speed was not constant. This because I was experimenting with body position. When I increased pitch (i.e. tried to “fly up”) I lost some of horizontal speed but managed to achieve level flight and even climb up a little bit.
My conclusion after experiments is, that with engines thrust, the optimal flight characteristics are different than in the case of regular wingsuit. Optimal flight speed with ATC wingsuit is around 150 Km/h. But with engines I found that optimal speed is around 110 Km/h, in body position aiming to “fly up”.
I’m planning to experiment more in future. But prior to further flights I have to make significant changes in some of system components, which will take time.
Sadly saying Israel went through horrifying event 10 days ago, which drew us into an unexpected war. So currently we have completely different priorities.
 

I hope everything goes well for you, family, friends and Israel.

[Gideon Yampolsky 24]

1 hour ago, Phil1111 said:

I hope everything goes well for you, family, friends and Israel.

One of my friends, pilot who took me up for jet test jumps, was killed in terrorists attack 10 days ago. He is one of 1300 civilians which were murdered in one morning

Edited October 16, 2023 by Gideon Yampolsky

[Phil1111 911]

1 minute ago, Gideon Yampolsky said:

One of my friends, pilot who took me up for jet test jumps, was killed in terrorists attack 10 days ago. He is one of 1300 civilians who were murdered in one morning

Please extend my condolences to his family.

[wmw999 2,122]

Thank you for sharing your project (which is really cool), and I'm sorry for your pain.

Wendy P.

[Gideon Yampolsky 24]

From April to August 2023 I made 10 attempts of powered flight. Only four of them were successful – engines started and run until all fuel was consumed. In other six jumps engine start issues rendered the attempt unsuccessful. One of engines was slow to start, until my flight altitude become critically low. 
After three consecutive fails in August I decided to take a break and focus on problem's solution. First I discussed it with engines manufacturer. They indeed confirmed that engine takes significant time to start, and they have no means to make it shorter. Next I tried to feed the engines with more flammable fuel, hoping that higher flammability will make it start faster. I replaced diesel with Jet-A fuel, which has 30% benzine. I was perfectly aware that something so flammable in intimate proximity is very bad idea. But at least I had to know if it works. Fortunately it did not work. Engine's start time did not improve.

The best solution was to start engines prior to the jump, as in such case it doesn’t matters how much time it takes. But they cannot start in vertical position when I’m standing on the launching shelf. I therefore had to redesign the launching shelf.
 

[Gideon Yampolsky 24]

So far I tested it with engines on the ground and without engines in flight. I still need to make several small modifications and practice jumps before jumping this new version with jets.

[Gideon Yampolsky 24]

[manchuso 3]

Nothing like chasing your dreams...thank you for sharing your amazing journey!!!

Happy landings, Rafael

[Gideon Yampolsky 24]

11 hours ago, manchuso said:

Nothing like chasing your dreams...thank you for sharing your amazing journey!!!

Happy landings, Rafael

Thank you :-)