That sick feeling....

[kelter 0]

Hey all, my name's Kelly, I'm new.
I watched a really good loic jean-albert video about a month back and the wingsuiting (which I had never seen before) hooked me. Since then I've been reading all I can about what it will take for me to do be able to do that. Apparently you need a BARE minimum of 100 jumps in, though most places say 200. I haven't even done one.
I understand that, in skydiving, the plane is going so fast that when you jump out you hit a cushion of air and therefore don't get that feeling you do when you go cliffjumping. That dropping, nauseous, stomachy feeling. And that's awesome.
So when it comes to BASE jumping I can only assume you would get that feeling. I get it really bad (I don't even like the high diving board - and it's not because of fear of heights/falling). What I'm wondering is if it is possible to overcome the sick falling feeling. And if so, how long does it take? Any advice?
If there are no BASE jumpers here, could you maybe point me in a direction where there may be some?
Thanks,
Kelly

[jakee 1,379]

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Apparently you need a BARE minimum of 100 jumps in, though most places say 200.

Best regard 200 as the bare minimum. 200 (or more) is what is recommended by most manufacturers and national associations.

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I understand that, in skydiving, the plane is going so fast that when you jump out you hit a cushion of air and therefore don't get that feeling you do when you go cliffjumping. That dropping, nauseous, stomachy feeling. And that's awesome.
So when it comes to BASE jumping I can only assume you would get that feeling.

Personally no, not at all. That's all wayyy in the future for you though.

Take it a step at a time. Start skydiving, see if you like it enough to keep going, go on from there.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[kelter 0]

Thanks Jakee!

I tend to get a little gung-ho with new-found goals. I think the word is 'rash.'

Hey is your quote from Dr. Strangelove, by any chance?

[nomal2day 0]

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I tend to get a little gung-ho with new-found goals. I think the word is 'rash.'

Hey Kelly, in skydiving the word 'rash' normally equates with the words 'bent' and 'broken', both referring to your body after having performed the act of 'rash'-ness!!

There is plenty fun and great excitement, adventure and enjoyment in skydiving from the very first jump onwards, so give it a try! It starts off awesome and then gets better each time. One day when you are ready for your wing-suit and BASE jumping, you will know it and you will know WHY you know it.

After your first jump, the only regret you will have is that you didn't do it earlier

'To fly is heaven, to freefall is divine'

'You only need 2 tools. WD40 for when it doesn't move but should, and duct tape for when it moves but shouldn't'

[antonija 0]

If you jump out of slow planes it will exactly like that for the first few times. After that you can jump from balloons, which will also give you static air to jump out. Helicopters are another option, but as far as I know they do travel in direction of jump run to give skydivers enough separation for opening.

But it really doesn't matter what you jump from as long as you're having fun!!

I understand the need for conformity. Without a concise set of rules to follow we would probably all have to resort to common sense. -David Thorne

[JohnRich 4]

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I understand that, in skydiving, the plane is going so fast that when you jump out you hit a cushion of air and therefore don't get that feeling you do when you go cliffjumping. That dropping, nauseous, stomachy feeling.

That "feeling" comes from gravity's acceleration, and gravity works the same regardless of whether or not the wind is blowing on you.

That "feeling" I think comes more from external visual cues. Off a cliff you'll see the earth rushing by making it seem like you're falling, which indeed you are. Out of an airplane, there are no visual cues around you - your mind is tricked into thinking that it's just floating on air.

You get the same kind of effect when you spin in circles in the ground - you get all dizzy fairly quickly. But when you perform the same maneuvers in freefall, you don't. At least not as quickly, or as much.

It's like driving a car at 60 mph down a road through a tunnel of overgrown trees - all the trees whizzing by make it seem like you are driving really fast. But do that same speed on the wide open interstate highway, and it feels like you're just crawling slow.

You may still have that gut feeling on the first few jumps, but you quickly get used to it, and then you don't even notice it anymore.

[antonija 0]

That's why you should always keep your eyes on the plane when you jump out. And just watch it go away... I still get that feeling every time :p

I understand the need for conformity. Without a concise set of rules to follow we would probably all have to resort to common sense. -David Thorne

[DougH 270]

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That "feeling" comes from gravity's acceleration, and gravity works the same regardless of whether or not the wind is blowing on you.

I allways thought forward through plays some role. You get thrown forward at X speed, then gradually change speed and direction. So the net change in velocity is less than an exit from a stationary object.

Then again I never was a physic whiz =P

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[antonija 0]

Forward speed does not have any influence on your vertical acceleration (in theory; in practice you can "track" perpendicular to air flow so right after exit this could be "up"). We all accelerate towards the ground with 1g until air resistance starts to fight the gravity. When it's a tie we reach terminal velocity.

I understand the need for conformity. Without a concise set of rules to follow we would probably all have to resort to common sense. -David Thorne

[labrys 0]

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We all accelerate towards the ground with 1g until air resistance starts to fight the gravity.

You must be talking about those mysterious "gravitational winds" that J.P Furnari invented.

In the old fashioned physics I learned, air resistance can't "fight gravity". When you are at terminal velocity or even standing on the ground you are still subject to that gravitational force.

When you exit the plane you already have a constant velocity equal to that of the plane. It doesn't matter a bit which direction you're going.

You accelerate to another constant (terminal) velocity. The transition is relatively smooth and slow compared to a jump starting with no initial velocity.

That's why you feel the acceleration more from a static platform.

Owned by Remi #?

[lethargic8 0]

Air resistance can't fight gravity? Not exactly accurate. Terminal velocity by definition is the speed at which air resistance on a falling body creates an upward force equal to the downward force of gravity. You are right that gravity is still putting a force on your body but it is being canceled out of the equation by the oppositional force of air resistance.

Horizontal movement (or forward throw) will in fact slow down your acceleration towards earth while your body has forward motion (on the hill) as your body acts as an inefficient wing. Granted the guy in this video is wearing a wing suit but it demonstrates the point that the lack of life from forward velocity is why you feel more acceleration from a static platform.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am-Z-Dyrtkk

[JohnRich 4]

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...it demonstrates the point that the lack of life (lift) from forward velocity is why you feel more acceleration from a static platform.

What you're feeling is more change in the wind, from zero to 120 mph, instead of 70 to 120 mph. But that does not alter the acceleration from gravity, which remains constant either way. So your senses may be telling you there's a difference, but Sir Isaac Newton says otherwise.

[wolfriverjoe 1,481]

I could be wrong, but...

You are going from 80 forward/0 down to 0 forward/120 down, right?

Although not perfectly simultaneous, the drag slowing down your forward speed is pretty close to the acceleration of gravity. Although it happens independently, it happens during the same time period.

So you don't feel much overall acceleration. And because you roatate your body to keep orientied into the relative wind, you really don't feel much of a turn.

Doesn't change the overall physics of the situation, just how the body and mind perceive it.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[jakee 1,379]

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I could be wrong, but...

You are going from 80 forward/0 down to 0 forward/120 down, right?

Although not perfectly simultaneous, the drag slowing down your forward speed is pretty close to the acceleration of gravity. Although it happens independently, it happens during the same time period.

So you don't feel much overall acceleration. And because you roatate your body to keep orientied into the relative wind, you really don't feel much of a turn.

Doesn't change the overall physics of the situation, just how the body and mind perceive it.

Perceive it this way, you're jumping off a stationary platform into 80 knot winds. Does that change your conclusion that you'd 'feel' less acceleration?

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[Andrewwhyte 1]

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I could be wrong, but...

You are going from 80 forward/0 down to 0 forward/120 down, right?

Although not perfectly simultaneous, the drag slowing down your forward speed is pretty close to the acceleration of gravity. Although it happens independently, it happens during the same time period.

Say WHAT? Are suggesting that a belly flyer stays on the hill for 12 seconds. Seems more like 5 or 6 to me.

[wolfriverjoe 1,481]

No, because that would be going from 0/0 to 80/120. You'd be accelerating both vertically and horizontaly

And Andrewwhyte, my math shows 0 to 120 taking 5-6 seconds (120mph=175fps and 1g = 32fps squared).

And this isn't precise, nor do I claim it to be absoluely correct. But I don't feel any "stomach drop" on exit. Why not?

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[jakee 1,379]

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No, because that would be going from 0/0 to 80/120. You'd be accelerating both vertically and horizontaly

Exactly the same as when you jump from an aircraft going at 80mph. You start in one steady unaccelerated state, and identical forces then act on you to before you end up in another steady unaccelerated state, that is different by 120mph vertical and 80mph horizontal.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[wolfriverjoe 1,481]

How about looking at the path you are travelling through the air (half a parabola isn't it?).
You start off at 80 and end at 120 about 6 seconds later. If you face into the relative wind the whole time and consider that "forward" you are accelerating slowly along that path, right?

Although you are accelerating downward at full "g", the loss of forward speed balances it off to your senses. Or am I totally off base? But this is how I understand it.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[kallend 1,853]

Think about the fluid in your inner ear. When air resistance on your body is negligible immediately after jumping off a cliff, it "freefalls" within your semicircular canals and you'll get that odd feeling.

OTOH, with significant air resistance on your body (due to forward throw from the plane, or at terminal velocity, or during the transition between the two) the fluid, in obedience to gravity and Newton's laws, will exert a force on the inner ear just like it does when you're standing around or lying down.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[JohnRich 4]

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my math shows 0 to 120 taking 5-6 seconds (120mph=175fps and 1g = 32fps squared).

That's college math that doesn't apply in the real world. That's outer-space vacuum stuff. In actuality, it takes about 12 seconds to reach terminal velocity of 120 mph. I don't think college math takes into account increasing wind resistance, which slows down the acceleration, voiding the 32-fps-squared rule.

[kelter 0]

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So how 'bout them Canucks!?

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This conversation is so far above my head it makes me dizzy

[wrightskyguy 1]

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So how 'bout them Canucks!?

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This conversation is so far above my head it makes me dizzy

*** I think they made most of it up.

John Wright

World's most beloved skydiver

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[wolfriverjoe 1,481]

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...............

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So how 'bout them Canucks!?

...............

This conversation is so far above my head it makes me dizzy

*** I think they made most of it up.

No, I didn't make any of it up
I was just wrong.
I like understanding the hows and whys of what happens when we do what we do.

Thanks to all for clearing it up for me.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[popsjumper 2]

That sick feeling comes from seeing the ground so quickly approaching you.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[pincheck 0]

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That sick feeling comes from seeing the ground so quickly approaching you.

yeh and that sick feeling when you know, said ground is gonna damn well hurt

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