150,000 ft. skydive for East Huntspill man

[skyjumpsteve 0]

A cyclist is going to attempt a 150,000 skydive?!? Is he going to pop into Staples and buy an "Easy Button" before he attempts this? Good god...... at least he is going to go to "skydiving school" in Spain before making the attempt. Maybe he should team up with Mr. Fournier.....


A CYCLIST from East Huntspill is aiming to set a new world record by completing the world's highest skydive.

Joby Ingram-Dodd, who grew up in the Sedgemoor village, needs to raise £3million for the 150,000ft jump, which he hopes to carry out in Spring next year.

During the 20-minute fall Joby will reach speeds of up to 800mph, breaking the sound barrier.

The 28-year-old competed as a track cyclist for eight years and took part in the 2002 Commonwealth Games before retiring and getting a job in London as a stock broker, which he has since given up.

Joby said: "Going from such a high adrenalin sport such as track cycling to then working in an office from 9am-5pm was too much of a change.

"I wanted to do something that would challenge me again, so when I saw footage of Joseph Kittinger completing a similar jump in 1960 I thought about doing it myself."

Joby, who now lives in London, has never done a skydive before and is currently taking part in some physical training.

He is due to travel to Spain to attend a skydiving school before going on to California to take part in altitude training sessions.

Joby is hoping to reach 150,000ft using a helium balloon, similar to the one used by Richard Branson during his attempt to travel around the earth non-stop.

He is currently in talks with ITV and Sky in the hope of commissioning a documentary about his training and world record attempt.

[kelpdiver 2]

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The 28-year-old competed as a track cyclist for eight years and took part in the 2002 Commonwealth Games before retiring and getting a job in London as a stock broker, which he has since given up.

Joby said: "Going from such a high adrenalin sport such as track cycling to then working in an office from 9am-5pm was too much of a change.

Anyone here ever do track cycling? As a roadie, I can't tell how exciting a sport it becomes on the track.

Doesn't seem like he has the mental toughness to stick it out with something, but hell, if people want to give him $3 million pounds....

[quade 3]

Ever see "The Producers"?

"But under the right circumstances, a producer could make more money with a flop than he could with a hit."

I believe this tactic has been used more than once by various con . . ., uh, I mean, "stunt" men.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[KDUNAWAY 0]

good luck!

[BillyVance 34]

No skydiving experience? Add his name to the Bounce Bingo board!

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[NickDG 23]

There a bit of precedence here. In the 1970s when Rick Sylvester decided he wanted to ski off El Capitan he wasn't a jumper either. So he showed up at some Nor Cal DZ because he figured he should make at least one practice jump.

I can't recall which DZ it was but I have it written down somewhere. He told them at the DZ of his plan and they just looked at him and said, "Yeah, all right, sure kid, ya got the 40 bucks for the jump?"

Of course that one jump woke him up to the fact he'd probably need a few more. And he eventually got the DZ on his side and made 80 jumps before finally successfully skiing off El Cap in around 1973. The jump caught Hollywood's eye and he did a similar ski jump off another cliff and that one is featured in an early James Bond movie.

In any case I think all these latest high altitude projects are approaching it the wrong way. With all these millions of dollars available and by using off the shelf technology they should go the rocket route. It would not only get them up there in a hurry, it would be fifty times as exciting and generate much more interest and publicity. A balloon, even one going into the stratosphere, is just another boring old balloon launch.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . . !!!

NickD

[quade 3]

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With all these millions of dollars available and by using off the shelf technology they should go the rocket route.

There's exactly -1- civilian rocket company I'd be willing to ride; Scaled Composites. Even then it couldn't be the one they're making for Virgin Galactic.

Of course, if you're going to go ballooning, there really only -1- company there too; Cameron.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[PeregrineFalcon 0]

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During the 20-minute fall Joby will reach speeds of up to 800mph, breaking the sound barrier.

I am really not a physics person here, so, someone help me out. Doesn't the increase of air pressure at lower levels stop the increase of speed? Or does the fact that this is so high alter the physics here (not being enough air pressure at that high an altitude to to the job reaching terminal velocity)?

[billvon 2,396]

> Doesn't the increase of air pressure at lower levels stop the increase of speed?

Yes. He accelerates downward, increasing his speed until the pressure begins to rise. At that point he stops accelerating, then starts slowing down for the rest of the dive.

[PeregrineFalcon 0]

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> Doesn't the increase of air pressure at lower levels stop the increase of speed?

Yes. He accelerates downward, increasing his speed until the pressure begins to rise. At that point he stops accelerating, then starts slowing down for the rest of the dive.

So, can he really reach the speed of sound or is that a news reporter not getting the facts straight?

[billvon 2,396]

>So, can he really reach the speed of sound. . .

He might. It depends on his exit altitude, his weight and his rig (i.e. if he uses a drogue or not.)

[quade 3]

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During the 20-minute fall Joby will reach speeds of up to 800mph, breaking the sound barrier.

I am really not a physics person here, so, someone help me out. Doesn't the increase of air pressure at lower levels stop the increase of speed? Or does the fact that this is so high alter the physics here (not being enough air pressure at that high an altitude to to the job reaching terminal velocity)?

At "about" 18,000 msl, there are "about" half as many air molecules per cubic centimeter. Go up "about" another 18,000 feet and you'll find half again as many. By the time you get up to 150,000 you're "essentially" in space. The difference between that and the vacuum of deep space is, well, not all that much!

Accelerating at 1g, a person would get up to speed pretty quickly (maybe 40 seconds?) and then start a slow deceleration as the atmosphere thickens.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[PeregrineFalcon 0]

Thank you. You may continue your thread.

[LloydDobbler 2]

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There a bit of precedence here. In the 1970s when Rick Sylvester decided he wanted to ski off El Capitan he wasn't a jumper either. So he showed up at some Nor Cal DZ because he figured he should make at least one practice jump.

I can't recall which DZ it was but I have it written down somewhere. He told them at the DZ of his plan and they just looked at him and said, "Yeah, all right, sure kid, ya got the 40 bucks for the jump?"

I believe that was a DZ at Antioch Airport, IIRC.

Incidentally, there's a bit more precedence here. Joe Kittinger himself points out that his job was to simulate an astronaut (having little skydiving experience) freefalling from the edge of space. In a pressure suit (so there would be no way to arch).

I know he had some experience with skydiving beforehand, but from what I remember, it wasn't very much. Giving him too much freefall experience would ruin the controlled environment of the experiment.

---

All of which is to say, if this guy goes for it, I agree - I'd imagine it can be done. It's just a matter of how far he'll go for it...

...and making sure his balloon doesn't blow away.

Signatures are the new black.

[IEJuggalo 0]

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I know he had some experience with skydiving beforehand, but from what I remember, it wasn't very much. Giving him too much freefall experience would ruin the controlled environment of the experiment.

...this is true Flip. In fact, he had thirty-something jumps before the big leap. That would be less than A-license status by today's standards. ALL jumps were military if I recall correctly.

[brokenwing 1]

lots of people have talked about it but so far Kittinger's jump still stands!!!

[kelpdiver 2]

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During the 20-minute fall Joby will reach speeds of up to 800mph, breaking the sound barrier.

Just noticed the 20 minute detail - that's quite false. I hope that wasn't part of his pitch to 'investors.'

[JohnRich 4]

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Just noticed the 20 minute detail - that's quite false. I hope that wasn't part of his pitch to 'investors.'

I was trying to figure out where he got that number...

20 minutes of freefall = 1200 seconds.
150,000 feet / 1200 seconds = 125 feet per second.
125 fps = about 86 mph.

There's no way he's going to average just 86 mph from 150,000 feet!

Average belly-to-earth speed is about 120 mph. And that's in lower, denser air. From 150k, his average would be MUCH greater.

This guy clearly doesn't have a clue what the heck he's getting into.

Or maybe I just don't have a clue about math. Someone check my work...

[pirana 0]

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I am really not a physics person here, so, someone help me out. Doesn't the increase of air pressure at lower levels stop the increase of speed? Or does the fact that this is so high alter the physics here (not being enough air pressure at that high an altitude to to the job reaching terminal velocity)?

By alter the physics do you mean change the rules, or change the input values? The rules are the same ("I can't change the laws of physics Captain!"), only the variables are changing.

Terminal velocity is a function of other factors, not a constant. So, no matter what he does he will achieve terminal velocity. All other things being equal, it will be faster in less dense air, faster with a lowered drag coefficient (the texture presented to the relative wind), faster with more mass, etc.

So, not a physics person here, but maybe somewhere else? Yeah, that was pissy and nitty; but just funning ya.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[RMK 3]

Not just the partial pressure of oxygen problems, but also a pressure suit is needed above around 60,000 feet. The “Armstrong Line” at around 63,000 feet is the point at which water (and your blood) will boil at normal body temperature.

I’ve done a HALO from 30,000 and for that, we were on oxygen for one hour (in the plane on the ground) to flush the nitrogen from our tissue so we didn’t get the bends going up unpressurised.

"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to attend his classes"

[JohnMitchell 14]

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This guy clearly doesn't have a clue what the heck he's getting into.

Or maybe I just don't have a clue about math. Someone check my work...

My guess is that it will be 20 minutes including the canopy time, say, opening at 10K or so. I would estimate only a 5-6 minute freefall.

On breaking the sound barrier . . . at 20 degrees C, the speed of sound is 770 mph. As the temperature drops, so does the speed of sound. Anyone going 800 mph at 100K feet will easily bust Mach 1.

[JohnRich 4]

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My guess is that it will be 20 minutes including the canopy time, say, opening at 10K or so. I would estimate only a 5-6 minute freefall.

That's in-line with my rough estimate of freefall time. But even with a 10k canopy opening, that would be a 10-minute parachute ride, after 6 minutes of freefall, for a total of 16 minutes in the air. He's still short of the claimed "20 minutes", by 20%. Hmmm...

I wonder what this boy-wonder would think if a veteran skydiver entered the bicycle race circuit as a rank newbie, and started bragging that he was soon going to break the all-time bicycle racing record?

[billvon 2,396]

>I wonder what this boy-wonder would think if a veteran skydiver entered the
>bicycle race circuit as a rank newbie, and started bragging that he was soon
>going to break the all-time bicycle racing record?

Well, to be fair, he's not claiming he will break the Airspeed record for points in time - he's claiming he will simply jump higher than anyone else. Heck, Kittenger set one of the first records for freefall while he was unconscious; his AAD opened his parachute. That tells me you don't have to be a very good skydiver to accomplish the feat.

If there is going to be a record set, it is going to take time, money and technical expertise. Skydiving skill/strength really isn't going to enter into it.

[stayhigh 2]

does it really cost 3 million pound for pressurized suit, hellium ballon, and skydiving rig??? i know that every thing in skydiving industry is expensive but 3 million pound???

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[airdvr 197]

You guys are missing his whole approach. Get a bunch of money, spend 3 or 4 years "planning" (all the while paying yourself out of the money). Buy a balloon and let it go up without you.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne