pilatus_p 0 #1 October 9, 2006 OK just a random thought that jumped into my head (yes I am bored)... Stuntmen jump off buildings onto crashmats that are made of inflated fabric. As the body impacts, the air is forced out of the mat, providing a nice soft deceleration. Now, if it was possible to create an air-filled mat of a fabric, or even composite of fabrics (eg layers of foam or something), that wouldnt a) tear on impact b) slap the skydiver silly, how deep would the crashmat need to be to slow him / her down? Make it deep enough, with enough air and with enough portholes ... OK yeah you'd need some massive air compressors, but we're only talking theoretically .... Does anyone know of details of the highest stuntman fall into a crashmat? Trees have been known to save skydivers by virtue of breaking branches absorbing energy. There are motorway crash barriers that do the same thing - the breaking material absorbs the fprward motion energy of the car or truck. Could it be possible (if entirely impractical) to cover a large portion of the floor with a thick layer of material that crumbles upon impact? Imagine an enormous but very soft crunchie bar covering your DZ landing zone. MMMM honeycomb .... Just think - you're in freefall. Both canopies fail. Ahh cr*p .. OH HOLD ON, there's that big mumma crashmat that the guys on DZ.com invented! Thank the lord for such a bunch of clever people. If I use my exceptional body flying skills to aim for that, I'll be in the pub with my feet up, eating chips by the evening There may not be medication for whatever mental condition I have ... Rosshttp://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/troll.htm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #2 October 9, 2006 Already exists. You do, however, have to be accurate enough to hit it.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pilatus_p 0 #3 October 9, 2006 It must be huge. Just found this one for a 100ft drop http://www.ukscreen.com/gallery.htm?table=company&user=stuntco&image=3 (Click on 'my gallery' and you will see it!) Do you know of a link to the one youre talking about? Cheers! Rosshttp://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/troll.htm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MB38 0 #4 October 9, 2006 I've seen bags for 300+ feet, but never a terminal bag. Quade, how big is this thing?I really don't know what I'm talking about. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jerry81 10 #5 October 9, 2006 QuoteAlready exists. You do, however, have to be accurate enough to hit it. And hope your double mal doesn't leave you with a trailing ball of shit interfering with your freefall accuracy... How about tackling this from the other side and inventing a full-body airbag, instead? I saw something similar in a movie with Dennis Rodman once (Double Team, I believe), so it must be possible... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #6 October 9, 2006 Hehe . . . I was being a bit glib and trying to make somewhat of a joke about the accuracy tuffets. I recall a stuntman by the name of Dar Robinson that had been doing higher and high falls. I believe he had planned a 1000ft or so fall, but died in a motorcycle accident before he ever got that high.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pilatus_p 0 #7 October 9, 2006 Hm just sawe a thing about Jeb Corliss developing technology to land a wingsuit without a parachute. Pilots have crashed down hillsides covered in snow and survived. If you can roll down a hill with a gentle enough curve i guess that could work, and the snow would gradually slow you down. Perhaps Jeb has a little slope covered in snowy type stuff he intends to land on .... His website claims they have 4 technoliges able to do this .... Rosshttp://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/troll.htm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azdiver 0 #8 October 9, 2006 just get a big trampolinlight travels faster than sound, that's why some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MakeItHappen 15 #9 October 9, 2006 QuoteOK just a random thought that jumped into my head (yes I am bored)... Stuntmen jump off buildings onto crashmats that are made of inflated fabric. As the body impacts, the air is forced out of the mat, providing a nice soft deceleration. Now, if it was possible to create an air-filled mat of a fabric, or even composite of fabrics (eg layers of foam or something), that wouldnt a) tear on impact b) slap the skydiver silly, how deep would the crashmat need to be to slow him / her down? Make it deep enough, with enough air and with enough portholes ... OK yeah you'd need some massive air compressors, but we're only talking theoretically .... Does anyone know of details of the highest stuntman fall into a crashmat? Trees have been known to save skydivers by virtue of breaking branches absorbing energy. There are motorway crash barriers that do the same thing - the breaking material absorbs the fprward motion energy of the car or truck. Could it be possible (if entirely impractical) to cover a large portion of the floor with a thick layer of material that crumbles upon impact? Imagine an enormous but very soft crunchie bar covering your DZ landing zone. MMMM honeycomb .... Just think - you're in freefall. Both canopies fail. Ahh cr*p .. OH HOLD ON, there's that big mumma crashmat that the guys on DZ.com invented! Thank the lord for such a bunch of clever people. If I use my exceptional body flying skills to aim for that, I'll be in the pub with my feet up, eating chips by the evening There may not be medication for whatever mental condition I have ... Ross From Fast forward to the year 2050 Quote Another invention, that helped BASE and Swooping get into the Olympics is the automatic air-bag ground. Each jumper wears a sensor that transmits position and velocity to the air-bag ground activator. If the jumper is coming in too fast or at an undesirable orientation, the air bag inflates to cushion the jumper's landing. All those hook turn and low turn injuries and fatalities disappeared with the introduction of the air-bag ground. Mike Burns runs the video of the air bag landings on Unreal TV. Quoted with permission from the author. .. Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,387 #10 October 10, 2006 QuoteHehe . . . I was being a bit glib and trying to make somewhat of a joke about the accuracy tuffets. I recall a stuntman by the name of Dar Robinson that had been doing higher and high falls. I believe he had planned a 1000ft or so fall, but died in a motorcycle accident before he ever got that high. He got up to 311 feet according to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dar_Robinson I'll bet that bag looked really small from up there."There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bclark 0 #11 October 10, 2006 Does anyone remember the "bounce if you want to swoop trainer"? One of a couple of ads for gag products published in skydiving mag a couple years back. It had extra cushioned corners for those "deep in the corner" landings. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andrewnewell 0 #12 October 11, 2006 Landing a wingsuit. How about having a very long peice of fabric, say 500meters long and about 50 meters wide that could be suspended from two large cranes, buildings or even a bridge into a gorge at the one end, like a fabirc slide. you could work out the angle of the flyers decent and adjust the angle of the slide so that they would match. the flyer would have then a landing area that would mould around the body on contact, slow the speed of the flyer with friction and channel the flyer ensuring he keeps going in a straight line. ( not vering off left or right. Maybe even some water pooled at the bottom as a break, kind like a log fume roller coaster break system? Anybody have any thoughts on that? would it work? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peggs82 0 #13 October 11, 2006 QuoteLanding a wingsuit. How about having a very long peice of fabric, say 500meters long and about 50 meters wide that could be suspended from two large cranes, buildings or even a bridge into a gorge at the one end, like a fabirc slide. you could work out the angle of the flyers decent and adjust the angle of the slide so that they would match. the flyer would have then a landing area that would mould around the body on contact, slow the speed of the flyer with friction and channel the flyer ensuring he keeps going in a straight line. ( not vering off left or right. Maybe even some water pooled at the bottom as a break, kind like a log fume roller coaster break system? Anybody have any thoughts on that? would it work? Would the water be to put the fire out after a 50 meter brush burn? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkeenan 13 #14 October 11, 2006 QuoteI recall a stuntman by the name of Dar Robinson that had been doing higher and high falls. Dar Robinson once did a jump from the (inside) top of the Astrodome in Houston into an airbag back in the '70s. I don't recall the height, but it was a pretty good leap. He came out to the old Spaceland DZ and made a few jumps with us locals. Kevin K._____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #15 October 11, 2006 Quote... How about tackling this from the other side and inventing a full-body airbag...... Michelin Man comes to mind... sorta like a ballon suit that stays inflated, eh? My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skyblu3 0 #16 October 11, 2006 Actually I've been thinking lately of something along these lines. The possibility of having 2 totals (main + reserve) is pretty slim. Chances are you're gonna have some kind of fabric above your head slowing you at least enough to stand you up. What if we could have a compact air cushion which is built into our containers. This is activated by the jumper (sort of like a aircraft emergency evacuation slide but on a much smaler scale). The design of it would be as such so that it falls under your feet thus hitting the ground before you and possibly saving your life. Patent Pending.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pchapman 261 #17 October 11, 2006 QuoteHow about tackling this from the other side and inventing a full-body airbag...... Yeah, fun idea. Perhaps something like the airbags used to drop landers on Mars. However, the numbers tend to get a little awkward. If I got the numbers right, from 120 mph that'll take a 24 ft thick airbag if one wants a 'comfortable' landing at 20g's. (Assuming constant deceleration, ignoring rate of onset issues, etc.) That 20 g's is the range of ejection seat accelerations, although it would be easier on the body when flat and not sitting. If one dials up the deceleration towards the limits of human tolerance without major injury (usually), lets say 50 g, one could get away with an only 9 1/2 foot thick airbag. So it may be easier to build a giant airbag on the ground than to encapsulate the jumper in a personal inflatable airbag. If I were the engineer tasked with coming up with the design of that personal airbag, I'd probably think, hey, wouldn't it be a lot lighter and simpler just to just give this guy a parachute instead? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pilatus_p 0 #18 October 11, 2006 Your numbers look about right. You are probably looking at broken bones at most of those g-forces (car crash data would be a useful guideline) and defnitely at 50g. Totally agree with you - from a finance / engineering POV, the parachute would usually be the outcome. I suppose theres always the TRIDEM rig and a big knife to cut away any lines that may have got tangled round you ... just make sure you pull high. There are hundreds of ways of decelerating a body in the way we are imagining - its just the practicality and cost. Lets cover DZ landing areas with 140 feet thick cow manure. Thats nearly as much bullshit as on this thread just kidding ... Rosshttp://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/troll.htm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azdiver 0 #19 October 12, 2006 it seems to me that if you were to make a crash mat for skydiving it would be simpler and justifable to build one for hp landings. i dont think there would actually be a way to build something thats made to hit for someone at TV and not kill the person. on the other hand if you built a huge wind tunnel for someone to fall into, it would have to be like 300ft in diameter, might save some liveslight travels faster than sound, that's why some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trae 1 #20 October 12, 2006 in reply to "if you built a huge wind tunnel for someone to fall into, it would have to be like 300ft in diameter," ............................ Sci fi ... A skydiver could fall through a series of decelerator rings. The rings could generate a powerful updraught. Each stage or ring you pass through slows you that bit more till you can touch down onto a slide for the last bit of deceleration..... with a crash mat as back-up or not .. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MB38 0 #21 October 12, 2006 Quoteit seems to me that if you were to make a crash mat for skydiving it would be simpler and justifable to build one for hp landings.Swoop pond. Most injuries I've seen that resulted from chowing on a pond swoop happened when the person *missed* the pond and impacted on solid earth. Miss the pond, miss the airbag.I really don't know what I'm talking about. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FlyingJarhead 0 #22 October 13, 2006 dude looks like something to invent yourself...i volunteer to try it... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lowie 0 #24 October 13, 2006 Anti gravity belt/harness - thats the answer. I have been working on this and have come up with the harness - just need the anti-gravity device. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shawndiver 0 #25 October 13, 2006 Quoting Truman Sparks in Fandango: "This time, go ahead and jump off the strut and arch back onto this mattress. A good, hard arch. Okay? Let's do it one more time like l showed you. You're inside the plane. l cut the engine. You reach your hands outside the door. Step out on the wheel, dangle a foot and arch! Wow, he missed the mattress."_________________ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
