Chris-Ottawa 0 #26 July 7, 2006 It's falling. But..... An airplane will fall too without a power source. I seem to remember someone attaching rockets to their legs and "FLYING" a wingsuit. (See: www.birdman.com). You are flying your body, you may not be flying and sustaining or gaining altitude, but you are able to make horizontal movement across the ground hence flying. Driving is also making horizontal movement - Travelling, and the same relationship you could say running is not travelling, but it is. So the final answer.....BOTH. You are falling and you are flying. Just like an airplane will if it doesn't have thrust. I was watching this thread dying not to jump in, but I couldn't resist. No one is wrong in the thread, it's all subjective! Have a good jumping weekend boys and girls, I know I will! Skies!"When once you have tasted flight..." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skyliber 0 #27 July 8, 2006 Quote I was thinking that flying meant that gaining altitude was a requisite as well but it was not indicated in the dictionary. i know. i was just trying to pipe in my 2 cents. i'm just a new student anyway, of couse, you lot would have more information about what you think it is. i just thought having a 'newbie' opinion and what i have gathered thus far would be of some interest compare to the veterans of the sport and/or hobby. -=+ Skyliber, Disynthegrate, & Nucleaire +=- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ltdiver 3 #28 July 8, 2006 A whimsical tale that puts it all into perspective: ;^) http://groups.google.com/group/rec.skydiving/msg/a975af655df92ae0?hl=en ltdiver Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fichmant 0 #29 July 8, 2006 QuoteQuoteMy friends get mad at me whenever I mention we were flying.... they all remark with, "you're not flying, you're falling." So what is it... flying or falling? Tell them... "If riding in an airplane is flying, is then riding in a boat swimming?" SHUT-UP AND JUMP!!! Give it a few years, you're still a low time jumper, if you keep going at it hardcore, you'll soon have no whuffo friends... all your friends will be jumpers... ... yes, be afraid, be very afraid! isn't it, "If riding in a boat isn't swimming then riding in an airplane isn't flying..."? this sentence is a killer! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shunkka 0 #30 July 8, 2006 it`s how we feel it... ------------------------- "jump, have fun, pull" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carver 0 #31 July 8, 2006 Falling Gracefully Never try to skip a stage of natural progression... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mnealtx 0 #32 July 8, 2006 QuoteQuoteQuoteMy friends get mad at me whenever I mention we were flying.... they all remark with, "you're not flying, you're falling." So what is it... flying or falling? Tell them... "If riding in an airplane is flying, is then riding in a boat swimming?" SHUT-UP AND JUMP!!! Give it a few years, you're still a low time jumper, if you keep going at it hardcore, you'll soon have no whuffo friends... all your friends will be jumpers... ... yes, be afraid, be very afraid! isn't it, "If riding in a boat isn't swimming then riding in an airplane isn't flying..."? this sentence is a killer! Nope...it's from Poynter's book.... rough quote: "If riding in an airplane is flying, then riding in a boat is swimming. You have to get into the environment to experience it." That's pretty close, I think... it's been probably 15 years since I read the book, but it's still stuck with me pretty well...Mike I love you, Shannon and Jim. POPS 9708 , SCR 14706 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StreetScooby 5 #33 July 8, 2006 Free falling is unpowered flight. There are many examples of unpowered flight: 1) Gliders 2) Space shuttle 3) SkydiversWe are all engines of karma Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ultraviolet 0 #34 July 8, 2006 QuoteBy the way, when you're under canopy, unless you're in one hell of a thermal, you'll be losing altitude, too, not gaining or even maintaining it (except during a flare.) You forgot about cloud suck, wave lift and surfing the ridge lift off the leading edge of a cloud. Depending on your canopy 1000 fpm thermal is usually enough to maintain and that's really just an average one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Martini 0 #35 July 9, 2006 QuoteIn Reply To By the way, when you're under canopy, unless you're in one hell of a thermal, you'll be losing altitude, too, not gaining or even maintaining it (except during a flare.) You forgot about cloud suck, wave lift and surfing the ridge lift off the leading edge of a cloud. Depending on your canopy 1000 fpm thermal is usually enough to maintain and that's really just an average one. Falling is uncontrolled descent. Flying is controlled maintenence or gain of altitude. GLIDING is controlled descent whether RW, FF, tracking or wingsuiting. Or "flying" squirrels. IMnotsoHO of course. Good luck gaining altitude, except on rare and brief occasions, on a skydiving canopy. It's a glider too.Sometimes you eat the bear.............. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Skyliber 0 #36 July 9, 2006 I did my first and second tracking yesterday. It sure did feel like flying but I still stand by the falling. -=+ Skyliber, Disynthegrate, & Nucleaire +=- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites bob.dino 0 #37 July 10, 2006 When you can go up in freefall, you're flying. Otherwise you're falling. Note: you don't have to be able to go up indefinitely - unpowered aircraft will run out of airspeed, powered ones fuel, and birds will run out of energy. You just have to be able to go up for a bit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites br0k3n 0 #38 July 10, 2006 QuoteWhen you can go up in freefall, you're flying. Otherwise you're falling. Note: you don't have to be able to go up indefinitely - unpowered aircraft will run out of airspeed, powered ones fuel, and birds will run out of energy. You just have to be able to go up for a bit. what about wingsuit pilots, are they falling or flying? if you look at the oxford english definition then there are both. Flying - [sic] To move through the air by means of wings or winglike parts. Falling - [sic] To drop or come down freely under the influence of gravity. You dont have to be able to "go up" against gravity to be considered flying.....----------------------------------------------------------- --+ There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't.. --+ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites bob.dino 0 #39 July 10, 2006 Quotewhat about wingsuit pilots, are they falling or flying? Dunno. Can they go up? And I'm not talking about on a high-speed tailgate exit either... QuoteYou dont have to be able to "go up" against gravity to be considered flying..... True. I'd never really looked up the definition before - "going up" was just where I personally put the marker. I know when doing 4-way that I'm falling, not flying (no smart remarks, boyo ). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Royd 0 #40 July 10, 2006 I did two tracking dives today, and I wasn't falling across the sky. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites MF42 0 #41 July 10, 2006 So if an aircraft, or even an insect or bird for tht matter, is descending at any given monent, is it falling or is it still flying? I think if you can steer, it's flying. Matt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Paige 0 #42 July 10, 2006 I've always heard, you fall in the sky and fly in the tunnel. Who really cares though, long as you are enjoying yourself Tunnel Pink Mafia Delegate www.TunnelPinkMafia.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites adventurechick 0 #43 July 10, 2006 You are one freaking awesome Flyer by the way!! :o) PMS #449 TPM #80 Muff Brother #3860 SCR #14705 Dirty Sanchez #233 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Paige 0 #44 July 10, 2006 Thanks Gail. I try hard and have amassed a few hours here and there You are turning into quite the flyer yourself Tunnel Pink Mafia Delegate www.TunnelPinkMafia.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites skydiver1717 0 #45 July 11, 2006 IMO It's flying above 3000' . The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn't it be? It is the same the angels breathe. — Mark Twain, Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites wildman2231 0 #46 July 11, 2006 Wingsuit jumpers can indeed fall at a rate high enough to gain enough forward speed to actually climb. Albeit passing through a given altitude the amount of climb being very very little, can actually swoop through a given altitude. Ask 1 who has done and or seen it. That and controlled direction constitutes "true flight". Same as for a glider. A parafoil with the right wing loading and no motor, can stay aloft indefinatly in the right cliff rise or thermal if all conditions are right. Controlling direction of "fall" also constitututes true "flight". There is a vid on skydive movies where jumpers actually climbed past point of launch because of lift generated by cliff updraft on base canopies. I'm pretty sure those base jumpers would consider that "flying" all science aside.I'm fine...crazy people don't know they're crazy...No,Really! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites packerboy 3 #47 July 11, 2006 A good tracking dive feels a lot more like flying than any other discipline IMO. It feels a lot like flying... makes me somewhat understand why someone would spend half a good canopy amount of money on one of those silly birdsuits... -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Prev 1 2 Next Page 2 of 2 Join the conversation You can post now and register later. 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Skyliber 0 #36 July 9, 2006 I did my first and second tracking yesterday. It sure did feel like flying but I still stand by the falling. -=+ Skyliber, Disynthegrate, & Nucleaire +=- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bob.dino 0 #37 July 10, 2006 When you can go up in freefall, you're flying. Otherwise you're falling. Note: you don't have to be able to go up indefinitely - unpowered aircraft will run out of airspeed, powered ones fuel, and birds will run out of energy. You just have to be able to go up for a bit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
br0k3n 0 #38 July 10, 2006 QuoteWhen you can go up in freefall, you're flying. Otherwise you're falling. Note: you don't have to be able to go up indefinitely - unpowered aircraft will run out of airspeed, powered ones fuel, and birds will run out of energy. You just have to be able to go up for a bit. what about wingsuit pilots, are they falling or flying? if you look at the oxford english definition then there are both. Flying - [sic] To move through the air by means of wings or winglike parts. Falling - [sic] To drop or come down freely under the influence of gravity. You dont have to be able to "go up" against gravity to be considered flying.....----------------------------------------------------------- --+ There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't.. --+ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bob.dino 0 #39 July 10, 2006 Quotewhat about wingsuit pilots, are they falling or flying? Dunno. Can they go up? And I'm not talking about on a high-speed tailgate exit either... QuoteYou dont have to be able to "go up" against gravity to be considered flying..... True. I'd never really looked up the definition before - "going up" was just where I personally put the marker. I know when doing 4-way that I'm falling, not flying (no smart remarks, boyo ). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Royd 0 #40 July 10, 2006 I did two tracking dives today, and I wasn't falling across the sky. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MF42 0 #41 July 10, 2006 So if an aircraft, or even an insect or bird for tht matter, is descending at any given monent, is it falling or is it still flying? I think if you can steer, it's flying. Matt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paige 0 #42 July 10, 2006 I've always heard, you fall in the sky and fly in the tunnel. Who really cares though, long as you are enjoying yourself Tunnel Pink Mafia Delegate www.TunnelPinkMafia.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adventurechick 0 #43 July 10, 2006 You are one freaking awesome Flyer by the way!! :o) PMS #449 TPM #80 Muff Brother #3860 SCR #14705 Dirty Sanchez #233 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paige 0 #44 July 10, 2006 Thanks Gail. I try hard and have amassed a few hours here and there You are turning into quite the flyer yourself Tunnel Pink Mafia Delegate www.TunnelPinkMafia.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skydiver1717 0 #45 July 11, 2006 IMO It's flying above 3000' . The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn't it be? It is the same the angels breathe. — Mark Twain, Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildman2231 0 #46 July 11, 2006 Wingsuit jumpers can indeed fall at a rate high enough to gain enough forward speed to actually climb. Albeit passing through a given altitude the amount of climb being very very little, can actually swoop through a given altitude. Ask 1 who has done and or seen it. That and controlled direction constitutes "true flight". Same as for a glider. A parafoil with the right wing loading and no motor, can stay aloft indefinatly in the right cliff rise or thermal if all conditions are right. Controlling direction of "fall" also constitututes true "flight". There is a vid on skydive movies where jumpers actually climbed past point of launch because of lift generated by cliff updraft on base canopies. I'm pretty sure those base jumpers would consider that "flying" all science aside.I'm fine...crazy people don't know they're crazy...No,Really! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
packerboy 3 #47 July 11, 2006 A good tracking dive feels a lot more like flying than any other discipline IMO. It feels a lot like flying... makes me somewhat understand why someone would spend half a good canopy amount of money on one of those silly birdsuits... -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
