blair700 0 #1 November 19, 2002 This is a spin off from the distance thread, what kind of freefall times are folks getting out there from airplanes? Thanks in advance! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gus 1 #2 November 19, 2002 I've only got 10 jumps so far but on the Classic I was borrowing my best was 105 seconds, from 13500 feet down to 5500. If the weather ever improves and I can jump my new Gti I'll tell you how I get on! GusOutpatientsOnline.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
outrager 6 #3 November 19, 2002 Average skydives are a bit over 3 minutes. bsbd! Yuri. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cpoxon 0 #4 November 19, 2002 How longs a piece of string? Adrian managed nearly five minutes from 30,000 feet. Ask a CRW jumper what's the delay from x,000 feet and the answer is always 2 seconds. Ask a wingsuit jumper with a ProTrack and it's always 119 seconds (as that's the maximum it will record :-P). What goes around, comes around, I'm back to timing my freefalls with stopwatch :-) although not like the olden days when they used one to see when to pull; I use it to see when I've pulled. Quite often I'll take my camera on a solo so I know how long I've been. Seriously though, I have at least a 225 lb exit weight on a Skyflyer and my best is about 2.5 minutes for 10,000 feet of freefall. Would like to improve on that. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomAiello 25 #5 November 19, 2002 Hi Craig, How tall are you? Free fall times like that are pretty impressive, considering the exit weight. What kinds of forward speeds are you managing? I've talked with several people who think that heavier jumpers can achieve the same glide angles, but will move faster in both (down and forward) directions. I'm sure you read Lukas' thoughts on the matter, but I will reproduce them (edited for brevity and to eliminate names) below for reference (and anyone else who hasn't seen them). QuoteThe focus recently has been on freefall times. You know, doing a minute, then Y does 83 sek, then my friend M, skinny and all muscle did 87 sek, and P was doing 80 sec from these big Norge mongo walls. I had set my sights on the minuteman as a personal goal number one this year. I got the latest Skyflyer from robert and practised from aeroplanes the whole summer, which was fun in itself. Anyway the focus was time, time, time all the time. But when it came to the cliff it quickly became apparant that my style wasn't going to give those times. First time off K gave me 51 sek, then off U I got 20 while others got 30 ???? Obviously I had my work cut out for me. But it seems I had a gift and that was forward speed, some of the ground cameras had trouble keeping me in frame while zoomed in and people on the exit keep making comments on my speed. I shrugged, I wasn't doing anything special, just the same as I did from aeroplanes. Anyway I reached the exit on K after a nice walk in the sun and things felt good and conditions were beautiful. I decided to go for it, just fly my way as best as I could. I reached the river, and crossed it at about a 1000 feet, after only 46 seconds. Some estimates of my forward speed are between 200 to 250 km/h. I 've got good video which I'll quicktime as soon as I can. I think I am the first person to fly across the river from K, and land there, with plenty of height to spare. Its just I was heading for forest and power lines so had to pull. The point I was making earlier is that there are now becoming two goals in wingsuiting. Distance and time. Both have different techniques. Distance is actually a flatter glide obviously, but a faster vertical descent, while time just seeks to minimise the vertical descent rate. Damn, I miss that guy. Does anyone have any thoughts on flying for speed, instead of hang time? Do you think it's flight style, body shape, or a bit of both?-- Tom Aiello [email protected] SnakeRiverBASE.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 15 #6 November 19, 2002 What I've been likeing to see is the GPS plots matched up to the Protrack data to show how speed decended and distance covered. How many people other then Craig and a few Brits are doing this?Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cpoxon 0 #7 November 19, 2002 QuoteHow tall are you? About 6 foot. QuoteFree fall times like that are pretty impressive, considering the exit weight. It was my best i.e. once! Usually average between 2 and 2.5 minutes QuoteWhat kinds of forward speeds are you managing? Difficult to say, I'm not consistently gathering data on this stuff to know. GPS data can be pretty peaky too. I don't think I'm particularly fast. From the data I have access to at the moment, the max speed is just over 100 mph. Not nearly as fast as Robert or Lukas though. QuoteI've talked with several people who think that heavier jumpers can achieve the same glide angles, but will move faster in both (down and forward) directions. In my experience sounds reasonable to me. Fraser (who's taller and thinner than I), remember that jump we did at Weston where you were out of my sight because you were directly behind me and although you can better me on descent rate you were having a hard time catching up with me? I found Robert and Yuri's discussion interesting on the BLINC wingsuit forum. It's easy to say speed is important when you're already a minuteman :-). I'd like both. Once I've got the minute, I'll concentrate on speed. QuoteI decided to go for it, just fly my way as best as I could. I reached the river, and crossed it at about a 1000 feet, after only 46 seconds. Some estimates of my forward speed are between 200 to 250 km/h. I 've got good video which I'll quicktime as soon as I can. I saw that video this weekend. I've asked Simon to encode it and upload it someone as testament to Lukas. Hearing him say, "I am the fastest motherfucker in the valley!" over the radio gave me goose-bumps. QuoteDoes anyone have any thoughts on flying for speed, instead of hang time? Do you think it's flight style, body shape, or a bit of both? I'm not sure and I wish I knew. Not enough consistency in jumping on my part I'm afraid. As with most things in our sport(s) body size plays and important factor but with a lot of skill it can be overcome and I think those of us who are "bigger boned" are disadvantaged. It's easier for smaller people to go faster than it is for bigger people to go slower? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 3 #8 November 19, 2002 QuoteDoes anyone have any thoughts on flying for speed, instead of hang time? Do you think it's flight style, body shape, or a bit of both? Hell, I would probably venture that it's a bit of both. I would also say that while the SkyFlyer is the cutting edge wingsuit, it may not be the suit which yields you the best time or distance. A fellow BM-I here at Raeford still sets his longest times in his old Classic, but he can cover much farther distance in my SkyFlyer and GTi. For me, my times are not really any different in either suit, but I can go much farther and faster in my SkyFlyer. Chuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomAiello 25 #9 November 19, 2002 QuoteWhat I've been likeing to see is the GPS plots matched up to the Protrack data to show how speed decended and distance covered. My GPS measures altitude as well, so I've never thought to match it up to the Protrack. I was only really interested in the whole flight averages, though. Is there a big difference between the altitude readings on the GPS and the Protrack?-- Tom Aiello [email protected] SnakeRiverBASE.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
verticalflyer 11 #10 November 19, 2002 As Craig says body differences do affect the flight , if two people have identical positions and ones 2 stone heavier and shorter, is wing is loaded at a greater amount and less efficient ( we are all overloading the wings relative to true flight eg climb) I have just started picking up wings and its slowing me down even more, the longest flight I had on my classic was 2 mins 50 for 11,000ft freefall, have not done a video recorded flight with the skyflyer for time yet, but I have noticed when I am really super slow my forward speed is not smoking. This makes sense as any unpowered or gravity powered wing generates max lift at one angle, however the problem we haqve of hitting that one angle is we are flying two wings sitting behind each other, eg the foward arm wing and the leg both of which can have entirely different angles relative to the airflow so it finding the sweet spot on the combination that yields the most efficient performance. Slowest average on the Skyflyer so far is 46mph but 12second point flying at 35mph, but i cant remember exactly what my configuration was at that point so gotta keep flyign and learning.Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cpoxon 0 #11 November 27, 2002 Quote***I decided to go for it, just fly my way as best as I could. I reached the river, and crossed it at about a 1000 feet, after only 46 seconds. Some estimates of my forward speed are between 200 to 250 km/h. I 've got good video which I'll quicktime as soon as I can. I saw that video this weekend. I've asked Simon to encode it and upload it someone as testament to Lukas. Hearing him say, "I am the fastest motherfucker in the valley!" over the radio gave me goose-bumps. FastestMotherFuckerInTheValley.WMV Will probably move to FastestMotherFuckerInTheValley.WMV in the future Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nacmacfeegle 0 #12 November 27, 2002 Cool video folks.....Thanks for posting the link.-------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ernokaikkonen 0 #13 November 29, 2002 Wow. How high up is the exit-point? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kevin922 0 #14 November 29, 2002 My god! What did he deploy at ? Just under 1K? Did I miss what the total distance covered was estimated at? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccordia 73 #15 January 31, 2003 Isn't it possible to find a friendly traffic-cop who would lend you a laser-speed-measuring thingy, so someone can check the forward speed on a flying birdman? If they can check the speed of cars and tennisballs this way, it should probably work with skydivers too?JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kevin922 0 #16 January 31, 2003 QuoteIsn't it possible to find a friendly traffic-cop who would lend you a laser-speed-measuring thingy, so someone can check the forward speed on a flying birdman? If they can check the speed of cars and tennisballs this way, it should probably work with skydivers too? I don't think any laser will work with the distances you're talking about. (i.e. from the ground to 6000 feet) - at least not to hit a small spec (a person) at that distance) Plus it would be measuring the speed at which the person is falling towards the ground, not forward speed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ernokaikkonen 0 #17 February 1, 2003 I think one would get more reliable readings from a GPS-logger, mounted on the helmet of a birdman. Combined with data from a Protrack(do they work with BASE anyway?) it would be easy to calculate the forward speed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomAiello 25 #18 February 1, 2003 QuoteI think one would get more reliable readings from a GPS-logger, mounted on the helmet of a birdman.I've used this method quite a bit. I need to work on smoothing my flight profile, though. I tend to have quite a bit of variability (i.e. poor flying skills), and the GPS data is pretty choppy.QuoteCombined with data from a Protrack(do they work with BASE anyway?)I've heard that Protracks work for BASE, but I've never tried it. I know some guys who've been pretty convinced that the data they got was right, though.-- Tom Aiello [email protected] SnakeRiverBASE.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Faber 0 #19 February 2, 2003 Protrack starts counting afther 6 sek of freefall,so probaly yes if you go for a Birdfligth. There are also a place named "special",this is for BASE,where you set the higth when you get up there,have never tryed it. They have made their site,tjel it out http://www.l-and-b.dk/indexf.html Stay safe Stefan Faber Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites