240m3srt

"I'm planning to fly it ,test it and land it myself so it will have to be easy to fly" Wow. You are a true visionary sir! I would recommend obtaining the appropriate sensors to data log every aspect of the landing angle and speed before actually trying to land it. Then create a mock situation where you act as if 5000ft is "ground" and you start your "landing" at 5500ft and record horizontal speed, vertical speed, glide angle, lift, etc to see if its realistic. A video guy is a must. Better yet someone in a stationary non-descending object such as a ballon(cheaper than helicopter to rent im guessing?) to datalog with video, radar gun, range finder. On second thought might need 2 ballons one at 5500, one at 5000. I guess the point is its your life, there is no expense to great. You might could get funding from red bull, monster, etc. BTW, whats your avatar pic, its hard to make it out?

Based on the link 4dbill posted it might not look to much like a human, lol. I guess the whole wings out of the back "angel" concep isnt the most aerodynamically effecient

Congratulations! Stick with it you will have your A in no time.

Great explaination and pic! What are the Russians doing? Will the rigid wingsuit you are referring to look something like this: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/look-out-below-wingsuits-pushed-for-airbone-assaults/ Or this one with rockets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0E6Yh_mSx8

Can you help me better understand what this "spar" is that you are referring to? Ive always been suprised the wings havent progressed to something more rigid/semi rigid. Would a suit benefit from a slick yet flexible sheet of thin plastic sewn on the wing surfaces and in long strips along the body to allow body movement but make air to glide more effeciently over the surface? Im guessing this would reduce drag which might not slow your speed but might make for more agile maneuvers. Not enough? How about collapsable carbon kevlar(or similar) wings. They would probably need to be made from long thin 1-2" slats that were collapsable like an accordian(picture one of those chinese fans that fold up).

QuoteYou know those stretchy trrip wires they use on aircraft carriers to catch-hold the palnes as they land. How about usiug that idea, but in the air? reply] Now thats a cool idea! Maybe more realistic than my compressed gas theory haha.

Good point and you very well may be correct. But thats why i figure the gas would have to be compressed....highly. Like to the level of where its at a dangerously high psi...hence the technology of having a thin yet resiliant material to contain it. There was an edition of "Parachutist" magazine a month or two ago where a wingsuiter was lifted to jump altitude by a bunch of helium filled ballons. What if you took that amount of helium and compressed it into a small enough space(like a thin wing). Heck you might not even need a plane to get to altitude. When your ready to come down just vent off some helium. Im not a science major but i do know that gases are compressible and liquids are not. Im wondering if you compress helium or hydrogen enough if it becomes a liquid...and if so is it still lighter than air for the amount of space its liquid form takes up? I really dont know.

What if the technolgy were there to fill a very thin but very strong light weight capsule with helium or hydrogen. The capsule would be shaped like a flat plate in the shape of the rear and side wings, and would be between 1/8-1/2" thick(hollow). I am wondering if this would make your body essentially "lighter" so that lift is increase and thus both vertical and horizontal speed are reduced (aka essentially a lighter wing loading with no extreme diet or 20 ft wings). How many lbs of compressed helium/hydrogen would this flat capsule have to hold to signifigantly decrease a humans weight? Probably a lot, and it would also be a pain or impossible to collapse your wings so it might not be so much of a suit anymore. There would be a fill nipple and a quick release nozel too so you would have greater control. Heres the other thing you would need a source for this supercompressed gas on the plane or drop zone because as soon as you fill the capsules they would start to lift! The first task is to esentially get a human to "hover" or body weight to be decreased to the point of where if a 200lb man got on a scale it would read 100, 50, 25, etc...then take that amount of compressed gas per square/in and put it into the wingsuit. Then there is cost. Im guessing the technology is out there somewhere right now(NASA maybe). The idea will have to be pitched to them as a betterment for mankind. Kinda like the whole Felix Baumgartner project is a way to test the capability of humans surviving supersonic flight so maybe humans can fall from high altitudes if they had to exit from the edge of sky/space. Yes maybe its a silly idea in 2010 but 50yrs from now when you see similar tecnology used in aerospace industry or on a sci fi movie remember it was my idea. And rest assured 1000 yrs from now every kid on the block will have one as a toy. Remember, we have only been jumping with parachutes(and living) about 200-225 yrs. Who knows what the future holds, we have so much more to learn.

Doesnt look like he generated near enough speed to produce any lift. Cool idea, but im guessing its gonna have to be a much taller ramp. Thus the risks increase. And um, was he flapping his wings at the end lol.

Sure it does. One of the main reasons scientist like to publish their work. Actually scientist publish their work so that other scientists can try to duplicate or disprove their findings. Thats how a theory becomes a fact. But i suppose it certainly doesnt bother them when some law or principal is named after them, so maybe that plays a roll too.

Amazing video Costyn! Love the footage and the music.

That is some sweet @ss footage! But it is hard to tell what is going on from a technical aspect...i want to know exactly how it works. I assume it requires a very small canopy but im still uncertain if the canopy pilot is hauling ass or if the wingsuit is just slowed WAY down...

I was hoping you guys can explain to me how someone under canopy can dock on and ride a wingsuiter. Is this for real? From my limited studies of wingsuits you guys can achieve very slow vertical decent rates but the slower you fall the faster you propel forward. So how is it possible for a canopy pilot to dock on a wingsuiter and how long can the 2 jumpers stay attached?

Thanks for the replies guys. I actually did read the manual multiple times but it took me a few days of playing with viso II before i felt effecient going through the different screens and knowing what was what. Im wondering if your right about it splitting the time between when you pull and when your actually under a fully inflated canopy, especially on hop and pops. The reason i say this is because im almost certain i was not in freefall for 8 sec and only dropped 500 ft.

I jumped a digital altimeter for the first time over the weekend, the Viso II. I love it so far but have some concerns. I noticed that when the plane first takes off it will not start reading until around 270-320 ft...is this normal? Also, the thing works great for datalogging, with one small issue. I did one hop and pop and it did not record free fall speed, yet it recorded the jump altitude and deployment altitude. It even recorded the freefall time as 8 sec(didnt feel that long)...so is it possible that unless you hit a certain speed for a certain amount of time that it will not record the speed(such as a hop and pop).