That's not flying...it's falling with style!

Nope, he still hit the ground.

Until he learns how to miss, it's not flying.

figured out how to land

I'm not sure crashing face first at 50mph into cardboard boxes qualifies as figuring out much of anything.

Heh, yeah...no.

I think a parachute would be cheaper

These guys need to watch some flying squirrels. If that was "figuring out how to land" I'm the Queen of England

vossiewulf: figured out how to land

I'm not sure crashing face first at 50mph into cardboard boxes qualifies as figuring out much of anything.

Until they can land safely without aide of cushion I wouldn't call it a advance in the field.

well, you could always land without a parachute.

Oh, you meant land and live without a parachute.

Nevermind.

I'm still wondering if there's a design change that could be made to these wingsuits to allow the skydiver to flare on landing. It isn't like you can lower flaps on a wingsuit, but there has to be a clever way to reduce the stall speed enough so that they can land without a parachute OR a ton of empty boxes.

DammitIForgotMyLogin: Nope, he still hit the ground.

Until he learns how to miss, it's not flying.

I love you for this.

Wow, that was really disappointing. Though I should've guessed it would be what with all the wobbling.

Should have attached a skateboard to his chest and landed on a runway.

I wonder if they could land on a hillside or something and just slide to a stop. ...maybe snow..idk

DammitIForgotMyLogin: Nope, he still hit the ground.

Until he learns how to miss, it's not flying.

based on your requirements, airplanes do not fly.

Why can't they just put a big Slip n' Slide in a field?

chuckufarlie: DammitIForgotMyLogin: Nope, he still hit the ground.

Until he learns how to miss, it's not flying.

based on your requirements, airplanes do not fly.

Hitchhiker's virgin.

"Tonight will be all about celebrating ... tomorrow I will be plotting my next daring challenge!"

YES!

chuckufarlie: DammitIForgotMyLogin: Nope, he still hit the ground.

Until he learns how to miss, it's not flying.

based on your requirements, airplanes do not fly.

But, what about the whale and the bowl of petunias?

bhcompy: These guys need to watch some flying squirrels. If that was "figuring out how to land" I'm the Queen of England

Technically flying squirrels land on springy branches, they are also small, smaller animals can fall with greater relative speed. So a human sized flying squirrel landing on ground would be killed.

slayer199: I'm still wondering if there's a design change that could be made to these wingsuits to allow the skydiver to flare on landing. It isn't like you can lower flaps on a wingsuit, but there has to be a clever way to reduce the stall speed enough so that they can land without a parachute OR a ton of empty boxes.

I'm not so sure about that. It takes a lot of lift to work against gravity. Lift is generated by a difference in air pressure and you need a lot of speed to achieve enough of a pressure difference to work against gravity. The wing suit slows the skydiver down due to the drag caused by air resistance but as he slows the air resistance is lessened and eventually imparts a force on him that is equal to gravity. At that point the skydiver is falling at terminal velocity. He can change his terminal velocity by changing the orientation of his body but only he can only change it so much. He would have to flatten himself out like a piece of paper to reduce his terminal velocity enough to survive the fall. This is essentially what a parachute is doing. It is spreading your weight out over the surface area of the chute so that there is enough air resistance to slow you to a safe speed. The only other way to act against gravity would be to have some form of thrust like in a helicopter, airplane or rocket.

a step in the right direction

/now shut up, haters

Click Click D'oh: chuckufarlie: DammitIForgotMyLogin: Nope, he still hit the ground.

Until he learns how to miss, it's not flying.

based on your requirements, airplanes do not fly.

But, what about the whale and the bowl of petunias?

Oh no, not again...

DammitIForgotMyLogin: Nope, he still hit the ground.

Until he learns how to miss, it's not flying.

Winning!

DammitIForgotMyLogin: Nope, he still hit the ground.

Until he learns how to miss, it's not flying.

Exactly. And the easiest way to land, is to remember that you're flying.

This was pretty cool when I saw it on Reddit a couple of days ago.

They didn't land any differently than normal.
The secret is "where" to land.

dougfm: This was pretty cool when I saw it on Reddit a couple of days ago.

It only happened yesterday. But I suppose you're so hip you were walking on the moon before the Wright brothers came along.

I'm a wingsuiter (see my fark profile). I founded and run a school that teaches skydivers to wingsuit.

Regardless of whether you think it's a proper "landing" (he did walk away from it, after all), it's a pretty impressive feat of wingsuiting.

dougfm: This was pretty cool when I saw it on Reddit a couple of days ago.

He did it yesterday, so apparently Reddit has a time machine.

Lubejewski: slayer199: I'm still wondering if there's a design change that could be made to these wingsuits to allow the skydiver to flare on landing. It isn't like you can lower flaps on a wingsuit, but there has to be a clever way to reduce the stall speed enough so that they can land without a parachute OR a ton of empty boxes.
* * * Lift is generated by a difference in air pressure and you need a lot of speed to achieve enough of a pressure difference to work against gravity. The wing suit slows the skydiver down due to the drag caused by air resistance but as he slows the air resistance is lessened and eventually imparts a force on him that is equal to gravity. At that point the skydiver is falling at terminal velocity. * * * The only other way to act against gravity would be to have some form of thrust like in a helicopter, airplane or rocket.

Thrust works against drag, not against gravity (that's lift). Some folks believe that the best way to approach this problem is to increase wing size. The problem with that is induced drag, which means you need to have some means of keeping the wing shape in place. If we're talking something rigid, that's basically a hang glider.

I think I saw one of these flying squirrel fellows zipping along through some mountains on a ski slope or something. He still used his chute, but it really really looked like he could have just gone all the way down and "landed" while sliding down the hill very very fast.

irving47: I think I saw one of these flying squirrel fellows zipping along through some mountains on a ski slope or something. He still used his chute, but it really really looked like he could have just gone all the way down and "landed" while sliding down the hill very very fast.

That's the approach that Jeb Corliss was planning before his accident (he broke his leg a few months ago) - basically a ski ramp type angle. Ironically, the older suits (the old Birdman brand S-3, for example) would have provided a better (steeper) glide ratio to match than the current massive suits like the Tonysuit XRW (a version of which Gary used for his jump).

why can't the wingsuits have built in areas within the wings that just release much larger flaps, to use when you're coming in for a landing, like with zip pulls or something in the hands. Just begin to flare up, pull those so they deploy behind you to stop you.

You Are All Sheep: why can't the wingsuits have built in areas within the wings that just release much larger flaps, to use when you're coming in for a landing, like with zip pulls or something in the hands. Just begin to flare up, pull those so they deploy behind you to stop you.

We have something like that. We call them "parachutes."

You Are All Sheep: why can't the wingsuits have built in areas within the wings that just release much larger flaps, to use when you're coming in for a landing, like with zip pulls or something in the hands. Just begin to flare up, pull those so they deploy behind you to stop you.

Induced drag.

Once you're getting to the wing size that you need to slow the wingsuiter to manageable speeds, you're talking about a huge amount of induced drag (think "strain on the arms"). You'd need a frame to hold that. Once you've added a rigid frame, it's closer to a hang glider than a wingsuit.

Right now, with off the shelf suits like a Tonysuit Xbird, we can get fall rates slowed to 30mph. My friend can do 25mph, but that's because he's a tall thin guy. Holding those speeds for any length of time is a major workout, though, and easy to create an unstable stall.

Skwrl: I'm a wingsuiter (see my fark profile). I founded and run a school that teaches skydivers to wingsuit.

Coming to summerfest this year? Come find me, I'm the skinny freefly organizer. You have pictures with my close friends on your website, so we've probably run across each other before.

uy looks like a damn flying squirrel.

Now if we can just find the moose.....

Lsherm: You Are All Sheep: why can't the wingsuits have built in areas within the wings that just release much larger flaps, to use when you're coming in for a landing, like with zip pulls or something in the hands. Just begin to flare up, pull those so they deploy behind you to stop you.

We have something like that. We call them "parachutes."

Well, this too; but I think he's talking about "rig-less" (i.e., no parachute) jumps.

Some of the concepts I've seen talked about for a slower fall rate basically look like canopies (parachutes) that are worn by the wingsuit pilot (rather than having the center of gravity suspended beneath them). Those designs are pretty far from the current wingsuit models like the one Gary used, and are really more pie in the sky theoretical stuff.

It shows that if you fall out of an airplane wearing a wing suit, you at least of a chance if you can spot a big pile of leaves or a pillow factory at 20,000 feet.

chopit: Skwrl: I'm a wingsuiter (see my fark profile). I founded and run a school that teaches skydivers to wingsuit.

Coming to summerfest this year? Come find me, I'm the skinny freefly organizer. You have pictures with my close friends on your website, so we've probably run across each other before.

I'm guessing Kenny, Omnia, Boris (Greg) and maybe the Sheppard brothers...

Will definitely find you - Summerfest is a GREAT party. Not sure if I'm coming to weekend #1 or weekend #2, though...

Why boxes? It is because they're cheap (relatively speaking)? I wouldn't think they'd be very good speed arrestors, though.

chopit: dougfm: This was pretty cool when I saw it on Reddit a couple of days ago.

It only happened yesterday. But I suppose you're so hip you were walking on the moon before the Wright brothers Gustave Whitehead came along.

There. Fixed it for you.

I don't know what all of you people are complaining about. All we need to do is give everyone a helicopter, and carpet the country with cardboard boxes 8-deep, and we'll all be commuting to work this way.

Tater1337: a step in the right direction

Not if we have to coat the earth in cardboard boxes.

Hell, why not just skip the wing suit entirely and make a cardboard box suit? We'll all be dropping out of planes in no time.

Skwrl: I'm guessing Kenny, Omnia, Boris (Greg) and maybe the Sheppard brothers...

Will definitely find you - Summerfest is a GREAT party. Not sure if I'm coming to weekend #1 or weekend #2, though...

And Melissa, and Liz, and Justin... :)

I'll be there for both weekends. I'll probably be working, but just interrupt the dirt dive. We're freeflyers, whatever we're doing can't be that important.

All you need is a haystack near Luton.

Um, yeah, no. Crashing into a mountain of foam rubber doesn't count.

I remember watching a video about the jeb corliss dude. Wanted to land without a chute, so he got an aerospace engineer and wanted to build a giant multimillion dollar sloped ramp/chute to land on in vegas.

And then he watches this video and sees someone else do it first, with just a giant pile of boxes. "fark!"

DammitIForgotMyLogin: Nope, he still hit the ground.

Until he learns how to miss, it's not flying.

I think taking off under your own power would be a requirement too.