Wing suit!!
 

I don't know if this is a repost, but I've never seen it.

Holy shit - I thought base-jumping was nuts, but theses guys.....:eek:http://www.biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=4262

First time i've seen it too. That is amazing. I'd never have the balls to do that kind of thing though.

I think that that's the closest thing to actually flying that one could do! I want in!

didn't they use those in that Tomb Raider Movie, I've seen those before, there's a video somewhere of a guy jumping out of a plane and then the plane does a nose dive, and the guy is able to keep a enough lift to glide right back into the plane

wow that's awesome

holy shit.

That's not flying, that's falling with style.

That's the only extreme sport I've ever wanted to do.

Red Devil (wing suit) vs Porsche:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-wZsfhvJqc

So why don't you?

5 posts in 2 years and this is the thread you pipe up in:bigtu:

He has a point. I've been asking myself that. There was (is?) a big jump school at the little airport I learn to fly at(Lodi, CA) in my early 20's. They would fly a DC-3 out of there on weekends. I could never quite justify spending the time and money to learn to parachute but I used to watch them when I was done with my lessons. Flying could be justified because I could (and did) use it for my career.

The jump pilot was a dick, BTW.

I've seen the wingsuits on discovery channel before.
I haven't seen people flying THAT CLOSE to the ground before.

Hehe, Gotta love the little mishap the driver had with the Porsche at the end of the video.

Damn, I saw this years ago, lol

Skydiving is awesome. It's a bit pricey ($150-$200) when you don't have your own suit/chute/etc but completely worth it if you've never done it. Different results for different people, but jumping out of a plane at 13000 feet bettered my outlook on life. You tend to appreciate the little things more and not give a damn about the stupid shit.

I think jumping with a flight suit like that would be incredible... it's one thing to just free fall, but being able to glide like that must be amazing!

As for flying back to the plane... the plane would have to be diving for the jumper to get back to the plane since the flight suit doesn't really enable you to fly, it just slows your descent, gives you more forward speed and lets you have better control over what direction you fall.

How many jumps before you can jump solo?

The guy that reentered the aircraft wearing a wing suit, was a French man named Patrick de Gayardon. He is credited with invention of the modern “bird man” suit. He was killed in 99 IIRC, When he had a failure with his outfit.
Watching that incredible video, reminded me of another spectacular failure.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/996246/posts

Well let's clarify something... I'll answer both cases, but are you asking about jumping solo as in not being strapped to someone or not jumping with instructors?

Case 1: If you asking about jumping without being strapped to someone (tandem) then you can do that immediately if you decide to become a licensed skydiver.

Case 2: If you are asking about not jumping with instructors then you have to be a licensed skydiver. I believe it varies from state to state, but it's usually ~7 classes/jumps before you become licensed. Those 7 classes/jumps usually end up costing $1000-2000 once everything is said and done. Then if you buy your own equipment diving is stupid cheap.... like $25 a jump

Here's an example of the progression for certification:
http://www.skydivingalabama.com/main.html

I check the forums about every day, I really should post more!

I have around 400 skydives of which about half are wingsuit. I would post some pics but I dont have permission (guessing its a post count thing). Anyone who wants to make a skydive should, it's the best thing that I have ever done.

Upload your pics to tinypic.com or make an account at photobucket.com and upload them there. Then post the img tags here so we can see them that way.

Lets see if this works......

http://i7.tinypic.com/8av3ndf.jpg

http://i6.tinypic.com/6jzqj55.jpg

http://i6.tinypic.com/6pr12ed.jpg

http://i9.tinypic.com/8akml8o.jpg

http://i18.tinypic.com/6tu80pd.jpg

http://i14.tinypic.com/80y5sw7.jpg

http://i3.tinypic.com/6lnilc7.jpg

Yes I'm a amputee, no its not from skydiving:)
And I know that I should always use a helmet:nono:

Thats so cool, I want to jump some day..

It gives you a feeling you'll never forget... For me it was a 50% loss of balance for about 30 minutes and 100% loss of hearing in one ear for a week :ugh2:

I made a full recovery :bigtu:

Ok this may be a dumb question.. But do you have the feeling that you get when you go down a big hill on a roller coaster for the entire duration of the free fall?

aka butterflies in the stomach, losing your stomach etc.

I've never gone skydiving before but here's what I think.
I think it will be like that for the first few seconds.
I think the reason you get that feeling is because your body is experiencing negative G's from being pulled down (faster than gravity would) by your seatbelt or harness whereas in free fall you are subjected 0 G's.

Of course that could be said (More correctly) in terms of a faster than 9.81m/s(squared) acceleration.

that porsche is a beast

You sir, are correct

It's been a while, but I don't really recall the butterfly feeling... The stronger feelings are: holy shit I just jumped out of a plane and holy shit now I'm falling through xx,xxx feet of absolutely nothing. One thing to remember though, is if your ears are sensitive to pressure changes, such as diving too deep in the water or in the cabin of a jetliner you have to "blow them out" so to speak or you might end up suffering from extreme pain and a temporary loss of hearing... like I did, because my instructor forgot to remind me to equalize the pressure in my ears every now and then on the way down. For the most part it came back after a week and then I completely regained it a couple months later. Good conversation starter though, girls love guys who live on the edge... :bigtu:

what do you mean by equalizing the pressure in your ears?

yeah, i hate diving to the bottom of pools/lakes, but thats all that causes pain, no planes or shit

damn I'm always so conjested that I will never be able to do this :(. I have tired to do that clamp your nose and pop your whatever but it never works or maybe I puss out to soon.... I don't normally have problems with the whole preasure thing.. Can't you pop a blood vessel in your head if you try to equalize the presure wrong?

When you're on a plane or traveling through mountains you yawn or chew gum or hold your mouth/nose shut while you "blow" and your ears pop... that's equalizing the pressure

As for blowing your head up... I'm pretty sure you would have to blow EXTREMELY hard to cause damage like that



I guess I should emphasize that... my ears are VERY sensitive to pressure changes... I can't dive more than 4 or 5 feet in a pool without extreme pain. Mountains and planes don't cause pain, but I do have to equalize the pressure after very slight variations in altitude like driving over hills on highways

if I do the hold your mouth and nose shut thing, air comes out of my tear ducts...... is that bad?

no, at least you aren't squirting milk out of them like other people do

How do I do that!

Be a horned toad, squirt blood out of your eyes!


Yeah I wanna go skydiving now.

Do it. Whether you end up liking it or not you won't regret doing it, as it is an experience. And if you do end up liking it enough it is an awesome hobby to have.