wing suits

[johnm]

exciting stuff .......... but not for the faint hearted

 

I guess you could call them a glider ............... some would say its a gauranteed descent with little forward component

 

any forum members had any knowlegde or experience in them ? - speed - rate of descent - cost etc etc

 

are there australian wing suit sites for jumping

 

[IBob]

It seems they get a glide ratio of about 3, which is pretty good.
'Old school' skydiving has an arms back legs out 'tracking' position, typically used to gain horizontal separation from other jumpers just prior to opening. I believe a sustained track can generate something like 60mph horizontally, but with the rate of descent increasing to about 180mph. So a glide ratio of approx 0.3

[sfGnome]

I have to admit that I think the feeling would be incredible, and if I was still a teenager and bulletproof, I’d love to have a go. However, as both those requirements are unfulfilled, I’ll leave it to braver (crazier?) folk. 
 

Wouldn’t it be a rush though…

[IBob]

I'm with you on that, sfGnome. And while there seem to have been a fair few fatalities (it would be interesting to know what the actual figures are on that) I'm pretty sure it could be done quite safely: not all of us need to fly as close to the rocks as possible.

 

[johnm]

there appears to be no emergency chute - just the 1 main chute ?

 

you'd have to be brave to jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane (parachutist) so jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane with a wing suit might have some better potential appeal in the future -  compared to straight parachuting 

 

having said that .................... parachuting remains a whole lot more popular 

[IBob]

I just searched that. It sounds like wingsuit fliers can have both main and reserve canopy, but with wingsuits for base jumping (off solid objects) there is just the main canopy. The reason being that there would generally be insufficient time/altitude to operate a reserve?

That suggests canopies must be a great deal more reliable nowadays, and it does say they are optimised for reliability.

Edited Tuesday at 02:32 AM by IBob

[facthunter]

If the Chute doesn't deploy it's called a "Roman Candle" and you put your arms out straight so as not to go too deep in  the ground.  I've dropped them and Know how MAD they are. Nev

[facthunter]

 Adrenalin Junkies. Nev

[IBob]

Nev, there are....or were.........various types of malfunction: bag-lock, line over, inversion, streamer etc.  What was called a roman candle, or more usually a streamer, was where the lines and canopy came out okay, but the whole lot then streamed instead of opening.
I don't think that happens with the ramair canopies now used.
 

[onetrack]

Unpowered Wingsuits are a spinoff from Base Jumping - one of the most dangerous extreme sports you could pick to indulge in. There's been a recorded 180 deaths from Base Jumping, and 38 deaths from Wingsuit flying.

Of course, the craze started back in the early 20th century, and I think Franz Reichelt was possibly the first fatality of many.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Reichelt

 

Personally, (if I was much younger and keener) I'd prefer the jet powered Wingsuits as pioneered by Yves Rossy. However, in 2022, Peter Salzmann collaborated with BMW to fly an electric-powered Wingsuit.

 

 

[IBob]

There was some guy in the US, during the barnstorming days, used to exhibition jump with a little set of moth-shaped wings strapped on. I believe he came to grief after striking the aircraft somehow on exit, presumably damaging the wings which would have had no quick release.
If I jumped a wingsuit, I'd want to be very sure that none of the stitching or fabric could fail...........but I guess they will be very strongly constructed with modern materials.

As for conventional skydiving: I was recently told that there are now more accidents and fatalities due to poor landing of high speed canopies than there are to gear malfunctions.