awesome base jump with a Wing suit !

I tried that 50 yrs ago when I was a kid, Dads raincoat buttoned at the neck hold onto the corners & jumped out the bedroom window, it didn't work!!
 
I was reading about those once. Some rediculous number of the original people to try it ended up killing themselves. I think it's safer now. It looks cool.
 
I found an article on "wing suits". It says the glide ratio is about 2:1. Forward speeds are about 100 mph and vertical speed is about 50 mph.

Alan
 
I dunno how many people participate in this but there's a list of about 100 who don't participate any more.

http://hometown.aol.com/base194/myhomepage/base_fatality_list

I've parachuted a bunch of times to get somewhere on the ground that I couldn't get to any other way. As I see it, if I'm already on the ground I'm too damn low to be parachuting. Your mileage may vary.

cheers

-=K=-
 
Kevin,
That list is a list of BASE jumping in general. The wing suits used in the video are relatively new to the sport of BASE jumping and skydiving. I've seen jumps using the wing suits from high altitudes where the jumpers are able to track miles away from their exit location. Rumor has it that special forces are toying with the wing suits so they can do HALO jumps and end up miles away from their exit aircraft for a more clandestine insertion. When I stopped skydiving I was getting interested in BASE jumping. I always wanted to do Bridge Day in West Virginia.
 
Timchick said:
Kevin,
That list is a list of BASE jumping in general. The wing suits used in the video are relatively new to the sport of BASE jumping and skydiving.

Yeah, but they do distinguish the wing-suit mishaps from the others. Personally, you would think it would make it safer because it would reduce the risk of a cliff strike. Without knowing how many people are jumping BASE with or without wingsuits we have no stastical basis for assessing the activity (that's like the stories the papers always write on light=aircraft accidents) but my impression is that it is an extremely hazardous activity. I've jumped static line from an aircraft from 340 ft and lived (obviously) but I don't recommend that either (the low jump was pilot error; it was a go-on-green situation). And with the aircraft we had 150 kts of speed to assist opening.

I've seen jumps using the wing suits from high altitudes where the jumpers are able to track miles away from their exit location. Rumor has it that special forces are toying with the wing suits so they can do HALO jumps and end up miles away from their exit aircraft for a more clandestine insertion.

I wonder where these rumors get started. I'll ask around, my old element probably has a couple guys at Yuma right now. Somehow I doubt this, because we have HAHO which does exactly that and is also pretty stealthy. If you start tracking at 100 kt you will start showing up on air surveillance radars, where the MTI filters you out at a lower speed. if your enemy is a nonradar environment you don't neeed to be fancy at all.

When I stopped skydiving I was getting interested in BASE jumping. I always wanted to do Bridge Day in West Virginia.

I think that's probably a pretty safe way to get into it if you must, because they have experienced people tech your gear and give the new jumpers advice. Going over the list I was struck by the number of people who did it alone, or with skydive gear. But the big thing that seems to get experienced people is a cliff strike. Skydiving, it's no big deal if your gear turns you around 180 degrees on opening. (And actually, if your gear does that on the bridge you fly through the arch while hunting your toggles -- no big deal). But on a building, antenna, or mountainside it'll get your Organ Donor Card activated.

It's a free country and one of the freedoms I treasure is the freedom to participate in risky activities. Everybody's risk meter is calibrated a little different.

cheers

-=K=-
 
Kevin;

I sense that you are opening up a bit more in your posts.:rolleyes:

I like that.;)


CFWMDF
Cheers :)
 
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