Rocket Boots!

Yeah, we had heard about this at the DZ. We have a local guy who does the birdman jumps all the time (we actually have a whole flock of these guys) but one in particular I was trying to convince to do this but he did not think it would work.
 
skyguynca said:
Yeah, we had heard about this at the DZ. We have a local guy who does the birdman jumps all the time (we actually have a whole flock of these guys) but one in particular I was trying to convince to do this but he did not think it would work.
That's too bad. The only unfortunate thing was there was no way to get a sense of scale from the video. The videographer simply zoomed slowly out once the boots fired to give the impression the guy was flying into the distance.

Reality is a different beast indeed. I'm sure the skydiver was very pleased with himself afterward; I'm sure the ride was fun. But when I get a whiff of other connotations I call it the way I see it. Nothing wrong, just an error in the way its seen.
 
The other guy in freefall with him was tracking with him but not in a birdman suit, the birdman suit will out run another skydiver without one in a heartbeat so the video is misleading. I am very good friends with the west coast trainer and factory rep for the birdman. He says the guy maintained altitude for 30 seconds, stalled trying to climb, then engines out of gas. The west coast rep is also online for my small throttled rocket engines for a flight. The last test on the ground I got 60 lbs of thrust for 40 seconds, with one on each leg he would be able to actually gain altitude. Safety first so we are still doing some more testing before he flies them.
 
That's cool... I never knew that about you before. I've seen the BirdMan suit "fly" before but was underwhelmed by their definition of flight. I was very impressed though that he was able to maintain altitude for 30 seconds. That initself is quite an achievement. Though debatable in definition, the fact that it was done and sustained was impressive.

Lastly, I had no idea you were into rocketry until you mentioned it. Perhaps you did before and I was too dense to catch it. Either way I'd love it if you'd teach me some fundamentals. The science of Propulsion is a never-ending fascination. It also shows me how to be humble because of the idiots that think they really are rocket scientists.

All the best,
Brian
 
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