Wingsuit World Record

[mortcj 0]

Does Anyone know any plans for the next Wingsuit World Record?

[verticalflyer 11]

A team calling themselves the icarus wingsuit project on FB were saying they were going to 45,000ft in September 2016 with a new suit they designed themselves. But looks like it never happened. Other than that am sure there will be formation records in the offing.

Dont just talk about it, Do it!

[lurch 0]

I'd noted these guys a ways back... if I remember right, at first the stated goal was to apply all sorts of engineering techniques to design a wingsuit with a superior glide meant to win at the next world cup. Their release info included pretty pictures of graphics and simulations.

I paid attention briefly but without all that much interest because I was pretty sure I knew the fate of this one before they even got started. I've seen this approach before. It doesn't work. I was wondering how long it was going to take for these guys to figure that out.

There've been a few other attempts of a similar nature, usually loaded with as many trendy engineering-school buzzwords and jargon as humanly possible.

"We will use the latest in data acquisition technology combined with digital physics simulation and computational fluid dynamics to characterize the lift to drag ratio until we have grepped the succotash to a flux capacitor inhibiting boundary layer detachment leading to a mathematically proven superior suit design."

In every case it becomes more about finding ways to apply those jazzy engineering-school tools to the job regardless of whether or not it will be effective.

It never is. They invariably produce lots and lots of analysis diagrams and flow charts and mathematical gibberish and whatnot, none of which ever yields a detectable let alone decisive improvement in suit design. We aren't designing an Airbus, here, where all factors except the air itself are rigid and can be characterized and defined and analyzed and the improvements are black and white. The performance of a suit is far more the pilot than it is the suit. When the range of performance can vary by 30-50% depending on exactly how the pilot handles it, a 3% improvement in the aerodynamics of the suit, produced after months of designing data collection hardware, analysis protocols, doing simulations, designing your improvement, building the suit... Doesn't even show. At all. Lost in the noise to insignificance. A slightly better pilot in an inferior suit will beat it repeatedly.

Whereas, the direct route... Build a suit. Try it. See how it does. Think about how the suit flies, think up how you'd change it to improve it based on intuitive sense of handling and how far the suit actually flew, then just build another one and try it again...

That approach led directly from Birdman Classic 1 to the Tony Suits -Bird series not to mention Squirrel's current dominant offerings.

Last I saw they were working on their mathematically proven Athena helmet that was supposed to be the big magic improvement to beat everybody. I think everyone in the project probably graduated before producing anything except a swoopy looking helmet that looks just like other equally swoopy helmets designed without a terabyte of computational fluid dynamics behind them.

But, we demonstrated our ability to apply CFD to a physics problem, yay!
-B

Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

[verticalflyer 11]

Lurch your right this appears to have gone nowhere other than generating lots of hype and ill informed fanboys. They claim in an interview with the Royal Aero society to have jumped from 35,000ft however a bit of searching and nothing appears to have actually happened. As for aerodynamics whilst its fun to talk about huge aerodynamic advances and 5:1 glide ratios the reality is no suit no jump and no evidence. How do you get that advanced suit and then trash all its advancements with cameras and oxygen systems. I cant see the major O2 system manufacturers bending over to develop tailored solutions for a one of jump which as soon as you mount masks bailout bottles and hose removes all advantages due to drag. In addition statements about borrowing a C17 show no knowledge of these aircraft. Whilst they may have a max operational ceiling of 45k they do this pressurized not unpressurized which opens up multiple challenges for all on board. Any jump at this altitude is on the margins with pressure breathing and pressure suits yet they seem to think they will just rock up and jump. They are also claiming they are targeting 280 mph which seems fictional at best without a major tail wind. This was all supposed to have been completed October but bar a new helmet and some pretty cfd it looks like this is all hot air to put it mildly. Tragically according to the project leaders page they forgot to turn on the flysight for the test jumps in the algarve with the new helmet they must have just kept forgetting as no data but they did get some lovely pictures, and they say they flew distances that indicate a 5:1 glide but alas no data.

Dont just talk about it, Do it!

[jumpsalot-2 3]

Your post just makes me remember Jhonny. Had to post the video.https://youtu.be/VeuLK7dZgJI

Life is short ... jump often.

[verticalflyer 11]

Jhonny delivered and made it happen awesome pilot and person :)

Dont just talk about it, Do it!

[kallend 2,027]

What he said.

There's a reason that all the sailplanes with high glide ratios have very high aspect ratio wings, something that is essentially unobtainable in a wingsuit without a rigid structure.

Our suits are more akin to NASA's lifting body craft from the 1960s and 70s, which had glide ratios like bricks.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[dthames 0]

kallend

What he said.

There's a reason that all the sailplanes with high glide ratios have very high aspect ratio wings, something that is essentially unobtainable in a wingsuit without a rigid structure.

Our suits are more akin to NASA's lifting body craft from the 1960s and 70s, which had glide ratios like bricks.

It is very likely that will a little lead and very little shaping you could make a 2 foot long 2x4 board fly better than a wingsuit.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[kallend 2,027]

dthames

***
What he said.

There's a reason that all the sailplanes with high glide ratios have very high aspect ratio wings, something that is essentially unobtainable in a wingsuit without a rigid structure.

Our suits are more akin to NASA's lifting body craft from the 1960s and 70s, which had glide ratios like bricks.

It is very likely that will a little lead and very little shaping you could make a 2 foot long 2x4 board fly better than a wingsuit.

I've seen lumps of styrofoam with minimal shaping fly far better than any wingsuit.

And things like This:

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.