Are We Really Flying?

[Grips 0]

According to dictionary.com:

fly1 /flaɪ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[flahy] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, flew or, for 11, 19, flied, flown, fly·ing, noun, plural flies.
–verb (used without object)
1. to move through the air using wings.
(we don't have wings)
2. to be carried through the air by the wind or any other force or agency: bits of paper flying about. (we're not really being 'carried', but that doesn't matter, because it doesn't specify whether 'carried' is vertically, or horizontally through the air)
3. to float or flutter in the air: flags flying in the breeze. (well, we're not floating for sure, however some of us might be fluttering)
4. to travel in an aircraft or spacecraft. (we're not in space, but that doesn't matter because vertical or horizontal doesn't really exist in space, or does it?)
5. to move suddenly and quickly; start unexpectedly: He flew from the room. (we're not in a room, unless you consider the sky the room, but we are moving suddenly, and quickly)
6. to change rapidly and unexpectedly from one state or position to another: The door flew open. (yeah, that does happen)
7. to flee; escape. (well now, there is a few jokes in that one)
8. to travel in space: The probe will fly past the planet. (Again, vertical, or horizontal, or does it matter? We are not flying PAST the planet however, we are flying, or moving, towards it)
9. to move or pass swiftly: How time flies! (yeah, I suppose, a bit vague though)
10. to move with an aggressive surge: A mother fox will fly at anyone approaching her kits. (yeah, that happens)


I don't know. Is vertical falling flying?

[Icon134 0]

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1. to move through the air using wings.
(we don't have wings)

speak for yourself... I use wings all the time...

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[cocheese 0]

I'm still flying from some of the memories made in the sky.

[Grips 0]

Does a 'wing' have to provide lift to be a 'wing'? If it does, then your not really using wings.

[2fat2fly 0]

Yes, by definition #2-If we weren't being carried by the wind, there'd be no need to adjust the spot to compensate for the uppers.

I am not the man. But the man knows my name...and he's worried

[Peej 0]

In the sky your whole body is a wing

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[Icon134 0]

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Does a 'wing' have to provide lift to be a 'wing'? If it does, then your not really using wings.

um... that's exactly why I have wings... to provide a bit more lift then the RW group I'm filming.

my wings may not provide enough lift to stay off the ground indefinetely but... they do provide lift.

oh, and what peej,2fat2fly said are also true...

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[bozo 0]

Long ago, as a new jumper, I was regaling my five year old daughter...whos now 31.....with tales of how I could fly in freefall. She popped my balloon with this comment....."sure daddy....but you can go back up"
Out of the mouths of babes.

bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

[Grips 0]

So, you are providing a 'bit more lift' but its still falling.

Lift: The lift force, lifting force or simply lift consists of the sum of all the fluid dynamic forces on a body perpendicular to the direction of the external flow approaching that body.

Unless you can fly back up to 14,000 feet, I don't think those are wings, or somewhere there of, I don't think they are wings.

[Icon134 0]

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Lift: The lift force, lifting force or simply lift consists of the sum of all the fluid dynamic forces on a body perpendicular to the direction of the external flow approaching that body.

um... this definition doesn't require that the force entirely counter that of gravity...

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[piisfish 140]

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Unless you can fly back up to 14,000 feet, I don't think those are wings, or somewhere there of, I don't think they are wings.

drop a Boeing/Airbus/Whatever from 14kft, do you think once it has obtained enough speed to not be in a stall, it can climb to 14k again ? Therefore I hereby declare that Boeings, Airbi (is that the plural for Airbus ??) etc DO NOT HAVE WINGS

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Grips 0]

Correct, but it does say perpendicular.

Only unless your 'wing' creates a right angle, perpendicular to relative airflow, then it is not a wing and does not create lift.

[jakee 1,489]

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Lift: The lift force, lifting force or simply lift consists of the sum of all the fluid dynamic forces on a body perpendicular to the direction of the external flow approaching that body.

um... this definition doesn't require that the force entirely counter that of gravity...

But it does say perpendicular to the external flow, which excludes camera wings (while falling down the tube) which produce drag parallel to the external flow approaching the body.

Doesn't exclude components of tracking and wingsuit lift though

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[Grips 0]

They are wings, and we are flying (even if we don't have wings.

While the common meaning of the term "lift" suggests an "upwards" action, in fact, the direction of lift (and its definition) does not actually depend on the notions of "up" and "down", e.g., as defined with respect to the direction of the gravity. Specifically, the term negative lift refers to the lift force directed "down".

[Icon134 0]

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Correct, but it does say perpendicular.

Only unless your 'wing' creates a right angle, perpendicular to relative airflow, then it is not a wing and does not create lift.

again nothing wrt the magnitude... my wings are also useful in "side sliding"

oh, and I like how you only provide one defintion of Lift.

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[Grips 0]

I provided the most relevant definition to lift, not 36 plus irrelevant, unsubjective definitions. In the end it was also concluded that all of us are flying, not just the one with wings.

Sorry to upset you.

[DougH 270]

Shut up and jump!!!!

All I am thinking about most of the time is getting back up there, why are you worried about the definition of flying? (Probably the same reason I am replying!!!)

I have to be flying, because I really suck at all the stuff that involves me standing up on my feet. Running, walking, dancing... not so good.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[kelel01 1]

I'd have to say "no". We're "falling with style", a la Buzz Lightyear.

[Lindercles 0]

Because of the very nature of language itself, and the function of the dictionary therein (which is to say descriptive, not prescriptive), the word "fly," just like any other word in any other language ever conceived, relies entirely on the people who use it for its definition, which is dynamic, rather than static, especially as relates to time.

In other words, we're flying because we say we're flying.

[kkeenan 14]

We plummet.

plum·met –verb (used without object) 3. to plunge.

—Synonyms 3. fall, dive, drop, swoop.

_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

[JohnMitchell 16]

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So, you are providing a 'bit more lift' but its still falling.

Lift: The lift force, lifting force or simply lift consists of the sum of all the fluid dynamic forces on a body perpendicular to the direction of the external flow approaching that body.

Unless you can fly back up to 14,000 feet, I don't think those are wings, or somewhere there of, I don't think they are wings.

So flying a glider is not flying? They don't climb in still air, just come down.

I'll bite on this hook of yours and say that freefallers are "falling", not "flying". But anyone tracking well or flying a birdman suit meets my definition of flying, which is generating lift that will move you across the sky.

[Calvin19 0]

well, as all things, it depends on how you read it (like NPS law)

a wing is synonomous with a foil. and foil is just as loose a term. in old science a foil would be defined as aplate )wing) that creates a force while moving though bernoulli effect. now that we has almost entirely disprovved the bernoulli effect in the way of flying, ok..nevermind, its the same thing

yes we are flying, we uses our extrmities as foils, our whole body is a foil, (DEFINATLY while tracking). we use the dynamic dissplacement of air to control our paths through a gas media.

hell, a submarine is flying, as is a blimp.

[Johnnysgirly 0]

I say if Rachel Ray can get E.V.O.O. into the dictionary, we can add skydiving into the definition of flying. But that's just my opinion.

[Lindercles 0]

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I say if Rachel Ray can get E.V.O.O. into the dictionary, we can add skydiving into the definition of flying. But that's just my opinion.

Yeah, that's pretty much a succinct version of what I said.

[Icon134 0]

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Sorry to upset you.

I wasn't upset... just bored...

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...