IT HAPPENED!

[ElectricFetus 0]

http://news.yahoo.com/skydiver-felix-baumgartner-completes-18-mile-dive-134525801--abc-news-tech.html

but i have some serious questions about this.

maybe my math skills are very wrong or i'm misremembering my tandem or the reporting is bad or something but there seems something VERY wrong with:

"After he jumped, Baumgartner was in freefall for three minutes and 48 seconds . After five minutes, his parachute opened, at which point it took another seven to 10 minutes to descend to Earth."

when we popped the canopy at about a mile, it took about 7 - 10 mins to land, and it sounds like this guy popped a hell of a lot higher than that, maybe in the 8 mile range.

i'll admit math is NOT my best subject, but given those numbers, i'm not getting '18 miles'.

please sky gods, instruct the padwan in the errors i'm SURE i'm making. the other option is the story is so bady written as to be pointless.

i'm genuinely curious here. please help.

[faulk04 0]

Wednesday morning, July 25, at 8:12 Mountain time, Red Bull Stratos jumper Felix Baumgartner exited a stratospheric balloon from approximately 97,000 feet for a freefall of 3 minutes 55 seconds. He reached an unofficial speed of 536 mph before deploying his parachute at approximately 13,000 feet above sea level, 8,000 feet above the desert southwest of Roswell, New Mexico.

USPA Director of Competition Jim Hayhurst and the National Aeronautic Association’s Brian Utley served as official observers. Pending analysis of GPS data, the Stratos team may potentially claim three new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale world records. Two are almost 50 years old, both held by Major Yevgeny N. Andreyev of the Soviet Union, who in 1962 jumped from a balloon gondola 83,529 feet above sea level, freefalling 80,380 feet before deploying his parachute. Baumgartner’s jump has potentially eclipsed both Andreyev’s records, as well as his own vertical speed record of 365 mph, which he achieved on the first Stratos jump in March. Unfortunately, the Stratos capsule sustained damage on landing, potentially delaying the third and final Stratos jump, planned for 120,000 feet to break Joe Kittinger’s historic mark of 102,800 feet, set in 1960.

from USPA website

[propacker 0]

one thing that confuses me - if he was in freefall for 3min 48sec and after 5 min his parachuted opened - what happened to the missing 1min 12sec??
was it just a realllllllly lonnnnng snivvvvvvvvvvel??

[Southern_Man 0]

maybe he released a drogue at 3:48?

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[GeorgiaDon 362]

It sounds as if you're making assumptions about his deployment altitude based on your tandem experience. At 18 miles altitude there is little atmosphere, so terminal velocity would be a lot higher. In fact, he hit about 600 miles per hour, vs about 120 for a tandem with drogue deployed. He would have gradually decelerated to more normal free-fall speeds as the altitude got lower and drag increased. I believe you're way off in your estimate of deployment height.

Don

_____________________________________
Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996)
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

[ChrisL 2]

Quote

maybe he released a drogue at 3:48?

It was a drogue-less freefall.

In fact, it set a new altitude record (96,640 ft) for drogeless freefall.
the previous record was set by Eugene Andreev at 80,380 ft

Kittingers 102,000 ft jump used a drogue

Till next month when he does the main record breaking jump from 125,000 ft. which will of course push the ceiling even higher.

__

My mighty steed

[-ftp- 0]

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i'll admit math is NOT my best subject, but given those numbers, i'm not getting '18 miles'.

I am far from a skygod, but decent at basic math

96,640 / 5,280 = 18

[airdvr 210]

[replyTill next month when he does the main record breaking jump from 125,000 ft. which will of course push the ceiling even higher.

[ChrisL 2]

Quote

[replyTill next month when he does the main record breaking jump from 125,000 ft. which will of course push the ceiling even higher.

Perhaps you missed this part....Unfortunately, the Stratos capsule sustained damage on landing, potentially delaying the third and final Stratos jump, planned for 120,000 feet to break Joe Kittinger’s historic mark of 102,800 feet, set in 1960.

I didnt miss it.. It says "potentially"
As of this moment its still planned for late August and ther has been no notification that its been postponed...

__

My mighty steed

[jrjny 0]

Would be a fun AFF level 1 jump

[excaza 1]

Still shorter than Point Break

[jumpwally 0]

Is there any video coming soon ?

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[ChrisL 2]

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Still shorter than Point Break

Give the guy a break. Its not like he jumped from 4000 ft or something.

__

My mighty steed

[quade 4]

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Is there any video coming soon ?

FFS. It's Red Bull. Video is the only real reason the jump was possible. No, video; no bucks. No buck; no Buck Rogers.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[jimmytavino 16]

thanks for the fact filled post. Congratulations to the entire Team...
saw some national news coverage about it....this morning and i MUST say !!!!....
" Hell Of a Landing!!!!!"

Great Stand Up..
Must have been Exhilarating !!!!!

[Remster 30]

Quote

Quote

Is there any video coming soon ?

FFS. It's Red Bull. Video is the only real reason the jump was possible. No, video; no bucks. No buck; no Buck Rogers.

You'll just have to wait for the commercial...

Remster

[quade 4]

Quote

Quote

Quote

Is there any video coming soon ?

FFS. It's Red Bull. Video is the only real reason the jump was possible. No, video; no bucks. No buck; no Buck Rogers.

You'll just have to wait for the commercial...

Or, just use even the weakest amount of google-fu.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=felix+red+bull+jump

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

Quote

Quote

Quote

Is there any video coming soon ?

FFS. It's Red Bull. Video is the only real reason the jump was possible. No, video; no bucks. No buck; no Buck Rogers.

You'll just have to wait for the commercial...

They've got "Red Bull" and the logo plastered over everything. Every single news story includes the words "Red Bull" at least once.

The whole operation is a commercial.

A really, really cool commercial, but a commercial nonetheless.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[ElectricFetus 0]

thank you don!

your response is the closest to what i'm after so far. everyone else seems to have hijacked the post for 'congrats!'

[which ARE in order of course, but not quite as helpful as i'd like.

[Southern_Man 0]

Quote

Quote

maybe he released a drogue at 3:48?

It was a drogue-less freefall.

In fact, it set a new altitude record (96,640 ft) for drogeless freefall.
the previous record was set by Eugene Andreev at 80,380 ft

Kittingers 102,000 ft jump used a drogue

Till next month when he does the main record breaking jump from 125,000 ft. which will of course push the ceiling even higher.

Yes, I knew Kittinger used a drogue and this was drogueless, just trying to speculatively make sense of this sentence from the original article After he jumped, Baumgartner was in freefall for three minutes and 48 seconds . After five minutes, his parachute opened,

It appears it was just poorly written after looking at some other accounts.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[kd5xb 1]

I wish I had something profound to add here, but about all I can think of is:

John Stapp
Joe Kittinger
Felix Baumgartner

!!!!!

I'm a jumper. Even though I don't always have money for jumps, and may not ever own a rig again, I'll always be a jumper.