Late night beer induced wingsuit thought!

[WooHoo 0]

On a very recent ski trip with some skydiving buddies, our late night beers in a French bar, sparked (yet another 'What if?.....) question.

On the television there was ski jumping, a sport which I have no doubt is exhilarating but pretty dull to watch on tv after many beers> On of the guys wondered if the jumper was wearing a wingsuit wouldn't he go further. The debate raged for about three minutes with the group divided. Any smart aero engineers, phyisicists, or bar room experts have any thoughts.

I think the fabric would slow them down a little and they would lack sufficient lift, and fly less than the non wingsuit guy.

Any thoughts? As we many have stumbled uppon a new Olympic event!





"Read the small print.... I didn't even read the big print....too many words, and the tv was on"

[thedarkside 0]

I thought the same thing. You would only be able to wear the wings, like a camera top. Keep your elbows in on the hill then open them up in filght. Would be interesting to see!

Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

[catfishhunter 2]

would be interesting to see..except the rules wouldn't allow it

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[jakee 1,563]

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I think the fabric would slow them down a little and they would lack sufficient lift, and fly less than the non wingsuit guy.

Possibly. I would imagine a smaller wing Clssic or Acro type of suit would be best so there's less fabric to control. The position would have to be very tight on the hill and would almost certainly lose some speed at the take off point, but there might be some mileage in it - if it could be balanced with the skis.

Interestingly enough in years past ski jumpers were apparently experimenting with clothing along the same lines as modern tracking suits. The regs had to be changed to restrict their development otherwise they would be outflying the ballstic landing slope!

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[quade 4]

You do understand that the sport of ski jumping ins't about who goes the farthest. The landing area of the hill is designed so that the ballistic tragectory meets the slope of the hill. Over shoot the landing area and you have a much harder landing.

In fact, people get penalized for going too far because it's unsafe to do so. For the same reasons, it probably wouldn't be a good idea in a wingsuit.

Do a search of these forums about idea of people landing wingsuits on ski runs and you'll see we've talked about this before.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Programmer 0]

Something like this was discussed in a thread a few years back. I don't know how to make the other thread clicky, but search "wingsuit flying landings".
Here's another one: what about attaching 4 eyelets to the top of a car, then attaching a wingsuit flyer to the car with a tandem passenger harness. Let the straps out and the wingsuit could "fly" a foot above the car while it is being driven fast.
I'm sure that with enough beer, you could do some really crazy things with a wingsuit.

[JohnRich 4]

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You do understand that the sport of ski jumping ins't about who goes the fartherst...

Distance is one of the three factors that seem to be used for scoring.

Quote:

"Distance Points. In Olympic and FIS competition there are two jumping hills - the large hill and the normal hill. The size of each hill is related to an arbitrary K-point (or spot) on the hill... In each competition, a jumper receives 60 distance points if he reaches the K spot. Points are either added for exceeding the K point or deducted for not reaching it."

Link: Understanding Ski Jumping

So, distance matters. As well as style, and landing.

[quade 4]

Quote

Quote

You do understand that the sport of ski jumping ins't about who goes the fartherst...

Distance is one of the three factors that seem to be used for scoring.

Quote:

"Distance Points. In Olympic and FIS competition there are two jumping hills - the large hill and the normal hill. The size of each hill is related to an arbitrary K-point (or spot) on the hill... In each competition, a jumper receives 60 distance points if he reaches the K spot. Points are either added for exceeding the K point or deducted for not reaching it."

Link: Understanding Ski Jumping

So, distance matters. As well as style, and landing.

Point is . . . you don't win simply by going farther and you REALLY don't win if you go so far that you land on the flat run out area.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[jakee 1,563]

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In fact, people get penalized for going too far because it's unsafe to do so.

I've never seen that - could you post where you found it? As JR said, generally the jumper gets points for going past the K point.

There are clothing restriction for safety reasons and with those as they are now i don't think it would be even possible to overshoot the K point by such a large margin as to become unsafe.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[JohanW 0]

I've never seen points being subtracted. But the starting point has been moved down when people were going too far.

Johan.
I am. I think.

[grayhghost 0]

Quade is wrong. Nearly every competition is won by the man who goes the furthest consistently (two jumps count for a final score) and style points rarely make up for sub-par distance.
This concept has been tried and it is superior but FIS regulations would never allow it in competition.
Many, many odd suit designs have been tested by bored skijumpers.