klapaucius

QuoteInspired by Jaap's post some time ago (http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1577452;search_string=kayaking;#1577452) referring to some guy's fluid dynamics solver, I decided to replicate that work and see what it had to say about the kind of stuff I like to look at. ... Quote What is the Reynolds number in your simulations?

IMAX cameras used to weigh more than 200 pounds and were size of a 2 drawer filing cabinet. I think they are down to 100 pounds or less now, batteries not included.

This is a babelfish translation from http://news.tf1.fr/news/france/0,,3219783,00.html which I edited slightly A 31 year old Norwegian died Monday evening while jumping with parachute, without authorization, from the Eiffel Tower. The police force opened an investigation. Previously, four Norwegians had been intercepted towards 15h00 by the service of safety of the Montparnasse Tower where two of them were on the point of jumping in parachute of the top of the building from altitude of 210 meters. Both "bases-jumpers" (jumping in parachute from a fixed, real point or natural feature) wanted to make an advertising film for a brand of clothing for young people. In the Eiffel Tower incident, three Norwegians, most probably of the same group, let themselves lock up in the Tower, according to the police force, and one jumped in parachute, around 22h00, from the second level (115 meters). A spokesman of the Eiffel Tower told Agence France Press that the monument closes only at midnight and that at the time of the jump, the public was normally admited there. The victim fell onto the structures of the first level of the famous monument and died on impact, according to the police force. His/her two comrades were questionned by the local police (?) which took over the investigation. The accidents resulting from a jump with parachute or delta wing from the Eiffel Tower, are very rare and deaths occuring are there are out of desperation. First base-jumper, Franz Reichelt, died while jumping on February 4, 1912 from the first level with a parachute of his own creation. His five seconds jump had been filmed. The rest is about security on Eiffel tower

What if someone thinks about BASE jumping in similar way many people commit themselves to marathon or triathlon. They decide that in addition to the achievements they had in life, they want to step-up a notch. To do BASE for high-end achievement, not adrenaline rush (included, I guess). Is this kind of rational, calculated, long-term motivation a positive factor? So, would I "pre-qualify"? > 1) Someone who is "switched on". Subjective assessment - qualify. Analytical to the bone. Why 7 cells not 9? Why rotors behind buildings are different than behind cliffs. Why "line-mod". Why, why, why. BTW, I usually catch the bottle before it hits the ground > 2) Someone who has put in the time to get prepared. I'd commit as much time and effort as necessary, to achieve the required canopy control, body awareness etc. 3) Someone who has done their homework. How much homework is enough? Read "every single word" on the net etc..Thought it over and over. Thought about every every person on "the list". 4) Someone who has asked questions, and is involved in a continuous learning process. In my life - yes. 5) Someone who has audited a course. No. 6) Someone who has connected with their local BASE community. See above 7) Someone with an adult attitude. Does other life experience qualify? Commitement to education, work, family, friend, good cause, flying airplanes etc.? Hurt? - busted back mountain-biking, had a few close calls in the mountains. ???

A wannabie following this list and some other websites, like Vertical Vision's will conclude that the Bridge day jump is something reasonable for any skydiver who is willing to listen: Do your skydives, practice 7 cell canopy a bit, register, listen to the seminars and jump. He will get an impression (apparently correct), that Bridge Day is safe fun for responsible adults). The impression is reinforced by jumpers doing such things as you can see in 'airfarce' and JebCorliss bridge jumps: If they can do this, a simple jump with 2-3 second delay not must be simple, but IS simple. Also this forum reinforces the impression (again correct!) about the reliability of modern equipment. The significant risks discussed are landing and cliff strike. When I read 'the list' the first time I had an immpression that those who did not make it were either pushing the envelope - or had a cliff-strike for whatever reason. : "to have jumped into a fog bank and may have lost his bearings" "The conditions are pretty bad: It is raining and the wind is strong and gusty" "over delayed in a back to earth position while filming other jumpers " "Using a skydiving rig not modified for BASE, and without any prior BASE training" "he is caught in a time warp as far as BASE equipment is concerned." "Friends said it is too dark, the wind isn't right, and the water is too high" "took too much time to come back to a good position facing away from the wall" "as a canopy with a reputation for not being suitable for BASE jumping" "the fog has extended almost all the way to the ground" "should not have been on that load with his obvious inexperience " " it does have a sketchy launch point" "believed he could out fly the ledge right up until he died" "Not having a pilot chute connected to the canopy on a single canopy system has always been a nightmare scenario" An the list goes on and on. There seem to be not that many entries where the accidents could be called "non-preventable". The early pioneers opened the frontiers, often paid the ultimate price, and there will be an influx of people to all extreme sports including this one.

I'm pretty sure they're using the "legalese" dictionary. That means we need an interpreter (like Lawrocket, for example) to tell us what it means in our language. Paragliders are regulated under FAR 103 (Federal Aviation Regulations), regulations are very loose on the technical side (essentially anything that flies and weighs less than 155 pounds if unpowered). Could a defence of parachute being an aircraft (for purpose of beating Lake Powell rap) make a parachute into an FAR 103 regulated unpowered ultralight? Imagine ;-> jumper - "This is Mojo Bravo Alpha Sierra Echo niner niner niner with information Romeo". tower - "City Tower niner niner niner" jumper - "Requesting permission to enter City ATC. Altitude 260ft squawk 1200 niner niner niner" tower - "City Tower. Identify your locataion" jumper -"Erghh I am on top of the Best Eastern Bank tower downtown.eh..niner niner niner" tower - "Altimeter setting two niner seven five, ......""

This is just a list of what is being done in ski freestyle aerials: http://www.tommy.com/skiteam/glossary.jsp With the help of inertia of the skis they can do up to four flips with three twists and land right side up on a steep slope. They flail hands like crazy to rotate and twist. The body is supposed to stay straight for good style.

Lonnie took up BASE 1100 jumps ago. That's 1100 BASE jumps. I'd hazard a guess that he is the person on earth with the most experience at being a BASE jumping parent. I feel there is a difference between continuing to jump when becoming a parent and starting to jump while being a parent. On the other subject - the stats: There is 1 fatality every 100,000 skydives or so (USPA) , and 1.7 fatalities every 100,000,000 car-miles (DOT). So if I got the number right, you have a 1:6000 chance to die in a car accident if you drive 10,000 miles a year, and 1:6000 chance to die if you skydive 17 or so times a year. Obviously "mileage will vary": 40 years old in a minivan is not the same thing as a 24 year old in a Mustang.

Average age of a Bridge Day jumper is 36, average number of jumps is 1,100 and 12% are women. Based on this stat alone I am positive there are many parents on Bridge Day. I would not be surprised if some people jumping on well-known cliffs in Europe had children. But I would not expect to see parents in situations like an office tower in the evening or antenna in the rain. That's from a non-jumper who has children.

Some neat pictures that may help with the shape and extent of a burble http://chaos.usc.es/FMMETEO/CLASES/Web_Fluidos/flow_visualizations.pdf Page 5 - the body is not so square, so the bubble is smaller in reality Page 16 - approximate shape of a wingsuit from the side (left) Page 17,18 - very turbulent just behind the object, practically no bubble

There is a neat scientific paper dicussing opening loads (in skydiving, though) http://www.pcprg.com/s01out.htm http://www.pcprg.com/pia01f2.gif http://www.pcprg.com/should03.gif http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/detail_page.cgi?ID=134 The geometry of bending of the body is quite similar to that of head-on car collision. Generally, expect 10g load on the head when colliding at 10mph and 40g load at 30mph. 10g gives stiff neck, 40g may send to hospital. For this kind of incidents, it is important to be flexible, something like being able to bring chin to sternum with shoulders back and touch your knees with your nose, with legs completely straight. Ligaments and muscle will not stretch as much under load and there is a lesser chance of injury/ Many if not most race car drivers go through a good warmup/stretch routine before a race. There is a saying among racers that they are divided into those who crashed and those who will....so they get ready.

To put BASE in some kind of perspective 2000 people ascended Mount Everest and 179 died on the way. 130 climbers have summited Annapurna, while 53 have died. http://www.mounteverest.net/story/stories/ANNAPURNAKillerMountainsAnExplorersWebSeriesSep242003.shtml 600 people died scuba diving in caves in Florida, Mexico and Caribbean http://www.smartdivers.com/cavediving.html The problem is that jumping of a cliff, bridge, or a building has a clear suicidal image in our society, despite being a rare way of committing it.

“No one can live your life except you, No one can live my life except me. You are responsible, I am responsible. But what is our life? What is our death?” “We usually think of our life as fifty, sixty years, maybe the most around one hundred years. I once read that there are about thirty three hundred people who are more than one hundred years olf, the oldest being 112 years. (What are people doing living such long lives?). Dogen Zenji said that living a long life without awareness is almost a crime. On the contrary, he emphasized that that even if you live one day with a clear understanding of what life is , the value of that one day is equal to many, many years of living without awareness” From “Appreciate your life”, Taizan Maezumi Roshi, A Zen master who taught in Los Angeles in 60’s, 70’s and 80’s http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1570622280/103-3075338-8314268?v=glance