Holy Motherhucking Shitake (Luke Aikens no parachute project)

http://youtu.be/BRxyZpEmdVw

Seems reasonable to me that he can pull it off. If the military can drop heavy things with little fins for steering and hit a car's sun roof, then a skydiver should be able to use a similar guidance system to hit a 100x100 target.

But my god, that's commitment.

And I hope someone swoops this one just like landing a wingsuit and the high altitude record. Little fanfare, no BS, no buildup. Shut up and jump and tell us later.

The lengths some people will go to, just to avoid packing.

HANO (high altitude, no opening)

ryoder

The lengths some people will go to, just to avoid packing.

Yeah, I'd totally try a plane to plane transfer in a wingsuit just to avoid the pack job. Heh heh heh.

I assume he's not doing this in US airspace. FAA regs and all...

Can I suggest that the name of this thread be changed, so that people know what it's about or can at least find it later with the search function? We seem pretty bad at this on this forum.

So I'm trying to think about what's involved in this. I'm not sure how well it will work. I think it's a question of the inertia of the net/frame/cables of the device. You hit it at 120 mph but all of that has to accelerate to 120 to slow you down softly. Their is some cushion with the net folding inwards and the force is spread out but just to get all that moving I'm thinking cheese grader.

Lee

JeffCa

Can I suggest that the name of this thread be changed, so that people know what it's about or can at least find it later with the search function? We seem pretty bad at this on this forum.

Yea, I agree - it's just all I could think of at the time. I can't change it though - I suppose a mod can do something?

RiggerLee

So I'm trying to think about what's involved in this. I'm not sure how well it will work. I think it's a question of the inertia of the net/frame/cables of the device. You hit it at 120 mph but all of that has to accelerate to 120 to slow you down softly. Their is some cushion with the net folding inwards and the force is spread out but just to get all that moving I'm thinking cheese grader.
Lee

Pause the video at the 'drawing' portion, it talks about pistons and compresing columns, I believe. So, the whole structure would give, too.

skydiverek

***So I'm trying to think about what's involved in this. I'm not sure how well it will work. I think it's a question of the inertia of the net/frame/cables of the device. You hit it at 120 mph but all of that has to accelerate to 120 to slow you down softly. Their is some cushion with the net folding inwards and the force is spread out but just to get all that moving I'm thinking cheese grader.
Lee

Pause the video at the drawing portion, it talks about pistons and compresing columns, I believe. So, the whole structure would give, too.

If you can make stuff you always wanted to do happen without money then good on ya. Most people need sponsors to do stuff the right way plus to make a living. Gary with his wingsuit and boxes and Allen with his Google I have mad respect for. But my favorite is people talking trash that don't know me.
I am just giving you shit to each his own.
Luke

Your right, I don't know you and my comment was much more at Red Bull's PR program than at you. Its effective but I still don't like it. I'd say the same thing about any extreme sport stunt that Red Bull sponsors. They leave a bad taste in my mouth. Pun intended.

25,000'? Not impressive enough from 10K, or even 5K??

RiggerLee

So I'm trying to think about what's involved in this. I'm not sure how well it will work. I think it's a question of the inertia of the net/frame/cables of the device. You hit it at 120 mph but all of that has to accelerate to 120 to slow you down softly. Their is some cushion with the net folding inwards and the force is spread out but just to get all that moving I'm thinking cheese grader.

Lee

I'm thinking just a good old fashion PLF.

This is just a bigger version of a carnival ride that drops you into a net.

SCAD Jumping?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjEsWj369rc

I'm trying to determine how difficult this stunt is. We know it's brave (or stupid), but how hard is it? Assuming the spot is good, could any competent skydiver guide into a spot 100'x100' on the ground, or does it require much more skill than that? How would we test/practice if we could do it, without killing ourselves?

JeffCa

I'm trying to determine how difficult this stunt is. We know it's brave (or stupid), but how hard is it? Assuming the spot is good, could any competent skydiver guide into a spot 100'x100' on the ground, or does it require much more skill than that? How would we test/practice if we could do it, without killing ourselves?

It'd be about the same as flying through a 90-way round formation on their belly when you're in a head-down dive, in theory.

(the math behind this claim is based on a 10,000sqft surface area, which has a circumference of approximately 354 feet. If we're very generous and say the average skydiver has a 4 foot armspan in a stable belly to earth position, that puts us at around 90 people. Then if you figure around a 120mph fall rate vs the 200-ish that any experienced jumper can presumably hit, you get a delta of 80mph. Still 50% lower than Aikins will be doing if he doesn't have any sort of high-drag suit on, but it's at least a sort of thing a jumper can IMAGINE.

grue

***I'm trying to determine how difficult this stunt is. We know it's brave (or stupid), but how hard is it? Assuming the spot is good, could any competent skydiver guide into a spot 100'x100' on the ground, or does it require much more skill than that? How would we test/practice if we could do it, without killing ourselves?

It'd be about the same as flying through a 90-way round formation on their belly when you're in a head-down dive, in theory.

(the math behind this claim is based on a 10,000sqft surface area, which has a circumference of approximately 354 feet. If we're very generous and say the average skydiver has a 4 foot armspan in a stable belly to earth position, that puts us at around 90 people. Then if you figure around a 120mph fall rate vs the 200-ish that any experienced jumper can presumably hit, you get a delta of 80mph. Still 50% lower than Aikins will be doing if he doesn't have any sort of high-drag suit on, but it's at least a sort of thing a jumper can IMAGINE.

Well, that gives me some perspective .

Quote

How would we test/practice if we could do it, without killing ourselves?

Training may be easier than it appears to be (aside from the massive ball that will be needed to execute this stunt).
Remember Jeb Corliss training for the Flying Dagger stunt.
He actually used a visualization software allowing him to fly through the virtual replica of the crack.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRBXF_Unwm0

I remember this...

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ac4_1330294369

Best outcome is that he walks away like that dude from England who landed in a box, the other outcome is the above.

Dwaine Weston meets the Royal Gorge Bridge, for those not clicking through

Not to detract from Mr. Aikins' skydiving skills, but the difficulty stunt is almost entirely technical. Most of us could hit a target that big, but only if the spot were right.

(Whether any of us are that confident in our skydiving skills and ability to coordinate the technical details of a perfect spot is a whole other issue)

So I imagine that a lot of careful preparation, practice and engineering is going to go into being 110% sure that he gets a perfect spot and that he has the ability to make accurate adjustments in real time to compensate for the inevitable discrepancies between calculations and the reality of falling through 25000 feet of air.

Ditto for lots of engineering going into the net contraption.

Luke, since you've joined this thread can you explain why you guys decided to add the variables that come with a HALO jump into the mix? Why not just 13000 feet?

Go make a jump when there are little puffy clouds at around 4000 feet, choose a particular point along the edge of one and try to hit it. You'll probably get pretty close, and even hit it reliably with practice.

He's technically more maneuverable than a wingsuit, and wingsuits have been giving high fives, smashing small styrofoam flags and zooming into caves for a while now.

He can travel equally far in any direction he pleases. It's just as easy for him to go north as south or east or west. Wingsuits on the other hand can go down, left and right but they have much less maneuverability when they're trying to go up.

Might be the first time it is intentionally planned but not the first time this has been done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Alkemade