4 ms·

Tho that was not what was tested, this is about having additional thrust to regain altitude and fly longer distances: > “I found the idea of being able to jump

Tho that was not what was tested, this is about having additional thrust to regain altitude and fly longer distances: > “I found the idea of being able to jump from my local mountain wearing the wingsuit and land in my garden fascinating.”

Retric 6y ago
Sure, I just find it funny how in most cases 180MPH is fast, but that’s about the minimum speed for horizontal wingsuit flight. You really can strap a get engine to a brick and get it to fly, but you can’t stick a jet engine to a brick and get it to fly slowly. EX: F-15 landed safely with just one wing. A little cough propaganda, but still interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M359poNjvVA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M359poNjvVA.
- freeflight 6y ago
  I don't fly wingsuits, but from a bit of quick research it seems that 180 MPH is fast even for a wingsuit. The article itself mentions typical horizontal speeds of around 62 mph. The Wikipedia article on wingsuit flying says: > A typical skydiver's terminal velocity in belly to earth orientation ranges from 180 to 225 km/h (110 to 140 mph). A wingsuit can reduce these speeds dramatically. A vertical instantaneous velocity of 40 km/h (25 mph) has been recorded. However the speed at which the body advances forward through the air is still much higher (up to 100 km/h [62 mph]). Even mentions another jetpowered attempt with hydrogen peroxide rockets reaching a horizontal speed of 160 mph, back in 2007. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsuit_flying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsuit_flying
  - Retric 6y ago
    Minimum level flight speed is called an aircraft’s stall speeds, which is different than their ideal glide speeds. Wingsuits have a glide ratio of ~2.5:1 (horizontal:vertical) which is not that much better than just falling as a normal skydiver can hit 1:1. To maintain level flight they need to generate a lot more lift, while carrying the extra weight of an engine. By comparison a 747 has a glide ratio of 15:1 and depending on specific model and how much weight it has onboard it will stall in level flight around 180MPH. While many aircraft can fly at much lower speeds, a wingsuit is a terrible aircraft.
  - mdorazio 6y ago
    Horizontal speed =/= level. The average wingsuit with a forward velocity component of 62mph is still dropping in altitude quite fast.
  - brendanw 6y ago
    I run a small site/app where wingsuit pilots upload gps tracks for analysis. 180mph is fast but can be achieved/sustained without a jet. In practice that is difficult to do on most BASE jumps as you need to sustain a steep angle for 10-15 seconds to hit that speed. Density altitude will greatly affect performance as well. What's cool is being able to sustain 180mph while not losing altitude, which it sounds like BMW+Salzmann have accomplished. From the article: "While Salzmann’s first flight was a resounding success, it appears he’s not resting on his laurels. According to BMW, the daredevil wants to fly between the skyscrapers of South Korea next." I've dreamed of being able to zigzag through downtown skyscrapers for more than 10-15 seconds. The Jetman project is astounding. From a friend who is working on a copycat, the costs are close to 100k to replicate. Eager to see experimentation+progress on any projects with the promise of making hybrid human+wing flight more accessible (cheaper).
- chrisweekly 6y ago
  IIRC terminal velocity for a skydiver in free-fall is approx 180mph. (It's at least in that vicinity.) So the direction of "flight" certainly matters a lot in making sense of numbers. Also, when I was in 5th or 6th grade (over 30 years ago) I was obsessed with the F-15. Talk about thrust:weight ratio. The idea that you could take off, point the nose to vertical, and accelerate past the speed of sound, then level off and get to mach 2.4 or so... simply amazing machines.
  - Retric 6y ago
    First a belly down skydiver falls at about 120 MPH. Face down with streamlining they can do up to about 300MPH. So someone starting with a deep dive in a wingsuit can level out and get very fast horizontal movement. There are a few videos of people doing this and reaching almost level flight though their slowing down. It’s maintaining speed that requires thrust, but speed is enough for level flight. Also, while you could effectively balance on a jet engine to hover, that amount of thrust would also allow you to do not just level horizontal flight but rapidly gain altitude, making it kind of a meaningless from a minimum speed to requirements for minimum thrust perspective.

Retric 6y ago

Sure, I just find it funny how in most cases 180MPH is fast, but that’s about the minimum speed for horizontal wingsuit flight. You really can strap a get engine to a brick and get it to fly, but you can’t stick a jet engine to a brick and get it to fly slowly. EX: F-15 landed safely with just one wing. A little cough propaganda, but still interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M359poNjvVA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M359poNjvVA.

freeflight 6y ago
I don't fly wingsuits, but from a bit of quick research it seems that 180 MPH is fast even for a wingsuit. The article itself mentions typical horizontal speeds of around 62 mph. The Wikipedia article on wingsuit flying says: > A typical skydiver's terminal velocity in belly to earth orientation ranges from 180 to 225 km/h (110 to 140 mph). A wingsuit can reduce these speeds dramatically. A vertical instantaneous velocity of 40 km/h (25 mph) has been recorded. However the speed at which the body advances forward through the air is still much higher (up to 100 km/h [62 mph]). Even mentions another jetpowered attempt with hydrogen peroxide rockets reaching a horizontal speed of 160 mph, back in 2007. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsuit_flying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsuit_flying
- Retric 6y ago
  Minimum level flight speed is called an aircraft’s stall speeds, which is different than their ideal glide speeds. Wingsuits have a glide ratio of ~2.5:1 (horizontal:vertical) which is not that much better than just falling as a normal skydiver can hit 1:1. To maintain level flight they need to generate a lot more lift, while carrying the extra weight of an engine. By comparison a 747 has a glide ratio of 15:1 and depending on specific model and how much weight it has onboard it will stall in level flight around 180MPH. While many aircraft can fly at much lower speeds, a wingsuit is a terrible aircraft.
- mdorazio 6y ago
  Horizontal speed =/= level. The average wingsuit with a forward velocity component of 62mph is still dropping in altitude quite fast.
- brendanw 6y ago
  I run a small site/app where wingsuit pilots upload gps tracks for analysis. 180mph is fast but can be achieved/sustained without a jet. In practice that is difficult to do on most BASE jumps as you need to sustain a steep angle for 10-15 seconds to hit that speed. Density altitude will greatly affect performance as well. What's cool is being able to sustain 180mph while not losing altitude, which it sounds like BMW+Salzmann have accomplished. From the article: "While Salzmann’s first flight was a resounding success, it appears he’s not resting on his laurels. According to BMW, the daredevil wants to fly between the skyscrapers of South Korea next." I've dreamed of being able to zigzag through downtown skyscrapers for more than 10-15 seconds. The Jetman project is astounding. From a friend who is working on a copycat, the costs are close to 100k to replicate. Eager to see experimentation+progress on any projects with the promise of making hybrid human+wing flight more accessible (cheaper).
chrisweekly 6y ago
IIRC terminal velocity for a skydiver in free-fall is approx 180mph. (It's at least in that vicinity.) So the direction of "flight" certainly matters a lot in making sense of numbers. Also, when I was in 5th or 6th grade (over 30 years ago) I was obsessed with the F-15. Talk about thrust:weight ratio. The idea that you could take off, point the nose to vertical, and accelerate past the speed of sound, then level off and get to mach 2.4 or so... simply amazing machines.
- Retric 6y ago
  First a belly down skydiver falls at about 120 MPH. Face down with streamlining they can do up to about 300MPH. So someone starting with a deep dive in a wingsuit can level out and get very fast horizontal movement. There are a few videos of people doing this and reaching almost level flight though their slowing down. It’s maintaining speed that requires thrust, but speed is enough for level flight. Also, while you could effectively balance on a jet engine to hover, that amount of thrust would also allow you to do not just level horizontal flight but rapidly gain altitude, making it kind of a meaningless from a minimum speed to requirements for minimum thrust perspective.