Skydiver to jump from 25,000 feet, without a parachute..

[flatlander]

He's out!!

Bob

 

[hoosierdoc]

 

[flatlander]

Did it!!!

Bob

 

[9mmfan]

Holy ****!

 

[hoosierdoc]

man I was nervous watching that. Glad he's OK

 

[1911ly]

One crazy SOB!!! lol


[video=youtube;bQhkrtsnlIk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQhkrtsnlIk[/video]

 

[d.kaufman]

One crazy SOB!

 

[williamsburg]

Crazy is not the word.


[video=youtube;9l_HvBKaBWw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l_HvBKaBWw[/video]

 

[dusty88]

Has anyone else jumped (besides camermonkey)?
I did a beginner static line at Anderson once about 20 years ago. It was awesome.
if I didn't have kids, I'd being doing it a lot more now

I could have been your instructor!

My husband and I each have over 2000 jumps, but we haven't jumped lately. We met at Anderson. No airport there now.

google suggests human terminal velocity will happen after about 1500 feet of freefall. So not much difference in 25,000 than 1,500 other than it sounds cooler. Probably didn't want to go above 25k due to supplemental oxygen needs, or maybe he's planning to dump it on the way down?

122mph is approx human terminal velocity it says.

It's more challenging from higher elevation because he has more possible variation in wind drift. You exit the plane based on current wind patterns and where you want to land. That's true of course even with a parachute, but with a parachute you get some time to fly upwind, downwind, crosswind and finally approach your target and slow down even more. IOW, it's harder to hit the target from farther away, just like it's tougher to hit your shooting target from 100 yards than from 25 yards.

Controlling your freefall is a different skill. He can vary his downward velocity a little bit with body position. He could slow it down enormously with a wingsuit (but last I heard isn't using one). He can also use "tracking" which allows you to more horizontally while continuing to fall downward. But tracking will only take you so far. He'll only have about 2 minutes between aircraft exit and impact (hopefully with the net).

To me, it's not so much about the net (though you would think that by now they'd be long past qualifying the net) but rather the ability to hit the net with no help slowing your freefall nor changing your direction significantly.

ETA: I hadn't yet read to the end of the thread when I wrote this and did not realize it had already happened. My husband and I were talking about it last night. I enjoy high-risk sports and I can appreciate some people taking risks beyond what I would take. But I'm not in admiration of plans that have no redundancy or backup. I'm really glad he made it but I'm not really excited about this as if it were an accomplishment.

It is interesting that he does a "pull" maneuver. At 1:17 in the video he puts left hand on the helmet, right hand where a pilot chute handle would be (pilot chute being an experienced jumper's equivalent to a ripcord).

Much of the credit here goes to whomever spotted the jump (chose the exit moment, with the plane flying into the wind, past the target). We can all track to another jumper we exited with, but that's partially because you are all on the same wind effect. If the exit had been too far or too close, there is no opportunity for him to have hit the target. When you get a "bad spot" sometimes no amount of tracking or even parachute work can get you back to the landing zone, let alone into a relatively small space. And that was pretty much normal freefall position (very little tracking in that jump). I don't know whether he spotted his own jump, but that is where the skill came in. Having the guts (or the stupidity) to make the stunt, I guess that's an individual opinion.

 

[printcraft]

The crowd watching....................

[video=youtube;LSWBycgTKUE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSWBycgTKUE[/video]

 

[dusty88]

I've jumped before... I think it was AFF with skydiveindy. An old girlfriend took me for my birthday. It was pretty awesome really. Felt like falling for 7 or 8 seconds and then it was like going fast in a convertible or something. I think we jumped from 12,000 or so. I kept thinking I would get nervous when we got to altitude, then when the doors opened, and then when others started jumping. And while I'm sure I did get a little on edge I don't remember "feeling it" until my toes were over the edge and the dude said "jump" at that point it was real! I would most certainly do it more often if it was a bit cheaper.

Skydive Indy in Greensburg? I taught AFF there for a while but before that my husband and I ran a skydiving business in Crawfordsville for a few years.

I sure do miss taking people on their first jump. Stressful, but fun.

 

[Spear Dane]

He was right at only 20 feet from the edge. Cringe.

 

[hoosierdoc]

He was right at only 20 feet from the edge. Cringe.

yeah, it seems his roll moved him towards the outside fairly quickly, but it may have just been camera angles

 

[Dead Duck]

I fell off my porch once.......





but I saved my beer.

 

[david890]

Skydive Indy in Greensburg?

Did my jumps there in the late 90s!!

 

[dusty88]

Did my jumps there in the late 90s!!

Ah we were at Crawfordsville then but I knew most of the instructors at Greensburg.

 

[littletommy]

I fell off my porch once.......





but I saved my beer.

I had to run out to the garage the other night, it was pouring rain, and I had a 12 pack (bottles) of Sierra Nevada. Lemme tell you, unlocking that pad lock, while trying not to drop my beer, in a downpour, was all the stress I need at my age!