Jumping out of a plane without a parachute (1 Viewer)

[Sinn Fein]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36935087

BBC with a clip of the dive - about 39 seconds - shows him hitting the net - for anyone who did not see the other video

 

[Long Ball Larry]

I think the net is/was the easy part, to me the hitting the net was the hard part.  I wish I understood how he pulled that off.  (Though I know some think he was off center)

Some thing on the news tonight said that he had a tracker my device in his helmet that would beep if he was off track.  Though I don't fully get how you move yourself horizontally easily enough in mid-air.

 

[culdeus]

Some thing on the news tonight said that he had a tracker my device in his helmet that would beep if he was off track.  Though I don't fully get how you move yourself horizontally easily enough in mid-air.

CHEATER!!!!

 

[msommer]

Some thing on the news tonight said that he had a tracker my device in his helmet that would beep if he was off track.  Though I don't fully get how you move yourself horizontally easily enough in mid-air.

Hands, feet and body. You steer by presenting a different shape to the oncoming air which if you know what you are doing steers you. essentially it is aerodynamics/friction

 

[bcdjr1]

Some thing on the news tonight said that he had a tracker my device in his helmet that would beep if he was off track.  Though I don't fully get how you move yourself horizontally easily enough in mid-air.

The show said there were big lights around the landing area, which would be all he could see from high up. Above a certain height, the outer lights would be white while on target, red when off. As he got lower, there would be an inner set of lights that would be more precise.

Wiki says a good skydiver can achieve a glide ratio of nearly 1:1 (meaning if he's falling at 150mph, his groundspeed would also be about 150mph).

I would think the hardest part of that jump would be landing on his back in the net. If he hit that wrong, he probably could've broken bones.

 

[MikeIke]

How does one practice this?

Once.

 

[El Floppo]

The show said there were big lights around the landing area, which would be all he could see from high up. Above a certain height, the outer lights would be white while on target, red when off. As he got lower, there would be an inner set of lights that would be more precise.

Wiki says a good skydiver can achieve a glide ratio of nearly 1:1 (meaning if he's falling at 150mph, his groundspeed would also be about 150mph).

I would think the hardest part of that jump would be landing on his back in the net. If he hit that wrong, he probably could've broken bones.

design of the net was hugely important too... had to give just right so that 150mph decelerated just right to keep his insides from slamming against his outsides. I'd figure concussion at least- but it sounds like he came out of this without any injury? 

 

[GroveDiesel]

design of the net was hugely important too... had to give just right so that 150mph decelerated just right to keep his insides from slamming against his outsides. I'd figure concussion at least- but it sounds like he came out of this without any injury? 

The article linked above said that the impact was less than if he had jumped on a trampoline and landed on his back. Crazy.

 

[bcdjr1]

design of the net was hugely important too... had to give just right so that 150mph decelerated just right to keep his insides from slamming against his outsides. I'd figure concussion at least- but it sounds like he came out of this without any injury? 

I didn't consider net design as part of the jump. Likely the skydiver had nothing to do with that. Obviously the setup would be key to survivability, but I think it would also be a trivial task as far as difficulty to accomplish. It's probably pretty similar to getting a bungee cord set up properly - a calculation of the velocity and mass of the jumper to determine when and how much deceleration needs to be applied.

 

[El Floppo]

I didn't consider net design as part of the jump. Likely the skydiver had nothing to do with that. Obviously the setup would be key to survivability, but I think it would also be a trivial task as far as difficulty to accomplish. It's probably pretty similar to getting a bungee cord set up properly - a calculation of the velocity and mass of the jumper to determine when and how much deceleration needs to be applied.

ehhh... I wouldn't call any of it trivial. design of poles, design of attachments, design of net itself (material, spacing of grid, etc), design of flexibility/give of net, design of 2nd net, etc, etc...  is it all just physics, so ultimately calculable? I guess. but not exactly something you just go to the store and buy or just look up in a book. and obviously not to discount from the jumper and the amazing set of skills... but really, aren't most/all of these top end skydivers able to hit a target (albeit with a chute)?

 

[dutch]

I don't care if a pro skydiver should be good enough to hit the target, I don't care how much the net design made hte landing easy and gentle, I don't care that there where lights and buzzers to help guide him in, the fact that he jumped from 25000 feet without a parachute makes what he did ballzy as hell and I tip my cap.  Once at the doorway standing on the edge ready to jump/be pushed my nutsack would have been so far up inside me I'd need a cranial saw to get it loose.  

 

[[icon]]

How he aligned landing, from culdy's link:

To outline the Fly Trap’s perimeter, as well as a 28-foot-by-28-foot square near the center that Aikins calls the “sweet spot,” Aikins devised an intricate system of PAPI lights (short for Precision Approach Path Indicators), which are commonly used to guide planes on runway landings. The lights will point straight up and use a special lens to give off a red beam on one half and a white beam on the other half. If Aikins sees a red light, he’ll know he is outside the Fly Trap and must shift his trajectory toward the middle of the square. He will also wear headphones that emit a series of beeps—slowly if he is outside the square, faster if he is near the center—to help guide him toward the target. 

 

[johnnycakes]

This is starting to sound like a very expensive jump.

 

[Chemical X]

glad he wore a helmet 

 

[SHIZNITTTT]

Wonder if they will try to work this into a movie somehow? 

 

[Mr. Ected]

How he aligned landing, from culdy's link:

To outline the Fly Trap’s perimeter, as well as a 28-foot-by-28-foot square near the center that Aikins calls the “sweet spot,” Aikins devised an intricate system of PAPI lights (short for Precision Approach Path Indicators), which are commonly used to guide planes on runway landings. The lights will point straight up and use a special lens to give off a red beam on one half and a white beam on the other half. If Aikins sees a red light, he’ll know he is outside the Fly Trap and must shift his trajectory toward the middle of the square. He will also wear headphones that emit a series of beeps—slowly if he is outside the square, faster if he is near the center—to help guide him toward the target. 

David Ortiz making lights?

 

[culdeus]

How he aligned landing, from culdy's link:

To outline the Fly Trap’s perimeter, as well as a 28-foot-by-28-foot square near the center that Aikins calls the “sweet spot,” Aikins devised an intricate system of PAPI lights (short for Precision Approach Path Indicators), which are commonly used to guide planes on runway landings. The lights will point straight up and use a special lens to give off a red beam on one half and a white beam on the other half. If Aikins sees a red light, he’ll know he is outside the Fly Trap and must shift his trajectory toward the middle of the square. He will also wear headphones that emit a series of beeps—slowly if he is outside the square, faster if he is near the center—to help guide him toward the target. 

Sounds like pokemon go.

 

[EYLive]

glad he wore a helmet 

Just in case of birds?