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Parachutist to Jump From 25,000 feet (7600 m) Without a Parachute/Wingsuit

posted by martyb on Friday July 29 2016, @03:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the aiming-for-a-record dept.

fleg writes:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/28/skydiver-luke-aikins-jump-without-parachute-live-tv

"He's made 18,000 parachute jumps, helped train some of the world's most elite skydivers, done some of the stunts for Ironman 3. But the plunge Luke Aikins knows he'll be remembered for is the one he's making without a parachute. Or a wingsuit.

Or anything, really, other than the clothes he'll be wearing when he jumps out of an airplane at 25,000 feet [7600 m] this weekend, attempting to become the first person to land safely on the ground in a net."

[...] "To me, I'm proving that we can do stuff that we don't think we can do if we approach it the right way," he answers.

"I've got 18,000 jumps with a parachute, so why not wear one this time?" he muses almost to himself. "But I'm trying to show that it can be done."

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  • (Score: 2) by TheLink on Saturday July 30 2016, @08:49AM

    by TheLink (332) on Saturday July 30 2016, @08:49AM (#381912) Journal
    It may be easier to hit the target from 25,000 feet than 1,500 feet if the plane is slightly off. You have more time to maneuver till you're over the target.

    If he's not completely crazy there might be other skydivers already "falling by" to give him a chute in case he's too off course to hit the target or the target becomes not visible (cloud, smoke etc). If you're higher up there's more time to figure out whether you need a chute or not. Those other skydivers don't have to appear in the main video if things go well.

    But the fact that they have only one net and the net can fail like that seems to indicate that their competency might not be that high and they may just be winging it, without wings ;).
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2016, @08:52AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2016, @08:52AM (#381913)
    BTW they're probably going to have other skydivers around to video him. So they might have extra chutes for him.