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Skydiving Across the English Channel
loonix_gangsta writes "Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian, has become the first person to skydive 35 km (22 miles) across the English Channel. Wearing a jumpsuit with a large carbon fin strapped to his back he reached speeds of up to 360 km/h. The whole flight took approximately 14 minutes. The newsitem is being covered by the BBC, SkyNews
and CNN."
You know, the plane is blowing up, Bond puts two in the bad guy and grabs a boogie board then straps it to his back. The music kicks in ("DAA DAA DOOOM DAA-DAA, DAA-DAA-DAA"), Bond grabs the gal, and whoosh, out the door.
From the CNN article: "He said cloud cover meant he could not see where he was going and had to follow his two planes across the Channel.". I bet nobody believed the pilot of the 747 at first. "No really, was a guy, with a rocket pack or something, honest!".
"jumpsuit with a large carbon fin strapped to his back "
So, does he play 'Shark' when he gets into the water?
Apparently his backpack was running Linux, that's how he stayed up for so long ;-)
The newsitem is being covered by the BBC, SkyNews and CNN.
.haeger
How appropriate.
You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -- Harlan Ellison
Nobody had any blitz flashbacks?
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
no need for a ticket and all.
"Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it..."
"No, actually, it's Felix Baumgartner."
"Oh."
Mr Baumgartner had prepared for three years for this flight, with rigorous training including strapping himself on to the top of a speeding Porsche.
Now that's just the kind of project lead up I need. Somewhat more exciting than preparing 3 years for a product launch that involves little more than phoning around organising four different companies and keeping them all on track.
I need a change of pace.
"with a large carbon fin strapped to his back"
This is a ricey-car reply waiting to happen
1. Add a heat sheild.
2. Add pressure suit.
3. Increase altitude to 62 miles.
4. Find X-Prize team loony enough to let someone jump out the door.
...
6. Profit.
(Seriously, as an occasional skydiver/former paratrooper, this sounds like a f--king blast.)
blog |
Mr Baumgartner had prepared for three years for this flight, with rigorous training including strapping himself on to the top of a speeding Porsche.
Did the driver know ?
"What Officer, a man strapped to the roof of the car as we went down the AutoBahn ?"
"Yes sir"
"I don't belive you, why isn't he there now"
"He dropped off over the bridge and glided over the river"
"Have you been drinking officer ?"
Blow into the bag son, blow into the bag.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
We could have saved a lot of money and time with this methodology.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
I forsee a day when humans will attach themselves to ever-larger winged contraptions and travel further and further with each passing year. Perhaps, some day in the far future, these "aero-planes" might be equipped with powerful "jet-engines" which would enable the intrepid pioneers of the sky to travel across the very oceans themselves. Perhaps pretzels could also be served on these voyages.
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
From the BBC article:
"Mr Baumgartner had prepared for three years for this flight, with rigorous training including strapping himself on to the top of a speeding Porsche."
Are we sure this isn't a Darwin Award?
Since when were you allowed to strap a small aircraft to your back and call it skydiving?
Oh, the realization that the total lack of aerodynamic control inherent in all regular desktop glass cover designs would mean that not only would someone end up on the sidwalk as a large wet spot, but a large wet spot with a lot of broken glass in it would be my guess.
Money for nothing, pix for free
Interesting. I have an idea. How about we steal all these "parachutes" from the whole world and ask for one trillion dollars yp return them? Without these "parachutes" all "skydivers" would die.
</dr evil's voice>
-
Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
...but this takes the cake.
Never attribute to stupidity what can be construed as a monopoly preservation tactic.
That was OK. I liked the scene where she was running better. "That's right....bounce for Daddy...ooooh"
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
...Some Austrian guy threw himself headlong into France, caught them all by surprise with the audacity and speed of it... ...And there wasn't a white flag of surrender in sight.
Um, no, there's no hopefully about it. When you hit the ground, you WILL stop, parachute or no parachute.
The state of your body when you stop is open for debate...
modern choral music...
22 miles? Psh. Had he the foresight to put R-Type stickers on his wing/fin/thing, he would have made it to London, easy.
sudo eat my shorts
That clearly shows that CNN got it wrong. How can you extepct them to calculate from Miles to Kilometers, if they do not even know where Switzerland is.
Signature deleted by lameness filter.
Nah, we would have said :
;-)
"La perfide Albion nous envahi de nouveau !
Boutons les anglois volants hors de France"
Btw we would have been nice and we would have paid his
eurostar ticket. Back to London at 334.7km/h !!!
(new record from yesterday)
Gone quick as he came
*grin*
I was rather surprised too... sorry if this is redundant already, but I found it on http://www.saifai.co.uk/pse10.shtml
... Mr Vercotti... .. I like the police a lot, I've got a lot of time for them.
Here goes:
Voice Over: There is an epic quality about the sea which has throughout history stirred the hearts and minds of Englishmen of all nations. Sir Francis Drake, Captain Webb, Nelson of Trafalgar and Scott of the Antartic - all rose to the challenge of the mighty ocean. And today another Englishman may add his name to the golden roll of history: Mr Ron Obvious of Neaps End. For today, Ron Obvious hopes to be the first man to jump the Channel.
Ron runs up to group of cheering supporters. An interviewer addresses him.
Interviewer: Ron, now let's just get this quite clear - you're intending to jump across the English Channel?
Ron: Oh yes, that is correct, yes.
Interviewer: And, er, just how far is that?
Ron: Oh, well it's twenty-six miles from here to Calais.
Interviewer: Er, that's to the beach at Calais?
Ron: Well, no, no, provided I get a good lift off and maybe a gust of breeze over the French coast, I shall be jumping into the centre of Calais itself.
Brief shot of group of Frenchmen with banner. 'Fin de Cross-Channel jump'.
Interviewer: Ron are you using any special techniques to jump this great distance?
Ron: Oh no, no. I shall be using an ordinary two-footed jump, er, straight up in the air and across the Channel.
Interviewer: I see. Er, Ron, what is the furthest distance that you've jumped, er, so far?
Ron: Er, oh, eleven foot six inches at Motspur Park on July 22nd. Er, but I have done nearly twelve feet unofficially.
Ron breaks off to make training-type movements.
Interviewer: I see. Er, Ron, Ron, Ron, aren't you worried Ron, aren't you worried jumping twenty-six miles across the sea?
Ron Oh, well no, no, no, no. It is in fact easier to jump over sea than over dry land.
Interviewer: Well how is that?
Ron Er, well my manager explained it to me. You see if you're five miles out over the English Channel, with nothing but sea underneath you, er, there is a very great impetus to say in the air.
Interviewer: I see. Well, er, thank you very much Ron and the very best of luck.
Ron Thank you. Thank you.
Interviewer: (to camera) The man behind Ron's cross-Channel jump is his manager Mr Luigi Vercotti. (turns to speak to Vercotti, who has a Mafia suit and dark glasses) Mr Vercotti, er Mr Vercotti
Mr Vercotti: What? (mumbles protestations of innocence) I don't know what you're talking about.
Interviewer: Er, no, we're from the BBC, Mr Vercotti.
Mr Vercotti: Who?
Interviewer: The BBC.
Mr Vercotti: Oh, oh. I see. I thought, I thought you were the er .
Interviewer: Mr, er, Mr Vercotti, what is your chief task as Ron's manager?
Mr Vercotti: Well my main task is, er, to fix a sponsor for the big jump.
Interviewer: And who is the sponsor?
Mr Vercotti: The Chippenham Brick Company. Ah, they, er, pay all the bills, er, in return for which Ron will be carrying half a hundredweight of their bricks.
We see a passport officer checking Ron's passport.
Interviewer: I see. Well, er, it looks as if Ron is ready now. He's got the bricks. He's had his passport checked and he's all set to go. And he's off on the first ever cross-Channel jump. (Ron runs down the beach and jumps; he lands about four feet into the water) Will Ron be trying the cross-Channel jump again soon?
Mr Vercotti: No. No. I'm taking him off the jumps. Er, because I've got something lined up for Ron next week that I think is very much more up his street.
Interviewer: Er, what's that?
Mr Vercotti: Er, Ron is going to eat Chichester Cathedral.
Cut to Chichester Cathedral. Ron walks up to it, brushing his teeth.
Interviewer: Well, there he goes, Ron Obvious of Neaps End, in an attempt which could make him the first man ever to eat an entire Anglican Cathedral.
Ron takes a hefty bite at a buttress, screams an