Jet Powered Human Flight

ederen writes "A skydiver outfitted with jet engines and a nylon Birdman suit jumped out of a balloon over Finland to test the idea of powered human flight without the use of an airplane. The event was sponsored in part by Bird-Man International, a company that develops and manufactures the flying-squirrel freefall suits as seen in Tomb Raider and other action movies."

Comments

Award

[rossdee]

I guess he's going for the 2006 Darwin awards.

Re:Award

[Walt Dismal]

In other news, hunters in the Ozarks report downing a weird huge bird. Said hunter Billy-Bob Lockjaw, "First time I ever shot a bird what screamed "%^#@% you!" at me on the way down. It were sure good eatin, but we haid to pluck a lot o rubbery stuff ofn it."

Not the first time

[Centurix]

I remember jumping from my roof in my batsuit after eating a litre of baked beans. I was eight at the time, don't remember much but I flew from the roof to the hospital bed, which was a whole 10 miles away...

The video is really worth watching.

[cgenman]

powered human flight without the use of an airplane

Technically, those old rocket pack suits used at airshows counts for this. As does, well, balloons.

While it isn't the most technically advanced feat, it is a damn cool trick, and the video is awesome. They really sound like a 747 taking off while strapped to your ankles. Kudos for the fun hack, and I can't wait to try it out.

Re:The video is really worth watching.

[Bitsy Boffin]

Strapping tiny jet engines to your ankles and jumping out of a balloon, that's cool and all, but let me know when they can take off under thier power!

"Hey Ma' I'm just going down the shops, you want anything?" as the engines spool up out in the backyard :)

Re:The video is really worth watching.

[rossdee]

Thats about the range of those early rocket belts, I think they had enough fuel for 20-30 seconds flight.

Re:The video is really worth watching.

[qbwiz]

Taking off under their own power might be nice, but I imagine that a simple catapult could solve that problem.

Re:The video is really worth watching.

[blincoln]

Thats about the range of those early rocket belts, I think they had enough fuel for 20-30 seconds flight.

They're still limited to roughly 30 seconds, because they're so fuel-inefficient.

My understanding is that by using jet turbines, this type of propulsion should be able to be scaled up MUCH better to longer flight times. I mean, a "rocket belt" has an entire backpack full of fuel to do the 30 second flight, whereas this guy just had a couple of hot water bottles full of fuel in his flight suit.

This is really, really awesome. Even if it can't let the guy launch on his own power from the ground, it would be amazingly fun to zoom around in before popping a parachute.

Probably the only design question is how to armour the body of the flying person so that a catastrophic jet engine failure doesn't riddle them with shrapnel. One advantage of the "rocket belts" is that they don't (AFAIK) have sharp metal bits spinning at incredible speed inside.

Actual video URL (probably)

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.bird-man.com/include/n_video_windtunnel .php?d=6

They know why birds sing

[4way]

It's awesome what you can do with a wingsuit. Cruising through the air busting clouds. You can really cover some distance, like crossing the Strait of Gibraltar crossing the Strait of Gibraltar. There is a lot of development going on, at BirdMan, Inc., Phoenix Fly and in cooperation with ie. Go Fast and the Soul Flyers with Salomon Sports . Have a look at the photo's and awesome videos.

Biiiiiirdman!

[kyouteki]

A skydiver outfitted with jet engines and a nylon Birdman suit I was expecting a crest and yellow spandex. :(

LOL...Flying Geeks!!

[rts008]

"....It's a Bird!....It's a Plane... It's, uhmm, Mabel grab my shotgun, I think it's a flying GEEK! Hide the beer and skittles, this could get ugly!

"normal bird-man flight?"

[pinche cabron]

Anyone have any idea what they meant by this? From the article:

Visa simply rode out the rest of the jump in level flight following the highway until the fuel ran out. Visa then continued in normal bird-man flight until deployment altitude.

So prior to running out of kerosene, it was abnormal bird-man flight? I don't really care what they call it, but I'd love to give it a try.

Re:"normal bird-man flight?"

[valkoinen]

Normal bird-man flight does not use jet engines. The suit has kind of "wings" or "fins" that allow the sky diver to glide long distances during the free fall.

Jet powered bird-man flight seems to give the ability to cover distance without losing altitude, but the jets are not powerful enough to climb.

Re:"normal bird-man flight?"

[pinche cabron]

So "normal bird-man flight" = gliding. That's kind of what I figured. Thanks for the clarification. It also explains the funky fins on his helmet.

Re:"normal bird-man flight?"

[brucehoult]

Jet powered bird-man flight seems to give the ability to cover distance without losing altitude, but the jets are not powerful enough to climb

They'e plenty powerful. See what they can do on an aircraft:

    http://www.silentwingsairshows.com/jet.html

That's not flying

[Rob Parkhill]

That's falling with style.

Re:That's not flying

[Anonymous Coward]

Just remember, throw yourself at the ground and try to miss. (with thanks and apologies to Douglas Adams)

This seems important to me

[Julian Morrison]

Yes, this was a stunt and a Rube Goldberg machine, but so was the Wright Flyer. What this has basically shown is that a wingsuit/engine combo can maintain controlled level flight with no airplane or other "exoskeleton". Could this become a new "normal" mode of flight? It strikes me as both infinitely cooler than flying cars, and far safer for third parties.

Questions worth looking into
- how to redesign a bird suit for efficient level flight
- how to increase engine burn time and optimize fuel use
- how to avoid stalls when attempting to ascend
- can a suit/engine combo be made that can take off from the ground?

Re:This seems important to me

[Anonymous Coward]

- how to increase engine burn time and optimize fuel use

I didn't think a liter per minute was all that bad. Strap 6 or 8 liters
on and away you go.

- can a suit/engine combo be made that can take off from the ground?

A catapult, perhaps, to get one up to speed. Then possibly with a bit larger
engines that would allow for a small rate of climb.

Re:This seems important to me

[Alsee]

Aside from redsigning the suit, the main problem and solution is clearly fuel. So for the new consumer product we will simply use about 8 liters of nitroglycerine fuel. Imagine 4 million ordinary commuters flying into New York City for work every day.

-

Lack of ascend ability not a surprise

[beetle496]

Bird suits don't have air foils for ascent. It is not the least surprising that when trying to ascend that he just stalled. Upstream drafts are so rare the suit is just not designed to take advantage of them. Level flight is the best he could hope for. Now, if he had been using an ultra light glider, he would have been set.

Bird-Man Suits

[ozTravman]

The Bird-man suits use inlet vents to create aerofoils similar to a ram-air parachute. The lift created is strong enough so that a skilled wing suit pilot can momentarily rise above a tail gate aircraft on exit. The jet engines provided enough thrust to keep the pilot level, but not enough to gain altitude. I have no doubt that this will be the next goal they will try to achieve. There is also a wing suit pilot who has said he thinks it is possible to "land" a wingsuit without the use of a parachute.

Re:Bird-Man Suits

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope they mark those words in his eulogy!

From the archives...

[3waygeek]

video of Bird-Man's first flight suit.