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Rocketman Takes Off In Custom-Made Wingsuit

disco_tracy writes "Yves Rossy, the Swiss adventurer who has already flown across the English Channel using a winged jet-pack, pulled off another exploit Friday, flying two aerial loops in a new version of his invention. Rossy, who was testing a new, more aerodynamic model of the jet-pack, jumped from a hot-air balloon at 2,400 meters (7,900 feet) and performed the stunt during an 18-minute flight before making a parachute landing." The BBC has some video of his flight, and the Washington Post put up a handful of pictures.

5 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by guybrush3pwood · · Score: 2, Informative

    That's one cool motherf#cker...

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    Perhaps I'm trolling, perhaps I'm not.
  2. inaccurate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    One, it's not a wing suit. It's a suit with a hard wing attached to it. Sure, technically, that could be called a wingsuit (or maybe a winged suit) but wingsuit has typically come to mean the flying squirrel type suits.

    Two, he did not do two loops. He did two ROLLS.

  3. Not taking off by RPI+Geek · · Score: 4, Informative

    That is very cool, but it's not taking off. Taking off means starting from the ground, which still hasn't happened yet.

    Mayhaps a poor choice of words, disco_tracy.

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    - "Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen. But Old Man Stauf is waiting there, crazy sick and mean!"
  4. Re:Not to take anything away but . . . by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 3, Informative

    He does do a vertical loop. Watch the video

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    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  5. Re:Imagine what it would be like by Muad'Dave · · Score: 2, Informative

    Turkeys can, in fact, fly.

    But they can't land for squat. I watched one come in for a landing while hunting, and I must say that had to hurt - he hit the ground and proceeded to blast through some underbrush like a bowling ball.

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    Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.