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Wingsuit landing next month?

Phil1

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Mar 3, 2009
465
7
Minot N.D.
Bremont Watch Company will be supporting Henley-based stunt man, Gary Connery, in his biggest stunt yet. In April 2012 Gary plans to set a new world record in being the first man ever to jump out of a helicopter with a wingsuit and land without deploying a parachute.

Next month Connery will realize a lifelong ambition of jumping from a helicopter 2,400ft above the height of the box rig over Ridge Wood to the ENE of Henley on Thames. Gary will drop for 3 seconds before his suit starts to fly. He will then accelerate to approximately 80mph. He will get into his tried and tested best glide position where the speed will decrease to 60 mph forward speed with a 22mph vertical descent rate. The whole flight should last about 50 seconds and will come to an end with Gary landing on a box rig.

“I am excited and overwhelmed at the prospect of sticking a new post in the runway of aviation history. I am 100% confident of my abilities/methods to achieve this landing on what will become a historic day,” said Connery. “I am very pleased to be working with Bremont on this as we very much share the same principles; everything to do with this jump is about precision and timing. Working with the manufacture Tonysuits we have only now been able to develop the wingsuit technology to be able to do this jump. At this current pace of development the possibilities of future wing suit design will change the world of aviation.”

Gary has personally helped in developing the suit, which will be used for the flight in
April, making it a first of its kind from a technical point of view. Typically these suits are designed to fly as fast as possible but Gary is engineering a suit that will enable him to fly at slightly slower speeds thus enabling him to land without a parachute.

Bremont is very excited to be supporting Gary in accomplishing this remarkable feat. Not only will he be a fantastic ambassador for the brand in testing the timepieces ‘beyond endurance’ in the field but the aviation link is also particularly fitting.

http://iwmagazine.com/2012/03/02/bremont-supports-its-wingman/

Using this:
http://www.tonywingsuits.com/apache.html

Into this:
box rig n. [bäks rig] a box rig can substitute for a stunt pit. It can also be used to catch objects. The way a box rig is constructed is by using several cardboard moving boxes that are stacked and aligned in rows, X wide by X long by X tall. To keep the boxes from shifting but without making the box rig too rigid of a structure, they’re wrapped together with plastic wrap. Like the kind used to wrap pallets (think saran wrap). The cardboard boxes crush or give way upon impact allowing the objects to safely stop. Box rigs are affordable and a low-tech solution. Interesting factoid; box rigs are great for catching cars that need to be flipped upside down without being severely damaged. The boxes cushion the vehicle upon impact. Yes, enough boxes that are properly stacked can safely catch a full size car or truck.
http://www.richmondstunts.com/glossary/

Likely end of May. http://www.alt1tude.com/forum/showthread.php?548-The-Bremont-Wingman-An-update-on-the-jump
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

Even flaring at the last second to stall and retard forward motion, he is going to hit that box rig like a proverbial sack of excrement. I suggest the DZ safety officer carry a spatula.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

He is not alone, if Jeb Corolis had not busted himself up in January he was planning for the same thing by this summer.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

Jeb Corlis was going to do it after reaching terminal velocity not just 80mph. And they have built a special runway for Jeb. The sound of this is a rushed attempt and landing on cardboard boxes at 60mph sounds pretty rough.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

Unless that box pit is the size of a football field it is going to be hard for him to judge and actually hit. I'm thinking he should practice by doing some landings in a Pitts or some other hot fast falling airplane to get used to the ground rush and high decent rate.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

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Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

That dude is gonna go out with a bang if he misses. Nothing like smearing your face across the earth at a high rate of speed. Although the guy that was cliff hugging that hit the tree lived... maybe he'll have the same luck.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

Yeah, somebody's gonna get scuffed up.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

This entire wingsuit community has as it's overwhelming goal a "parachute-less" landing. a winged landing. This first step of a crash landing into a pile of boxes is not necessarily a logical next step.
They have the semi-controlled flight characteristics down pretty well, but there simply is no way at this point of the technology to slow, flare and stall like a flyable wing (parachute) or like a bird.
So far the ones trying it are not scientists. Get some NASA interest and possibly we could get there. This way, there will be a bunch of smears on the tarmac.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

( I think ) . it is all going-down tomorrow / Wednesday .
& (i think) from what I read, about 04:00 PST & vid. will be shown on @ this <span style="text-decoration: underline">Link below . on: (watch sky news TV Live</span>.
<span style="font-weight: bold">http://news.sky.com/home/ </span>
.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

He has almost 900 jumps and seems to have a handle on wingsuits. I think he can do it without killing himself but I'd predict some broken ribs and a week in the hospital.

Er....i guess he did it without injury!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9IRC_b4g7Sg#!

"A stuntman has made aviation history by becoming the first skydiver in the world to land without the use of a parachute.

Gary Connery, 42, from Oxfordshire, leapt from a helicopter a mile above Henley then glided down using a specially adapted wing suit before landing on a "runway" of 18,000 cardboard boxes.

"It was so comfortable, so soft. My calculations obviously worked out and I'm glad they did," he told Sky News afterwards.

His wife Vivian said she was "relieved its all over"."

http://news.sky.com/home/strange-news/article/16233460

 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

...> <span style="font-weight: bold">" <span style="font-style: italic">That was basically a barely controlled crash into a bunch of boxes</span> ". </span>
--
I beg to differ my friend . Every every detail in body position awareness, to lining-up the final approach angle is being micro managed from the exit, to the commitment point of no return .
.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

I think I've read the sink rate is about 25-30 mph, which comes to about 37-44 fps.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

Another one that needs to be skimmed from the gene pool.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

Well I guess that box pit was the size of a football field. I thought it was interesting that he noted how the suit flew differently during the actual stunt. He probably had a different CG without a parachute which led to a different feeling as he tried out his control surfaces.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

I say he lands on a giant trampoline over the Grand Canyon, springs up, and starts flying again, later releasing his chute and gently landing in a waiting whitewater raft.
 
Re: Wingsuit landing next month?

Seems a logical first step, first flight by the Wright brothers was not the Moon landing. Proving controlled accuracy to the size of the box farm ain't bad. Going to need some means of increasing the suit lift to get rid of the boxes - breakthrough in suit design or materials. I have not tried a wingsuit yet, but truly enjoy flying my parachute so I hope that doesn't go away anytime soon!