Cloud Surfing: True Human Flight

Wingsuit pilots flying with puffy white clouds.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• skydiving
• wingsuit

[amyourdad]

song name please

[matthooverdotcom]

@amyourdad It's been posted in the comments several times and it's visible right underneath the view count.  Massive Attack - Heat Miser.

[a50745]

@hiyoddo if you open your wings too quickly after exit yes....but that is NOT recommended due to risk of striking the rear tail stabilizer.

[hiyoddo]

so its not possible to pull up for a second or 2??

[matthooverdotcom]

@FraggingBard No prob, they are good questions. :-)

[matthooverdotcom]

@FraggingBard Wing loading is also the reason we move much MUCH faster than gliders (both downward and forward). Go make a paper airplane, if you design it right you can put a flap on the back that makes it climb after a dive. Now start taping paper clips to it. Once it gets heavy enough, it will still fly, but it will fly (from your hands to the floor) VERY fast, and no matter how you shape the wings, it won't ever go up (though it may go "less steep" momentarily).

[FraggingBard]

@matthooverdotcom

That's fair enough, thanks muchly for answering

[matthooverdotcom]

@FraggingBard The difference is the size of the wings. If wingsuit wings were as large as glider wings, then maybe we could. However, we would not have the strength to hold out wings that large with our own muscles... so we'd need an artificial frame, and then it would no longer be a wingsuit. In short: wing loading (which equals weight divided by surface area).

Same with my tread water example: it might work if you had HUGE hands and muscles (more surface area).

[FraggingBard]

@matthooverdotcom

Unpowered gliders are capable of doing it and they weigh more than a human, what's the difference?

Not trying to stir you up, curious lol. And not flapping, merely pointing the fins upwards momentarily.

[matthooverdotcom]

@FraggingBard It's not about maneuverability, it's about physics. You can make a wingsuit which allows more mobility, there are some out there already. A human being is just simply way too dense to be able to "flap his wings" and fly up like a bird does.  We are basically glide-bombs with wings. If we move the wings a bit, we change which way the bomb is pointed, but we are still falling (gliding) very fast. Try treading water carrying 1000lb.. you will sink no matter how hard you tread.