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Skydiver uses wingsuit to cruise 15 ft above a mountain slope watch!

youtube.com — A skydiver jumps from a helicopter and cruises 15 feet above a mountain's slope using a wingsuit.

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  • kildorn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+87thats ***** awesome.
  • donjaime, on 10/12/2007, -5/+21He could probably land in the snow without a parachute and live.
    • deuceswilde, on 10/12/2007, -1/+39Maybe, but if you can do it without breaking bones then do it that way.
    • kevinmotel, on 10/12/2007, -11/+5you'd be suprised what you can live through...
    • ProximaC, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18Ever see a downhill skiier wipe out at top speed? This guy was going a lot faster than that. Even snow isn't soft at nearly terminal velocity. He was probably going 150+ mph.
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Actually, apparently this group of nutballs have been bandying this idea about already.

      However, none has volunteered to be the first to jump out of a plane with no parachute and try it yet.
    • skydivingdutch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Someone has flown and landed a 39 sqft parachute (normal ones are like 150). When flying this chute, he maintained the same glide ratio and speed a wingsuit flyer, there is a video where they are flying next to each other.

      The problem with landing a wingsuit is that when it comes time to land, your face is the first thing to hit the ground, not your feet.
  • donjaime, on 10/12/2007, -1/+53This guy strapped jets to his feet and managed to maintain altitute at 6500 feet with the wing suite!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9DWAuqP-CQ&mode=related&search=
    • aaneton, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2I'm not 100% sure but if I remember correctly the guy using jet shoes is actually one of the inventors of the wing suit.
    • gravylookout, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Holy *****!!! he's sitting there on the edge of that balloon and I keep thinking that there's no way he's gonna do it and then he does!!! AHHHH! Redic!
    • Xer0crash, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4This guy ain't got nothing on Wile E Coyote.
    • skydivingdutch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Balloon jumps rock.
  • demonio, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4***** sweet :)
  • themarq, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15WOW, it's too bad that was filmed by a retarded monkey. That looks like it could be the coolest stunt I have seen in a long time.

    I would love to see more footage of that, dude looked like Superman.
  • UGM2099, on 10/12/2007, -7/+18My balls are all tingly after watching that.
    • skotski, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4rofl! that comment just about killed me.
    • fatlip, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5maybe he should try harder next time
  • OsiVert, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Anyone know who he is? Comments in YouTube say he died doing another wingsuit stunt.
  • blakemsf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Yeah I believe this was in one of Warren Miller's Ski movies....I think it was "Journey" a great DVD. Sad though he died.
    • TheBarge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2His name is Loïc Jean-Albert, but I didn't find anything saying he died.
    • frederic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Looks like he is pretty alive and still doing training camps:
      http://www.flyyourbody.com/cadre.asp?ID=55707&LNG=EN
    • TheBarge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Ahhh you may be thinking about Dwain Weston who died when he was doing a stunt where he jumped out of a plane and was supposed to use his wing suit to fly right over a bridge, but instead drilled a railing at 100+ mph and hit rocks on his way down Homer Simpson style.
    • Calypsoaf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I also can not find any solid proof of his death.

      Anyone have some sort of link?
    • molecool, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"but instead drilled a railing at 100+ mph and hit rocks on his way down Homer Simpson style."

      Sweet mercy.... haven't laughed that hard in a long time reading this....
  • umdigger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Been on digg a few times, but it never ceases to amaze me. I wish I had one of those.
  • itseffinkasey, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0Think of how much fun that would be... amazing!
  • rubicante, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3FYI: This is something known as the "Ground Effect"
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_effect
    • trosenbl, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4No it is not the same as ground effect. From the first sentence of the page you linked to:
      "The term Ground effect refers to the increase in lift experienced by an aircraft as it approaches within roughly 1/4 of a wingspan's length of the ground."

      He is not that close to the ground for the vast majority of his flight.
    • Chebyshev, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5That 1/4 span thing is kinda rough. Ground effect comes from creating a "pillow" of air for the body (plane, person, whatever) to ride on from the downwash of the wing hitting the ground and not having anywhere to go. Basically you get a high pressure under the wing because the air is hitting the ground and that high pressure adds to the lift experienced by the wing (or in this case, flying-squirrel-man). That 1/4 span thing is for high aspect ratio wings (like plane wings). The wingsuit here could conceivably create way stronger downwash with a shorter span that a traditional wing and therefore exploit the ground effect while not being dangerously (I guess that is arbitrary) close to the ground.
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8It's not the ground effect. He's just falling 1 foot for each 4 feet he goes horizontally. And the ground is also sloped the same. So he maintains his (relative) altitude.

      Try to do it over level ground and you splat.
    • Chebyshev, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I wasn't implying that the ground effect makes him not lose altitude, but it helps by adding to the lift generated by his contraption. He is probably descending slower because he is near the mountainside than he would if he was just out in midair.
    • rubicante, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Why are people digging down comments related to the Ground Effect? We're not making this stuff up.
  • Digitalmafia, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Videos been out for a long time- amazed its, again, getting digg action. Cool video fer sure-just wish the headline lead to something NEW...
    • icexe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9it's new to me.. and obviously to lots of other people as well.
  • Smigge87, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16I'm just amazed that the guys gigantic balls didn't drag across the ground when he was flying over the mountain.

    Thanks for finding this, I've been looking for this video for a while.
  • porkstacker, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1It's called a Birdman suit, not a "wingsuit": http://www.bird-man.com/
    • Natfly, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4wingsuit is a generic term, while birdman is a company that happens to make wingsuits
    • Desolite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I wonder if Harvey represents them in court?
    • Warnke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's like calling inline skates, Rollerblades.
  • GhengisKhan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Unreal.
  • TenebrousX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Mothman!
  • PEteandPEte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0speechless...except for that, and that, and that...
  • CaptainD, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0wasn't this on Diggnation about a year ago when the suit was still being tested and developed. I think Kevin was talking about getting hammered on the Airplane... then the flying squirrel suit story came up and he said that if the plane started to have any problems he would just jump out...
    • Warnke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This appeared in a James Bond movie more than a year ago...
  • MadOgre, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13That's not flying. It's falling... with style!
  • duckfighter, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Its a experiment for gods sake. Laughing at someone trying to innovate is just showing how stupid you are. Instead og looking at the font, read the info. Pretty interesting, and explains why the font looks so akward. Nevertheless I dont think his solution is the right one. The alphabet is many years old, and can hardly be more "optimized".
  • italianandproud, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2whats better adrenaline rush or sex
  • brutimus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I just saw this on a Warren Miller show a few days ago.
  • anomalya, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10BEST wing suit video ive seen
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=*****
    • EbowUK, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Thats the best inadvertent swear word in an actual link I've seen ;)
    • ZeroG52, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1WOW. I want one!
  • noseeme, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I wonder if that product has any warning labels.
  • halosniper7, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1wtf is up with this end comment duggdown *****
  • f0dder, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1That's not flying, that's just falling with style!
    -Woody
  • whypinto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't care how long it takes, I'm going to do this! Awesome Video!
  • tektalk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i have to do this one day when i have time, too swamped with work :(
    dugg for showing me how fun life can be.
  • jeffdodson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Of course, the HOLY GRAIL of wing suits is to fly with one all the way to the ground, WITHOUT a parachute, and land without killing yourself. A tall order, but one which will be achieved eventually by someone who figures out how to brake adequately: maybe an anchor that is deployed behind the flyer when he/she is 15 feet above the ground and flying horizontally. Perhaps an anchor with a built-in shock-absorbing tether that quickly stops the flyers horizontal movement without, you know, stopping them so suddenly that it makes their intestines and eyeballs continue flying forward when the rest of their body is brought to a halt. (I had to add the 'you know' phrase so that I didn't appear too intellectual for the digg site--an apparent requirement for the site, given the innumerable misspellings that always accompany the blog).

    jeff knower of knowledge and some other stuff
  • tgrohovsky, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0if you like this, check this clip out:
    http://epic.weather.com/epicPlayer.html?clip=5292&collection=epic1&nav=141&from=epic
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