Wingsuits...

[TheGreenGoblin]

The recent sad demise of Vince Reffet lead me to have a look at the extreme stuff that the wingsuit practitioners have been undertaking...

[Ex-Ascot]

Absolutely crazy. I don't think that these guys expect to live to pick up a pension.

[TheGreenGoblin]

These people are truly alive... although they came close to disaster when the girl deployed her chute but fortunately no boobs were damaged in the making of this video....

[TheGreenGoblin]

The American guy the lady with the nice boobies was riding in the video above, is Jeb Corliss. An aerial master and also one lucky dude, not only for having a lady like that, but because he survived this little event while jumping off Table Mountain in SA.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Mont Blanc - bonkers.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Eiger

[EA01]

Hmm,....not a betting man, but I'd put the house on that's something I'm not gunna do!

[Boac]

You do know, don't you, that it is against the law to place a bet if you have inside knowledge?

[Ex-Ascot]

Don't understand how they know that they are going to clear the terrain.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

From what I have seen from longer videos, there is an awful lot of careful planning. They usually walk/climb the route first too.
Obviously they are very choosy about weather, which in the mountains I presume means zero wind.
Looks to me like they normally fly faster than best glide speed, to allow a manoevre margin.

[Ex-Ascot]

I am sure it is planned. But, walk the route? Those two clips would have been impossible. Guess they know their rate of descent and using topos can plan a route.

Fly it in a chopper a few times?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I think they walk/climb as much as possible to check for stuff like power lines and tree heights, that might not be on a topo, or have changed.
They probably know their personal glide angles at different speeds pretty well with GPS, altimeter, and data recording.
I've seen detailed topo sections drawn on boards to calculate the slope angles and distances, just as we did in pilot nav training.

I don't know about helicopters, but since they often use them to jump from, it would seem likely.

It is, for want of a better description, sensibly insane.

I did a couple of formation skydives with a bunch who became World Champions the year after. Their planning and rehearsals were meticulous.

[Ex-Ascot]

I did a couple of formation skydives with a bunch who became World Champions the year after. Their planning and rehearsals were meticulous.

Yep dropped for competitions many times. Also dropped the RAF Falcons for a season in '82 when the C130s were busy!

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I found the civvies just as rigorous as the RAF in their prep. Mind you, there were several ex-mil and assorted record holders where I jumped. The master rigger had been the master rigger for the Golden Knights, so I got him to teach me packing.