I am intrigued by this wingsuit jumping, but it looks highly hazardous, and I think I enjoy life a little too much to try it. Plus, I’d imagine I’d have to get my flabby ass in shape first, since I’m guessing my ballistic coefficient could use some work.
On another note, I never understood why suicidal people didn’t take up sports like this. I mean, if you think life sucks so bad you want to die, I would imagine strapping on a wing suit and parachute, and throwing yourself off a fjord is going to clear things up for you mighty quickly.
I dunno’ – my definition of cool hobby generally includes survivability…
Flying a small plane is cool. Wingsuit jumping is more of the insane variety.
The dude with jetpacks in his suit is just all kinds of nuts! You might say he’s a wingnut.
If nothing else, maybe the endorphins from the adrenaline rush might help with the depression.
Wonder what the glide ratio on those suits are, anyway?
Looks like 2-1 … for every foot you drop, you glide two feet. Not bad.
Need to improve that by a factor of 5 for serious gliding, IIRC
There was an exhilarating feature on wingsuit “birdmen” that I thought of right away when I read today’s post on the topic.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/09/60minutes/main5374843.shtml
Even though the source was “60 Minutes,” of all things, the segment was just plain fun. The whole sport seems like an IMAX feature waiting to happen.