Eagle's-Eye View From World's Tallest Building

[Terry57]

This is an amazing video!
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3sVV4o5E94"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3sVV4o5E94[/ame]

 

[Birdman666]

Now you know what skydiving looks and feels like! The bird just descends slower... that's all.

This would actually be a BASE jump, but, same difference... Just a lower altitude.

 

[Terry57]

If that's what skydiving is like, sign me up!

 

[Birdman666]

If that's what skydiving is like, sign me up!

One of these days I'll have to post some of my skydiving videos...

But yeah, that's what it's like, only significantly faster!

My "personal best" is 255.6 mph in a vertical head down from 18,000 feet. Covered the distance from 18,300 feet down to 5,000 feet in about 22 seconds...

My "normal" tracking speed is around 185 mph. (As in, pass a speeding Ferrari on the track, now lose the car - PLUS - you can move in three dimensions at that speed!

Of my 200-ish jumps, I've probably logged 50 that were at, or broke, the 200 mph barrier.

You could buy a really expensive car, and hope you don't crash in the turns, or hit someone...

You could pay even more for a personal plane...

But neither one of those gives you the wind in your hair at that speed... (FOR $22 BUCKS A JUMP!)

Or the ability to turn cartwheels in the sky at that speed... (YEAH, I HAVE!)

COOLEST THING YOU WILL EVER DO!!! TRUST ME.

DO A TANDEM YOUR FIRST TIME. YOU NEVER KNOW HOW YOU'RE GOING TO REACT WHEN THAT DOOR OPENS AT ALTITUDE YOUR FIRST TIME...

 

[Terry57]

I would definitely have to do a tandem, I am terrified of heights but still this is on my bucket list.
PLEASE post those videos, I am dying to see them!

 

[Birdman666]

Gotta find them first. Don't know where they are anymore.

Haven't taken any videos recently.

Somewhere I've got a video of a two way on a giant inflatable rubber duck - that we got up to 204.5 mph in a vertical inverted spin... and rode from 15,000 down to 5,000...

I let go of it at 5,000, flew back and high fived the camera flyer, and then turned and burned... STILL ONE OF MY FAVORITE TOY JUMPS EVER!!!

(And I've logged about 50 toy jumps. I'm an idiot. I go for the goofy stuff...)

 

[Birdman666]

Here's some recent good base wingsuit footage... for comparison.

The good stuff starts about 3:00 in...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f56QRCwpBYI"]Possibly The Best Wingsuit Flying Ever Captured On Video | HeliBASE 74 ep. 4 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Birdman666]

This one's pretty much no talk, all action... AND LATER IN THIS VIDEO, THERE IS A BASE OFF THE SAME TOWER THE BIRD FLEW OFF OF. YOU WON'T FIND A BETTER COMPARISON THAN THAT! That starts at 6:13, a two way vertical head down, and you can see how easy it is to maneuver at speed... assuming of course, you know how to do it without becoming unstable in freefall. (Kind of an important IF... )

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urw5Vr02bYo"]Best of Wingsuit Proximity Flying 2014 - YouTube[/ame]

I lost a friend of mine to that same cliff in Norway. She and her husband were flying it, and when they got to the point where the crevice turned, and there was a rock wall in front of them, a gust of wind hit her during the turn and threw her off her line.

She hit the wall, and was killed instantly.

This stuff comes at a price!

I've lost a total of 8 friends to base jumping now...

PROXIMITY BASE HAS A VERY LOW MARGIN FOR ERROR.

I just laughed as I re-read that. As if REGULAR BASE has any margin for error either... I guess if you're gonna base, you might as well. Cuz you're already at next to nothing, and there are no reserves on a base rig for a reason. (You'd never have enough time to cut away or open a reserve.) So, yeah, nothing, or nothing in close proximity to things you might hit.

 

[Birdman666]

AND JUST FOR FUN... WINGSUIT RODEO... NOW THIS IS MY IDEA OF A WINGSUIT JUMP!!! FUN JUMP, LOW RISK, LOTS OF ALTITUDE IN CASE SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS. SUFFICIENT MARGIN FOR ERROR TO "FIX" A PROBLEM BEFORE IT KILLS YOU...

GIVE ME A SKYVAN AND A PRETTY WOMAN, ANY DAY... YOU'LL LIVE LONGER, AND SMILE JUST AS MUCH!!!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr_1Mx4c7tM"]Hot Girl + Skydive Wingsuit Rodeo + Cleavage = AWESOME - YouTube[/ame]

HERE'S ONE WITH WONDER WOMAN!!! NOW THIS IS TOTALLY SOMETHING I WOULD DO...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfOJLylYD5s"]Wingsuit Rodeo w/ Wonder Woman... And an Apple Watch - YouTube[/ame]

I ONCE RODEOED A GUY IN A CHICKEN SUIT, WHILE DRESSED AS A PENGUIN... (TWO FLIGHTLESS BIRDS IN FREEFALL... GET IT?!) IT WAS HALLOWEEEN... THINGS GET A LITTLE WIERD(-er than usual) AT THE DROP ZONE ON HALLOWEEN...

 

[Birdman666]

I'll look for mine over the weekend. Don't know how to post it though.

Not sure how some of my friends would feel about some of this stuff ending up online...

The dropzone is kinda like Vegas... YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO TELL!

(But then, some of us CAN'T SHUT UP!!!)

 

[Scott]

The OP Eagle video is amazing.... would love to know what the bird was thinking!

As for the human daredevil videos.... wow! I can understand the appeal, but personally have too many phobias and visions of mortality to contemplate the wingsuits, let alone attempting a basic tandem jump. Too bad, because I live less than one mile from a small airport with a skydiving service.

I'm just too brawk brawk brawk!!! :scared01:

 

[Birdman666]

See, I don't even think of jumping out of a plane as anything other than a relaxing day of fun...

I never truly 100% relax until l get on a jump plane... This is what I call having fun.

Its just flying to me.

I was on a friend of mines 15,000th, jump, and that was several years ago. He's probably around 20,000+ now.

 

[Terry57]

Mark, I am so sorry for the loss of so many of your friends. That is so telling of what a dangerous sport this is.
Your videos are amazing! I have some questions about the wing suit....what is it made of? How are they able to keep up the speed? How on earth can they maneuver like they can???

After watching these videos, I know this should be the last thing on my bucket list, because I think my heart will stop upon jumping.

 

[Anansi]

Awesome videos all around! Thanks for sharing, Terry and Mark!

I've never seen a video taken from a bird's flying perspective, before. Amazing!

And the jumping! I don't know if I could ever do that, bet the experience must be exhilarating.

 

[Birdman666]

Wingsuits are made of zero pourosity nylon. What it does is slow down your decent rate from 125+ MPH, to about 55 MPH, while tranfering your downward momentum into forward airspeed...

In free fall you can do maneuvers in 100ths of a second...

Its the base jumping, especially proximity base that can get you killed.

Altitude is your friend, and you're way up there where you don't have to worry about bumping into anything... Flying through a crack in a mountain pass, a few hundred feet off the ground? not so much...

On top of which some of the base jumpers I knew didn't always fly sober - with a 12seconds til impact deployment...

I LOVE skydiving. I don't base...

 

[Terry57]

Hmmm...a few beers may help me to get in the plane...can you bring a cooler on board?

 

[Birdman666]

Nope. Beer o'clock means you're done jumping. BUT jumping all day is usually followed by beer o'clock and a bonfire. A few hours after the fire goes out its time to start jumping again...