Scoop 0 #1 November 30, 2005 Will the time ever come where we will have wingsuit/tracking tunnels? Look at my pic. Would you have guessed im no graphic designer Seems like a reasonable concept although I would imagine be difficult to adjust for the differing vertical & horizontal speeds. What if the centre point of the chamber was on a pivot and you could turn rotate the whole chamber. Ie for belly/freeflying then whip it round at an angle (motor included) for some tracking/wingsuit fun. I know it sounds a bit 'tomorrows world' but I reckon could be possible in few years time. How much fun would that be! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nigelh 0 #2 November 30, 2005 Do you win a prize if you get through the 2nd Door? Nigel-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Sponored by NZ Aerosports, CYPRES 2, Tonfly & L&B Team Dirty Sanchez #232 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tdog 0 #3 November 30, 2005 I am just trying to figure out where the tunnel rat stands... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paige 0 #4 December 1, 2005 Check out Joao in the wingsuit.Tunnel Pink Mafia Delegate www.TunnelPinkMafia.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eule 0 #5 December 1, 2005 QuoteWill the time ever come where we will have wingsuit/tracking tunnels? Maybe so. I recall seeing some video on the Bird-Man site of wingsuit testing in a _horizontal_ wind tunnel, but if I remember right the guy's feet were against a stop or in jesses or something like that. In other words, he was standing up and just leaning over into the wind, not really flying. QuoteWhat if the centre point of the chamber was on a pivot and you could turn rotate the whole chamber. Ie for belly/freeflying then whip it round at an angle (motor included) for some tracking/ wingsuit fun. It might be a little easier to do with an outdoor tunnel. Instead of having the air outlet in the center of a square or round net, it would be towards one of the narrow ends of a long rectangular net. Then you'd put a nozzle on the air outlet that could either be pointed straight up for "normal" use, or tilted over (to blow out over the length of the net) for wingsuits or tracking. This way you only have to move the nozzle, instead of the whole flight chamber, motors, fans, etc. The nozzle will add back pressure to the system and probably make the fans a little less efficient. Or, instead of moving the whole nozzle, you could put slats in the end of a fixed nozzle, like a Venetian blind, or an adjustable turnvane. Point the slats straight up for "normal" or at an angle for wingsuits. This is still a flow restriction but might be easier to do mechanically. You might adapt this to an indoor tunnel: have the chamber on a pivot, but instead of moving the fans and all, have the chamber connected to the rest of the air system by flexible hoses. (Think bendy bus.) Again, the hoses would create drag, but it might lessen the amount of stuff you have to move. Mainly I think that trying to build a structure that can both move and support over a thousand horsepower of motors would be pretty expensive. If you moved the motors, you'd probably have to shut down the fans before you did that, or the gyroscope effects might bite you. EulePLF does not stand for Please Land on Face. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pilotdave 0 #6 December 1, 2005 I think safety would be a bigger concern than the technical part of building it. What happens when someone's flying along at a high forward airspeed and suddenly takes a little turn or changes angle of attack? In a vertical tunnel, you can just return to a neutral position if you ever get unstable. Not so simple in a "tracking" tunnel. Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bodyflight.Net 0 #7 December 1, 2005 QuoteWhat happens when someone's flying along at a high forward airspeed and suddenly takes a little turn or changes angle of attack? Same thing that happens now... either FLY or TUCK AND ROLL my friend Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scoop 0 #8 December 2, 2005 QuoteDo you win a prize if you get through the 2nd Door? In Scoop's Amazing Fandabulous Tunnel (TM) you could move the whole chamber, and because we dont discriminate here at SAFT, it could still be used for belly flying/freeflying - Hence the ground level door in traditional format Thinking about it, having a door that large as wingsuit entry point would probably cause such a loss of air pressure be hard to get the required lift. Still... one day maybe... *sigh* Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites piisfish 140 #9 December 2, 2005 You need a big Ring-Tunnel (like the rings in the CERN), and you can have tunnel races....scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Paulipod 0 #10 December 2, 2005 OK OK - you're all missing the really obvious easy solution to this problem!! Just put a tunnel on wheels... and as you fly / track about get the tunnel to drive and follow you so that you never track out of the air column That way you would have a flight chamber as big as the sky (or the parking lot you are driving in) Bodyflight Bedford www.bodyflight.co.uk Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites mr2mk1g 10 #11 December 2, 2005 Actually - if you read that Dan Brown book, "Angels and Deamons", CERN apparently already have their own wind tunnel for employees to relax in with drogue fall. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Scoop 0 #12 December 2, 2005 QuoteOK OK - you're all missing the really obvious easy solution to this problem!! Just put a tunnel on wheels... and as you fly / track about get the tunnel to drive and follow you so that you never track out of the air column That way you would have a flight chamber as big as the sky (or the parking lot you are driving in) Need a good driver with good reflexes! What kind of licence would you need, is it over 7500kg Hahaha Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Bodyflight.Net 0 #13 December 2, 2005 Been there, saw that and shot the video!!! John Suiter (as far as we all know) was the first to fly in a vertical wind tunnel while it was driving along. The tunnel was driven down the runway at the WFFC a couple of years ago.. The video was up on my site for a couple of years, I can repost it if anyone wants to see it again. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites piisfish 140 #14 December 2, 2005 QuoteThe video was up on my site for a couple of years, I can repost it if anyone wants to see it again.yes please or upload it on skydivingmovies scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Bodyflight.Net 0 #15 December 2, 2005 I didn't want to put it on skydivingmovies since the files size is very large for such a short video.. there is only just over a minute of it on here.. not very good footage since we made it years ago.. the original is SOMEWHERE in all the files anyway.. about halfway down the page on the right side in the 2003 WFFC convention area..http://www.bodyflight.net/videos.html It didn't take much convincing to get Don K. to let us do it and the tunnel owners are friends so that was certainly easy.. several of us wanted to try to do it ourselves but apparently we aren't as good as John is We had to wait for all the planes to be put away for the day so it was dark too... but very cool still! Golf carts came from everywhere we had a ton of spectators for it... Gosh... I miss the WFFC.. I'm so glad they've moved up the dates, and now we'll get to go again! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Calvin19 0 #16 April 11, 2007 my idea exactly, im sure it has been discussed somewhere else in here, but this is a PERFECT way to test many other gliders. see, a huge problem in testing any kind of soaring machine, is that actual testing stats are extremely hard to calculate, as all air parcels are moving. period. in a tunnel, EXACT speed and glide ratio could be measured. i have thought about this for wingsuits, and now am thinking about it for paragliders, sailplanes, hang gliders, etc. the tunnel would need to be at least 18m wide, 18m tall, and 10m long. (30' is weird, and it makes sense for it to be bigger) airspeeds would need to be very smooth, clean air, from 5km/hr up to 300 km/hr. as well as adjustable from 1/1ish GR(ish) to infinate GR. now, imagine a huge space like that to fly a wingsuit in, granted, the power needed is near impossible to render for a civil operation, but still. investors would include all the glider companies in the world. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor × You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL. 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piisfish 140 #9 December 2, 2005 You need a big Ring-Tunnel (like the rings in the CERN), and you can have tunnel races....scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paulipod 0 #10 December 2, 2005 OK OK - you're all missing the really obvious easy solution to this problem!! Just put a tunnel on wheels... and as you fly / track about get the tunnel to drive and follow you so that you never track out of the air column That way you would have a flight chamber as big as the sky (or the parking lot you are driving in) Bodyflight Bedford www.bodyflight.co.uk Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr2mk1g 10 #11 December 2, 2005 Actually - if you read that Dan Brown book, "Angels and Deamons", CERN apparently already have their own wind tunnel for employees to relax in with drogue fall. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scoop 0 #12 December 2, 2005 QuoteOK OK - you're all missing the really obvious easy solution to this problem!! Just put a tunnel on wheels... and as you fly / track about get the tunnel to drive and follow you so that you never track out of the air column That way you would have a flight chamber as big as the sky (or the parking lot you are driving in) Need a good driver with good reflexes! What kind of licence would you need, is it over 7500kg Hahaha Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bodyflight.Net 0 #13 December 2, 2005 Been there, saw that and shot the video!!! John Suiter (as far as we all know) was the first to fly in a vertical wind tunnel while it was driving along. The tunnel was driven down the runway at the WFFC a couple of years ago.. The video was up on my site for a couple of years, I can repost it if anyone wants to see it again. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
piisfish 140 #14 December 2, 2005 QuoteThe video was up on my site for a couple of years, I can repost it if anyone wants to see it again.yes please or upload it on skydivingmovies scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bodyflight.Net 0 #15 December 2, 2005 I didn't want to put it on skydivingmovies since the files size is very large for such a short video.. there is only just over a minute of it on here.. not very good footage since we made it years ago.. the original is SOMEWHERE in all the files anyway.. about halfway down the page on the right side in the 2003 WFFC convention area..http://www.bodyflight.net/videos.html It didn't take much convincing to get Don K. to let us do it and the tunnel owners are friends so that was certainly easy.. several of us wanted to try to do it ourselves but apparently we aren't as good as John is We had to wait for all the planes to be put away for the day so it was dark too... but very cool still! Golf carts came from everywhere we had a ton of spectators for it... Gosh... I miss the WFFC.. I'm so glad they've moved up the dates, and now we'll get to go again! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Calvin19 0 #16 April 11, 2007 my idea exactly, im sure it has been discussed somewhere else in here, but this is a PERFECT way to test many other gliders. see, a huge problem in testing any kind of soaring machine, is that actual testing stats are extremely hard to calculate, as all air parcels are moving. period. in a tunnel, EXACT speed and glide ratio could be measured. i have thought about this for wingsuits, and now am thinking about it for paragliders, sailplanes, hang gliders, etc. the tunnel would need to be at least 18m wide, 18m tall, and 10m long. (30' is weird, and it makes sense for it to be bigger) airspeeds would need to be very smooth, clean air, from 5km/hr up to 300 km/hr. as well as adjustable from 1/1ish GR(ish) to infinate GR. now, imagine a huge space like that to fly a wingsuit in, granted, the power needed is near impossible to render for a civil operation, but still. investors would include all the glider companies in the world. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
