REALLY Accelerated freefall

[loopysteph 0]

Is it legal to jump from 30,000 feet? If so, where can it be done and what requirements would one need? Could you live if you did it without oxygen or would you just pass out from lack of air?

[FallnAngel 0]

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Is it legal to jump from 30,000 feet? ...

Sure ya can jump from 30k! I dont' know all the details, 'cause I haven't done it yet, but check out the SkyDance Skydiving website...they have halo jumps several times per year. Not sure what the url is, but you can get there from www.1800skydive.com, and then click on the northern california dot. The next one they have scheduled is in early June. Hope that helps!
Blue skies,
Karen

[PhillyKev 0]

Yes, it's legal...lots of extra requirements, specifically around supplemental oxygen. Check out the SIM, it's all in there. I believe they are offering high altitude jumps at the WFFC this year.
cielos azules y cerveza fría
-Kevin

[loopysteph 0]

Really?! Thats awsome! What kind of aircraft are they going to be using for that? Would you live if you had to jump without O2?

[PhreeZone 20]

Usually its Mike Mullins Super Dupper King Air that does the 21k loads at WFFC. O2 is required to be put on from 10k up. Anything over 24k (I think) requires a bailout bottle.
Hypoxia sets in at under 2 minutes at 21k with no O2, conditions become fatal in no time at all. The lower you go, the longer the time to hyxpoxic conditions set in. At 15k there is enough o2 that makes it "safe" to be with out o2.
If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will....

[hobbes4star 0]

you have to go through a course that puts you in a high altitude chamber, i don't know the name. you also have to have a FAA medical card. bill probably knows the name of the course, and where you can optain a FAA medical card.
why jump when you can fly

[hookit 0]

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Would you live if you had to jump without O2?

If you have an AAD you might survive...but I wouldn't recommend testing it out.
I once saw a chart on how much time you have at different altitudes before losing consciousness after you go off oxygen. I don't remember exactly what the time was but I believe (and could very well be wrong) that it was something like 15 seconds at 30k.
I'm too lazy to try and look it up again though. Perhaps Quade or some other knowledgeable person knows it off the top of their head.
-Trey

[billvon 3,154]

>Is it legal to jump from 30,000 feet? If so, where can it be done and what
> requirements would one need? Could you live if you did it without oxygen
>or would you just pass out from lack of air?
There is a table in your SIM that lists requirements for such jumps. 30K jumps require a bailout bottle and a chamber ride. You could do it without oxygen and likely not die; you would likely lose consciousness though, and without an AAD that could be fatal.
-bill von

[loopysteph 0]

Wow, surprised I never came across that in the hardcopy of my SIM, thanks guys!
Here is a link for anyone who ever wondered the same thing. Cool pictures too! (page 128)
http://uspa.org/Publications/SIM/SIM_2001.pdf

[Jimbo 0]

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you would likely lose consciousness though, and without an AAD that could be fatal.

There's no guarantee that it won't be fatal with an AAD. Just thought that should be noted.
-
Jim

[lummy 4]

High Altitude Jumps info can be found here. They are also offering 20k DIVES for $25 at the American boogie
Oh.... http://www.skydance.net
One shot... HEY!!! Mas Tequila!!!! Two Shots HEY HEY!!!! Three Shots.......

[lummy 4]

High Altitude Jumps info can be found here. They are also offering 20k DIVES for $25 at the American boogie
Oh.... http://www.skydance.net
One shot... HEY!!! Mas Tequila!!!! Two Shots HEY HEY!!!! Three Shots.......

[prost 0]

I have no idea how long it takes to go unconciuos at 30,000 ft. but I know I could hold my breath for more than 15 seconds without going unconcious.
William

[Kris 0]

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I have no idea how long it takes to go unconciuos at 30,000 ft. but I know I could hold my breath for more than 15 seconds without going unconcious.

You're forgetting about the pressure at that altitude and what it is also doing to your body chemistry (blood gasses). Forced O2 is your friend at that altitude.Kris

[AndyMan 7]

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but I know I could hold my breath for more than 15 seconds without going unconcious.

At 30,000 feet time of useful consciousness without oxygen is about 2 minutes, according to the SIM. However, a much bigger concern is that you are:
"...subject to decompression sickness, including the bends, chokes, and cramps, resulting from the nitrogen in the bloodstream coming out of solution and forming a froth of bubbles around joints. Decompression sickness are avoided to a large extent by denitrogenization of the bloodstream by breathing 100% pure oxygen for at least one hour before reaching the altitude of 25,000 feet."
High altitude jumps from less then 25,000 are pretty common, relatively innexpensive, and require little training. On these jumps you take oxygen in the plane and do not take a bail-out bottle. Much above 20,000 requires a bailout bottle and oxygen in the plane.
_Am
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[Engovatov 0]

>that it was something like 15 seconds at 30k.
Considering that people do dives, without aqualung, from 1 to 4 minutes, that can't be true, I would speculate..
The fact that at some altitude your blood will boil at body temperature may make a difference..

[Shark 0]

30k is a whole new ballgame than 20k........

[tlshealy 0]

Under water is opposite, it's forcing more gas into your body, altitude causes the gas to leave your body. When the golfer,Payne Stewart was killed in his jet, I thought the same thing. why didn't they decend when they lost pressurization, but a doctor said that they were dead in 10 to 15 sec.but that was at 40 to 50,000'.
BSBD
Tad

[billvon 3,154]

>Considering that people do dives, without aqualung, from 1 to 4 minutes, that
> can't be true, I would speculate..
When you do such a dive, you have air in your lungs at high pressure. At higher altitudes, you have regular air at much, much lower pressures. Osmosis determines what happens next - both CO2 and O2 diffuse into your lungs and out of your blood. If you try to put high pressure air in your lungs at altitude you will rupture them - they can't take any significant pressure difference.
Now, there have been cases where people prebreathed O2, then exited with their lungs full of relatively pure O2 and held their breath for a minute or so. The higher partial pressure of O2 made up for the lower total pressure, and they were able to hold their breaths down to 15,000 feet or so where they could begin breathing normally. I believe that's how Patrick DeGayardon set his no-O2 altitude record. (40,000 feet or thereabouts.)
-bill von