kallend 2,148 #1 December 4, 2009 www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/look-out-below-wingsuits-pushed-for-airbone-assaults/... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tony-tonysuits 0 #2 December 4, 2009 they have his arms inside somth?Life is a series of wonderful opportunities, brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. tonysuits.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DSE 5 #3 December 4, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVVrX061gP4 PIA three years ago. I believe LouDiamond has some "inside" info on the product/concept. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccordia 74 #4 December 5, 2009 A few years ago in Germany, the same German guys where jumping even earlier prototypes (It was called SkyRay in those days). There is an old demo video here. Appearantly the wing Felix Baumgarter jumps, is also a derived copy of a prototype wing the company lent/sold to Felix/Red Bull. Lots of funny stuff going on behind the screen I guess.. Phiish and Tristan have been involved in some filming of Yves wing, and several people got to fly with Yves in Empuria. Wingsuits and the winged flyer (in braked mode). Watching him shoot of in full flight at seperation is an amazing thing to see. Its in the PF videogallery, titled 'Phoenix Fly wingsuitboogie Empuria Brava 2007' (jump to 2:50). Ive heard several people talk/boast about 'soon' jumping/testing some these wings. But aside from Yvess, Felix and the testjumpers for Gryphon/Skyray, few others actually have... Most of the designers (rightfully so) seem quite protective on who they allow to jump their gear. As in the dev. phase, one accident or fuckup on somebody else playing with their gear, can and will probably close/end all funding in one go....JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LouDiamond 1 #5 December 7, 2009 I have personally spoken to the 3 designers/companies that physically have a rigid wing numerous times over the years. For a multitude or reasons that I will not get into here, not much has progressed in the Military realm of employing these wings. The wing mentioned above, the Gryphon, was at the the first Cochstedt boogie and both the Gryphon wings exited the aircraft after I did as I was last out of the AN-72 for the wingsuit group. While they got out after us, the approved flight corridor for the An-72 was not much further beyond where we got out( German aviation thing). With that said, both Gryphons landed off of the airport more than they landed on the airport. So performance wise, they weren't doing better than the airplane full of wingsuiters for distance. Since then, they have made several modifications/additions and I discussed them with the designer of the wing, who is also the designer of the Skyray wing most are familiar with. "We" were set up to conduct testing on the wing starting with the gathering of data on a scaled down model in the wind/water tunnel and through CFD programs after which I was to actually jump the wing to begin testing and assessment of it for collection of real world performance data. However, that never program never took off. But based on what I do know of the Gryphon and it's capabilities, it won't be viable until they add engines on it to increase it's performance. The other wing is relatively/completely unknown to the general public(world) and basically suffers some of the same issues as the Gryphon among others. I spoke with Yves on the phone and in e-mail about his wing and he provided me with information and not seen video footage of his wing at the time. His wing has gone through some evolutions since then and has gotten even better but it seemed that he and his agent were not interested in pursuing a government application of the wing and were only looking for sponsorship/ investors. Even though he unquestionably has the best rigid wing out there at the moment, there are other issues that make its military application challenging at best. This all came to a standstill when DARPA launched a program asking people to submit for this kind of technology. Atair (USA) submitted a concept letter that actually referenced and used pictures of the existing wings out there and had what had to be the worst computer model I've ever seen of what appeared to be a human under a type of wing. So despite their not even having an actual wing, they were awarded the program. They eventually produced what I'd call a copy of the Gryphon that was displayed at the Met along with a copy of a Birdman wingsuit that they had made in house for display during a Super hero theme held there. Since then, nothing else has been seen from them on a rigid wing that can actually fly. I'm pretty sure the one displayed at the Met was not airworthy and was just a static display. The idea is not dead as it has been re-looked at and I have been consulting on it and other possible applications but it is on the fringe of more important things that take precedence at the moment. While this idea is cutting edge and potentially possible, it has a lot of challenges and or limitations that make its eventual application very low unless something changes."It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required" Some people dream about flying, I live my dream SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
