"Rocketeer" Flies

[zavvy]

<b>"Rocketeer" Flies</b><br /><br />LINK<br /><br />Yves Rossy, French daredevil, has set yet another world record. This time, the wild and crazy guy has become the first man to fly horizontally with wings attached to a flight suit of his own design and two small jet engines.<br /><br />The flight lasted four minutes, and took place over the city of Bex, Switzerland. Rossy, who had been trying to accomplish this feat for years, jumped out of a Pilatus Porter aircraft from 4,000 meters and glided down to 2,500 meters over some 30 seconds of free fall.<br /><br />He then fired up his two Jet-Cat model aircraft turbine engines and, once the engines stabilized, throttled up. He soon levelled off at a cruise speed of a cool 115 mph or so. He even turned on his smoke system so that the cameras and ground crew could see him.<br /><br />After four minutes, he encountered some heavy turbulence and decided to call it a day. He shut down the engines and deployed his parachute, making a safe landing and setting a new world record. And he still had half his fuel!<br />

 

[kmarinas86]

that's better than the solotrek! i bet it's more efficent too, given that the man -is- the fuselage. Maybe it get 200 miles to the gallon! Could he take off the ground too? What adjustments would that require?

 

[bobvanx]

HEE HEE HEE<br /><br />That is so great.<br /><br />Man, the world is so lucky that I don't have $30k laying about, 'cause I'd be doing stuff like this and buzzing my municipality.

 

[kelle]

It would be fun to have such wings, and be able to land with them too, without a parachute. Wow, think of the awesome feeling of freedom you would get!

 

[jcdenton]

We could be like Iron Man... <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bobvanx]

I'd logged off the boards and everything, started to clean up the kitchen, and then the daydreamer bug got me.<br /><br />Okay, here's some back-o-th-envelope calcs, from numbers I found googling.<br /><br />The JetCat p200 (model airplane turbine engine) generates 45 lbs of thrust, weighs 5 lbs. He's got two of them, so he's got nearly 100lbs of thrust. He can go 115 mph in level flight. If his thrust matched his weight, he'd be able to fly at his terminal velocity (around 200mph), and be able to fly straight up. Him and all his gear probably weighs 250 to 300 lbs.<br /><br />Can he run faster than his stall speed? His wings don't look like they are especially high lift, his stall speed is probably 50 mph or higher. I can run about 20 mph, but I sure wouldn't be able to hold any wings steady at that speed, so I would guess that:<br /><br />No, he can't take off from the ground.<br /><br /><br />+++++<br /><br /><br />Spare thought, tho: I've always wanted a pair of boots that could make me jump really high. Strapping a pair of 45 lb thrust engines onto my calves would reduce my "weight" to just 70lbs, so theoretically I could leap over a 6' fence. Or land safely from jumping off the second story roof.

 

[Swampcat]

Maybe he could wear some roller skates next time for take-off and landing <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" /> . <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>

 

[mcbethcg]

I wonder if he could launch from the top of a fast moving SUV?<br /><br />Or from a towed parachute?<br /><br />Or dive from a tall building or cliff, like Wile E. Coyote?<br /><br />Got to be a better way than using an airplane to launch.

 

[kmarinas86]

http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/285-full.html<br /><br />One Man, Two Jet Engines, One Nine-Foot Wing<br /> ...Three months ago. A Swissair Airbus pilot has added a whole new meaning to the phrase "Gotta jet." Yves Rossy says he spent four minutes swooping over the Bex in western Switzerland (in horizontal flight) attached to a three-meter carbon wing with two miniature jet engines attached. Controls include ailerons, plus a mechanism to move the entire wing fore and aft on his back. According to his Web site, the flight(s) (three that day) occurred June 24 and began at more than 12,000 feet with a jump and a horizontal cruise portion at roughly 5,000 feet (OK, we're still working on the translation). But for some reason he waited until last week to tell the media. Maybe he was still shaking too much. (Maybe he was waiting on paperwork from the patent office.) With the 40-kg carbon-fiber wings attached, Rossy jumped from a Pilatus Porter and hit the ignition, waited thirty seconds for the engines to stabilize and hit the throttle. He claims to have flown horizontally at about 112 mph for the four minutes at roughly 5,000 feet, shutting the engines down due to strong turbulence with half the fuel still in tanks. He then folded the wings and landed by parachute. <font color="yellow"><i>Rossy's already at work on his next project, a jet-powered set of wings that he can launch from the ground.</i></font>And just to prove he really has stars in his eyes, Rossy told the Daily Mirror he sees potential for the contraption in Hollywood. "It would be a great device for James Bond so he can go behind enemy lines," he said.

 

[bobvanx]

I couldn't get the video to go, unless I bypassed the pop-up:<br /><br />http://live.infomaniak.ch/rossy/jetmanlong.wmv<br /><br />PS there's an odd several seconds of nothing at the very strat of the video.

 

[nacnud]

How cool is that! Oh and SG to me it looked like they must have used chase planes for the shots <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[bobvanx]

You can see the plane's wing strut come into view in part of the video in which Yves is clearly flying level, so while it might be a helmet cam, the videographer is inside the plane, flying alongside.

 

[krrr]

"That daft Frenchman"<br /><br />He's Swiss, not French.

 

[bobvanx]

>do you think the guys in the video are "clearly floating"?<br /><br />In a skydiving video, sure the divers look like they are floating, but the background cues tell the real story.<br /><br />That's what I notice in the video. The background cues indicate level (and even some upward climbing) flight. I was pointing out the shot that is obviously taken from in the plane, and you can see that the ground is not at an angle, so while it's possible the plane is in a gentle dive (we can't see any instruments, after all), it's certainly not in an 80mph dive.<br /><br />I think we can take him at his word, that he flew 112 mph in level flight.<br /><br />

 

[bobvanx]

>He fired up the engines when he was in a flat stable attitude<br /><br />Actually, in the video, you can hear that he fires up his engines while he's still onboard the plane. It's possible that this is a bit of post-production trickery (for what purpose, I can't imagine) but he jumped out with his jets running.<br /><br />Which is one reason I can't imagine anyone here doing this. Surely the FAA has a rule about starting an engine inside the passenger compartment of an airplane in flight?

 

[nacnud]

Maybe but this was is Switzerland I think.

 

[earth_bound_misfit]

" Rossy's already at work on his next project, a jet-powered set of wings that he can launch from the ground."<br /><br />Man, this really has got a death wish. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------- </p><p>Wanna see this site looking like the old SDC uplink?</p><p>Go here to see how: <strong>SDC Eye saver </strong>  </p> </div>

 

[bobvanx]

>I guess we will just have to agree to disagree until the facts come out.<br /><br />I'll agree that your opinion is firmly held by you. I'll furthermore agree that I'm very good at analyzing video. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br /> />I will post the Skydiving magazine facts when they are published.<br /><br />Thank you! I don't get that mag. So my final agreement is to be a gracious winner after you do post the article. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[kmarinas86]

maybe he traveled at 113 mph <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" />

 

[bobvanx]

Here's a fresh drawing of a jet-suit that I would draw once in a while when I couldn't pay attention in class. There were no micro-turbines back then. Now, there are models that weigh less than 20 lbs but deliver 150 lbs of thrust.<br /><br />Each wing would be controlled by one of your limbs, so you'd get a real immediate sense of control in the air. You'd be able to take off vertically, and probably be able to transition to horizontal flight (any of you who have surfed would understand) with a little practice. And coming in for a landing would be like Superman: a swoosh, stall, and vertical contact.<br /><br />Whoof, can you imagine if someone like me won the lott'ry? Never mind cars and houses. I'd do something useful with the money.

 

[bobw]

Nice picture but you left off the fuel tanks. Your link said each engine burns 2.5 liters of fuel/minute. At .81g/ml that's 8.9 pounds/minute. Eleven minutes is another hundred pounds + the weight of the tank means you'll need another engine. I didn't double check my work because I'm late for work <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> I could be wrong. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mcbethcg]

In his defense, <br /><br />1) the fuel could be stored in the wings.<br />2) the engine consumed 2.5 liters at full 150 lb thrust. But it might take a fraction of that to cruise.

 

[bobvanx]

regarding fuel tanks etc.,<br /><br />When I was 12 that sort of thing didn't occur to me. I guess I could have spent a few extra brain cycles now and updated the concept drawing to include things like some sort of yaw-control surface, as well as volume for enough fuel to cruise a useful distance. However I wanted to share a drawing from my past and felt that changing it appreciably would be cheating.<br /><br />Being a little more careful with keeping my body alive now than I was, I'd also incude some sort of emergency landing system (parachute) to avoid lithocapture.

 

[bobw]

The future is now. You were right. If you don't want to get hurt you need a test pilot. PM me <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> I can't imagine flying it at half-throttle, can you? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>