That parachute jump, was it all it seems?

[Duncer]

Well, it certainly scared the hell out of me, and I was rooted firmly to earth, but here are a few points about it.......

http://uk.eurosport.y...unless-163435075.html

[Graham-W]

"Don't you think that the early pioneers in aviation were stooopid? "
Either stupid or brave, but without people pushing back the limits, we as a race wouldn't have achieved anything. I fly, safely, to distant destinations because of these stupid pioneers.

[Mick-Talbot]

That was my point, Graham.

[Slapshot]

Jeeez boys and girls, why the downer on one of the most exceptional bits of adventure for a long time WOS is a pointless blog written by some pointless muppet with no concept of the real world and of the science needed to achieve this feat...let bunk the blog!!

1 the Mission control team - 2 Skydiving Specialists, 2 doctors, one an aviation medicine specialist, the capsule designer, 2 Systems guys one monitoring the capsule, one his life support systems 2 maybe 3 meteorologists loking at diffeerent aspects of the conditions, Joe Kittinger the guy who communicated with him, they soon mount up.

2 the Suit Ripping - Thing about these feats is that you are testing the cutting edge of science, how would the materials react in the temperatures he was exposed to and the force and changes as he descended at speeds no human has ever travelled at out with a protective capsule, of course there was a chance!....oh and yes at those pressures his blood would have boiled if he wasn't inside the capsule of his suit.

3 - the danger of the sound barrier - Numbnuts at WOS has obviously not done his homework. During the X program that allowed Yeager to break the sound barrier numerous aicraft were destroyed and material science had to move at a huge rate to keep up. What broke the planes was the monsterous forces on them as they approached the speed of sound, baumgartner would have felt something similar. Yes it was dangerous!

4 - Spin - Spin fordces are difficult to control in an aircraft as the flying object it would have been as difficult for baumgartner. Yes there was a chute but he would have had to be in a position for it to deploy that wouldn't have killed him as it opened. Secondly as they were dealing with unknown forces the chute could have ripped away as it dployed because of the speed he was travelling. In WW2 the Airborne troopps who jumped on D-day were given leg bags to carry more kit, over 90% of them lost the bags as they hits the air - same concept.

5 - PR - Of course Red Bull have had some great advertising, they deserved it for sponsoring the event to happen, I doubt it would have been cheap, I believe the ballons alone cost in excess of $125,000 to make. If a company supports these advances let them have the benefit!! No Government would encourage this sort of thing although they will be quite happy to reap the scientific gains

As you might tell, I get really fosters off when folk make a downer of something this spectactular

[237SJ]

I agree with JJ. Red Bull certainly seem to have managed to portray an image of being the sponsors of exciting, innovating feats. They have found a niche in the market that nobody has exploited before (apart from Richard Branson maybe)

[boxtops]

Good on him - I wouldn't do it, not for a million pounds. There is always some miserable git wanting to rain on someone else's parade.

[joggerjayne]

A million pounds?

What ... cash in hand?

Tax free?

:0/

[237SJ]

I would. Anything for a thrill. I`d do it , no question.

[dotty.]

if bruce willis had the suit this guy had he might have made it back with ben affleck

but this is what the jump may mean to the future of this planet:
http://www.redbullstr...ce/scientific-values/

[boxtops]

No JJ, not unless I was unconscious - I don't like heights :-)

[joggerjayne]

Boxy ...

I wonder if it looked "high" ?

I mean, I know it was 120,000 ft in the air, but ...

Looking over my balcony feels high ... because you know it would leave a bruise if you fell off.

Looking down from an aircraft does feel high, because you can't mentally connect with the ground.

Or is that just poop?

[joggerjayne]

Oh, carp ... I meant that from an aircraft it DOES NOT look high.

Bugger.

[boxtops]

I can cope with looking out an aircraft window since Google Earth was invented :-)

[joggerjayne]

Well I always like an aisle seat, in case I need a wee.

[boxtops]

me too, JJ :-)

[joggerjayne]

But I usually fly on Cattle Air so I can't book a seat.

Although I generally fly on my own, so it's not too hard to find a single aisle seat.

[Slapshot]

JJ I can't climb ladders but I've jumped out of a perfectly functioning aircraft more than once!!

[joggerjayne]

Ooh, Slappy the Adveturer !

Parachute jumps, presumably?

[HowardKennitby]

If you have Google earth you can see what he was looking down on.

The two white patches on the ground are at
33° 17' 23.5" N by 103° 52' 44.6" W

[Slapshot]

Yes JJ...long time ago tethered jumps mind no freefall

[joggerjayne]

Still quite brave, slappy!