Wednesday, July 30, 2008

You'll Believe a Man Can Fly

If this works out, that is.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? - Times Online: "Jeb Corliss doesn’t look insane. In his flying kit he has the chiselled looks and sculpted hair-style of an extra from Top Gun, aviator shades and all. However, when he explains what he is planning to do, disbelief mounts to the point where the only question that seems to make any sense is: “Have you been certified yet?”

“I get asked that a lot,” Corliss says. “But this isn’t crazy. It’s all about pushing the boundaries, looking again at what people believe is possible. I want to prove we are capable of doing anything and that we have no limits.”

This month Corliss was training in Switzerland in preparation for a stunt in which he will fall 2,500ft from a helicopter without a parachute and, if all goes to plan, live to tell the tale. He will be wearing a wingsuit, which he believes will allow him to glide to the ground at a shallow enough angle to be able to land safely."

2 comments:

Brent McKee said...

Actually I'm not sure that his real problem is going to the angle that he approaches the ground at - assuming this thing works and I've seen at least one wing suit on the TV show Top Gear that indicates that it should work. His real problem is going to be dumping the speed that he accrues by gliding down from 2,500 feet. The guy on Top Gear jumped from 10,000 feet and had a parachute to let him drop safely once he crossed the finish line for the stunt he was doing. but without a parachute how do you slow down enough to be able to land safely.

Unknown said...

I'll just watch.