Rocketman Crosses Colorado Gorge 71
nandemoari writes "Remember the 1991 film, 'The Rocketeer,' where a young pilot uses a jetpack prototype to become a masked vigilante and win the heart of Jennifer Connelly? That scenario isn't as far-fetched as it once was, given that an American stuntman recently used a jetpack to soar over Colorado's Royal Gorge. The stuntman in question is one Eric Scott, who recently appeared on CBS' Early Show and a variety of local cable channels after making his daring leap. Scott has been testing jetpack devices for 16 years, and was confident that he wouldn't plummet to his untimely death when he straddled the Gorge above the Arkansas River earlier this week. Despite an enormous gulf between the two sides — 1,500 feet across and 1,000 feet down — Scott made the trip safely."
Safe? Not without a parachute!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
Can't a parachute be strapped on the front or something? This guy made it across without being harmed, but I would hardly refer to such an activity as safe. No redundancy = not safe.
Re:No parachute (Score:4, Interesting)
No, but it would save him from head trauma in the event of a failure during take-off or landing, which is probably the reason behind it.
Re:Safe? Not without a parachute!!! (Score:2, Interesting)
I'd wager the reason a parachute wasn't used is because of the added weight. Even a simple one-canopy reserve adds 6 or 7 pounds. Also, there's not as much of a "cool" factor to the crossing if it's done with a chest-mount reserve.
I can't comment on round-canopy reserve rigs, but modern 7-cell BASE canopies can be inflated enough to prevent death in well below 50 feet (dependent upon airspeed - at terminal velocity, this figure increases to around 100 feet).
These jetpacks are very tricky to fly, however. It's very easy to put yourself in an uncontrollable and unrecoverable spin, and if it happens it'll happen in mere tenths of a second. Also, because you're constantly burning fuel and getting lighter, the pilot has to be constantly easing up on the throttle to avoid rocketing off into the stratosphere.
I've heard rumors one of the pilots from Red Bull is considering doing exactly this; he believes that he could reach 2000 feet or so within 25-30 seconds, and then deploy a BASE canopy.
Re:Safe? Not without a parachute!!! (Score:2, Interesting)
BASE jumpers jump from the Royal Gorge annually at the Go-Fast games. A parachute (round or ram-air) would almost certainly have helped in case of malfunction.
Re:hydrogen peroxide? (Score:3, Interesting)
I wouldn't be surprised to read that the jetpack he is using is based strongly on the engine that powered the ME-163. The 'fuel tank' consisted of two bladders - one full of concentrated hydrogen peroxide and the other full of high grade methanol.
Actually wikipedia says that the first component wasn't H202 but N2H4 - but I'm skeptical. I've always heard it was concentrated peroxide, and lab experiments I've seen support that theory.
Regardless - back in WWII the biggest threat to the ME163 pilots wasn't getting shot down by other planes, it was having their fuel cells leak this stuff into the plane (which would dissolve the pilot - nasty stuff.)