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Comments: 140 +- Technology: Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight on Wednesday November 25, @12:32PM
Posted
by
samzenpus
on Wednesday November 25, @12:32PM
from the a-jetwing-and-a-prayer dept.
from the a-jetwing-and-a-prayer dept.
background: url(//a.fsdn.com/sd/firehose/007/267/660-1-thumb.png); width:130px; height:97px;
toy
Last year we ran the story of Yves Rossy and his DIY jetwings. Yves spent $190,000 and countless hours building a set of jet-powered wings which he used to cross the English Channel. Rossy's next goal is to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, from Tangier in Morocco and Tarifa on the southwestern tip of Spain. From the article: "Using a four-cylinder jet pack and carbon fibre wings spanning over 8ft, he will jump out of a plane at 6,500 ft and cruise at 130 mph until he reaches the Spanish coast, when he will parachute to earth." Update 18:57 GMT: mytrip writes: "Yves Rossy took off from Tangiers but five minutes into an expected 15-minute flight he was obliged to ditch into the wind-swept waters."
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Did he cross the English Channel to speak with...? (Score:3, Funny)
Did he cross the English channel to speak with Elton John so they could sing "Rocket Man" together ? ;-))
Re:Did he cross the English Channel to speak with. (Score:2)
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DC comics, circa 68-72?
Wow.
I am still figuring out how the screaming guy in the attached photo has a piston-driven jetpack. The article says something about cylinders...
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Bizarro is Bizzaro Superman. Well, at least in Brazil. :)
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Yep, I know. But the character usually called just Bizarro is Superman Bizarro.
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I'm curious as to how crossing the Straight of Gibraltar is a bigger achievement than crossing the English Channel. Isn't the channel wider?
If I'm not mistaken, the Straight of Gibraltar is only about 14km, while the English Channel is about 30km at its narrowest point.
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He already failed (Score:5, Informative)
Better luck next time.
Coulda done it easier [Re:He already failed] (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Why the rockets? (Score:2, Informative)
Tow me to 6500ft in a high-performance glider and I will traverse the straits of Gibraltar easily ... without carrying rockets or motors of any kind.
Call me when he starts doing these stunts taking off from the ground under his own (carried) power.
Re:Why the rockets? (Score:5, Funny)
He uses a jet-powered wing because it's a fucking jet-powered wing strapped to his back, and that is awesome.
That is not difficult to understand.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's indeed awesome, but it would be awesomer and potentially awesomest if he base-jumped off a cliff on the African side, and jetted across the Strait to land on the European side.
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So jets don't generate thrust? News to me.
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Tell me about it. He spends all this money and what does he get? No food served. No seat. NO PLANE?!!? Worst. Airline. Ever.
And he failed. (Score:3, Informative)
FAIL (Score:2)
I actually RTFA and the cause was "Sterzel said the wing malfunctioned, possibly due to engine failure".
Which I find kind of funny... ...because when you are flying what is essentially a wing, with an engine strapped to it... that's a pretty much catastrophic (total) failure.
Well at least the parachute worked (sounds like it was the only thing that did), so I guess it wasn't a total loss.
He could have been a superhero (Score:4, Funny)
Dammit, this is why you're not supposed to reveal your secret identity. He could have been a superhero with a wide array of crazy gadgets, but now if we see some crazy guy with a jetpack stopping crime, everyone will know who it is. :(
Re:He could have been a superhero (Score:4, Funny)
On second thought, the guy in the picture is bald, so if that's him, I'd say he's more likely to end up as a supervillian. Might be for the best.
Parent
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So he's not the man they think he is at home?
Isn't the English Channel Larger? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not actually sure. But I think so?
Anyways, Wake me up when he tries like... Beijing Capital International to LAX
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Anyways, Wake me up when he tries like... Beijing Capital International to LAX
Seriously. Okay, so technically the Straight of Gibraltar separates two continents, but this is not an intercontinental flight. The Spirit of St. Louis made an intercontinental flight. The article title is BS. If they want to use "intercontinental" to describe a distance, then there had damn well better be an ocean involved.
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Engineering Effort? (Score:3, Insightful)
Being a lazy American, of course I did not rtfa, but I did take the time to look up just how far he'll actually fly: looks like about 12 miles.
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As others have said, I'll get excited when he can go from, say, New Jersey to the Oregon coast (with an in-flight movie along the way).
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He can do that when he buy a ticket on an airliner.
Somehow I think he's having quite a bit more fun doing what he's doing now.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm sure there is significant engineering effort involved in creating something like a personal jetpack, but he's still jumping out of a plane at altitude and essentially gliding with a bit of a boost from his jet engines along the way.
Engineering is about solving problems with practical solutions. You are assuming he didn't consider what it would take get of the ground using the jet pack. But I would assume he did look at the issue, and found that it would significantly increase the cost, weight, and risk by launching from the ground.
If his end goal is just to fly around, then to solve the problem of take-off he probably reasoned the best solution was to use existing aircraft to get to the proper altitude. Then just figure out how to g
Re:Engineering Effort? (Score:5, Informative)
He's evolving down from "skydiving" to a workable personal jetsuit, rather than up from "rocket skating." An early iteration had no engines at all, just a delta-wing personal glider (and it could probably be considered as an incremental improvement over the "wing suit" which came after the "balloon suit"...)
It's just safer this way. If he fails, he's ditches the wing and activates "plain old skydiving" mode with a parachute. If he'd started from the ground on the first try, there are dozens of places where a failure means death without any fall-back options at all.
In previous interviews he has stated than an eventual goal is to do a complete flight including takeoff.
Parent
Ooooh... Intercontinental (Score:5, Insightful)
Calling 23 miles "intercontinental" seems disingenuous. I mean, I could drive down to Mexico and make an "intercontinental" jump of 1 foot... But labeling it as such is just stupid.
Re:Ooooh... Intercontinental (Score:4, Informative)
Calling 23 miles "intercontinental" seems disingenuous. I mean, I could drive down to Mexico and make an "intercontinental" jump of 1 foot... But labeling it as such is just stupid.
I know as American's we're supposed to hate Mexico, but they are still on the same continent as the US.
There are a few good examples of short intercontinental flight that would make it even more trivial which you could have used. The Suez Canal and Bosporous would be suitable candidates.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
I've never heard that we're supposed to hate Mexico - where do you get that from?
Also, there is no apostrophe in "Americans".
Re:Ooooh... Intercontinental (Score:5, Funny)
I mean, I could drive down to Mexico and make an "intercontinental" jump of 1 foot... But labeling it as such is just stupid.
Not until Mexico conquers Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama, you can't.
Parent
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Actually you would be making a "intracontinental" jump since both the US and Mexico is within North America.
You would need to drive to Panama and jump over the international border with Columbia for it to really be "intercontinental".
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Actually, the continent is still America. North, Central and South. It is one continent.
Otherwise, he could just jump from Mexico to Belize (N.A. to C.A.) or something like that.
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That must be the half of the world that doesn't know geology or plate tectonics.
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That must be the half of the world that doesn't know geology or plate tectonics.
Since you know so much about geology and plate tectonics, you must think that India is part of Oceania, and not of Asia, huh?
Re:Ooooh... Intercontinental (Score:5, Insightful)
North, Central and South America are the same continent; America.
If continents were defined by plate tectonics, then America would be split in 6. And the crossing would be from Mexico to Guatemala.
Approximately:
- North American Plate (Canada, most of USA, Mexico, and Belize)
- Pacific Plate (part of California, USA and Baja California, Mexico; and possibly a few Alaskan islands)
- Caribbean Plate (Caribbean island countries and Central America)
- Nazca Plate (Peruvian and Ecuadorian islands)
- South American Plate (almost all South America)
- Scotia Plate (south of Terra del Fuego, smallish parts of Chile and Argentina)
Parent
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And what continent would you jump to from Mexico ?
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And what office was Tina Fey running for when she said that?
More like "power-assisted gliding" (Score:2, Flamebait)
Want to impress people? Do it by taking off from the ground.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
A guy designing and building a personal jetpack, jumping out of a plane a 6,500 ft, and flying 15 miles in high winds at 130mph... DOES NOT IMPRESS YOU????
Yes, calling it "interncontinental" is exaggeration. But it is still impressive.
balls!!! (Score:5, Funny)
I think he could probably fly a whole lot farther if it weren't for the drag created by his monstrously huge friggin balls.
that is one brave dude
Intercontinental? (Score:2)
Gross! (Score:3, Funny)
Incontinental? Ewww. Put this in idle, please...
Wait, what? Intercontinental? Ohh! Nevermind...
If I defeat Jetman... (Score:3, Funny)
Do I keep his jet-powered wings? Are they useful for beating other bosses or is he too hard and I should get some other weapons first? Do you guys think I should defeat him before or after Cutman?
It's a lousy way... (Score:2)
...to avoid customs. I mean how many customs agents are going to be looking for him now?
Not taking off from the ground? (Score:2)
That's not flying, that's falling with style...