Joseph Kittinger's record skydive (from over 100,000 ft)

[PiLfan]

The other day I came across the story of Joseph Kittinger, an Air Force pilot who holds the world record for highest skydive jump.

In 1960, while working on Project Excelsior (military research into high altitude bailouts), he made a jump from 102,800 feet. That's over three times as high as the cruising altitude of a standard 747. The outside temperature at that height is over 100 degrees below zero.

He fell for over four and half minutes, reaching a top speed of 614 mph, before opening his parachute at 18,000 ft. He made the jump from an open gondola carried by large helium balloons.

Talk about the ultimate bad ass. Would anyone be willing to do something like this? And before your answer, check out what things look like from an altitude of 102,800 ft:

http://www.kai-m-becker.de/hab/original/050316-F-1234P-021.jpg

:yikes:

[DeanCollins]

Definitely before the advent of video games. :D

[pointyfootball]

About as enjoyable as the F-8 pilot that ejected into a thunderstorm cell at and didn't reach earth for over a half hour.

[willmb5]

I don't know that I could ever skydive, let alone from anywhere close to that high. I'm kind of a huge ***** when it comes to heights.

[Sticksboi05]

There's gotta be like no oxygen up there.

[rdsknbill]

I used to skydive. Highest I ever got was 15k.

There is NO friggin way you would get me up that high! :yikes:

[Spaceman Spiff]

I may be a bit naive, but...at what point does it really matter how high you are, freezing ass temperature and lack of oxygen aside?

If your chute doesn't open at 15k or 100k, you're pretty ****ed either way.

[PiLfan]

I may be a bit naive, but...at what point does it really matter how high you are, freezing ass temperature and lack of oxygen aside?

If your chute doesn't open at 15k or 100k, you're pretty ****ed either way.

Yeah, but at 100,000+ feet, you've got a few extra minutes to think about it... :silly:

[DeanCollins]

I may be a bit naive, but...at what point does it really matter how high you are, freezing ass temperature and lack of oxygen aside?

If your chute doesn't open at 15k or 100k, you're pretty ****ed either way.


He was definitely carrying O2 and wearing a polar suit :laugh:. If he open chute from 100k he probably would've traveled 100 miles or had it ripped to shreads. He must have passed through several wind systems blowing 50-200 mph.

[Toe Jam]

How did his head not snap backwards and break going over 600 mph?

[RedlightG20]

How did his head not snap backwards and break going over 600 mph?

I bet he practically wore a spacesuit up there. Very limited range of motion.

[Park City Skins]

Oh hell no.




*








I mean. Uh gee no. Though I am hesitant to describe the way he was up there as "perfectly good",it was indeed working well to take and keep him that high. See no reason to jump out of it,(even if that was probably the only way down). :silly:

[renaissance]

I think I went from 15k. That was enough thrill for me. I don't really see why you'd want to freefall for much longer.


Why does he have a toolbox strapped to his ass though?

[haithman]

Isnt the terminal velocity of a human 200 mph? How the hell did he get to 600+?

edit: nm this explains it pretty well http://hypertextbook.com/facts/JianHuang.shtml

[Dan T.]

I think I went from 15k. That was enough thrill for me. I don't really see why you'd want to freefall for much longer.


Why does he have a toolbox strapped to his ass though?

That's a crap receptacle. Because any normal human being jumping from 100,000 feet is going to crap his pants.

[kuraitengai]

About as enjoyable as the F-8 pilot that ejected into a thunderstorm cell at and didn't reach earth for over a half hour.
there any kind of documentation on that? cuz i wanna read that.

[kuraitengai]

Isnt the terminal velocity of a human 200 mph? How the hell did he get to 600+?

edit: nm this explains it pretty well http://hypertextbook.com/facts/JianHuang.shtml
this is what i want to know...


"An hour and thirty-one minutes after launch, my pressure altimeter halts at 103,300 feet. At ground control the radar altimeters also have stopped-on readings of 102,800 feet, the figure that we later agree upon as the more reliable. It is 7 o'clock in the morning, and I have reached float altitude …. Though my stabilization chute opens at 96,000 feet, I accelerate for 6,000 feet more before hitting a peak of 614 miles an hour, nine-tenths the speed of sound at my altitude."

i knew the whole thing about relative sound barrier dependent on altitude. cuz a friend from hs who is a pilot told me a story about some f-16 pilots that were flying from charleston to donaldson center in greenville, and messed up the altitude conversions and accidentally broke the sound barrier over piedmont and shattered the windows at our high school and some of the nearby houses.

but what i want to know is...what happens to a human body, not inside a vehicle, when it breaks the sound barrier? its not like he had a metal shell of a cockpit around him.

[Mad Mike]

I don't know that I could ever skydive, let alone from anywhere close to that high. I'm kind of a huge ***** when it comes to heights.

I'm the same way with heights but I like flying. Go figure.

I always said no way to skydiving until I worked for a skydiving company at a dropzone considered to be the world center of skydiving in DeLand, FL. After years of watching people jump an seeing how much they loved it I decided I had to do it and I'm glad I did - several times :D. The ride up always freaked me out and that first step scared the crap out of me but once you reach terminal velocity (the fastest you can fall against the force of the air) it feels like you are flying. And I REALLY loved flying the parachute. I cant jump any more due to health issues but I encourage everyone to try at least a tandem. You know what they say; courage isn't the absence of fear, it's acting in the face of it.

BTW - Kittinger lives near Orlando and is still a legend among skydivers. There have been many attempts to break his record but all have failed.

A long but great article about "space diving"

http://willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Space_Diving.html


FOURNIER'S FOLLY
Very very very high above Saskatchewan, a 58-year-old retired French parachute regiment officer who was refused permission by his own government to risk spreading jam over the Plaine of Crau, has also informed the press he, too, intends to jump out of a perfectly good pressurized gondola at 40,000 metres.

Hoping to freefall faster than the speed of sound within 30 seconds of foreclosing on second thoughts, the French record holder for the longest fall - from an altitude of about 37,000 feet - has made some 8,000 jumps. Michel Fournier says he wants to shatter four world records for the highest, fastest and longest freefall jump, and the highest balloon ascent.

"I'm a realistic go-getter, a little stubborn at times, Fournier modestly describes himself.

His 130,000-foot high dive is expected to last 6 minutes 25 seconds. Fournier grandly calls it the first big aeronautical exploit of the third millennium.

But after taking 10 years, nearly $3.5 million, the talents of more than two dozen scientists, physicians and engineers, and “periods of meditation,” Le Grand Saut - The Big Jump - is called off because it's too windy. [Dropzone.com]

Is the only hot air in balloons?

:hysterical:


“I don't know what the hell happened to Michel Fournier after his 2003 attempt didn't pan out,” Velociworld continues. “Rodd Millner dropped out of the news in 2001.” [velociworld.com]

Ah, Monsieur Fournier. His website lashes out at a “pseudo sponsor' whose alleged “financial swindle” provided a timely excuse to call off the Great Pratfall. [legrandsaut.org]

That was in July 2005.

Since then, blessed silence has replaced the overheated space diving scene.

Captain Joe Kittinger still holds the crown.

On dignity, as well.

:notworthy

[Capt Rich Fla]

I used to skydive. Highest I ever got was 15k.

There is NO friggin way you would get me up that high! :yikes:

If you could bring yourself to jump at 15k you should be able to do 100. I mean after 100 feet off the ground your pretty much a goner if anything goes wrong, aint ya?

[Enzo]

I did a sky dive once from a little over 10,000 ft & to tell the truth stepping out the door was the scariest part. The fall itself wasn't scary at all, it fact I thought it was sort of peaceful. Once I got to terminal velocity, if it hadn't been for the ground approaching very fast, I would have sworn I was floating. Of course the landing wasn't very fun. I miss my landing zone & ended up clipping the top off a dead tree (thankful it was dead) & ended up with a barb-wire fence wrapped around my right leg. I should a special on that jump by Kittinger & I remember him saying that when he flipped over on his back, soon after he jumped, he said he thought to him self that ballon sure is flying up the air fast. I don't remember if those where his exact words, but the point is that it took him a few seconds or minutes to realize that the ballon was flying away from him but that he was rapidly falling away from the ballon. I also heard that since the air is so thin up there that he actually broke the sound barrier.

[Capt Rich Fla]

this is what i want to know...



i knew the whole thing about relative sound barrier dependent on altitude. cuz a friend from hs who is a pilot told me a story about some f-16 pilots that were flying from charleston to donaldson center in greenville, and messed up the altitude conversions and accidentally broke the sound barrier over piedmont and shattered the windows at our high school and some of the nearby houses.

but what i want to know is...what happens to a human body, not inside a vehicle, when it breaks the sound barrier? its not like he had a metal shell of a cockpit around him.

I think he'd get really wet from the air being compressed into water vapor.:silly:

[Bang]

Mt grandparents had a National Geographic collection that went back to the 40s, and when I was a kid I loved to leaf through them.
I remember looking through the issue with a big article and a TON of photos of this. It may be in an online archive.
I just Googled it, and found this page with some good links.
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Kittinger/EX31.htm which has some interesting articles, and it says NT Geo has done two articles on it, one also in 1985.

~Bang

[AsburySkinsFan]

Though I am hesitant to describe the way he was up there as "perfectly good",it was indeed working well to take and keep him that high. See no reason to jump out of it,(even if that was probably the only way down). :silly:

The only problem Park is that what took him that high was a balloon that was not designed to come back down...in one piece that is, think of it as an elevator that only goes up. Once he was on his way the only way he gets back to Earth is by jumping, the anticipation on the way up alone would have given most folks a heart attack.

[Hubbs]

I wouldn't do that for a night with Megan Fox.

[nuposse87]

Yeah I read about this randomly a while ago actually too. I find it amazing that he was able to pull off something like it. I wonder though, with a much more streamline suit, and a possible higher altitude, could a human break the sound barrier in a free fall? I wonder what that would feel like. Also, about that space diving article....If you free fell from space...unless you have some sort of crazy suit on, wouldn't you disintegrate in the atmosphere?

[Sandman69]

Yeah, I have read about this a few times. Never saw that picture though. That is insane.

I have jumped once in tandam, I think from 13k feet. That was a blast. Though not sure I wanna do it again.

I can't imagine this. DAMN! SIMPLY DAMN!

Another thing to think of. What about he ride up? Imagine sitting/lying in a gondalo, up 100k+ feet. It took 1hr and 31 minutes to get that high. Then he enjoyed the view for 12 minutes.

Nice lil Bio of him here
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Kittinger/EX31.htm

Doh sorry Bang beat me to the link. That is what I get for working and typing! ;)

[McD5]

I try to skydive once a month.

I would kill to do that.

[Mad Mike]

If you could bring yourself to jump at 15k you should be able to do 100. I mean after 100 feet off the ground your pretty much a goner if anything goes wrong, aint ya?

The standard skydive is from 13,500 feet with a good fast climbing aircraft because the air gets thin and higher altitudes raise issues with oxygen deprivation. Even a long stay at 13.5 will make you silly. A 15k jump usually requires oxygen on the plane for the ride up. Higher jumps require oxygen masks for the ride down which raises all sorts of new safety problems with the bulky equipment.

If you are interested you can do something like this from 30,000 feet. :D

http://www.halojumper.net/

But I recommend checking any company like that out by asking around at Dropzone.com. Like any other business, skydiving has it's good and bad guys.

[Mad Mike]

I did a sky dive once from a little over 10,000 ft & to tell the truth stepping out the door was the scariest part. The fall itself wasn't scary at all, it fact I thought it was sort of peaceful. Once I got to terminal velocity, if it hadn't been for the ground approaching very fast, I would have sworn I was floating.

My experience exactly. :cheers:

On my first and only "solo" (with two instructors hanging on to help till I pulled the cord) I got a line twist. For those who dont know it looks something like this...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/3021444478_0cba359384.jpg?v=0

or this if you are looking up...

http://www.dropzone.com/images/photos/assets/4/573744-largest_Malf6.jpg

Fortunately it's usually an easy fix if you don't panic. I just did what I had learned an "kicked" out of it. (you kick to get momentum to untwist the line as if you are on a swing.) It was scary for a moment when the chute first opened and it was unresponsive. It was bucking around like mad. But once I got out of it, flying the parachute seemed like the most natural thing in the world. I wouldn't trade the experience, (even the malfunction) for anything. I felt like I had accomplished something by facing my fear, keeping cool, and getting out of it myself.

[Spaceman Spiff]

About as enjoyable as the F-8 pilot that ejected into a thunderstorm cell at and didn't reach earth for over a half hour.

Yeah, I'd like to read about this, too.

[Sandman69]

Yeah, I'd like to read about this, too.


Look for the book "The Man Who Rode The Wind"


"In the book "The Man Who Rode The Wind", a true story of a pilot who ejected into a thunderstorm at 45,000 feet is described. He ejected from an F8 Crusader and descended into the developing storm until his parachute deployed at 10,000 feet. He became caught in the storm updraft and actually re-ascended under his chute to 26,000 feet. Thin air caused him to pass out and the cold caused intense frost bite during his ride up and down the inside of the storm. The water inside the cloud nearly made him drown in mid air!"
http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-716.html

I remember something simliar happening to a woman diver I think, a couple years ago.

http://www.naa.aero/html/airsports/index.cfm?newsid=307&cmsid=82

[Drakkhim]

Pilotwings is so weak compared to what this guy did.