harrykillbill (September 4, 2008 at 2:05 pm)

wow

alloutacash (September 3, 2008 at 8:38 pm)

What an absolute crock of animal abuse/human hubris. What other option did the bird have besides diving, soaring to the moon? What's next, taking a dolphin in a submarine to the bottom of the ocean? Ultimate killer=man.

agfosterjr (August 25, 2008 at 11:29 pm)

Thanks for taking the trouble to read 'em, and for the rare positive feedback. Now I'm tackling the "break cadence when crossing bridges" myth. Plenty of 'em out there. Cheers. --AGF

WelcomeToMyDream (August 25, 2008 at 8:31 pm)

I jump GPS for fun, even new GPS=imperfect yet very useful. Regular altimeters are very good now but only 2-D data of course. I use both types and compare logs in computer, throwing out the obvious bad data points. dropzone d0t c0m = *tons* of info for you. If a bird hung near a jumper (on camera, please!) briefly any newer device would get a close-enough speed and the vid would be famous. That telephoto lense crap in this vid is BS.

WelcomeToMyDream (August 25, 2008 at 8:29 pm)

AGF.Armchair science guy too, thanks for pointing out naked king, gotta admit I wanted to believe, but I read your posts and watched again, yep, fast scene cuts, smoke n mirrors, TOTAL BS. Fact: Theres no camera jumper alive who'd focus on some TV guy instead of busting ass (even risking life!) to stay on the bird! I'd LOVE to see a falcon in freefall, I'd slow down if needed! Rate of fall is crucial, I was suprised at the effort needed to to match speeds to jump with friends.

WelcomeToMyDream (August 25, 2008 at 8:20 pm)

AGF.Armchair science guy too, thanks for pointing out naked king, gotta admit I wanted to believe, but I read your posts and watched again, yep, fast scene cuts, smoke n mirrors, TOTAL BS. Fact: There is not a camera jumper alive who would focus on some TV guy instead of busting ass (even risking life!) to stay on the bird!

WelcomeToMyDream (August 25, 2008 at 8:18 pm)

To clarify, I meant they jump from @14K, go head down with arms at sides, reach 300mph+ at some point, then level (belly to earth) out, slow down to a safe speed (@125), then deploy their chute around 3K. This is with skin tight suit, aero helmet, etc. And if they lost composure during high speed it would hurt!

agfosterjr (August 23, 2008 at 3:48 am)

True, the radar is better than a frozen bird or styrofoam model in a tunnel. Glad to hear from a jumper in addition to falconers. But I'm curious, last I checked the divers going for horizontal distance records were frustrated by the inaccuracy of their gauges, and I thought they were using GPS. How accurate are they now? I'm not a falconer, jumper, or scientist. Just an armchair critic and amateur historian of science, who sees a lot of naked kings out there. --AGF

WelcomeToMyDream (August 22, 2008 at 2:18 pm)

AGF.. Wind tunnel not useful to me though. The bird is fast because it tweaks body and wing position so well in flight. Also the air is very thin above 5K, jumping from 14K you will begin *slowing down* @8K, trained not to deploy chute from 11K-8K due to high speed. O2 assisted jumps from 18K can initially hit 200mph+ on accident, air that high is so thin the bird could go *really fast* chasing a skydiver, nothing like low altitude in the wild, so this is supercool but otherwise pointless IMO.

WelcomeToMyDream (August 22, 2008 at 2:11 pm)

AGF.. I agree with you in large part. I once looked for *real* info and the Swiss 115mph was fastest as you said. And this video is crap, the skydivers don't mention the bird catching them, only the TV host. BS! Skydive speeds are well proven though; easy to grab a GPS and hop, I did that 8 times last weekend (as usual), my speed varied from 118 to 190 depending on body position, wearing a suit designed to slow you down!