Thursday, March 12, 2009

Wingsuit Base Jumping

These guys are freaking amazing. And psychotic.

A word about BASE jumping:
BASE stands for Building Antenna Span Earth, the four types of objects that jumpers can jump from.  BASE jumping is essentially skydiving, except for the fact that jumpers do not jump from a plane and are generally in the air for a significantly shorter time (they don't have as far to fall).  Because they aren't in the air for as long, some BASE jumps can be non-terminal, (ie they don't reach terminal velocity, the point where drag prevents further acceleration), whereas all skydives are terminal.  Terminal velocity for a person is about 120mph and can be reached in about 15s in free-fall.

The short time that BASE jumpers have before they reach the ground introduces a lot of risk: they have to be able to deploy their parachutes within seconds of jumping, and they have to be able to deploy/maneuver correctly, or else risk running into the side of the building/cliff that they jumped off.  Any slight wind could send you off course.

The wingsuits that these people use allow them to both slow down their terminal velocity (more drag) and to control their movement more precisely.  They're no longer limited to just falling straight down.  This obviously makes for some kickass "flying," but it also means they have to know a lot more about how they're falling (eg whether or not they can make it over the next rocky outcrop).

Many BASE jumpers participate in a numbering system - you are awarded a "BASE Number" after you have successfully completed one jump from each of the four categories.  

These people are insane.  They're even in Minneapolis!

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