46 replies to this topic

[Sky Scanner]

Awesome footage of him standing on the ledge before jumping....better footage then I was expecting.

[joc]

The Sky Scanner, on 14 October 2012 - 06:27 PM, said:

Awesome footage of him standing on the ledge before jumping....better footage then I was expecting.

The entire event had me on the edge of my seat...especially when Felix was on the edge of his seat...literally.  I agree, that was awesome footage...and when he jumped, it was...well...breathtaking!

[Still Waters]

There's a short video of his jump in this news article -

http://www.bbc.co.uk...onment-19943590

He's got some guts! Well done Felix!

[Alex01]

When he was tumbling down without control early in the dive, I was extremely worried. But the old sport fixed it like a pro. Cheers to him!

[GreyWeather]

joc, on 14 October 2012 - 02:18 PM, said:

The Red Bull Stratos event featuring Felix Baumgartner is set to happen today.
You can watch it via Live Stream HERE


....it just occurred to me that I am probably the only person on this forum that doesn't own a television...so it's probably not a big deal for anyone else to have a live streaming link...nonetheless...and it may not even happen...I hope for Felix's sake it does.

Wishing you the best Felix!

I do not have a TV either. I either watch shows online or just my monitor for my Xbox. I now find TV boring,

Now,to watch that link.

[booNyzarC]

Still Waters, on 14 October 2012 - 08:34 PM, said:

There's a short video of his jump in this news article -

http://www.bbc.co.uk...onment-19943590

He's got some guts! Well done Felix!

Thanks for that, I was looking earlier and couldn't find one.  

[pallidin]

To answer some concerns:

If his helmet visor heater did not eventually work correctly, he would have stayed in the capsule, which would have been released and has it's own parachute.
However, the capsule was not designed for human landing, so Felix would still have had to bail-out + 4,000 feet, and the unheated helmet would not be a problem at that point.

But, as we all know, all went well.

Since the visor heating issue seemed to be the only significant problem, I'm sure many engineer's will be looking at that.
After all, The Air Force and NASA were closesly monitoring the whole thing for future emergency high-altitude escape suits and procedures...

I was actually more concerned about his early horizontal spin, which I'm glad he corrected even though the descent parachute would deploy at a designated alttitude automatically in the event of unconciouness.

Edited by pallidin, 14 October 2012 - 09:49 PM.

[Junior Chubb]

Just watched the footage of this on TV. Jaw dropping stuff, glad it all went to plan.

[joc]

Alex01, on 14 October 2012 - 08:37 PM, said:

When he was tumbling down without control early in the dive, I was extremely worried. But the old sport fixed it like a pro. Cheers to him!

A while after the jump was completed they interviewed Felix and some of his team.  Someone asked him about that and he said he was worried about it as well.  He said that because of the pressurized suit you can't feel anything so it makes it very difficult to overcome.  He said he put one arm out one way and his speed increased,  Then he put the other arm out and he slowed down.  He said he could have deployed the shoot that would have slowed him down but he really didn't want to do that because it would have caused him to not break the sound barrier.

Also, he was asked about why he deployed the parachute when he did.  He said because they planned it that way to be deployed at 5000 feet so that if anything went wrong, he would have time to cut it off and deploy the back up shoot.   He said he deployed at 5200 feet.  He said that was protocol.

He was also concerned, very concerned about the face plate not heating up.  Protocol said that if that happened and he couldn't see out then he couldn't jump.  But...all is well that ends well and that ended very, very well.

I think that it won't ever be possible to break the free fall record (time record) of his counter part without jeopardizing the diver.  It was an awesome experience.

[Likely Guy]

joc, on 14 October 2012 - 02:18 PM, said:

....it just occurred to me that I am probably the only person on this forum that doesn't own a television...so it's probably not a big deal for anyone else to have a live streaming link...nonetheless...and it may not even happen...I hope for Felix's sake it does.

Wishing you the best Felix!

I don't have a TV either, "You are not alone."

According to my brother, who watched it live, Felix Baumgartner only had about 2,500 jumps, which is not a lot in the 'jumping world'. My brother has about 1,700 and has probably trained about the same number of people 'how to jump'. Felix's relative lack of experience, is what truly amazes my brother.

He told me that for a brief period when Felix went into a horizontal spin (way better than a vertical spin) he felt his blood turn 'icy'. Felix, of course recovered from that and said to his ground crew, after they started trying to contact him, "**** off, I'm a bit busy now" or "**** off, I'm a bit dizzy now". Either would have been appropriate.

What amazed him was that their was no drogue or pilot chute involved (to slow down and stabilize him). I'm curious as to what his speed was when he pulled his chute.

Edited by Likely Guy, 15 October 2012 - 03:23 AM.

[Likely Guy]

I have to relate the skydivers mantra (which may have been given in relation to the mountain climber who was onced asked "Why do it?" - "Because it was there.")

Man small,
Why fall?

Skies call,
That's all.

- anonymous

[joc]

Likely Guy, on 15 October 2012 - 03:15 AM, said:

I don't have a TV either, "You are not alone."

According to my brother, who watched it live, Felix Baumgartner only had about 2,500 jumps, which is not a lot in the 'jumping world'. My brother has about 1,700 and has probably trained about the same number of people 'how to jump'. Felix's relative lack of experience, is what truly amazes my brother.

He told me that for a brief period when Felix went into a horizontal spin (way better than a vertical spin) he felt his blood turn 'icy'. Felix, of course recovered from that and said to his ground crew, after they started trying to contact him, "**** off, I'm a bit busy now" or "**** off, I'm a bit dizzy now". Either would have been appropriate.

What amazed him was that their was no drogue or pilot chute involved (to slow down and stabilize him). I'm curious as to what his speed was when he pulled his chute.

There actually was a chute that would have been deployed automatically if his spin had reached a critical level.  He also had the option to deploy the chute if he felt he needed to...but he said he didn't want to do that because he was trying to break the sound barrier.  I don't know what his speed was when he deployed the shoot, but his speed at the fastest point was Mach 1.24, or 833.9 mph.

[Likely Guy]

joc, on 15 October 2012 - 04:17 AM, said:

There actually was a chute that would have been deployed automatically if his spin had reached a critical level.  He also had the option to deploy the chute if he felt he needed to...but he said he didn't want to do that because he was trying to break the sound barrier.  I don't know what his speed was when he deployed the shoot, but his speed at the fastest point was Mach 1.24, or 833.9 mph.

"He said he didn't want to do that because he was trying to break the sound barrier." No guaranteed, but AFTER he reached the sound barrier, let out the drogue chute.

Just now, I heard him on the radio, he said "I stuck one hand out, pulled one hand in..." while describing the horizontal spin. It was the ultimate hokeypokey.

He and Kittinger will be featured in a movie one day, "The Men Who Fell To Earth."

Edit: "I am at 103,000 feet, looking out over a very beautiful, beautiful world." - August 16, 1960, Joseph Kittinger

Edited by Likely Guy, 15 October 2012 - 05:31 AM.

[Likely Guy]

I predict that, 45 years from now, a new young daredevil will be aided by an aged Felix Baumgartner that will jump and survive from 150,000 feet.

And that kid is being born... ohhh, about... NOW!

Edited by Likely Guy, 15 October 2012 - 05:54 AM.

[The New Richard Nixon]

Likely Guy, on 15 October 2012 - 05:44 AM, said:

I predict that, 45 years from now, a new young daredevil will be aided by an aged Felix Baumgartner that will jump and survive from 150,000 feet.

And that kid is being born... ohhh, about... NOW!

Think Balloon pops at 130,000