Bear Grylls Paragliding Over Mt. Everest [Video]

collegehumor.com — Paragliding over Mt. Everest? Better drink my own piss.

Wingsuit skydivers create incredible 25-person flock

From: http://www.geek.com/

Exploring the Sky - Wingsuit Flying 2011 from Richard Schneider on Vimeo.


Last year we here at Geek.com had a short obsession with wingsuit skydiving.The extreme activity pairs two awesome pastimes–jumping out of planes and wearing multicolored jumpsuits–into one incredible experience. Make sure to go back and check out that video if you want to be amazed by the jumpers’ accuracy and willingness to spit in the face of death.

The wingsuit fliers have continued working on their craft since then. In a recently posted video we can see that production values are up, the fliers are jumping in teams, and making they are even making formations. Jeb Corliss’ video makes this one look downright relaxing, but we still get a glimpse at the awesome control the wingsuits give the divers; their stability in the air is really fantastic.

The video’s maker, Richard Schneider told me the video above was filmed almost entirely with a Contour HD helmet cam. He recommends the Contour HD for its shape which he considers safer, thanks to less possible “snag points” where a parachute or cord could catch while being deployed. (The other popular camera with this sort of activity is the Go Pro.)

Side note: check out the propeller blades at 0:40. Their super fast motion combined with the sensor on the camera makes them look like they were made of rubber. They appear to be flopping sideways as they spin around. It’s probably the least cool thing in the whole video, but I do appreciate how the tech interacts with activities like this one.

From Vimeo: Helmet cam footage from wingsuit flights at the edges of the United States, including California (Lake Elsinore), Florida (Zephyrhills), Nevada (Mesquite), and Puerto Rico (Vega Baja). The last scene was from a vertical formation record organized by Flock University, 25 expert wingsuit fliers exiting from two airplanes.

See more footage of the 25 wingsuit vertical diamond record: vimeo.com/​19552772

Wingsuit Pilots: Justin Shorb, Douglas Spotted Eagle, Matt Santa Maria, Joel Hindman, Joshua Sheppard, Abe Sheppard, James Raimar, Brian Voils, Tim Hedderich, John Kallend, Zach Schroedel, Alex Scheidt, Jason Carter, Kyle O’Donohue, Scott Callantine, Brian Snarr, Andreea Olea, Simon Repton, Ralph Kubicsek, Ben Lowe, Savage Sac, Cate Flies, Rick Hough, Greg Drogaline, Scott Bland, Michael Swearingen, Ryan Maher, Mike Masheff, Nick Wright, Dennis Sattler, Scotty Burns, Jt Valente, Jeff Donohue

Primary footage captured and edited by Richard Schneider, Lake Elsinore parachute deployment scene captured by Douglas Spotted Eagle.

Music: Undenied by Portishead & The Funeral by Band of Horses.

Parachuting Into Michigan Stadium with the 101st Airborne Division

Sgt. Adam Sniffen from the 101st Airborne Division delivers the game ball via parachute before the Michigan vs. MSU game at Michigan Stadium on Oct. 9, 2010.

Tandem Parachute Flipping 1800m High (Vid)

from: http://video.mpora.com/



Worldpremier with Tandemparaglider (www.u-turn.de)

A special dream was fullfilled by Pal Takats with his co-pilot Gabor Kezi today: As the first Tandem-Duo in the world, they attempt a real looping with their 31 qm bi-place-parachute in Walensee (Lake of Walen) in Switzerland.

Lake of Walen, Switzerland: The adventure started high in the mountains in approx. 1800 m of altidude, where the fields where green and the surrounding amazing. After take off they were able to do 45 real loopings in a row, flighing straight of the parachute. With that first premier, the test pilots from U-Turn showed, what Aerodynamics never expected, real loopings with parachutes are possible, not only with hard wings.

'Of course, the borders of physics are set, but where excatly we still have to find out,&#xu2;01C says Ernst Strobl, Chef-Developer of U-turn. With a modified Acro-Parachute, Takats, one of the world bests acro-pilots, already did various loopings, called Infinity Tumblings. Since today, also in the double - with Gabor Kezi.

It was really tough. 'Due to longer lines, the way to pass for both pilots was even longer each looping.' Takats explanis. For us it was about 6 G. For the parachute it was even more, up to 12 G, which is a real challange for the material.

Paragliding the Himalayas With iPhones, So You Can Go Too

• By Keith Barry

From jagged, snow-capped mountain peaks to peaceful villages adorned with colorful prayer flags, there are perhaps no more breathtaking views on earth than from high above the Himalayas. Five paragliders are right now flying and hiking the length of the Himalayas all the way through Nepal, and they’re sharing the once-in-a-lifetime experience with anyone who has a computer.

While paragliding in the Himalayas is a fairly common trip for experienced fliers, no team has gone all the way through Nepal. These guys are seasoned fliers and between them they have experience flying all over the world. But they’ve never tried anything like this before: hiking and flying more than 800 miles from Dharamsala to Sikkim, India.

“This journey has never been done by a team,” said Nick Greece of the U.S. Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. “People have flown from Northern India to the Nepal border but never further. This team will fly across Nepal as well. For a team to do this live tracking is imperative, and it is only in the last year or two that it has become realistic and relatively reliable.”

The Himalayan Odyssey Team is carrying some impressive tech. It has the obligatory iPhones and three solar chargers to keep them going, variometers to track their rate of ascent and descent, two-way radios for staying in touch and GPS for staying on course. When they’ve got cellphone coverage, the team will upload track logs to their website, allowing those of us who prefer our feet on the ground to follow their adventure from our cubicles. SPOT GPS trackers also will update their route every 10 minutes.

“These will allow visitors to reply our flights on Google Maps, or Google Earth and visualize every circle, every zig, and every zag we make, and even what the terrain underneath us looks like while we’re zigging and zagging,” team member Eric Reed said. “It’s beautiful, but it will depend on GSM service.”

Hopefully they’ll have better coverage in the Himalayas (.pdf) than in Manhattan.

Reed, a member of the U.S. Paragliding Team who was laid off last year from a management position at Microsoft, says he’s already received e-mails of support and can’t wait to start offering live updates on his progress. He’s been through the Himalayas before with team leader Brad Sander, and at the end of last year’s trip they decided that this time they’d “take the line as far as we could.”

“All of the communication is great fun — both for the readers and the writers — and I think it does actually improve our safety level, but it also inevitably make the wilds just a little less wild,” he said. “That’s the way with technology. But I’m not complaining. There’s still plenty of wild in the world.”

In addition to letting the rest of the world come along for the journey, Reed says all that technology is essential for safety, helping keep the team connected even when they land in different locations. The Himalayas can be just as inhospitable as they are inspiring, and as they began their journey Wednesday, according to their blog, conditions were already far from ideal.

“We plan to fly and land together as a team, as much as possible, but inevitably there will be days when we get separated,” he said. “Once we’re all on the ground if we’re not all together, communication gets hard via cell or radio. The SPOTs will help us here as well — we’ll use them to send our position via SMS to everyone on our team once we’ve landed.”

Photos: Nick Greece

Read More http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/03/himalayan-odyssey-team/#ixzz0i0AMdGxI

OMG... Really Hope I Don't Die Today!

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Oak Harbor, Washington: Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Eleven (EODMU-11) members perform a static jump from the ramp of a C-130 Hercules, in groups of three. They will descend from altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 13,000 feet. Always wondered about how doing dangerous things gives us a heightened sense of our own mortality