Fun new way to die

[Darwin333]

Holy shit. I was expecting them to do that in the air, like they get up to altitude and then they put out the tow-line and then the person tries to keep upright and then they pull their chute (and/or ride the glider for a while before). Can't believe they're towing at take-off. That alone I expect will cause way too many accidents.

I was thinking the same thing. When you first start getting towed, especially for a beginner, you often see them wipe out very quickly. With this you must be able to keep it together until you get some sort of altitude (minimum altitude to parachute from anyone?) or you're going to get all kinds of fucked up and/or dead.

 

[Darwin333]

Oh man I'd totally try that! Looks fun. And you get a parachute, so it's all good.

As long as you make it high enough for that parachute to be effective. They don't just pop open in 10' and slow you to a decent rate in the next 20'. You gotta be pretty high up for them to open and effectively slow you down. I'm not sure what that altitude is, hopefully someone else can enlighten us, but I'm sure it's well above the "break your neck" altitude.

 

[destrekor]

As long as you make it high enough for that parachute to be effective. They don't just pop open in 10' and slow you to a decent rate in the next 20'. You gotta be pretty high up for them to open and effectively slow you down. I'm not sure what that altitude is, hopefully someone else can enlighten us, but I'm sure it's well above the "break your neck" altitude.

Alright, so those doing this should also strap a rocket pack to their back, that way, in case of need to bail far too early to open the chute, then they can rocket themselves up to a proper altitude and then safely deploy said chute.


Nothing can go wrong with this, absolutely nothing. Perfectly safe. Just sign the waiver right here, k? You are wholly responsible for your irresponsibility. ()

 

[SSSnail]

I would think if there was something that caused the rider to lose grip, well, that's it, he falls off the board and skydives for a bit then opens the parachute.

The biggest question is what kind of force will be experienced during takeoff, and can most people have sufficient strength to hold onto the control bar during that and retain that in the air for some length of time?

I wonder if there could be some kind of build-in grip-assist (like a link-collar between arms and bar) that can retain the rider onboard should be let go, but still be weak enough to break if there is sufficient force, purposefully letting go and throwing your hands back or something. Or some kind of quick-release button that severs the collar link?

The force he would experience during take off shouldn't be any different than he was sitting on a chair in the plane, that's if the line is taught when the plane takes off.

As far as as arm strength needed, for you other observant people out there, you'd notice that the "kite" is directly tied to the aircraft and the handle for the rider to hold on to is just for stability and maneuvering.

If you watch the whole video, you'll see how this operation ends, by the rider release from the "kite", and free fall to parachute altitude, and the "kite" is still attached to the aircraft.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I'll bet the most dangerous thing that guy has ever done in his life is ride his bicycle without a helmet.

I can guarantee that you could find 1000 people willing to try that thing today. But Engineer Ernie will be testing prototypes with his nifty 3-D printed human mannequins for another decade.

 

[destrekor]

The force he would experience during take off shouldn't be any different than he was sitting on a chair in the plane, that's if the line is taught when the plane takes off.

As far as as arm strength needed, for you other observant people out there, you'd notice that the "kite" is directly tied to the aircraft and the handle for the rider to hold on to is just for stability and maneuvering.

If you watch the whole video, you'll see how this operation ends, by the rider release from the "kite", and free fall to parachute altitude, and the "kite" is still attached to the aircraft.

Yes, it's directly tied to the aircraft, but, wait, I'm not getting what you are trying to state by saying the handle is just for the rider to hold onto for stability and maneuvering. I... thought that was obvious?

Here's the thing: their's g-force during take-off, which as you point out, is not at all extreme. But then there's wind resistance, which you do not experience at all in the fuselage of an aircraft. That wind will be buffeting you hard, harder than any towed sport we've witnessed.

Now, it should be relatively easy--for most people who dare to take on this future stunt--to hold on. But I can bet many people would not be able to.

Think of it this way: try holding onto a bar during a hurricane, tornado, or straight-line winds. It's entirely about the strength of wind speed, and relative to your stationary body, your movement forward equates to wind pushing against you. Your grip and upper body strength become a major factor. It isn't at all like being in an enclosed space where it is only during acceleration and deceleration that one feels that force: when exposed in open air, air pressure is constant. Enclosed cabins of various transportation methods remove that force for us, so we only feel relative velocity (or something like that - my knowledge of high school physics terms is very rusty... the concept I get, accurate phrasing I may not. lol).

I think it should be an absolutely requirement to hold ground training inside of a to-scale wind tunnel. Have a padded room/floor with a "kite" or "board" tethered in front of fans that are simulating first take-off speed and then forward flight.

And like other tethered boarding sports, take off isn't that simple. Now, you aren't trying to "get up" at the same time like water sports, but it still isn't an automatic assured thing even though are you standing. A real human body that doesn't have a static default (like the scaled training dummy) is going to have to deal with balance. And if you let yourself get off balance by even a smidgen, unless the boards have an exceptionally stable profile that allows for this (or even has an auto-balancing capability), being off balance and unprepared = you and the board flapping around uncontrolled.

It does seem like it might be a requirement that the feet are anchored to the board so that inversions are more easily executable. Letting go of the bar may introduce enough force for the anchored piece to rip free, otherwise, as long as you hold on, your feet remain firmly anchored.

 

[destrekor]

I'll bet the most dangerous thing that guy has ever done in his life is ride his bicycle without a helmet.

I can guarantee that you could find 1000 people willing to try that thing today. But Engineer Ernie will be testing prototypes with his nifty 3-D printed human mannequins for another decade.

And? There are plenty of people who are willing to be test subjects for something unproven, but I think it is best to actually demonstrate this one works before just simply going for it. Trying it based on an idea for water-based tethered boarding is one thing, and there is a massive safety net to catch if you something wasn't worked out right. Now you are introducing flight, which is no simple matter.

 

[Carson Dyle]

The takeoff and flight to altitude is definitely the dangerous part. Once you'e at altitude, an experienced base jumper or skydiver should be fairly safe, no matter how poorly the thing performs. It's not like taking off on a wake board or water skis.

What would be the minimum air speed required for takeoff for a small plane towing something like that? Eating shit at that speed on a paved surface would be nasty.

 

[destrekor]

The takeoff and flight to altitude is definitely the dangerous part. Once you'e at altitude, an experienced base jumper or skydiver should be fairly safe, no matter how poorly the thing performs. It's not like taking off on a wake board or water skis.

What would be the minimum air speed required for takeoff for a small plane towing something like that? Eating shit at that speed on a paved surface would be nasty.

Well yeah, exactly. All the more reason to not just tether a board to a plain willy nilly.

Once it's in the air at a respectable altitude, that's all gravy. You gotta get there first.

Smaller planes, I think, are something like 60-90mph take off speed.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Actually they should just make the take off happen on a treadmill, but have the treadmill spin in the same direction that the plane is going, so if you fall off it's like falling off something stationary.

 

[Darwin333]

Alright, so those doing this should also strap a rocket pack to their back, that way, in case of need to bail far too early to open the chute, then they can rocket themselves up to a proper altitude and then safely deploy said chute.


Nothing can go wrong with this, absolutely nothing. Perfectly safe. Just sign the waiver right here, k? You are wholly responsible for your irresponsibility. ()

In that case, I'm in!!

 

[Darwin333]

The force he would experience during take off shouldn't be any different than he was sitting on a chair in the plane, that's if the line is taught when the plane takes off.

As far as as arm strength needed, for you other observant people out there, you'd notice that the "kite" is directly tied to the aircraft and the handle for the rider to hold on to is just for stability and maneuvering.

If you watch the whole video, you'll see how this operation ends, by the rider release from the "kite", and free fall to parachute altitude, and the "kite" is still attached to the aircraft.

Hold your flat hand perpendicular to the road out of the window while you do 70mph down the road and feel the force of the wind pushing your hand back. Imagine that force being exerted to your entire body, hence the holding on part.

If you would have said "The force he would experience during take off shouldn't be any different than he was standing on the wing" then you'd be at least relatively close to the truth.

 

[Darwin333]

Actually they should just make the take off happen on a treadmill, but have the treadmill spin in the same direction that the plane is going, so if you fall off it's like falling off something stationary.

It's only (relatively) stationary until your ass hits it. Then you are on a treadmill going 70ishmph backwards which I can't imagine would be fun but who knows. You should give it a shot and let us know how it works.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Alright, so those doing this should also strap a rocket pack to their back, that way, in case of need to bail far too early to open the chute, then they can rocket themselves up to a proper altitude and then safely deploy said chute.


Nothing can go wrong with this, absolutely nothing. Perfectly safe. Just sign the waiver right here, k? You are wholly responsible for your irresponsibility. ()

Just skip the plane thing altogether, and I want to do the rocket right away.

The G forces might be problematic though.

 

[Carson Dyle]

The more I think about this, the more I think the guy just wanted to play with models. Maybe generate some YouTube hits.