Felix Baugartner is attempting to be the first man to purposfully exeed Mach 1 without an airplane and parachute safely to the ground.
It can be watched live HERE.
He will exceed Capt Joe Kittinger’s record of 102,800 feet on August 16, 1960. Capt Kittinger’s speed was ‘only’ 614 mph… It took over 4 minutes for him to freefall to 10,000 feet.
But he won’t be the first to bailout at more than Mach 1…
Bill Weaver did that (not on purpose) Jan 25, 1966 after an SR-71 came apart around him at Mach 3+.
From his recollections-
On the planned test profile, we entered a programmed 35-deg. bank turn to the right. An immediate unstart occurred on the right engine, forcing the aircraft to roll further right and start to pitch up. I jammed the control stick as far left and forward as it would go. No response. I instantly knew we were in for a wild ride.
I attempted to tell Jim what was happening and to stay with the airplane until we reached a lower speed and altitude. I didn’t think the chances of surviving an ejection at Mach 3.18 and 78,800 ft. were very good. However, g-forces built up so rapidly that my words came out garbled and unintelligible, as confirmed later by the cockpit voice recorder.
The cumulative effects of system malfunctions, reduced longitudinal stability, increased angle-of-attack in the turn, supersonic speed, high altitude and other factors imposed forces on the airframe that exceeded flight control authority and the Stability Augmentation System’s ability to restore control.
Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion. I learned later the time from event onset to catastrophic departure from controlled flight was only 2-3 sec. Still trying to communicate with Jim, I blacked out, succumbing to extremely high g-forces. The SR-71 then literally disintegrated around us. From that point, I was just along for the ride.
My next recollection was a hazy thought that I was having a bad dream. Maybe I’ll wake up and get out of this mess, I mused. Gradually regaining consciousness, I realized this was no dream; it had really happened. That also was disturbing, because I could not have survived what had just happened. Therefore, I must be dead. Since I didn’t feel bad–just a detached sense of euphoria–I decided being dead wasn’t so bad after all. AS FULL AWARENESS took hold, I realized I was not dead, but had somehow separated from the airplane. I had no idea how this could have happened; I hadn’t initiated an ejection. The sound of rushing air and what sounded like straps flapping in the wind confirmed I was falling, but I couldn’t see anything. My pressure suit’s face plate had frozen over and I was staring at a layer of ice.
The pressure suit was inflated, so I knew an emergency oxygen cylinder in the seat kit attached to my parachute harness was functioning. It not only supplied breathing oxygen, but also pressurized the suit, preventing my blood from boiling at extremely high altitudes. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but the suit’s pressurization had also provided physical protection from intense buffeting and g-forces. That inflated suit had become my own escape capsule.
My next concern was about stability and tumbling. Air density at high altitude is insufficient to resist a body’s tumbling motions, and centrifugal forces high enough to cause physical injury could develop quickly. For that reason, the SR-71′s parachute system was designed to automatically deploy a small-diameter stabilizing chute shortly after ejection and seat separation. Since I had not intentionally activated the ejection system–and assuming all automatic functions depended on a proper ejection sequence–it occurred to me the stabilizing chute may not have deployed.
You can read the full recollection HERE.
Here’s hoping Mr. Baumgartner succeeds, we need more people like him who are willing to push the limits!
Edit- At 1910Z he jumped from 128,000 feet and got to 725Mph in free fall!
CONGRATULATIONS Mr. Baumgartner!!!
It can be watched live HERE.
He will exceed Capt Joe Kittinger’s record of 102,800 feet on August 16, 1960. Capt Kittinger’s speed was ‘only’ 614 mph… It took over 4 minutes for him to freefall to 10,000 feet.
But he won’t be the first to bailout at more than Mach 1…
Bill Weaver did that (not on purpose) Jan 25, 1966 after an SR-71 came apart around him at Mach 3+.
From his recollections-
On the planned test profile, we entered a programmed 35-deg. bank turn to the right. An immediate unstart occurred on the right engine, forcing the aircraft to roll further right and start to pitch up. I jammed the control stick as far left and forward as it would go. No response. I instantly knew we were in for a wild ride.
I attempted to tell Jim what was happening and to stay with the airplane until we reached a lower speed and altitude. I didn’t think the chances of surviving an ejection at Mach 3.18 and 78,800 ft. were very good. However, g-forces built up so rapidly that my words came out garbled and unintelligible, as confirmed later by the cockpit voice recorder.
The cumulative effects of system malfunctions, reduced longitudinal stability, increased angle-of-attack in the turn, supersonic speed, high altitude and other factors imposed forces on the airframe that exceeded flight control authority and the Stability Augmentation System’s ability to restore control.
Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion. I learned later the time from event onset to catastrophic departure from controlled flight was only 2-3 sec. Still trying to communicate with Jim, I blacked out, succumbing to extremely high g-forces. The SR-71 then literally disintegrated around us. From that point, I was just along for the ride.
My next recollection was a hazy thought that I was having a bad dream. Maybe I’ll wake up and get out of this mess, I mused. Gradually regaining consciousness, I realized this was no dream; it had really happened. That also was disturbing, because I could not have survived what had just happened. Therefore, I must be dead. Since I didn’t feel bad–just a detached sense of euphoria–I decided being dead wasn’t so bad after all. AS FULL AWARENESS took hold, I realized I was not dead, but had somehow separated from the airplane. I had no idea how this could have happened; I hadn’t initiated an ejection. The sound of rushing air and what sounded like straps flapping in the wind confirmed I was falling, but I couldn’t see anything. My pressure suit’s face plate had frozen over and I was staring at a layer of ice.
The pressure suit was inflated, so I knew an emergency oxygen cylinder in the seat kit attached to my parachute harness was functioning. It not only supplied breathing oxygen, but also pressurized the suit, preventing my blood from boiling at extremely high altitudes. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but the suit’s pressurization had also provided physical protection from intense buffeting and g-forces. That inflated suit had become my own escape capsule.
My next concern was about stability and tumbling. Air density at high altitude is insufficient to resist a body’s tumbling motions, and centrifugal forces high enough to cause physical injury could develop quickly. For that reason, the SR-71′s parachute system was designed to automatically deploy a small-diameter stabilizing chute shortly after ejection and seat separation. Since I had not intentionally activated the ejection system–and assuming all automatic functions depended on a proper ejection sequence–it occurred to me the stabilizing chute may not have deployed.
You can read the full recollection HERE.
Here’s hoping Mr. Baumgartner succeeds, we need more people like him who are willing to push the limits!
Edit- At 1910Z he jumped from 128,000 feet and got to 725Mph in free fall!
CONGRATULATIONS Mr. Baumgartner!!!
I watched it live. It was quite something, Bravo Zulu Felix
That was about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen on my ‘puter screen.
My heart was in my mouth there towards the end…
LL- Yep!
Tam- Yeah, when he started spinning, THAT was not good! Glad he made it okay!
Those folks live a lot larger than I care to.
Pretty amazing. That SR71 story is pretty darn incredible.
WSF- LOL, don’t they though!!!
45er- Yep BOTH are incredible!
Every single adrenaline junkie is EXACTLY the same… one can only suppose that our tax dollars are well spent… [to be honest, a lot of those monkeys would do their jobs for: no salary, 8 oz. of Single Malt per day, a banana ration and a clothing allowance, but hey – I’m not on the Staff of the Armed Services Appropriations Sub-Committee…]
Both feats were amazing…then and now.
Russell- And don’t forget the occaional steak dinner! 🙂
CP- Yep!
What Tam said. The Mrs. & I were watching as the balloon continued to rise, & @ 128k’ I was thinking “get OUT of there, NOW”. It looked like that big bag ‘o helium was going to pop like it got poked with a pin.
Course, folks smarter than me designed that thing, but still, wow.
“I’m going home now”.
Too cool.
I’m saving up for a spacesuit now. With my sleek aerodynamic shape, I should be able to beat 725 mph. No problem.
Bill’s story is incredible. Not knowing what state you are in because you have a 100 mile turning radius…cool! My first helo ride was also shakier than I expected. Flew ’em for 5 years then took a plane ride. Plane didn’t have the vibrations but hated the turbulence.
DT- Yeah, it DID expand rather quickly…
MSgt- Speed was actually 823MPH, that is ‘official’ the 725 was a real time guesstimate… 🙂
Michael- Yeah, one will shake you to pieces the other will bounce you to pieces… 🙂
As a kid I got to hear this story first hand from the man. He did not know is was hiding behind the couch. No one knew until I ask my dad the next day as we where working on a old pick up truck in the back yard. My dad made me swear i would not tell anybody that I head that story. I quess the cat ia out or the bag
DS
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