Extreme skydiving

[hunteran]

I was emailed a link to this video a couple days ago. Maybe it is just me, but I think this is easily one of the coolest videos I've seen in a long time. It is a clip taken from a music video that depicts the (then) Captain Joseph Kittinger's free fall from space. From what I gather it is real footage up until about 1:45 (the makers of the music video spliced documentary footage together to create it). Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBBuyypGDNo

[The Reaper]

I would love to shake Captain Kittinger's hand.

That is a much abbreviated tape. The actual freefall is much longer than that.

TR

[hunteran]

I would love to shake Captain Kittinger's hand.

That is a much abbreviated tape. The actual freefall is much longer than that.

TR

I'll have to hunt around for the full video, that must have been an incredible expirience for Captain Kittinger.

[The Reaper]

I'll have to hunt around for the full video, that must have been an incredible expirience for Captain Kittinger.

Don't bother, I have plenty of freefall time and it looks a lot like the first 1:45.

TR

[Sdiver]

Capt. Kittinger needs a frekin' wheelbarrow to carry his balls around.

Incredible.

[The Reaper]

Capt. Kittinger needs a frekin' wheelbarrow to carry his balls around.

Incredible.

Captain Joe Kittinger jumped from a height of 102,800 feet, almost 20 miles above the earth and fell for a full 4 minutes, 36 seconds. Opening altitude was 17,500 feet and the descent was 13 minutes, 45 seconds.

Temperatures were as low as minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit and the maximum speed somewhere around 614 miles per hour.

This jump set records for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest freefall, and fastest speed by a man without external assistance. These 47 year old records remain unbroken today. Two attempts to beat these numbers in 2001 were called off because they were not thought to be safe with modern equipment.

For this jump, he was awarded a cluster for his DFC.

Kittinger served three combat tours during the Vietnam War, flying a total of 483 missions, the first two tours as an aircraft commander in A-26 Invaders. On a voluntary third tour in 1971-72, he commanded the F-4 Phantom 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron and then became vice commander of the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing.

Colonel Kittinger was shot down during a MiG engagement on May 11, 1972, just before the end of his tour and spent 11 months as a prisoner of war in the "Hanoi Hilton" prison.

He retired as a Colonel in 1978 and went to work for Martin Marietta. Kittinger won the Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning three times (1982, 1984, 1985) and completed the first solo Atlantic crossing Rosie O'Grady from September 14–18, 1984.

Next year is his 80th birthday. Wonder what he will do for an encore?

TR

[Ret10Echo]

Don't bother, I have plenty of freefall time and it looks a lot like the first 1:45.

TR

.."How many times has my altimeter gone around....???"

[Warrior-Mentor]

Don't worry about your altimeter until you get ground rush???

Tough to beat that, but here's some good footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZxo7IznQnk

[Kyobanim]

Here's a little trivia for you

Kittinger used to do the sky writing for Rosie O'Grady's in Orlando back in the 80's. he had a long and fruitfull career and then had more fun in retirement.

[pegasus]

If anyone is interested, Col. Kittinger spoke at the Kircher Society in
Jan 2007. Link below with three videos, replace the [DOT]'s.

http://www[DOT]kirchersociety[DOT]org/blog/?page_id=1242

[Ret10Echo]

Don't worry about your altimeter until you get ground rush???

Tough to beat that, but here's some good footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZxo7IznQnk

As long as Mr Cypres doesn't come to visit :D

[Warrior-Mentor]

As long as Mr Cypres doesn't come to visit :D


I think he skipped that altogether...

[Ret10Echo]

I recall someone mentioning that he blacked out (was knocked out) when he broke the sound barrier....twice.

Not sure if Cypres has that in their software package.

[The Reaper]

I recall someone mentioning that he blacked out (was knocked out) when he broke the sound barrier....twice.

Not sure if Cypres has that in their software package.

Best info is that he never broke the barrier.

TR

[x-factor]

TR - You said his temperature was as low as -94 F. Do you have a stat on what his high temp was? I know almost nothing about freefall, but wouldn't the friction of the air at that speed for that duration cause some serious heat?

[The Reaper]

TR - You said his temperature was as low as -94 F. Do you have a stat on what his high temp was? I know almost nothing about freefall, but wouldn't the friction of the air at that speed for that duration cause some serious heat?

No way a comparison, but from 26,000' AGL, there wasn't enough friction to warm me up, and the air is a lot denser down here.

I have been 600 mph at 33,000 feet and the skin of the aircraft was hardly what I would call warm.

Rough rule of thumb we used was -3 degrees for every 1,000'. Sit on Green Ramp sucking O2 at 90 degrees, jump at 26,000 at about 15 degrees. Watch the ice crystals form on the inside of your goggles. 37 minutes under canopy. Tough job, but somebody has to do it.:D

TR

[x-factor]

Thanks. I need to brush up on my physics. :)


EDIT: Wait...I thought about this some more while I was scrubbing the bath tub. Going at that speed for that duration (not to mention the air getting thicker as you descend), wouldn't the friction (and by extension the heat) start to grow at a geometric rate? Potentially making it much hotter than your comparison to a 33K jump?

Ugh. This is why I'm a social scientist.

[Bill Harsey]

Some years ago Joe Kittinger was at my buddies hangar here in Creswell and I got to meet him. He is a true gentleman.
I lent him my Bi-Mart card (local membership big-store) so he and his wife could get some gloves as he was flying an open cockpit bi-plane and it was a little cooler around here than it should have been for the time of year.

It was Joe's mom who, as a real estate agent, sold one Bo Randall the property the Randall Knife Shop is on to this day in Orlando.

I was told by our mutual friend that during his long free fall Joe was tracked on radar at speeds that would have exceeded the sound barrier if it had happened at much lower altitudes. Only what I was told, not trying to start anything.

[The Reaper]

Thanks. I need to brush up on my physics. :)


EDIT: Wait...I thought about this some more while I was scrubbing the bath tub. Going at that speed for that duration (not to mention the air getting thicker as you descend), wouldn't the friction (and by extension the heat) start to grow at a geometric rate? Potentially making it much hotter than your comparison to a 33K jump?

Ugh. This is why I'm a social scientist.

Good thing.

Five minutes at 600 knots (aloft, speed drops as air density increases)?

I have flown for up to 10 hours at that 600 kts @ 36,000' and froze my butt off sitting next to the window. You ever watch the outside temperature gauge on the overhead displays? Does it get hotter? I don't think so.

Kittinger was hell on wheels, but he wasn't the space shuttle.

TR

[x-factor]

Of course, you're right. He's too small a surface and, because he's starting from 0 velocity, he's not going fast enough (relatively speaking) to generate enough friction to really raise his temp.

Being the son of a fighter pilot, I really should be better at this. Thanks.

[The Reaper]

Being the son of a fighter pilot, I really should be better at this.

Now an SR-71 goes fast enough to get HOT.

TR

[x-factor]

Factoid...it goes so hot that when its cool and on the ground it leaks like a seive. The aircraft is designed to account for all the metal swelling with heat and thereby coming together.