Comments on:

"I am flying"

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jtholmesisamazing says:: JT is a doll.; reply

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yomsababa says:: JT Holmes is BEAUTIFUL; reply

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jimk2you says:: Wow... looks like something God created... a flying squirrel...; reply

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mifami says:: Incredible...amazing...! You guys rock!; reply

dantzd says:

I can see that the "birdmen" raise their heads and drop their feet to slow their airspeed, but I'm curious about how they know when it is safe to release their parachutes. I think that if they pop their chutes at 140 miles an hour they would not survive the impact of the chute opening. Do they have an airspeed indicator, at least when they are learning how to "fly."? Do they listen to the sound of the wind like glider pilots? Just how do they know when it is safe to release the chute?


chronicillnesscoach replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; My guess is that the small chute that pulls out the main one slows them down enough so that the impact is small. I went skydiving many years ago. With a jump master on each side of me, I had my own chute. I was falling at about 120 miles per hour, and barely noticed the impact when my chute deployed.


jtholmesjr replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; We do not wear airspeed indicators, altimeters or anything like that. We just comprehend the speed and altitude thru what we see and feel. We deploy our parachutes at a very high rate of speed. They open quite briskly. -jt


dtroy347 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; Time and experience tells them when to open, as well as an altimiter usually. Normal skydivers fall at 120 to 150+ all the time, typical free fall speed is 120. I am a bit heavy and go a bit faster than most. I generally average 130+ on opening and it is quite soft. Of course this depends on the size of your chute and your weight.


skyjumper1 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; I'm a skydiver with 950 jumps, but not a base jumper. While skydiving out of airplanes, I have flown wingsuits. We wear audible electronic altimeters in our helmets and manual altimeters on our wrist to guage how high we deploy. Usually we open high enough (3000+ ft) to give us time to cut away and open our reserve if there is a problem with our main parachute. Base jumpers do not have a reserve, only one chute. They usually open lower and either gauge altitude and when to open by counting seconds, or for higher/longer jumps they will gauge when to open by sight experience, estimating height above the ground. I'm thinking that altimeters would lose accuracy on long climbs up mountains, as barometric pressure changes. Depending on what height and type of jumping, chutes can be packed to open very quickly for short low jumps, or open more slowly for higher speed jumps. In skydiving we regularly open our chutes at 120 mph with no problems. You'll see that they pull up and flare as part of deployment to slow down and lessen opening shock.


squawflyer replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; it's a lot of feel. No airspeed indicators, but the sound of the air is very telling. these guys are all experienced skydivers and BASE jumpers BEFORE they ever try wingsuiting, so there is already an understanding for the speeds required for safe openings. The design of the canopy and the way it is packed also protects against "hard openings" which can be deadly.


skydvrTX replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; Parachutes are made to open safely at this speed. There is a piece of fabric in the middle of the lines called a "slider" that softens the impact of an opening parachute.


SKYCAT081 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; The answer to your question is easy. As a Skydiver, Wingsuit Jumper and Base Jumper it is still the same process. Base jumping as seen you pack two different ways. Slider up or slider down. At faster speeds you pack slider up which slows the canopy when it opens. After they jump they will reach all kinds of speeds. After the speed of around 120 which is the normal max opening speed if you want to feel good after you will in a wingsuit put the brakes on with your legs and arms bent to catch some air. It does slow you down in a short second or two. The canopy can also be rolled more to slow the opening down. When your Skydiving and doing what they call head down which is doing just what it's called, flying straight down on your head you also reach great speeds. At pull time they will go back to an arch position to slow down enough. Skydiving canopies have very small lines that attach to the canopy that can and will brake if you pull at speeds over 125. Base rigs have very thick lines going to the canopy that can take a lot more but still have an attachment point on the canopy that can tear. So point on both sports, pack it right, slow it down at the end and even then sometimes WOW that hurt. Hope that helps. If you look at the video again watch his back legs at the end.

Cheers, Bryce

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jerlesj says:: There are many segments on 60 Minutes over the years that have inspired me, moved me, made me proud of my country, or just gave me that good feeling that life is far more wonderful than we really appreciate. As one who is getting into the years when I'm starting to consider my "bucket list," the feature on the flying suits and these incredible men (and women?) compel me to look into the sport. I'm also thinking, "What could these guys ever hope to put on their bucket list to compare with their experiences?"; reply