Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight
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Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight
#2I mean... It's only like, really cool.
On a side note, I think it's going to be an interesting decade for all sorts of sports. Different variants enabled by technology, and every-improving athletes and engineers are going to be working on very interesting demonstrations I bet.
Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight
#3Amusingly that’s actually much slower than the world record for unpowered wingsuit horizontal speed of 246.6 mph.
Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight
#4> BMW says the electric wingsuit enabled Salzmann to accelerate faster than his mates at a peak speed of 186 mph. (Normal wingsuit operators typically reach horizontal speeds around 62 mph.)
Very cool; it appears to be an assist, however, without the power to actually do a takeoff.
Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight
#5Does anyone know why it's not strapped at the back like a jetpack?
Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight
#6It says something about wingsuit flying that strapping a 25,000 rpm motor to one's chest and pointing it only slightly away from one's groin isn't even close to the biggest risk factor in this activity.
Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight
#7Does anyone know why it's not strapped at the back like a jetpack?
Most obvious is parachute goes on the back, and you really don’t want to mess with that. But, you’re also going to get a lot more turbulence on someone’s back.
Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight
#8Does anyone know why it's not strapped at the back like a jetpack?
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Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight
#9My first thought is that this would plausibly explain the recent appearances of mid-altitude jetpack sightings by airline pilots around LAX.
Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight
#10Amusingly that’s actually much slower than the world record for unpowered wingsuit horizontal speed of 246.6 mph.
Tho that was not what was tested, this is about having additional thrust to regain altitude and fly longer distances:
> “I found the idea of being able to jump from my local mountain wearing the wingsuit and land in my garden fascinating.”