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A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight

military.com

111–120 of 205 posts

Re: A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight

#111
post #5

"In 1974, the future Dr. Rupert was skydiving naked while he was a student at the University of Illinois. He noticed that the rush of air on so much bare skin kept him oriented, even as he spun and twirled in midair." Where do you sign up for naked skydiving?

At the risk of being pedantic, I assume the parachute and harness are still necessary clothing.

You start naked, and then put on the parachute on the way down.

Re: A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Military aviation accidents have killed 224 pilots or aircrew, destroyed 186 aircraft, and cost more than $11.6 billion since 2013"[1] "Combined with information from the Federal Aviation Administration, an average of 383 pilots die every year in the US." [2] [1] https://taskandpurpose.com/news/military-aviation-mishaps-de... [2] https://www.skytough.com/post/how-many-pilots-die-a-year

That is 32 pilots or aircrew killed in military aviation accidents total per year from 2013-2020. The article claims 30 pilot die every year from spatial disorientation alone. I find it unlikely that 30 out of 32 deaths of "pilots and crew" are pilots, and also unlikely that all of these accidents are due to spatial disorientation. (Edit- just read the source article- https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19…

I think the sentence is just poorly worded. I see this "it costs $300 per year" and "30 lives" as two separate ideas. I think we might just be assuming that its also 30 lives per year, when it might just have been $300 million and 30 lives in recent years. I struggled with that sentence too, so I could also be totally wrong.

Re: A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Military aviation accidents have killed 224 pilots or aircrew, destroyed 186 aircraft, and cost more than $11.6 billion since 2013"[1] "Combined with information from the Federal Aviation Administration, an average of 383 pilots die every year in the US." [2] [1] https://taskandpurpose.com/news/military-aviation-mishaps-de... [2] https://www.skytough.com/post/how-many-pilots-die-a-year

So in this case, they are trying to say that this costs the U.S. military an estimated $300 million every year, and also kills 30 (non-military and military combined) pilots?

I think they're two separate ideas maybe. The "per year" in that sentence is ambiguous. It's unclear if it applies to the $300 million, or both that and the 30 lives.

Re: A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight

#114
post #8

This makes me wonder. I get car-sick when I'm a passenger in a car. Sometimes it takes an hour. Sometimes 10 minutes. However, if I'm riding in a convertible with the top down... I haven't gotten car-sick yet. Is the wind "fixing" the problem with my brain?

Tangential but maybe corroborating point:

Disney World has a ride ( I think called Mission Space ? ) that spins you in an enclosed space to imitate acceleration in space flight

Lots of motion sickness warnings on that ride and there are two key mitigations in each seat:

1. A “cockpit window” lcd screen showing a POV video that tracks with the acceleration

2. A powerful fan impelling air at your face

Looking away from the screen, even for a moment, can cause immense nausea and iirc is advised against on the ride

Neat!

Re: A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight

#115
post #41

I thought of this idea years ago, and I never sky dived naked. My idea was to use the soles of the feet instead, since there are a lot of nerves there, enabling very high resolution information. But ideas without execution are useless......

The naked sky dive part is a hook to get people who are not interested in planes or military. If the military needed that particular experience to come up with this idea.. well .. that does not suggest good things.

Re: A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight

#116
I used to be an avid skydiver, this article reminds me of the time my buddy Todd and his friend Jason jumped out of a jet, naked, at the World Freefall Convention in Illinois. They underestimated how bad the spot was going to be and ended up having to walk back like four miles wrapped in nothing but their parachutes. Ha ha. RIP Todd Jacobsen, he died after a bad landing back in 2008.

Re: A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Military aviation accidents have killed 224 pilots or aircrew, destroyed 186 aircraft, and cost more than $11.6 billion since 2013"[1] "Combined with information from the Federal Aviation Administration, an average of 383 pilots die every year in the US." [2] [1] https://taskandpurpose.com/news/military-aviation-mishaps-de... [2] https://www.skytough.com/post/how-many-pilots-die-a-year

That is 32 pilots or aircrew killed in military aviation accidents total per year from 2013-2020. The article claims 30 pilot die every year from spatial disorientation alone. I find it unlikely that 30 out of 32 deaths of "pilots and crew" are pilots, and also unlikely that all of these accidents are due to spatial disorientation. (Edit- just read the source article- https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19…

It costs a lot of money to train a military pilot. All thr trainig, all the simulators, even salary.

Then fuel for hours of flight every year. Aircraft mainenance.

That's why everyone tries to save them when shot down (also they know secrets).

Re: A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight

#118
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree, I think the destination is "elevator operator" and we are half way there. Automating flight has quite a bit of low hanging fruits and Airbus has become the first harvester out there. The rest opposed at first, but the only logical path forward is automating people out of the systems. Yes, we had the 737MAX thingy but even then arguments for re-humanisation of aircraft controls didn't catch much traction.

737MAX would not have crashed if it were being flown autonomously, as the entire MCAS system would have been unnecessary. It was there to meet regulations regarding control feel for human pilots.

MCAS only exists as a bandaid to a terrible idea. They should've built a new aircraft, not strap bigger engines into a 40ish year old frame.

If MCAS _actually_ worked, you and I wouldn't even know about it. But as tribute to how poorly it was designed and delivered, we know about MCAS because it killed over 300 people.

Just an absurd point you're making.

Airbus are an engineering firm, so they are doing clever engineering things. Boeing was an engineering firm that has been run by bean counters the past few decades.

It wasn't "opposition to automation" it was opposition to innovation for the sake of short term profit.

Boeing's executives should all be hanged :) hundreds of people dead for no reason whatsoever.

Re: A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Proprioception is the overall sense of knowing where your body parts are. You don’t just have a bunch of ‘proprioceptor’ nerves dedicated solely to that task, you have a whole wealth of signals coming into your brain that it aggregates into that overall sense. Similar to how vision isn’t just the raw signals on your optic nerve, but a whole machinery around filling in the details and blanks and saccades from memory a…

> You don’t just have a bunch of ‘proprioceptor’ nerves dedicated solely to that task, Actually you do. Most animals have capsule joint receptors which are dedicated to sensing stretching/relaxing of the joint capsule tissue. This signal is then sent through dedicated nerve paths on the dorsal part of your spine.

And... they aren't just used for proprioception. They also tell you how heavy things are when you pick them up, and sense vibrations, and help you sense changes in acceleration, which are distinct sensations from 'where in space are my hands right now.'

Re: A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight

#120

There's as similar vibro-tactile device, which is a belt you wear and always vibrates strongest in the direction of north, and over time the user would learn or improve their internal navigation. A quick search reveals a company, feelSpace, tried to bring this idea market for the purposes of navigation: https://newatlas.com/feelspace-navigation-belt/43571/ If I knew, I probably would have bought the belt for learning…

There are also some DIY versions of this, often in the form of ankle bracelets.

Lehpt Anonym, a 'biohacker' even planned to implant a similar device in their leg[1], though I don't know if they succeeded.

[1] https://www.wired.com/2010/12/transcending-the-human-diy-sty...

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