Yves "FusionMan" Rossy Flies With $ Jet Engines, Folding Wing, and Little Else.

[Larry Dighera]

New materials and technology push the frontiers of flight ever
further. All it takes is a sponsor with $285,000.00 to spare and a
courageous airman.

What's next, a two-place? :-)


(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/1121-full.html#197892)
Yves Rossy, 48, again made headlines last Wednesday, jumping from
an aircraft over the Alps with yet another set of prototype
jet-powered and unfolding wings (roughly seven and one half foot
in span), but this time with four jet engines and enough skill to
execute a full 360-degree roll. "That was to impress the girls"
the now-single pioneer told Australia's Herald Sun. Rossy plans to
cross the English Channel later this year, convinced that 10
minutes of fuel and a speed of 185 miles per hour will leave him
room to spare. ...



Watch the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-oQ--U-WaQ
May 15, 2008
Swiss "Rocket Man" Yves Rossy becomes the first person in the
world to fly with wings under rocket power. This so cool!



http://www.jet-man.com/prod/index_en.html
Yves "FusionMan" Rossy flies over the Alps: The bird man makes his
first demonstration flight

Yves "FusionMan" Rossy, the first man to fly under a single
jet-powered wing, completed his first official demonstration
before the international press Wednesday May 14th at midday.
Released from a plane at an altitude of 8,000 feet, he completed a
circuit in just over 5 minutes which saw him fly over the Swiss
Chablais and neighboring mountains.

The spectacle was impressive. Yves Rossy leapt from the plane
with his wing folded, then deployed his craft and began the flight
proper. He made several "figure of eights" above the spectators
aware of being present at an exceptional event. At the end of the
flight FusionMan deployed his parachute, folded the wing and
landed safely at Bex aerodrome in Switzerland.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Rossy
Jet-powered wings
Rossy was the test pilot on May 14, 2008, in a successful 6-minute
flight from the town of Bex near Lake Geneva. He exited a Pilatus
Porter at 7,500 feet with jet engines and a folded 8-foot pair of
airplane-type wings strapped to his back. It was the first public
demonstration before the world's press. He made effortless loops
from one side of the Rhone valley to the other and rose 2,600
feet. Rossy, his sponsors, and the Swiss watch company Hublot,
spent $285,000 to build the device. [1] [2] [3] ...



Earlier:

September 21, 2006
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEXxkWXncuo
ENGLISH TRANSLATION HERE (I'm not l337 enuf to do subtitles :) The
Jet Man, Yves Rossy, a former Swiss military pilot, designed and
built a deployable 3-meter wing, holding kerosene fuel for 2 jet
engines (as of May 2008 FOUR turbines on a 2.5m wing!!) fixed to
the tips and attached it to his back. Rossy launched from an
airplane and flew for 4 minutes, traveling over 100 mph, landing
by parachute. http://www.jet-man.com/prod/index_en....
OK here's my attempt at translation (if you can, please correct!):
00:16 (VIDEO START)
00:20 (German) Further, further away from the car
00:22 Yes
00:24 (French) Towards the drain
00:25 There?
00:26 Yep
00:33 ('SCOTLAND THE BRAVE' RINGTONE)
00:48 So, the idea is, as we see here, there's the fuel, the smoke
cartridges, and the jet engines underneath, for horizontal flight.
01:00 In fact, the Flying Jet Man, that's the idea. And to do that
we've developed this folding wing, taking into account the space
available in the plane, because we don't have much space. A wing
of 3 meters would not fit in the plane without being folding.
01:19 It's nearly a mini-airplane, except that, well, I'm the
fuselage. So there's fuel, batteries, gas for starting the jet
engines, oil is in the kerosene for lubricating the engine. I have
a little handle for moving the ailerons so I can go up and down,
so I've got all the controls just like a plane, and like I said
I'm the fuselage with two jet engines up my backside!
01:56 The goal - horizontal flight. That's it.
03:08 (START ENGINES IN PLANE, WINGS FOLDED)
03:23 (JUMP)
04:27 (PARACHUTE OPENS)
04:50 (LANDING, WINGS FOLDED)
04:52 (excited) I had a fantastic exit from the plane, that's
already a good start, because the wings don't open symmetrically,
so I'm always a little tense that that will work well, sometimes
that creates a little half turn like that, but I've exited well,
and clunk! I was stable, so that's already a good start to the
flight.
05:08 Physically it feels great, you're in gliding flight like
that, you feel that you're falling, gliding, that's already OK,
you're in flight, then you hit the gas, and vroom! bang! you feel
how that pushes, and it holds up horizontally, it's great.
05:26 It's like there's a big handle in your back, and the good
Lord takes you by it and shoves you through the air, it's
fantastic!!

[[email protected]]

On 19 May, 21:12, Larry Dighera > wrote:
> New materials and technology push the frontiers of flight ever
> further. *All it takes is a sponsor with $285,000.00 to spare and a
> courageous airman. *
>
> What's next, a two-place? *:-)
>
> *(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/1121-full.html#197892)
> * * Yves Rossy, 48, again made headlines last Wednesday, jumping from
> * * an aircraft over the Alps with yet another set of prototype
> * * jet-powered and unfolding wings (roughly seven and one half foot
> * * in span), but this time with four jet engines and enough skill to
> * * execute a full 360-degree roll. "That was to impress the girls"
> * * the now-single pioneer told Australia's Herald Sun. Rossy plans to
> * * cross the English Channel later this year, convinced that 10
> * * minutes of fuel and a speed of 185 miles per hour will leave him
> * * room to spare. ...
>
> Watch the video:
>
> * *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-oQ--U-WaQ
> * * May 15, 2008
> * * Swiss "Rocket Man" Yves Rossy becomes the first person in the
> * * world to fly with wings under rocket power. This so cool!
>
> * *http://www.jet-man.com/prod/index_en.html
> * * Yves "FusionMan" Rossy flies over the Alps: The bird man makes his
> * * first demonstration flight
>
> * * Yves "FusionMan" Rossy, the first man to fly under a single
> * * jet-powered wing, completed his first official demonstration
> * * before the international press Wednesday May 14th at midday.
> * * Released from a plane at an altitude of 8,000 feet, he completed a
> * * circuit in just over 5 minutes which saw him fly over the Swiss
> * * Chablais and neighboring mountains.
>
> * * The spectacle was impressive. *Yves Rossy leapt from the plane
> * * with his wing folded, then deployed his craft and began the flight
> * * proper. *He made several "figure of eights" above the spectators
> * * aware of being present at an exceptional event. *At the end of the
> * * flight FusionMan deployed his parachute, folded the wing and
> * * landed safely at Bex aerodrome in Switzerland.
>
> * *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Rossy
> * * Jet-powered wings
> * * Rossy was the test pilot on May 14, 2008, in a successful 6-minute
> * * flight from the town of Bex near Lake Geneva. He exited a Pilatus
> * * Porter at 7,500 feet with jet engines and a folded 8-foot pair of
> * * airplane-type wings strapped to his back. It was the first public
> * * demonstration before the world's press. He made effortless loops
> * * from one side of the Rhone valley to the other and rose 2,600
> * * feet. Rossy, his sponsors, and the Swiss watch company Hublot,
> * * spent $285,000 to build the device. [1] [2] [3] ...
>
> Earlier:
>
> * * September 21, 2006
> * *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEXxkWXncuo
> * * ENGLISH TRANSLATION HERE (I'm not l337 enuf to do subtitles :) The
> * * Jet Man, Yves Rossy, a former Swiss military pilot, designed and
> * * built a deployable 3-meter wing, holding kerosene fuel for 2 jet
> * * engines (as of May 2008 FOUR turbines on a 2.5m wing!!) fixed to
> * * the tips and attached it to his back. Rossy launched from an
> * * airplane and flew for 4 minutes, traveling over 100 mph, landing
> * * by parachute.http://www.jet-man.com/prod/index_en....
> * * OK here's my attempt at translation (if you can, please correct!):
> * * 00:16 (VIDEO START)
> * * 00:20 (German) Further, further away from the car
> * * 00:22 Yes
> * * 00:24 (French) Towards the drain
> * * 00:25 There?
> * * 00:26 Yep
> * * 00:33 ('SCOTLAND THE BRAVE' RINGTONE)
> * * 00:48 So, the idea is, as we see here, there's the fuel, the smoke
> * * cartridges, and the jet engines underneath, for horizontal flight.
> * * 01:00 In fact, the Flying Jet Man, that's the idea. And to do that
> * * we've developed this folding wing, taking into account the space
> * * available in the plane, because we don't have much space. A wing
> * * of 3 meters would not fit in the plane without being folding.
> * * 01:19 It's nearly a mini-airplane, except that, well, I'm the
> * * fuselage. So there's fuel, batteries, gas for starting the jet
> * * engines, oil is in the kerosene for lubricating the engine. I have
> * * a little handle for moving the ailerons so I can go up and down,
> * * so I've got all the controls just like a plane, and like I said
> * * I'm the fuselage with two jet engines up my backside!
> * * 01:56 The goal - horizontal flight. That's it.
> * * 03:08 (START ENGINES IN PLANE, WINGS FOLDED)
> * * 03:23 (JUMP)
> * * 04:27 (PARACHUTE OPENS)
> * * 04:50 (LANDING, WINGS FOLDED)
> * * 04:52 (excited) I had a fantastic exit from the plane, that's
> * * already a good start, because the wings don't open symmetrically,
> * * so I'm always a little tense that that will work well, sometimes
> * * that creates a little half turn like that, but I've exited well,
> * * and clunk! I was stable, so that's already a good start to the
> * * flight.
> * * 05:08 Physically it feels great, you're in gliding flight like
> * * that, you feel that you're falling, gliding, that's already OK,
> * * you're in flight, then you hit the gas, and vroom! bang! you feel
> * * how that pushes, and it holds up horizontally, it's great.
> * * 05:26 It's like there's a big handle in your back, and the good
> * * Lord takes you by it and shoves you through the air, it's
> * * fantastic!!

I prefer the low tech approach -

http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2fLOgMQon7c
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/detail_page.cgi?ID=613

Well I wouldn't have anything to do with either activity:-)

[Larry Dighera]

On Tue, 20 May 2008 11:12:40 -0700 (PDT), wrote in
>:

>
>I prefer the low tech approach -
>
>http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2fLOgMQon7c

The dual douche-bags, although definitely low tech, are a remarkably
clever idea.


>http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/detail_page.cgi?ID=613
>

The flights of Visa Parviainen would seem to be pioneering in this
sort of minimalist aviation. They were surly the inspiration for Yves
Rossy.

One wonders how flight control is archived, but from the description,
it appears that it's largely accomplished through body-English.

>Well I wouldn't have anything to do with either activity:-)

Aw, come on. You're not game to strap flame-throwers on your feet and
fuel bladders inside your flight suit, and jump out of a balloon? :-)

Thanks for the information.


http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/2724291.html
Published in the June 2006 issue.
Finnish Wingsuiter Sets Benchmarks in Human Flight

he had outfitted himself in a black helmet with small, sweptback
wings--or possibly ears--giving him the appearance of a
not-too-distant cousin of Mighty Mouse. The resemblance was enhanced
by the larger wings attached to his suit--a red BirdMan S3 wingsuit,
to be exact. On his feet he wore boots with a patch that read
"Danger."

The footwear was aptly labeled. Wingsuits are by now a common sight to
sky divers at drop zones all over the world, but the boots were
another matter. Attached to them were two small jet engines he hoped
would propel him through the sky....

Over the past decade, companies such as Advanced Micro Turbines have
made ever smaller, lighter and more powerful engines. Parviainen isn't
the only wingsuiter to think of using the jets to increase his forward
velocity and generate lift. But he was the first to brave the jets'
flames and give it a try.

The engines couldn't be tested from a plane because they have trouble
igniting in high winds. So Parviainen spent hours firing them while
perched on a platform outside a balloon basket. For fuel tanks he had
two hot-water bottles filled with kerosene stuffed inside his
wingsuit. The bags collapse as the fuel is used, keeping air from
mixing dangerously with the gas. During the flight, Parviainen planned
to hold a dead man's switch: As soon as he let go to open his
parachute the jets would cut off, preventing him from setting the
canopy on fire. ...

After he turned on his jets and fell away from the balloon,
Parviainen's wings filled with air and he started to glide. Before
long, his jets were pushing him across the sky. "I started to follow
my altimeter and I noticed already at 200 meters below the balloon, it
started to be horizontal flying," Parviainen said. "After that I
followed the altimeter approximately half a minute, with no real loss
of altitude." That was it. Parviainen had just become the first person
to fly more or less horizontally using nonrigid personal wings, no
wider than his arm span, for a significant length of time. ...

Parviainen then tried to climb. As he raised his angle of attack, he
felt his wings lose lift and he entered what could have been a deadly
stall. But with more than 200 wingsuit jumps under his belt,
Parviainen reacted instantly, diving to pick up speed and to let his
wings regain their lift. He flew for a total of 2 minutes before
opening his parachute.

Parviainen made several more flights before it became too cold. This
summer, he plans to be back, using new engines with nearly double the
thrust--30 kilos each. The primary goal is pure fun, but he also hopes
to fly longer and to achieve enough lift to climb. Eventually,
Parviainen may tackle one of the birdmen's last barriers: landing
without a parachute. Once he has jets strong enough, he imagines
taking off from a cliff. He'll have plenty of room to drop and open a
canopy in case of trouble. But if all goes well, he will fly back to
the cliff's edge to land. ...



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsuit_flying
Wingsuit flying is the art of flying the human body through the air
using a special jumpsuit, called a wingsuit, that shapes the human
body into an airfoil which can create lift. The wingsuit creates the
airfoil shape with fabric sewn between the legs and under the arms. It
is also called a birdman suit or squirrel suit. ...

In many ways, wingsuits allow humans to imitate birds, allowing the
human arms and legs to become wings. Flying a wingsuit with a group of
wingsuit pilots allows the group to imitate a flock of birds, and
hence is called "flocking." BASE jumpers who fly their wingsuits in
close proximity to cliff walls will experience many of the same visual
sensations that a hawk would experience flying the same path.

Wingsuit flying appeals to skydivers and BASE jumpers because flying a
wingsuit can easily increase freefall time from the average 60 second
skydive up to 3 minutes of freefall time. Wingsuit pilots are
constantly trying to lower their vertical speeds via different flying
techniques, giving more time to experience the freedom and sensations
of human flight.

Wingsuit flying is one of the few skydiving disciplines that allows
skydivers to hear each other talk in freefall. Because of the slow
fall rate, there is less noise from the passing air and wingsuit
pilots can actually talk to other wingsuit pilots when flying next to
each other.

Wingsuit flying even comes with its own sub-disciplines such as speed,
lift, distance, aerobatics, flocking, formations, horizontal
freeflying, canopy and wingsuit relative work, and more. Wingsuit
flying is still a relatively young discipline, and the full potential
is still unexplored, yet many ways to enjoy flying wingsuits have
already been discovered.



http://www.amtjets.com/visa.html
Nice close up photographs of the gear

http://www.amtjets.com/gallery_ulik.html
http://www.amtjets.com/gallery_jetbike_md.htm


And last, but not least:
http://www.bird-man.com/blog/index.php?date=200708