On Oct 15, 12:30*pm, P Ilatus wrote:
there's a falcon 'skydiving' video on the same website:

http://www.flixxy.com/skydiving-falcon.htm

At 16:47 15 October 2008, Bob Whelan wrote:



A skydiver, freefalling and being followed by a peregrine falcon.
http://www.flixxy.com/you-can-fly.htm
=== end ===
that is awesome

Fantastic footage, indeed. Just one question: how did the Falcon get
up there? I cannot imagine him flying alongside the C-172 all the time
it took to climb to altitude. Even when climbing, the Cessna would be
too fast. Did the parachutist carry him along and toss him out the
door before he exited?

This may be a first...TV being ahead of the internet. *Maybe a year or
two ago I happened to catch something on PBS (Nova?) about a sport
parachutist/falconer/scientifically-inclined person seeking to measure
just how fast Peregrine Falcons could dive. *As of then, his trained
falcon had attained (as I vaguely recall) 287 mph keeping pace with his
trainer/free-falling 'chutist. *I blundered into the show via channel
surf, and was more interested in what (t)he(y) had learned about bird
aerodynamics than absolute speeds, so take the above number skeptically.

In any event, the bird - to achieve the highest descent speeds then seen
*& recorded - modified its nominal body shape to achieve a slimmer
cross section than merely diving head-first downhill might indicate
possible.

Nifty science, w. a high 'Gollygeewhillickers!' factor.

Bob - there might *BE* something to this evolution theory - W.

P.S. Not an insignificant 'chutist speed either...!

A stable skydiver is at about 120 mph I belive