Jeb Corliss is one of a number of people competing to be the first person to jump out of a plane without a parachute:
[photopress:Wing_Suits___Jeb_Corliss_v2_by_Axel_Koester_NYT_10flying.xlarge1.jpg,thumb,pp_image]
All of this is technically possible,” said Jean Potvin, a physics professor at Saint Louis University and skydiver who performs parachute research for the Army. But he acknowledged a problem: “The thing I’m not sure of is your margins in terms of safety, or likelihood to crash.”
*Flying Squirrel gallery after the jump …* Continue reading →
Sherpa - metaphorically, as in trade name of Mist Mobility Integrated Systems Technology, Inc.in Ottawa, Canada, not “Sherpa” as high-altitude Nepalese ethnic group, famous as guides on Everest and other climbs.
(Photos via Military.Com, credit USMC Staff Sgt. Bill Lisbon)
Military.Com has adapted articles by Maj. John M. O’Regan and Benjamin Rooney for the Army Soldier Systems Center, and Staff Sgt. Bill Lisbon for the USMC 1st Force Service Support Group for this piece about the Sherpa, which is followed by an explanatory piece by Eric Daniel (no internal link; scroll to bottom of the page.
Link to Military.Com article.
NB: This particular system is new - and, frankly, we don’t know much about the entire subject of dropping packages by air, which (1) is a critical capability in war and in civilian disaster, (2) has risks and costs, and (3) you’d rather avoid by having the logistical situation in hand beforehand - having said all that, this system uses GPS and probably reduces the risks attendant with dropping things out of planes. There’s a reason that kids like throwing things out of high windows - and reasons they get in trouble for it. More on JPADS and airborne cargo drops as we learn it.
In 1975, Boris Popov was in a glider accident.
“As I fell, I became most angry at my inability to do something,” Popov explained. “I had time to throw a parachute. I knew they existed but they hadn’t yet been introduced to the hang gliding community.” This event led Popov to invent the whole-aircraft parachute system and to found Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS) in 1980.
The firm claims “BRS has sold more than 25,000 of its parachute systems and has saved more than 199 lives. In 2004, the FAA and EASA both certified a BRS parachute system for the Cessna 182 to go along with the 172 certification. The companies’ products are sold worldwide.”
Here’s a series of stills taken by NASA of Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS):
Ballistic Recovery Systems.
What we don’t know much about is the details of dropping cargo by parachute: accuracy, limits, safety to personnel on the ground.
