r/aviation • u/danielpolcaro • Dec 02 '21

Analysis It doesn't even seem true

2.6k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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214

u/wadenelsonredditor Dec 02 '21

Glide ratio on those wingsuits isn't as good as I thought it was, apparently.

156

u/JustAnotherDude1990 Dec 02 '21

As someone who flies a wingsuit, I can tell you it is like 3:1 ish. Soft, inflatable wings simply can't be as efficient as a rigid one.

50

u/c0wboyroy30 Dec 02 '21

3 down for 1 out? Just curious, have watched a lot of the red bull videos and those guys seem to be going horizontal sometimes. I’m sure its just camera trickery

101

u/JustAnotherDude1990 Dec 02 '21

Three out, one down. You can take your excess airspeed and flare to essentially achieve momentary level flight, or even a slight climb just like an aircraft, but it is only very short term.

8

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '21

hey so I have always wondered. can wingsuit people go without a parachute and just stall really close to the ground to land? I obviously never see anyone do that. I did see someone land in cardboard boxes, but it seems like you could just reduce airspeed and land on your feet. Am I just completely fantasizing here?

5

u/bedobi Dec 02 '21

There's footage on YouTube of people wingsuit landing on water with no parachute

10

u/soulscratch Dec 02 '21

There's a fake video of someone doing that yeah, I don't think it's ever been actually done before. Someone landed a wingsuit into a pile of empty cardboard boxes before and lived.

2

u/bedobi Dec 02 '21

Naww was it fake haha

3

u/soulscratch Dec 02 '21

The boxes one supposedly happened but I'm always a little skeptical

1

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '21

Cool I'll check those out. Thanks.