Wednesday
I do not 'remember' him but I do indeed know who you are talking about, what with obscure aviation trivia being very much one of my 'things' :-)
Posted by Perry de Havilland at June 7, 2006 03:24 PM
Very sweet. Now all he needs is a JATO to self-launch from the ground to altitude, and roller blades so one can land without a parachute....
Posted by Mike Lorrey at June 7, 2006 08:46 PM
That's freakin sweet!
But not quite as cool as this:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19261598-23109,00.html
Posted by Troy Specter at June 7, 2006 08:58 PM
A really cheap way of flying to France. Go up in a parachute plane and fly to France!
Posted by Andrew Ian Dodge at June 7, 2006 10:47 PM
I want a U-2 version of that thing, a backpack jet glider I can fly across the atlantic...
Posted by Mike Lorrey at June 7, 2006 10:52 PM
Looking from this side of the Atlantic, there were 47 comments when I looked. Every single one of them from this side of the Atlantic!
Is the Daily Mail segregating its readership? You don't get to see US comments and we don't get to see UK comments?
Or is it possible that only people from NA are interested in this?
Posted by Midwesterner at June 7, 2006 10:57 PM
You know, one of the side effects of these things will be to make borders awfully permeable. All you need is a parachute flight in Mexico, say, and a nice long glide into Texas.
Posted by Julian Morrison at June 8, 2006 12:18 AM
And some people thought the Segway was the ultimate in personal transportation.
Posted by Alan K. Henderson at June 8, 2006 10:41 AM
"You know, one of the side effects of these things will be to make borders awfully permeable. All you need is a parachute flight in Mexico, say, and a nice long glide into Texas."
Julian,
My bet is that if you can afford one of those things (not to mention the cost of the chute and the flight), you're not going to be an illegal immigrant.
And flying into Texas looking like a giant winged critter would be somewhat unwise, methinks...
Posted by Kim du Toit at June 8, 2006 06:42 PM
Kim du Toit: I wasn't so much thinking of the real mil-spec carbon-fiber deal, as rather a backyard fiberglass copy. Once the concept's out there, it surely can't be much harder to make than a homebuilt light aircraft.
I'll concede an impoverished illegal might not be up to the task, but how about a smuggler, a spy or a terrorist?
The point with these gadgets is that while they might be plainly obvious in daylight, there really wouldn't be much to see them by at night, neither looks nor noise nor heat nor much radar return.
Posted by Julian Morrison at June 8, 2006 10:13 PM
The precursor to the reentry jump. They'll be using these to bail out of the Space Shuttle soon.
Posted by walter at June 8, 2006 10:21 PM
The precursor to the reentry jump. They'll be using these to bail out of the Space Shuttle soon.
hmmm... inflatable ballute (maybe with an ablative surface) followed by wings when you go non-ballistic. Hell yeah, now that is what I call de-orbiting! The ultimate thrill sport of the future.
Posted by Perry de Havilland at June 8, 2006 10:52 PM
