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


I prefer the low tech approach -

http://technorati.com/videos/youtube...%3D2fLOgMQon7c

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


http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safe...age.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/scie...e/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