Basejumper.com - archive

Hey everyone, my name is Weston and I’m a design student at Appalachian state university. My group and I are working on a project to design products for BASE jumping, especially wingsuiting. Are there any common problems with any of the equipment that could be improved? Any issues with deployment of the pilot chute or judging distances and speed? Any advice, experiences, or ideas are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

How big is your project? And do you need to figure out how to actually implement it?

I want programable opening heading. Stand on the exit point, pick a direction on your wrist mounted control unit, and the parachute opens facing that direction every time.

There is 5 of us and the project is 6 weeks long. We could end up making a real prototype if possible but yes it has to be something that could be sold with current technology and such.

There is a need for real time instrumentation & there are a few people out there prototyping their own systems to give airspeed, angle of attack, and reserve lift indications via visor mounted HUD in flight.

There is also a need for specialized helmets that offer actual protection (Snell certified), offer protection from multiple impacts, offer good aerodynamics in the wingsuiting body position and maintain very light weight. You might as well build in a 360 camera while you're at it too.

You should fix tension knots :)

Indeed, fix tension knots!

Canopies are way too heavy. I'd like a wingsuit canopy under 2kg please

solar powered packing robot

The current pilot chutes have their handle at the top, which means when you pull it out the pilot chute is facing the wrong way, as the chute goes back to face the right way it can get tangled in the bridle. If you could do some testing on a pilot chute with the handle close to the bridle attachment point, so when you grab it out of the container it is facing the right way. People have talked about it but not sure if anyone has made one

https://vimeo.com/174843417

Squirrel did some tests in the above video with a reverse handle:

"Martin Tilley recommended that we test a reverse handle design: what if we put the handle on the bottom of the PC? So we did. The deployment using this modified design is labeled in the video. It appears to function. But, there is still a handle, there is still a bridle, and those things can still interact. More testing is needed."

Source:
https://base-book.com/pc-extraction-and-inflation

Thanks, it didn't inflate like I imagined it would

What if Antoine Laporte's "bridle sock" is incorporated?

https://www.facebook.com/...73&id=1546606005

I am with Tom on this one. If you lads are serious, then designing a simple, yet effective canopy deployment system which guarantees canopy opening direction (or at least improves probability in a dramatic way) then you will have an industry changing technology on your hands.

Once a skydiver becomes interested in BASE jumping they realise very quickly that most BASE jumpers get injured or die from hitting an object under a fully open canopy. Mostly because canopy opened towards the object.

They also realise quickly that there are tips and tricks to getting opening heading improved but at the end of the day -- they realise -- it is a bit of Russian roulette. Some jumpers can go through thousands of jumps but still will get an off-heading opening sooner or later. It is not a maybe, it is a solid fact -- one day it will happen to any jumper.

And so it doesn't matter -- really -- if jumper looks at a cliff or building running at them at 30km/h on jump 10 or jump 1000, it is irrelevant at what stage of the career serious injury or death will have a chance to occur if you know that it will occur.

Therefore most skydivers try BASE once or a few times and then weigh up what BASE does for them vs whether they are prepared to take a chance of steering their canopy away from death or injury with 10-20m of distance and 1-2 seconds to react. For the perfectionists out there: there are variables but these are average numbers, ok?

Most skydivers do not proceed with BASE jumping because they are not comfortable with the odds.

Now, if you were to design a system which would guarantee deployment heading (or heading after deployment to be precise) then you will have a game changing technology on your hands. If you are to sell a rig that would have guaranteed (or even near-guaranteed to acceptable odds) deployment heading, the number of people joining BASE would probably double in a year.

As soon as the word gets out that you can now deploy the canopy and not worry about fighting for life pulling on things, skydivers will race into BASE. Non-skydivers will join in great numbers. A lot of non-skydivers will find their way into BASE (for good or worst reasons).

You will easily double the market in the first year, I reckon. With good marketing pitch it would be doable.

And most importantly -- you will save lives. Look at the BASE fatality list (have you, by the way?) check out what ppl die from. This is the most common cause.

Of course, make BASE so accessible will bring the numbers which will make exit points more crowded, potentially this will have negative effects on ethics, object access, etc. But then again, if the market will be big enough, there will be man-made objects built by commercial operators, thus growing the industry even more and making BASE even more mainstream and accepted.

Have a think about it. You can go down in history as the person/group who re-invented the sport.

Another simpler idea is designing an air-bag system which could be deployed if contact with object (cliff, building) is unavoidable.

Skiers use portable personal air-bag systems, it could be something like that but has to be smaller and lighter. Ideally it would be integrated into rig/container and it has to provide unquestionable benefit otherwise BASE jumpers would see it as uncool.

https://youtu.be/mo9Vlt5tGwY

I think those work like the equestrian ones--they have a cable that deploys them when the rider separates from the horse/motorcycle.

I'm not sure how you'd implement that in BASE. Maybe make it user activated?

I think some of the moto airbag suits utilize gyro sensors on the bike itself, so it knows you’re going down and inflates before you get thrown

The air big in integrated into the suit now, if you watch Moto GP, they have a little flashing light on their sleeve, not connected to the bike in any way. Not sure what makes them go off

Design a pill that gets you high, drunk and horny at the same time. That will get you about 80% of the target audience immediately.

I am willing to be a guinea pig in any tests for this new wonder drug/innovation

When I worked as a packer I would guarantee the cleanest on heading openings consistent with the manufacturers advertising*




* if the pins are out the guarantee is void.

Design a full blown inflatable sex doll that has multiple holes, inflates instantly with some sort of tiny fan, and deflates / folds up into very little volume that will fit in either your wingsuit pocket or an outer stash bag pocket, that weighs under a quarter of a pound. And is inexpensive.

I don’t think you’ve thought this through properly, what if the doll instantly inflates in your pocket while you’re flying the wingsuit , it could result in an embarrassing situation!!!