The Parachutist High Altitude Thermal Suit from Airborne Systems does exactly what its name implies. It’s cold at high altitude and parachutists can find themselves in free fall or under canopy for long periods of time in those conditions. This suit is designed to allow a parachutists to safely free fall and then survive the cold.
In case you missed history being made yesterday, here’s the money shot.
Here are a few facts about yesterday’s record breaking freefall jump from the edge of space courtesy of Airman magazine.
Here are the stats from the jump:
Exit Altitude: 128,100 feet
Free Fall Time: 4 minutes, 20 seconds
Free Fall Distance: 119,846 feet
Maximum Velocity: 373 meters/second — He achieved Mach 1.24!
Some final words from the press conference:
“When I was standing there on top of the world so humble, you are not thinking about breaking records. I was thinking about coming back alive. You do not want to die in front of your parents and all these people….I thought ‘please God, don’t let me down.”
~ Felix Baumgartner
Best Quote:”I’d like to give the one-fingered salute to everyone who said he was going to break apart when he went supersonic.”
~ Col Joseph Kittinger
“I want to inspire the next generation. I want to be in mission control with someone younger than me wanting to break my record.”
~Felix
It had me on the edge of my seat and I think I was holding my breath until he got stable in freefall. My hat’s off to Felix Baumgartner but I have to say that Joe Kettinger is a stud. Consider that he jumped thousands of feet lower than Baumgartner yet held freefall longer before deploying his chute. And, he did it with a compromised pressure suit. And, it was in 1960! That man has balls as big as church bells. Here’s to the next young person who works to break these records!
Chris Costa enjoying a day at the office. Jumping a Camo Rigs harness, he’s wearing a Bone Head helmet dipped by the guys at WW Guns, and fitted with Smith Elite boogie goggles.
Just thought all of the legs should know.
That is all…
One of the best jobs in the USAF – SERE Specialist
This is ATS Tactical’s brand new Jumpable RAID II. The prototype has been jumped. It is the same RAID II pack you know and love (same dimensions, same cubic inches at 1512 ci, a little heavier at 3 pounds) except, reinforced and rigged for jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft. Made from 500D Cordura. Regular price on these is $349.99. They’re doing a pre-order sale on ‘em for the next two weeks at $299.00. The first handful of these will be off the production line either tomorrow or Friday.
Marines and Sailors from 1st and 3rd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Companies conducted a live jump with members of the British Army’s 148th Forward Observer Battery (Commando) at Edwards Air Force Base, CA, on June 15th. Years ago, when I was in the Army I went drinking with some of the members of the 148th when they and I were, by happenstance, all at Camp Lejeune on TDY. It resulted in one of the most epic hangovers of my life. The dive trip I took the next day at Topsail Beach basically sucked but I must say, those boys could hold their liquor and were some really great guys.
Here, members of the 23rd STS (I was the S2 of this Squadron in the late 90s) conduct airborne training. The Water DZ is in the Santa Rosa sound off of the Florida panhandle.
