Watch two 'Jetmen' fly alongside an A380 superjumbo

Ron Czapala

We've seen Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy (aka Jetman) fly his carbon fiber jet wing over Rio, and above Dubai with his protege Jetman Vince Reffet. The latest video from the fearless aviators sees Rossy and Reffet share the skies with something a little bigger -- an Emirates A380 airliner. Once again, the flight takes place over the Palm Jumeirah and Dubai skylines. We can only imagine the duo gives the A380 pilot constant heart palpitations as they deftly manoeuvre around the plane (y'know, with its jet intakes and all that).

erco

Now THAT'S awesome.

lardom

The jetmen endure low pressure, temperature and oxygen? They manage to avoid the airliner's wake and exhaust? There are a bunch of camera angles too.
I'd actually like to see video from passenger camera phones.

RDL2004

Maybe Ironman is not so far-fetched after all.

Ron Czapala

Forgot to include the link to original article I found

http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/05/jetman-dubai-emirates-a380/

xanadu

Heater.

Lardom,

The jetmen endure low pressure, temperature and oxygen?

That rather depends on altitude. At only 4000 ft I don't think there is a problem with oxygen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_high_altitude_on_humans

The temperature at 4000ft is about 44F (7C) so that's no problem either. Much warmer than on the ground around here most of the time.

They manage to avoid the airliner's wake and exhaust

That rather puzzled me as well. But given the slow speed of the operation this video convinces me that airliner wake vortices are perhaps not such a big problem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW4PmUE151c

lardom

Heater, observe what happens to several thrill seekers on St. Maarten beach. It's also a great lesson on why it's unwise to fly a drone anywhere near a plane. I first saw this several years ago.

skylight

Cant view the video it says to sign in?

Ron Czapala

Strange - somehow the video id number changed...
I fixed he post

Here is the article link http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/05/jetman-dubai-emirates-a380/

NWCCTV

CGI at it's best????

User Name

Ron, that is just so awesome!! SO wish I had the wherewithal to hang with Yves & Co.

One really needs to be happy with what he has - like a humble paraglider and a local hill with reliable ridge lift.

Publison

NWCCTV wrote: »

CGI at it's best????

Nope the real deal:

http://www.jetman.com/

W9GFO

lardom wrote: »

The jetmen endure low pressure, temperature and oxygen?

I've been much higher than that in my hang glider - for a much longer period of time.

lardom wrote: »

They manage to avoid the airliner's wake and exhaust?

Sure, why not? Slow speeds make the wake vortices worse, not better - but where they are is well known and thus easy to avoid. Likewise the jet exhaust location is equally easy to avoid.

Those vortices shown in the video, while not being something you would want to fly through, are not the ones to be primarily concerned about. The big vortices originate at the wing tips and are not visible.

lardom

W9GFO, I've always been a bit envious of the birds since I was a child. I dreamed as a kid of flying like Superman. When my wife discovered I was starting to build a hang glider in the 80's she vehemently yelled NO!
Even now I watch videos of powered paragliders. I still have that desire. As it is, I'm hooked on flying quadcopters.
Flying a jetpack alongside a passenger jet for fun...I'll pass.