Wingsuit level flight
What’s more exciting than videos of ordinary man flying on their wingsuits near mountains and through caves? The math behind wingsuit flying. It’s that math that unveils where the limits are. I particularly want to know if we can achieve level flight and land without a parachute.
Let’s look at the forces with the good old free-body diagrams.
When I’m falling on my belly at terminal speed, the drag induced by my body is the same as my weight.
We decompose the weight in two components based on the ratio of the horizontal speed to the sinking speed. The drag is then equal to the horizontal component of the weight and the lift to the vertical one.
If you try to fly without losing height, you need a force that opposes the drag, and provides extra 6kg of lift. We can achieve this by adding 28kg of thrust. There are micro turbines used in RC airplanes that will happily fly attached to your body and provide the required thrust.
If you are interested in reading much more precise math, Rob wrote a great paper before he sadly died in a wingsuit accident.
If you get to make on and use it commute to work every, let us know.