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100,000 feet in a BALLOON?

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That's gotta be an awesome view...nothing between you and the open sky but the literal clothes on your back...

FastCargo
 
He found himself drifting into the primary approach corridor of Los Angeles International Airport. A United pilot first spotted Larry. He radioed the tower and described passing a guy in a lawn chair with a gun. Radar confirmed the existence of an object floating 11,000 feet above the airport.

What, the guy in the lawn chair had his Mode C on? :)
 
Mach varies in a given material dependent solely on temperature, and is not dependent on density (or pressure) of the given material.

For air, the Speed of sound, in knots = 39 x (sqrt K), where K is the local air temperature in degrees Kelvin (which equals temp in deg C, plus 273).

Example: ISA tropopause temp = -56C = 217 K. sqrt 217 = 14.7; 39 times this figure = 573. Therefore Mach 1 at ISA tropopause = 573 knots.

The speed of sound is much faster in other materials, such as water or steel, than it is in air; however in each given material the speed of sound will vary based on the temperature of that material.
 
FastCargo said:
That's gotta be an awesome view...nothing between you and the open sky but the literal clothes on your back...

FastCargo

My fifth grade reading book had a story about his jump, sort of a "You Are There" kind of thing.... with a picture taken by an automatic camera on board the balloon. Even then I thought, hmm.... beats working....
 
I met Kittinger and had an interesting conversation with him. He said he is the only guy to go supersonic without the aid of an aircraft. Must have been fun to jump at 100,000 plus, break the sound barrier and then land safely under a chute.

Look him up under google and you will see the accomplishments of this guy
 
This is off subject a little, but there was an airforce flight surgeon cross qualified as a pilot who was testing that rig used to pick up special forces, like in "The Green Beret" movie. Supposedly he was the first guy (military maybe) to land a plane he hadn't taken off in.
 
Hugh Johnson said:
This is off subject a little, but there was an airforce flight surgeon cross qualified as a pilot who was testing that rig used to pick up special forces, like in "The Green Beret" movie. Supposedly he was the first guy (military maybe) to land a plane he hadn't taken off in.

James Bond did that in GoldenEye, so it must be possible. I saw it in a movie.;)
 
WMUchickenhawk said:
James Bond did that in GoldenEye, so it must be possible. I saw it in a movie.;)

Thunderball. 1965 - A converted B-17 did the pickup.

Robert E. Fulton Jr.

Robert Edison Fulton Jr. once wrote: "One measure of a man is what he does when he has nothing to do." During his 95 years on the planet, Fulton avoided boredom by filling his days with travel, architecture, writing, film and science.

Fulton first experienced wanderlust and adventure at 12 when he rode the first commercial air flight from Miami to Havana. Two years later, he was present at the opening of King Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt. After studying architecture at Harvard University and earning a master's degree from the University of Vienna, Fulton decided to take a motorcycle trip around the world.

Fulton also designed the Skyhook aerial rescue system, an inflatable balloon with an attached hook that the CIA used in the 1950s to pull agents out of enemy territory. The Skyhook was featured in the 1965 James Bond film "Thunderball."

Fulton died on May 7 of congestive heart failure.
 
I understand when the guy jumped out of the ballon he had a drag chute to keep him from tumbling in the thin air. It didn't work and he tumbled and tumbled and was worried he would lose consciousness. At those high altitudes it's almost a vacuum. He wouldn't have heard air rushing by or anything. That's why he accelearated to mach 1 so quickly. As he fell into thicker air he decelearated and eventually pulled his main chute. I saw some great footage of it on the Wings Channel a few years ago.
 
msuspartans24 said:
A friend of mine says he read somewhere that a manned balloon has reached 100,000 feet. Anyone know if there is any truth to this.

That wasn't over Howell was it?
 

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