Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight

Re:Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight by demarq on Sunday November 15, 2020 @09:54AM (#25101628)

Something seems suspect here.

There is just no way that small unit could generate near enough thrust to make a real difference.

I think we need to look deeper into this claim

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight by kzrdude on Sunday November 15, 2020 @10:01AM (#25101677)

He's starting from a plane, so his flight is mostly powered by the fall and the updraft of the wingsuit. Additionally, it may look as if he's soaring when just gliding with a small change in perspective

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight by hwillis on Sunday November 15, 2020 @07:10PM (#25106345)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxJJ17HV1yU

Fans that small put out enough force to literally push you straight up. Jetcat has an engine 23 cm wide which can pull 110 kg. For the same size an electric fan passes much more air.

https://www.jetcat.de/en/productdetails/produkte/jetcat/prod...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight by demarq on Monday November 16, 2020 @01:39PM (#25115314)

those are jets, not EDF

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight by thdrdt on Sunday November 15, 2020 @10:10AM (#25101745)

Are you sure? Those small EDFs can generate 12-25kg of thrust.

The fastest wingsuit flight almost topped 400km/h so maybe the real question is how much extra speed was gained with those little EDFs.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight by colesdefectum on Sunday November 15, 2020 @12:24PM (#25102845)

Even without additional power it's possible to gain a small amount of altitude with a wingsuit[0]. Modern suits can be very powerful with proper technique.

[0] https://squirrel.ws/learn/wingsuit-deployments

[ Parent | on HN ]