Record Breaking Skydive

[jayd512]

That's some awesome stuff right there. Can anybody imagine breaking the sound barrier in freefall?
That had to be the experience of a lifetime!

........
I know my luck, though. I probably would have hit some sort of endangered high flying bird at Mach 1!

[oz]

Can anybody imagine breaking the sound barrier in freefall?
That had to be the experience of a lifetime!

I wonder if the human body makes the same loud boom that an aircraft makes when it breaks the sound barrier? If it's the same, I'd think that it could disorient a human, or possibly even knock them out at least temporarily.

[Roxoff]

I wonder if the human body makes the same loud boom that an aircraft makes when it breaks the sound barrier? If it's the same, I'd think that it could disorient a human, or possibly even knock them out at least temporarily.

The human body wouldn't do it. Terminal velocity is imposed by air resistance, and it's far lower than the speed of sound - where there is very little air (i.e. thin enough to allow freefall faster than the speed of sound), there is very little to carry the sound that creates the sonic boom.

You'd need to strap the human body to the front of a jet or rocket to experience the sonic boom first hand. And in that case I think there'd be more problems for the human body than the sound wave created.

[cousinlucky]

There is no limit to what the human mind will perceive doing for a thrill!!

I saw his beaming face after he landed; to him it was worth it!

[oz]

There is no limit to what the human mind will perceive doing for a thrill!!

I saw his beaming face after he landed; to him it was worth it!

Right... my guess would be that the beaming face that resulted from contact with the ground came more from the fact that he survived the jump more than it did from a world record being broken, but it will be interesting to read any interviews about the feat once they start happening.

[elija]

I liked what he said afterwards which amounted to:

When you are up there looking down, you forget about breaking records, you forget about scientific research; all you think about is hoping you don't die.