Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? A plane? No, it’s also easier to squeeze every last drop of fuel out of
Visa Parviainen. Last October, Parviainen, sporting them when you’re flying.”
a birdman suit and custom jet boots, dove face first Next, the team built a special launch platform to
out of a hot air balloon high above Lahti, Finland, suspend from the side of the balloon canopy. The
and took off into the wild blue yonder. platform had two purposes: one, it kept exhaust
Parviainen is one of a growing number of sky divers from the boots away from the balloon and pas-
who wear wingsuits during their dives. The fabric sengers as Parviainen revved the engines before
spanning the legs and arms enables the free-fallers takeoff. Two, it was a “nice lounge” for the ride up.
to glide a bit before popping their parachutes. Boost- Parviainen knows his way around a machine shop,
ed by his rocket boots, though, Parviainen was able souping up cars and motorcycles for racing and
to zip along at 2,000 meters for several minutes. hacking mounts for helmet cams and other skydiving
To build his jet-powered flight suit, Parviainen and gear. He’s spent the winter working on a new rev of the
his cohorts at BirdMan, Inc. attached a pair of off-the- flight apparatus, substituting a different set of micro-
shelf microturbines to a pair of old hockey skates. turbines and tweaking the engines for more reliable
Fueled by kerosene, each engine spits out about 16kg operation at chilly temperatures. On his next flight, he
of thrust. Tests at a nearby university’s wind tunnel also plans to wear a black box recorder of sorts.
convinced them that the aerodynamics should work “Someday, I want to take off from the ground and
out. The trick was figuring out a fuel tank system that land too,” Parviainen says. “It’s far in the future, but
was lightweight and durable enough for a twisting, I do think it’s possible. Right now though, this is all
turning, windswept human body. just good fun.” —David Pescovitz
“The solution was to use hot water bottles as fuel tanks,” Parviainen says. “Since they’re flexible, it’s
BirdMan: bird-man.com
References:
Archives