Staggering GoPro footage from Felix's free fall

[dparm]

http://gopro.com/videos/featured/super-bowl-ad-2014-the-full-story



This video is absolutely astonishing. They strapped a couple of GoPro cameras to him, and now you can see the full free-fall experience. Be sure to watch in 1080p and full screen.

If this doesn't amaze and terrify you, check your pulse and make sure you're alive...

 

[Klutch9]

What I find amazing about that video, the insanity and danger aside, is how in one moment, you see a large portion of the earth... looking at billions of people, in hundreds of countries, across multiple time zones... that's incredible. Even though you can't actually see everything on an individual scale, comprehending the magnitude of everything you're looking over is just awesome.

 

[morepwr]

It was almost like I could feel the initial drop and when he was spinning, it made me dizzy! That was really something special.

 

[oldhp]

I think this would fit here!!!


High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr

 

[Darwin1138]

Originally Posted By: Klutch9
What I find amazing about that video, the insanity and danger aside, is how in one moment, you see a large portion of the earth... looking at billions of people, in hundreds of countries, across multiple time zones... that's incredible. Even though you can't actually see everything on an individual scale, comprehending the magnitude of everything you're looking over is just awesome.


Sorry to be a geographical Nazi over here but the distance to the horizon at that altitude (39 km) is about 700 km but the wide angle lenses distort the image and it appears like you could see almost half of the planet.

In the next image I've outlined the approximate area of the Earth that appears on the video






But in any case is an amazing video and an incredible achievement.

 

[Smoky14]

Interesting that you could see the White Sands NM in the back ground. The reflection off the gondola was visible from my back yard with a glass.
Jumping, from a good airframe, is not my cup of tea.

Smoky

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: morepwr
It was almost like I could feel the initial drop and when he was spinning, it made me dizzy! That was really something special.


Yes, the spin was terrifying. I don't know how he recovered from that.