Kinematics: Buzz the Balloons Wingsuit Flight

For the HD version go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfph3iNC-k&fmt=22

This video leads to an open-ended assignment that can address student understanding of a range of general kinematics, three-dimensional spatial reasoning, forces, and logic. After watching the video, you could ask the students to...

1) Sketch a position-time, velocity-time, or acceleration-time graph of Corliss' motion.

2) Sketch a position-position, velocity-position, or acceleration-position graph of his motion.

3) Draw a diagram of forces acting on Corliss as he "flies" in his wingsuit.

4) Estimate the speed of Corliss as he buzzes past the balloons.

5) Estimate Corliss' glide ratio over the entire length of the jump or individual part of the jump.

Wingsuit flyer Jeb Corliss (official website) made this jump in 2011 at Hinterrugg Mountain, Switzerland (approximate flight route in Google Maps.

Corliss is currently recovering from an accident preforming a similar stunt at South Africa's Table Mountain in which he clipped the ledge he was buzzing. Similar footage of this jump is available elsewhere online but it is not appropriate in a school setting. Keep a close eye on your students if they are doing research online.

Here is a graph of the ground elevation below the flight path I created from information gathered from Google Earth that may be of use (click for fullsize.)

Follow-up video: A wingsuit flyer without a parachute (crash)lands in an arrangement of empty cardboard boxes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IRC_b4g7Sg