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- Aug 31, 2001
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An extreme sports fanatic has become the first man to cross the English Channel by unpowered flight. Felix Baumgartner jumped from a plane about 30,000ft above Dover and glided 22 miles across the Channel in a 10-minute flight wearing a specially-adapted suit with a wing-like carbon fibre fin attached to his back. In freezing air temperatures, the 34-year-old Austrian began the flight at a speed of about 220 miles per hour before slowing to around 135 miles an hour.
(From The Times - breaking news)
Can any of you engineers tell me why he needed a special fin/wing? Would it be because he wouldn't be able to steer by just moving his body? I heard him say on the radio that he had to follow a plane to make sure he was going in the right direction.
(From The Times - breaking news)
Can any of you engineers tell me why he needed a special fin/wing? Would it be because he wouldn't be able to steer by just moving his body? I heard him say on the radio that he had to follow a plane to make sure he was going in the right direction.