The

Human Bird
Jeb Corliss, a professional basejumper and wingsuit proximity flyer, jumped from a helicopter and flew within a few feet of The Matterhorn, gliding along its edge. He was able to reach speeds of over 300 km/h, flying, at times, within a metre of the rocky edge of the mountain. How fast is 300 km/h in m/s? Hint: first convert kilometres per hour into metres per hour, then into metres per second.

The Matterhorn. At over 4475m, it is one of the highest peaks in The Alps. It has claimed over 500 lives.

Use the following data to plot a graph of speed versus time for Jebs flight. Put time on the xaxis. Time (s) 0 10 20
Wingsuit Flying: special suits act as an aerofoil (like a wing), creating lift. This is similar to the way a flying squirrel glides through the air.

Distance covered (m) 0 150 450 900 1500 2250 3150 3750 4050 4050

Speed (m/s) 0 15 30 45 60 75 90 60 30 0

30 40 50 60 70 80 90

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The Human Bird

Jebs speed changed dramatically after 60 seconds. Why could that have been?

What was his top speed, in kilometres per hour?

Describe Jebs motion during the first 60 seconds.

In reality his motion was not exactly like this. Why is that? What factor is has not been taken into account?

Time (s)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 40 50 60 70 80 81 82 85 90 95 100 105 110

Distance covered (km) Speed (m/s)

0.0 0.1 0.4 0.7 1.2 1.7 2.3 3.7 5.2 6.8 8.4 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.5 10.7 10.8 10.9 10.9 11.0 0 49 97 142 182 216 244 283 306 318 324 327 239 191 120 71 45 28 15 4

The data shown here would be much more typical of Jebs motion. Use these data to plot an updated speedtime graph.

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