This Marine helicopter pilot says a wingsuit is the best way to fly

Gidget Fuentes
Apr 2, 2018 9:42 AM PDT
1 minute read
This Marine helicopter pilot says a wingsuit is the best way to fly

SUMMARY

He’s piloted an AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter gunship in combat, but Marine Capt. Kyle Lobpries is still chasing that next adrenaline rush. On Memorial Day, wearing a high-performance Jedei II wingsuit, Lobpries stepped off an airplane at…

He's piloted an AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter gunship in combat, but Marine Capt. Kyle Lobpries is still chasing that next adrenaline rush.


On Memorial Day, wearing a high-performance Jedei II wingsuit, Lobpries stepped off an airplane at 36,215 feet over northern California. For more than eight minutes, he flew like a bird.

He floated to Earth before his parachute deployed at 3,003 feet and carried him onto a field nearly 19 miles away and nearly set a distance record for wingsuit flight.

Thrilling enough? Yes and no.

Next month, Lobpries will compete in speed skydiving. Goal? Maximum velocity.

Don't people, like objects, descend at 120 mph?

Photo courtesy Kyle Lobpries Facebook

Generally, yes, but freefall speed increases by reducing friction. Tuck yourself in from the belly or spread-eagle position and fall head-first, for example, and a skydiver could reach 180 mph, according to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the World Air Sports Federation. Get into a tight, lean position – think slender torpedo – and a skydiver could hit 300 mph or more.

That's Lobpries' goal.

So far, he's hit 297 mph in training. At such speeds, the 33-year-old is flying nearly twice that of his own helicopter. Straight down.

"It's pretty scary," he admitted. "When you go that fast, everything is vibrating and shaking and kind of blurry."

Next month, he'll compete in speed skydiving at the FAI World Parachuting Championship in Chicago, Sept. 10-21. Speed diving is the newest recognized discipline by FAI, which will crown champion whoever tallies the "fastest speed possible over a given distance."

Last year, the top speed over a 1-kilometer descent was 317.5 mph, according to SkyDive magazine.

(Speed skydiving shouldn't be confused with the recent jump by skydiver Luke Aikins, who leapt from 25,000 sans parachute into a big net and the Guinness Book of World Records for highest skydive without a parachute. And it's not the same speed record adventure-skydiver Felix Baumgartner got when he reached 833.9 mph and broke the speed of sound falling 127,000 feet to Earth in 2012, still the highest skydive.)

As a kid in Texas, Lobpries saw wingsuiters on TV and thought, that's cool. He made his first jump, a tandem ride, as a 19-year-old college freshman and since has amassed various parachute ratings and qualifications and some medals, even as his military flight career took off. He got the requisite 200 jumps before jumping with his first wingsuit, in 2010.

"I remember my heart beating very fast. I was very nervous," he recalled of that jump from 12,500 feet.

It's been his great passion ever since and between overseas deployments. "I think this is the more truer way to fly, to actually use your arms to support yourself in the air," he said.

Wingsuiting to a layperson seems like a complex feat of science and physics. With his grounding in aviation and aeronautics, Lobpries pores over jump and flight data and calculations. He's working on designing the most efficient and fast wingsuit design.

Lobpries lives near San Diego and is the Marine Corps liaison officer with Tactical Air Control Squadron 12 at San Diego Naval Base. It's a non-flying billet. Outside of work, chances are good he's in the air or somewhere maybe riding his Ducati 1199 Panigale S.

Every one of his jumps requires a lot of thought and study to ensure safety and solid performance. Lobpries spent months planning and preparing for the May wingsuit flight near Davis, California. He slimmed down to 172 pounds, building strength and stamina through a clean diet and strength conditioning that include core exercises and yoga, despite nagging lower-body injuries from a 2014 bad landing. His May 28 training jump, at 30,000 feet, went well.

Two days later, Lobpries and several skydivers boarded the Cessna, sucking on oxygen before they parachuted from 30,000 feet. Lobpries stayed behind when they jumped. "My plan was to go as high as possible," he said.

Courtesy Kyle Lobpries Facebook

Lobpries had FAA clearance, a GoPro camera, three GPS devices and a potential world record in mind as the Cessna climbed to 36,215 feet. (That's cruising altitude for a commercial jet.) Frost covered the windows as the Cessna pushed beyond its ceiling limits. "It was definitely rocking and rolling up there," he said.

With heaters tucked into his gloves and breathing apparatus on his face, Lobpries stepped off into thin, -62 degrees Fahrenheit air. "I had trouble breathing. I couldn't exhale," he recalled, but he managed to clear a frozen exhale valve. He listened to audible altimeter readings and focused on his micro movements. "I just continuously thought about body positioning," he said.

Lobpries jumped with no specific landing zone in mind. "I asked the pilot to drop me off 18 miles north of the drop zone, and I would fly south as far as I could," he said. A straight path gave him the best shot to maintain the proper glide slope. A slight tailwind took him over farmland, a small town and "one guy that waved" as he flew over. An FAI judge tracked the 8:27 flight and took the GPS devices for verification.

If FAI-verified, Lobpries thinks it's the longest distance and highest duration wingsuit jump to date. "I want to set a bar," Lobpries said, "and if someone breaks it, that's fine."

"The draw is just the goal. Just like somebody wanting to run a marathon ... or become a lawyer," he said.

He hopes his record "will inspire people to accomplish" their goal. He's recently taken up BASE jumping. But for now, he's focused on Chicago and reaching 300 mph and, perhaps eventually, a speed skydiving record.

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