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Say a flight was traveling from Tucson Az to Tacoma WA. There are the passengers who get aboard to go to Tacoma. Then there are skydiver travelers who have the option to jump out of the plane anywhere along the planes flight path. Jumpers would have to meet various restrictions for baggage weight and
jumping qualifications. Jumpers would recieve a discounted ticket price based on the distance they traveled in the airplane. Now when the flight attendant says "If you look to your left you can see the grand canyon" passengers could jump at will and actually visit those places.
There would be some waver of course.
Think of how spacious the bathrooms could be.
http://farm4.static...7788_bdcc688e99.jpg [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Nov 30 2009]
[link]
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I think maybe he means that some will waver indecisively at the doorway. |
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Would they throw your bags out after you? |
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Hey, that was my parachute! Aieeeeeeee.... |
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Love this idea and [Ian]'s comments. |
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This is a good idea apart from some
problems. 1) I don't know what the
stall-speed of a 747 is, but it would
sure make for an interesting climb-out.
But possibly doable. 2) You'd need
to get down to around 12,000 feet and
depressurize the cabin. After your
economy passengers had left, you'd
want to repressurize fairly soon, as
some people are not respiratorily happy
at 12k. 3) You'd probably want a
plane with a high tail. Otherwise you
will get very few second-time travellers.
And best not use the doors in front of
the wings. 4) Spotting from a
commercial airliner is not easy - you'd
want to have a downward-pointed
camera. Also, you might need to circle
for [quite] a while watching a WIDI.
Passengers would be pissed off if they
were spotted a mile away from
anywhere with no porters to help with
luggage. |
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More exciting than my usual commute.
Might need a redesign of the tail end of
airliners. Create a 'jump room' with a
downward and backward facing chute and
exits should get easier. Just make sure
that you don't vent the toilet when
someone's jumping. |
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Since a larger proportion of fuel is needed for takeoff and landing as compared to efficient level flight, this could save money as well. |
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Plus no airport fee needed, if you're not using the airport. |
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Pressurization issues could be dealt with via an airlock. Are we going static line? [link] |
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One of the Zeppelins did this, but only for crew. |
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Those air-miles are going to come in a lot more handy. |
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And with the advent of winged jump suits people can travel for miles from the planes flight paths.
This would be a boost to taxi companies. A jumper would call a cap company that operates a fleet of pickup trucks. By gps the taxi truck drivers would chase down the falling customers whom would then land in the bed of the truck and be taken to their destination. |
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Woud I get air miles for the vertical bit? |
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[normzone] //Are we going static line?/
/ Not for me thanks, unless you're
going down to 1800ft. I really don't
fancy the pilot's chances of spotting me
for a 12,000ft canopy ride.
Of
course, you could use a 10,000ft static
line, but then it would be embarrassing
if you happened to be flying over a
2001ft mountain at the time. |
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// Passengers jump out of these and
using techniques similar to mid-air
refuelling, land on a smaller aircraft
that has come up to meet them//
Uh, no.
But it
would make more sense to have large
aircraft built out of independently-
flyable modules. Take off and cruise as
one big bugger of a plane, then drop off
miniplane segments as you fly over
destinations. Miniplanes from various
origins then link up again on the
ground and off you go again. Sort of
like splitting and rejoining trains only
less likely to work. |
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This looks like a highjacking thief's dream. Just rob everyone of their possessions and jump on out. Grab a hot flight attendant on the way out for extra fun. |
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+This just made my morning. <picturing 300Lb. lady in a moo-moo/parachute dress plummeting down> |
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//Then drop off miniplane segments as you fly over destinations// And the miniplane segments have smaller planes, but these ones have guns? And if you land far away from your destination will they contact Council to tell them something's wrong? |
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"Oh, just what I need. A message from the Evil Council." |
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Just trivia, but currently, a parachute is not allowed as carry on baggage. |
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//Pressurization issues could be dealt with via an airlock. // This would be better dealt with by simply dropping altitude to about 10,000 feet where it wouldn't be an issue anyway. |
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Man, those Council people sure are busy these days. I wonder if they're hiring? |
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The local government employment market is soaring thatnks to the efforts of young master [crash]. I hear he gets half of a half croissant for every plug. |
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also will let yo actually go strsight to the city center instead of an airport far away from it, o you get a bun. |
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My patented <I can't believe I annoed this five years ago and then just posted it as my own idea> churn. |
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