FLIGHTS TO REALITY
A Wing and a Prayer: Jumpers
Many people throughout history have tried to fly by jumping from
heights and hoping that something would keep them afloat like the
birds, bats and bees. Occasionally the person would land safely and
preserve the idea that flight by man alone was possible. More often
the results were tragic. The isolated nature of these experiments
delayed the growth of knowledge. As communication improved, both
success and failure were studied and learned from, and progress
accelerated.
In 2200 B.C. the Chinese emperor Shin, in perhaps the first recorded
attempt to fly, jumped from a high tower wearing two large straw hats.
Luckily he landed safely. Many centuries passed before the next
recorded jump. In 852 A.D. a man named Armen Firman jumped from a
tower in Spain wearing a huge voluminous cloak, hoping that it would
billow out and allow him to float gently to the ground. It did not,
and he was fortunate to survive. A different technique was tried just
a few years and miles away, in the Andalusians. A physician named
Abbas ibn-Firmas tried to fly using wings. He covered himself with
feathers, attached wings and, according to eyewitness accounts, flew
for some distance. Trying to land like a bird he lost his balance and
stability and crashed to the ground, severely injuring his back. He
attributed his failure to not having a tail.
For the next several centuries attempts at flight by jumping, with or
without wings, occurred throughout Europe and Asia. For the most part
they were brave but dismal failures, often resulting in injury and
death. In 1678 the first article on attempted flight was published in
a French magazine, detailing the experiments of a locksmith named
Besnier who had attached wings to his arms and legs. Although
unsuccessful, the record of his experiments came to the attention of
scientists and inspired discussions that would further the development
of aerodynamic principles.
In 1797 a Frenchman, Andre-Jacques Garnerin, ascended in a hydrogen
filled balloon to 6500 feet, then released himself in a basket
attached to a parachute made of white canvas. Finally someone was
able to jump, sail down and land safely on earth - 4000 years after
Emperor Shin's hat trick.
But note the incredible advance in a mere century from a feathered
"bird man" jumping up and down to a mile high controlled descent. It
is no coincidence that improved communication of ideas accelerated
progress, as one experiment built upon another. From our vantage
point we can look back through seemingly dark periods of history and
see pinpricks of brilliant light. If these bright thoughts could have
been shared widely at the time, the airplane may have been invented
centuries ago. Emperor Shin was, after all, essentially the first
parachutist. The principles which he tried to apply were simply not
sufficiently developed. We will see this dilemma facing all the great
minds in each major area of development