Latest addition in extreme sports: Wingsuit Flying
On a clear summer day, you’re out, minding your own business, doing daily chores, when you see something fly over your head. Not believing what you saw, you continue to look skywards, and you see more of them flying across the horizon. They’re humans, flying
through the air above your head at speeds over 220 kmph. This is not a horror movie about an alien invasion.
This is Christian Stadler’s dream come true. Stadler, a “Birdman Chief Instructor” from Germany conducts a class in which he teaches humans to fly in the latest addition to extreme sporting, known as wingsuit flying.
In wingsuit flying, humans strap themselves into a special jumpsuit that creates surface area between the legs and under the arms. This suit is also known as a “squirrel suit” in reference to the flying squirrel from where the jumpsuit design is adapted
from. Apart from increased surface area, the wingsuit also has a small parachute at the back to provide safe landing.
Seeing humans fly is not a new idea. “Birdmen” as far back as 1930, have been attempting to fly. Instead of fabric, early wingsuit’s were made of wood, whale bone, silk, and even steel. According to legend, in 30 year period between 1930 and 1960, 72 of
the 75 birdmen died while testing their inventions. The remaining three claim to have glided for several miles. The new design of the wingsuit can be traced to the 1990’s to a man by the name of Patrick de Gayardon. The French skydiver’s design had unmatched
safety and performance. Tragically, de Gayardon died in 1998 while testing a new modification to his wingsuit. However, this was due to the malfunction of the modification, not the suit itself.
The first commercial company to start developing the wingsuit was started by Jari Kuosma of Finland and Robert Pečnik in 1999. Their wingsuit was safe and obtainable by all enthusiasts. Their company, “BirdMan” encouraged the safe use of wingsuit’s by offering
an instructional class. After BirdMan proved to the public that wingsuits were not dangerous, other companies started developing instructional programs along with developing wingsuits.
The first successful wingsuit flight has also inspired other forms of human flying. BASE jumping has incorporated wingsuits into its falls to give birth to WiSBASE, which stands for Wingsuit Building Antennae Spans and Earth. The BASE acronym refers to four
of the fixed objects that you can jump from. The twist is that instead of using only a parachute, the jumpers also use a wingsuit to perform a perilous and impressive technique known as “proximity flying.” In proximity flying, the jumpers fly close to the
cliffs and ridges of mountains in speeds exceeding 220 kmph. The longest recorded WiSBASE jump is recorded at 5.8 km by Dean Potter, an American BASE jumper and free climber. Potter jumped from The Eiger, a 3,970 meter high mountain in the Bernese Alps of
Switzerland, and flew for two minutes, fifty seconds, covering almost 2.4 km in altitude.
Another addition to the wingsuit is the incorporation of jet engines on the jumpsuit. Although it’s still very experimental, these special wingsuits have small jet engines strapped to the feet or a special backpack engine, which allows for more distance
and increased speed. In October of 2005, a man named Visa Parviainen tested his foot-strapped jet engines. After jumping from a hot air balloon, Parviainen’s turbojets supplied 16 kgf of thrust which allowed him to fly for 30 seconds without a loss of altitude.
Christian Stadler invented the VegaV3 wingsuit system which uses a variable hydrogen peroxide rocket engine. Even with 100 kgf of thrust, it produces no flames or poisonous fumes. Stadler was able to achieve horizontal speeds in excess of 260 kmph.
The furthest established horizontal distance travelled in a wingsuit is 20.45 km, which was set Alvaro Bulto, Santi Corella, and Toni Lopez. These three Spaniards crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in June 2005, after jumping from 35,000 feet from an aircraft.
Australian couple Heather Swan and Glenn Singleman currently hold the record for the highest wingsuit jump after jumping from 37,000 feet in Australia on July 24, 2008. The largest official wingsuit formation ever record was achieved at Lake Elsinore, California
when 68 jumpers formed an arrowhead formation in November of 2009.
With all the popularity, efficiency, and thrill of wingsuit jumping, this new extreme sport is not going anywhere and with new techniques and inventions to prolong wingsuit flight, it may be a matter of time before enthusiasts use their wingsuits for everyday
travel.
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