Well... rather like a flying squirrel! The wingsuit is a specialised jumpsuit that covers the human body's surface to transform natural vertical freefall into horizontal movement.
It's generally practised by thrill-seeking skydivers, either from an aircraft or cliff. With their wing-equipped suits, they simply spread their arms to inflate the suit and fly like birds. They can cover considerable distance before deploying their parachute.
Various wingsuit models exist on the market. They're typically constructed from durable yet flexible materials, as the human body serves as the central "bone structure" during flight. The wingsuit effectively becomes an extension of the body, literally giving the wearer wings - hence the name!
The greater the horizontal surface area exposed to air, the more effective the suit becomes. This explains the "webbed" design between the legs and along the arms.
When our skydiver leaps from the plane or cliff, they spread their arms and legs, allowing air to inflate the suit's membranes. The wings deploy!
These membranes, supported by airflow, become semi-rigid, enabling the skydiver to maintain position without relying solely on physical strength, while retaining freedom of movement.
They can then control their flight by shifting their entire body, using physics to trade altitude for speed and distance. Yes, to gain distance, you must lose altitude!
After years of research and refinement by those passionate about achieving the impossible, wingsuits have truly enabled human flight.
Today, despite its rarity, this sport produces breathtaking footage.
The world record for longest wingsuit flight stands at 23.1 km, held by Japanese flyer Shin Ito, who also achieved the speed record during that same flight! The recorded peak velocity reached 363 km/h - enough to blow your hair back, wouldn't you say?
As mentioned, wingsuit flight typically concludes with parachute deployment. However, on 23rd May 2012, British stuntman Gary Connery (yes, really!) completed a wingsuit jump without a parachute, landing safely on a carefully arranged stack of 18,000 cardboard boxes. For those wondering how - that remains his secret. Even top professionals risk miscalculating trajectories, flying too close to terrain, or suffering impacts.
Various skydiving schools offer wingsuit training after completing 150 freefall jumps. Any volunteers?
