Wingsuit flying (wingsuiting) is an extreme aero-sport that enables humans to fly through the air, which is something against nature's law. It features a special jumpsuit called "wingsuit" that facilitates such thrilling practice. The suit increases the human body's surface area, causing a possible lift to fly in the air. It’s an extremely dangerous sport that involves practising BASE jumping.
The wingsuit is designed to generate a surface area with the fabric between the legs and under the arms. These wingsuits are also regarded as birdman suits, squirrel suits and bat suits that function as wings. The participants are regarded as birdmen and can glide in the air with an average speed of approximately 160-200 km per hour. The fliers deploy a parachute for landing after reaching a planned altitude and then unzip their arm wings, if required, to reach up to the control toggles.
In May 2015, the first FAI World Cup in Wingsuit Performance Flying was organised in Netheravon, United Kingdom. In November 2016, the First FAI World Wingsuit Performance Flying Championships was organised in Zephyrhills, USA.
Objective
The objective of the performance event is to fly a single wingsuit in three different tasks to showcase a blend of best lift (time task), best glide (distance task) and least drag (speed task).
Similarly, in the acrobatic events, the flying teams perform seven rounds of events in sequence. The team with the highest total score becomes the winner of the event. Each team score points for a number of the figures performed along with the camera work and flying style. The teams are provided style points for their body position, smoothness, controlled docks and forward flying speed.
History of Wingsuit Flying
In 1930, a wingsuit was first used by a 19-year-old American boy Rex G Finney. His goal was to increase the horizontal movement and manoeuvrability during a parachute jump. In the initial days, the wingsuit was not very safe and composed of canvas, wool, silk, whalebone and steel.
In the mid-1990s, Frenchman Patrick de Gayardon developed the modern wingsuits, adapted from an earlier John Carta model. In 1997, Sammy Popov of Bulgaria developed a new wingsuit with a more extensive wing between the legs and longer ones on the arms.
In 1998, Chuck "Da Kine" Raggs developed a new version of a wingsuit with hard ribs inside the wing airfoils. Although the new modifications helped stabilise the shape of wings in flight but on the contrary, they made the suit heavier and difficult to fly. All these suits were never commercially produced in the industries.
In 1999, Jari Kuosma and Robert Pečnik developed a safer and accessible wingsuit for skydivers. In the same year, Kuosma founded Bird-Man International Ltd, which first provided the wingsuits to the public. Birdman was also the first company to introduce an instructor program for enthusiasts. Later, many other wingsuit manufacturers such as Squirrel Wingsuits, TonySuits Wingsuits, Phoenix-Fly, Fly Your Body, and Nitro Rigging have also included coach training programs.
