Wingsuit flying

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Wingsuit flying is one of the latest sub-disciplines in skydiving. A wingsuit is a specially made jumpsuit that has fabric wings between the legs and under the arms. Using a wingsuit enables the skydiver to reduce his fallrate to less than half of the usual terminal velocity of approximately 200 km/h. Vertical speeds of less than 40 km/h have been achieved momentarily, without opening the parachute. The suit also enables the wearer to travel longer distances horizontally; glide ratios of 2:1 are commonplace. While still very experimental, powered wingsuits, often using small jet engines strapped to the feet, allow for even greater horizontal travel.Currently, there are two basic wingsuit types. The tri-wing Wingsuit which has three individual ram-air wings attached under the arms and between the legs. The mono-wing wing suit design incorporates the whole suit into one large wing.

Contents

1 History
2 Operation
3 Popularity
4 External links

History

Wings first became present in freefall skydiving in the 1930s as an attempt to stabilize the skydiver, because no one yet knew how to control themselves in freefall. These early wingsuits were made of materials such as canvas, wood, silk, steel, and even whale bone. These wings often sealed the fate of those who donned them. Between 1930 and 1961, 72 of the 75 original birdmen died trying their wingsuits. Some of these birdmen, like Harry Ward and Leo Valentin, learned to master their wings and this led to the first real understanding of freefall aerodynamics.

In the mid 1990s, French skydiver Patrick de Gayardon (nicknamed "DeG") developed a wingsuit that had unparalleled safety and performance. Unfortunately, Patrick died on April 13, 1998 while testing a new modification to his wingsuit in Hawaii; his death is attributed to a rigging error which was part of the new modification. However, Patrick planted the seed that grew a new generation of birdmen.

In 1998, Jari Kuosma and Robert Pecnik fulfilled their dream of creating a wingsuit that was safe and accessible for all skydivers when they established BirdMan, Inc. BirdMan's Classic, designed by Robert Pecnik, was the first wingsuit offered to the general public. BirdMan was also the first manufacturer to advocate the safe use of wingsuits by creating an Instructor program. Created by Jari Kuosma,the instructor program's aim was to remove the stigma that wingsuits were dangerous and to provide beginners with a way to safely enjoy what was once considered dangerous in the skydiving world. With the help of Birdman Chief Instructors Scott Campos, Chuck Blue and Kim Griffin, a standardized program of instruction was developed that not only allowed people to experience the joys of flight safely, it also allowed for the creation of more instructors who would be able to carry on BirdMan's high standard of training beginners all over the skydiving world. Following BirdMan's lead,Phoenix-Fly and Fly your body have also instituted an instructor program aimed at training new comers to the wingsuit discipline.

Loïc Jean-Albert developed a one-wing design which was manufactured and marketed by Parasport Italia as the Crossbow in 2000 Loic has since set up the wingsuit company Fly Your Body. In 2004 Robert Pecnik launched his own wingsuit company, Phoenix-Fly. With a new level of safety and performance, the birdmen are back and rapidly growing.

On October 25th of 2005 in Lahti Finland, the BirdMan Rocket Team successfully experimented with small jet engines attached to the feet of BirdMan Visa Parviainen. The rockets used provided approximately 16 kgf of thrust each and ran on Kerosene (JetA1)fuel. Visa was able to achieve approximately 30 seconds of horizontal flight with no noticeable loss of altitude. Once the fuel ran out, Visa continued to fly in normal Birdman flight until deployment altitude. Deployment and landing were uneventful. The flight was considered a success as it proved that level human flight was not only possible but sustainable with the use of rockets and a Birdman suit. Similarly successful experiments have also been undertaken with the SkyRay wing system.

Operation

The wings on a wingsuit are fairly similar to a modern ram air parachute. They are equipped with crossported cells that inflate with air through inlets in the front of the wings, allowing them to become rigid and aerodynamic. Some wingsuits use airlocks or deflectors to help maintain pressurization and airflow while minimizing turbulence. The surface area of the wing causes drag vertically, while the shape of the wings and the jumpers body position causes the wingsuit pilot to move across the sky at very high speeds. The resulting forward speed translates into lift potential and creates a slow fall rate which gives the pilot a relatively high glide ratio.

Wingsuits attach to a skydiving rig using openings on the sides of the suit to insert the leg straps, which stay inside the suit at all times. The arm wings go through the main lift webbing and are then secured with cutaway cables. The cable is routed in a manner that leaves the emergency handles exposed. All suits have booties, thumb loops, and zippers to keep the wingsuit pilot sealed in. It usually takes five minutes to hook up a wingsuit.

Popularity

A skydiver flying a wingsuit has an average vertical fall rate of 50 - 60 mph, which can easily increase freefall time from the average 60 second skydive up to 3 minutes of freefall time. Experienced wingsuit pilots with more advanced suits can maintain fall rates under or around 30 mph. Wingsuit pilots are constantly trying to lower their vertical speeds via different flying techniques.

Flying a wingsuit is the closest thing to pure human flight. When wearing a wingsuit, the pilot is able to fly horizontally across the sky. Due to the slower fall rate and greater forward speed a good wingsuit pilot can cover five to six miles from 13,500 feet and achieve a glide ratio of over 2.5:1. Forwards speeds are believed to be between 90 and 120 mph without wind assistance.

Wingsuit flying is one of the few skydiving disciplines that allows skydivers to hear each other talk in freefall. Because of the slow fall rate, there is less noise from the passing air and wingsuit pilots can actually talk to another wingsuit pilots when flying next to each other.

Wingsuit flying even comes with its own sub-disciplines such as speed, lift (force), distance, aerobatics, flocking, formations, horizontal freeflying, canopy and wingsuit relative work, and more. Wingsuit flying is still relatively young, and the full potential is still unexplored, yet many ways to enjoy them have already been discovered.

The USPA recommends that any jumper flying a wingsuit for the first time have at least 200 jumps and be accompanied by an instructor or 500 without.

External links

-Wingsuit Manufacturer Pages

-Wingsuit Reference Pages

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