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| Wingsuit Flying |
945 Views |
| posted on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 |
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WINGSUIT FLYING
Wingsuit Flying Page On Wikipedia
Wings were first used in the 1930s as an attempt to increase horizontal movement. These early wingsuits were made of materials such as canvas, wood, silk, steel, and even whale bone. They were not very reliable. According to wingsuit lore, between 1930 and 1961, 72 of the 75 original birdmen died trying their wingsuits. Some of these so-called 'birdmen', most notably Clem Sohn and Leo Valentin, claimed to have glided for miles and inspired dozens of imitators.
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 parachute container 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 of Finland and Robert Pecnik of Croatia teamed up to fulfill 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, Fly Your Body, and EG Wingsuits have also instituted an instructor program aimed at training newcomers 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, contracting with Atair Aerodynamics to manufacture the suits. With a new level of safety and performance, the wingsuit pilots 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 jets provided approximately 16 kgf of thrust each and ran on kerosene (JetA-1) 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 jet engines and a Birdman suit. Similarly successful experiments have also been undertaken with the SkyRay wing system. Visa Parviainen made a second flight in February of 2006, with similar results.
In 2006 Tony Uragallo of Tony Suits in Zephyrhills Florida, developed a new generation of wingsuits that feature easy donning (very much like camera suits) and "webbies" that are integrated webbed gloves.
In 2007 Edgardo Guerrero of EG Suits and Nick Rugai of Nitro Rigging developed and introduced a new gamma of high performance wingsuits that incorporate new design features and the use of different materials.
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