Wingsuit

A wingsuit is a suit for skydivers with areas of fabric between the arms and legs that reduce the vertical rate of fall to less than 80 km/h and turn it into a horizontal speed of up to 250 km/h. Considerable distances have been covered using a wingsuit, such as the crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar, from 20.5 kilometers.

History

Already in the early 1930s there were attempts to influence the free-fall with the help of artificial wings. At that time, more than seventy skydivers paid with their lives in the numerous experiments. The most famous among them were the Frenchmen Clem Sohn and Leo Valentine.

The most common causes of accidents were the involvement of very stiff structures with the main parachute. Some of the “birdmen,” as they called themselves, even tried to deliberately land without opening the parachute, landing only with the wings.

In the early 1970s, the German Peter Bottgenbach carried out an air show of highly visible long-haul flights with a self-tailored special suit, but the jump remained high risk because it was an isolated case.

In the mid-1990s, the Frenchman Patrick de Gayardon developed a wingsuit in which he sewed a new kind of spoiler at the back of his parachute. His attempts ended in a fatal crash.

In the autumn of 1998, the Finn Jari Kuosma and the Croat Robert Pecnik began the development of an easily manageable wingsuit, which could be used by an average paratrooper. In June 1999, the first commercially available wingsuit under the name Birdman came on the market.

Today, the expression birdman suit is often used as a synonym or generic name for wingsuit. This is named after the leading manufacturer.

Rocket wingsuit

Christian Stadler, of Gladbeck, developed in the winter of 2006, a rocket wingsuit system, the Vega V3. The leg of the wingsuit contains an integrated and controlled drive unit.

Enhancements to the wingsuit

Wingsuits were the precursors to a longer flight of the parachutist. The Rigid Wing (or Wingpack) has been tested for several years.

The Swiss military pilot Yves Rossy developed and has tested a rigid wing since 2004. The latest development is fitted with winglets, which can collapse for transport. On May 14, 2008, he presented his flying suit to the public.

The launch took place by jumping from a plane with four current mini-turbines and folded wing tips. The wings were fully developed only after the jump. The achieved speed is said to have been through the turbines up to 300 km/h. The landing was carried out with the parachute.

The Gryphon is currently for military use, a broad 15 kg and 1.8 m carbon-fiber winged design. The parachutist jumps from the wing on the back and can fly for 15 minutes over 40 km. In a further stage of development, the range will be multiplied with two miniature engines. In level flight, the jumper can accelerate to over 200 km/h.