An Austrian wingsuit pilot set multiple world records in wingsuit flight.
Peter Salzmann made the record-breaking flight on October 24 launching from Jungfrau mountain in Switzerland where he flew for 5 minutes and 56 seconds over a distance of 7.77 miles. Red Bull, who teamed up with Salzmann for the flight said the jump was made from an altitude of 11,161 feet— setting a new record for the highest BASE jump from start to finish.
And a brain similarly proportioned, IMO!
And when does a ‘suit’ become a ‘glider’ given the rather new addition of a ‘foil’ to what I would call a wing-suit?
And how the heck do you land, anyway?
Typically by deploying a parachute, and then unzipping the wings so the arms are free to reach the steering loops.
As wingsuit performance improves the overlap between them and parachutes has grown more and more. Already there have been formation flights between wingsuit flyers and skydivers under canopy (albeit small, high-performance canopies).
One goal is to expand the envelope to the point a wingsuit flyer can land without needing a parachute. One did so a few years ago by setting up a ‘runway’ of empty cardboard boxes stacked high, deep, and long, and then flying into them at a shallow angle. A human-rated EMAS, so to speak. It worked, but it’s more proof-of-concept than practical solution.
There does seem to be category creep here, since they are claiming records for BASE jumping as well as “flying”. So are they falling, or are they flying? With a duration of only 5 minutes 56 seconds, I’m going to call it falling. I’ve stepped off a similar mountain in the Alps and stayed airborne for an order of magnitude longer, but my airfoil was called a Paraglider. That’s flying
Very true, Andy. It ll be interesting to see how the FAI classifies it (if at all). It certainly doesn’t meet the regular (FAI) definition of “skydiving”.
If a 3.7 glide ratio is falling, then so be it. As I recall, the space shuttle and Rogallo hang gliders once achieved about the same figure. On the other hand, the forward speed of the wingman was about 120 km/h. To me, that would suggest more flying than falling.
This is not a “Wing Suit” flight, it is a wing suit WITH an attached airfoil. At what size does the airfoil become a hang guider (albeit this airfoil is upside down under the pilot rather than over him)? Seems to me that when foils are attached, regardless of their size, it should not be classified for setting records the same as a non-foiled wing suit.
This looks like a developmental approach to self launched human flight. I would not be very surprised to see some significant evolution in this sport in the next few years or so. These folks seem really focussed on improving glide ratios and with it improving safety to the point of not needing parachutes for landings. Talk about guts…
I’m sitting on the outside and no nothing of how these are classified, BUT…from a purely uninformed outside point-of-view, seems to me that if you wear it to the launch point, I’d call it a wingsuit. I think of gliders as something you tow to the launch point and then attach to or climb in to. In other words, if he could have worn the suit in the drive up to the top of the mountain, wingsuit. If he had to carry it separately because he can’t wear it in the car, then it’s a glider. Just my thoughts…
