THE WIND BENEATH YOUR WINGS IS HERE

Who doesn’t wish they had their own set of wings? If you wish hard enough, and are up for a real thrill, you can don a wingsuit and go for a soar over some of the most beautiful spots on earth.

Today, we are sharing some gorgeous wingsuit experiences that can lift your body, mind, and spirit, at once.

Wingsuits, also called birdman suits or bat suits due to their unique shape, are jumpsuits providing lift during a freefall.

The “wing” of the wing suit is made of fabric under the arms and between the legs, catching air and slowing descent with a glide ratio of about 2.5:1, meaning that user travels 2.5 meters forward for every meter of descent.

Wingsuit flying begins with a departure from a high starting location. Like a plane, BASE jump location, or a helicopter and so forth.

When leaving a plane, the flier will immediately begin to fly as their velocity is maintained, but from other locations a vertical descent is required to gain speed before the glide.

Then the flight begins, the suit can reduce a vertical descent speed from over 100mph to as little as 25, giving far more airtime and ability to change direction.

Though in some cases it may be possible to end the flight without a parachute, usually a parachute is deployed at the same altitude as it would be during a free fall, safely landing the wingsuit flier.

BIGWIG WINGSUIT INVITATIONAL

Wingsuit pilots from around the world recently gathered in Eloy, Arizona for a two day invitational wingsuit event. 

SUPER-FAST FLY-UNDER

Two of the world's most renowned wingsuit pilots, Jokke Sommer, Espen Fadnes and Ludovic Woerth had one of the most memorable moments: a never-before-attempted flight under the bridge of the Aiguille du Midi in Chamonix at Mont Blanc, France. They flew at 125mph under the bridge.

CRAZY WINGSUIT WATER LANDING

In almost all cases a parachute is required to safely land after flying a wingsuit. So when Raphael Dumont made a landing sans parachute on Lake Garda, Italy, in 2013, it was truly something incredible. He strikes the water like a seaplane, nearly level, and coasts across it as if still in the air before finally coming to a stop.

BATMAN WINGSUIT CAVE FLIGHT

Alexander Polli, a wingsuit/BASE- jump athlete took this to the extreme by flying through a cave opening only as wide as he is tall in the Roca Foradada Mountains in Montserrat Spain.

Such a flight had never before been performed, making it all the more impressive that he reached speeds of over 150mph before bursting through the opening.

WINGING OVER MANHATTAN

While skydiving isn’t the best idea in most cities, Red Bull sent a team of 5 fliers to soar over New York City in wingsuits last month. While flying, the team shot footage in POV form, meaning you too can see what its like to fly by Manhattan at over 100mph.

FLYING OVER FUJI

This video is a little different from the others, because Jetman’s wingsuit is capable of forward propulsion. Watch as he cruises around the beautiful Mount Fuji like a human jet before safely landing with his parachute. Sometimes the location, not the rush, is the best part of a wingsuit adventure.