There is a new sensation overtaking the skydiving world. Its called a wingsuit, birdman suit or squirrel suit. The wingsuit is another step in the ultimate pursuit in skydiving; horizontal movement and no parachute.

The wingsuit basically increases the surface area of the human body thus slowing the terminal velocity of free fall from 120mph to about 60mph. The flying squirrel does something similar when it leaps out of trees. The suit creates an airfoil shape that generates lift. Also a tremendous amount of horizontal velocity can be developed. Therefore a small parachute must be deployed before landing to slow this movement.

Wingsuit flying as dangerous as it is fun. But that won't stop people from trying new things. In 2003 Felix Baumgartner flew across the English Channel and reached speeds of 220mph using a carbon fiber wing. In 2005 the Birdman Rocket Team successfully mounted jet engines on the feet of one of their team riders.

check out this video:

This vid can also be found on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHlOvhlKPvs

Pura vida,
Nick