Wingsuit Flyer Faster Than Speeding Plane
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With nothing more than a wingsuit and helmet, BASE jumper Ueli Gegenschatz — aka ‘Sputnik’ — leapt out of a plane at 14,763 feet (4500 meters) in the air and flew unaided for 10.9 miles (17.6 kilometers) over Galway Bay, Ireland earlier this week, beating a local plane to the airport, and garnering the world record for the longest wing suit flight in history.
Photo Julien Boule / AP
Sputnik took to the challenge for the ‘Red Bull Race Against the Machine,’ beating the flight time of the Britten-Norman Islander airliner from Aer Arann Islands which flies this same course daily by 75 seconds.
With a top speed of 120 mph (193km/h), the passenger plane took off from Inis Mor airstrip cruising at an altitude of 200ms as Ueli jumped from his sky-diving aircraft high above the island.
The Swiss adventurer flew across the Atlantic waters, soaring across the sky from above the edge of Inis Mor over Galway Bay at a gliding ratio of 1:4 meters — the ratio between height loss and distance covered — travelling an average speed of 155 mph (250km/h) with the aid of a strong tailwind for his record breaking distance of 17.6 kilometers.
He then opened his parachute 656 feet (200 meters) above the mainland and touched down on the runway at Connemara Regional Airport near Inverin in County Galway, clocking a time of 5 minutes and 45 seconds, which takes 7 minutes for the passenger plane to travel the same route.
Photo Andrew Downes / AP
Photo Red Bull
Photo Red Bull
Ueli transmitted data back to his laptop on the ground via the Garmin GPS tracking device attached to his wrist which calculated his top and average speeds during the race.
“I was fortunate to have very strong tailwinds on the day which increased my chances of making the long distance.” said Sputknik
“It enabled me to reach an average speed of 250km/h and make the crossing.” he said about his breakneck speed.
“I was happy not to land in the ocean as I’ve heard the Irish waters are very cold!”
Photo Red Bull
Photo Red Bull
Photo Red Bull
The dare-devil has been on a worldwide quest to find the most challenging terrains of the world to traverse the skies in his wingsuit.
Ueli, who recently base jumped from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, has travelled to The Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps, Popocatepetl — the 2nd highest peak in Mexico, and now to the Aran Islands on the Atlantic coast of Ireland to try out his specially designed wingsuit.
In answer to a reporter’s question on what he considered to be the “strongest emotional experience of this crazy Irish jump?” Ueli Gegenschatz replied, “The view wasn’t too bad at all.”
Photo Red Bull
Photo Red Bull
Ueli Gegenschatz Galway Bay Wingsuit Flight
Sources: Red Bull, News.com, Farm Online, and Daily Mail
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Base Jumping in Wingsuits for Extreme Sport
Daredevil Jet-Man Flies over Swiss Alps
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This guy is really brave! (or just plain stupid , but I don’t think so) btw I stumble up this
He’s obviously very trained at what he does, and thanks so much
Its really amazing.I feeling jealous to see them fling like a bird.
I have seen this guy and one of his jumps on the Today Show. This is very amazing stuff. And the feeling of jumping out of a plane and gliding like that must be absolutely amazing!
That is out of control! A man beating a plane. Yikes! I better not let my 6 year-old see this he’ll get some crazy ideas!
Kids have a tendency to think they can do almost anything Shawna
But fortunately for the most part, they just like to ‘play act.’
Cool post. Just stumbled and also added “base jumping with a wingsuit” on my things to do list before I die
Thanks Dee
It certainly looks like a blast!
Pictures of wingsuit stuff don’t really do it justice. Several wingsuit videos can be found on this page…simply amazing!:
http://withabrain.com/category/jaw-dropping-videos/
That is truly awesome! Not sure if he is brave or has a death wish!!
wow! this s crazy and really dangerous, but i bet a lot of fun. i think i will try this before i pass on for sure.
Now if we can just make them a every day thing, we will save lot on gas.
where can i get me one of those?! that looks like the funnest thing ever!
Well, it’s not really flying, is it? More like controlled falling. Still, the sooner we have our own personal jet packs, the better!
Controlled falling, Tom? Technically speaking, I guess you’re right. He ’soared’ through the air unaided with nothing more than a wingsuit.
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The article should be corrected. The longest distance wingsuit flight that I know of was 20.5 km across the Strait of Gibraltar and took over six minutes.
Actually the distance record in now a massive 30 km set in Australia in 2008 from a jump at 35k feet.
Ueli, we’ll miss you…RIP