This blows me away. One day parachutes may become obsolete.

Click on the link.

http://www.punchbaby.com/media/gitfakt/clips/cool/soulFlyers.mov

The video hides the actual glide angle which is close to vertical

Wing suits have a glide ratio of 2.5:1

That's very far from vertical.

I'm still not going to try and land in one

It would be interesting though to see if you could actually land it sans parachute.

Fairly possible given (1) enough snow and (2) the right sort of slope and maybe (3) depolyable skis.

Surely this is the Ryanair £2.99 no frills flight to Salzburg. :D

That's expensive for Ryanair. I got Stanstead to Perpignan for two poonds returrrrrn

I believe Ryanair are catering the flight.

Something about "Last Supper".

Whilst the idea of cloth winged suits seems to be fairly recent, the idea of leaping out of an aircraft without a parachute isn't. There used to be a man known as "The Birdman" who leaped out of an aircraft wearing a pair of wooden wings. He performed this trick at several Air Displays in the early 1950s before going to the Air Display at Speke Airport (aka Liverpool Airport). I had been taken to see the display by my father and The Birdman was to be the highlight of the afternoon. I watched the whole thing eagerly from take-off to the moment he leaped out of the aircraft only to see him plunge to his death behind a factory chimney at Garston. It is something I have never forgotten. I was only about 4 or 5 years old at the time but some things remain with you for a very long time. I'm sorry I can't be more accurate with the date or even give you his name. I think he may have been French or Belgian. I was never taken to another display after that. Strangely enough I met somebody only a day or two ago who mentioned The Birdman visiting Yeadon Airport (aka Leeds Bradford) for a display there. I have talked to many people over the years but he was the first person who had seen or heard of him.

DX

The birdman with the tragical fate was indeed a Frenchman, his name was Léo Valentin. and he plunged to his death at Liverpool on May 26th, 1956.

an article about the birdman of Bradford (http://www.thisisbradford.co.uk/bradford__district/bradford/news/jim15.html) mentionning Valentin.

short bio in French (http://bosserons.equilibre.free.fr/html/lesaviezvous.php) (scroll to middle of the page or search for )

Bre, thank you very much for that. You may be interested to know that the article whose url you gave is from what is now my local paper. I had tried many times to find out more about this gentleman but had been unsuccessful.

Leo Valentin made his final jump at Speke from a Starways DC3 - GAMPY. The pilot, Captain George Leigh, wrote a detailed description of the incident, which appeared in Rapide magazine, only a few years ago.

It is not, with respect, all that recent an idea. There was the Friar of Tongland, in Dumfriesshire. He flew from the monastery wall and landed on a dung-heap. The sceptics said the chicken feathers sought their home, but the more devout that he was borne on angels’ wings.

Dunbar’s original 15th century text is a little hard, perhaps, for the PPRuNe readership.
______________________
"He schewre his feddreme that was schene,
And slippit owt of it full clene,
And in a myre, up to the ene,
Amang the glar did glyd."
______________________
A more modern rendition (John Hudson) runs:
______________________

Wax glued goose feathers
and a certitude that no mammal
but man can muster,
then The Frenzied Friar perched
on top of the tower of Tongland kirk
set to be the first human
to fly.

As he dragged himself upright,
he cursed the quality of feathers these days.
His wings, caked by the reeking dung-heap
that saved him,
left onlookers sniggering like jackdaws.

Or so the locals say.
In truth
his initial swoop
plummeted the man of God,
but he chanted aves
and his Maker lifted him
like an eagle - or maybe a goose - overthe treetops, up and out across
the ocean, on among the stars and on,
on through the hearts of galaxies
till his eyes marvelled
and his soul rejoiced.

Upon return, he chose
a midden for landing.
A humble friar knows his place.