Wingsuit flying

Wingsuit flying (or wingsuiting) is the sport of skydiving using a webbing-sleeved jumpsuit called a wingsuit to add webbed area to the diver's body and generate increased lift, which allows extended air time by gliding flight rather than just free falling. The modern wingsuit, first developed in the late 1990s, uses a pair of fabric membranes stretched flat between the arms and flanks/thighs to imitate an airfoil, and often also between the legs to function as a tail and allow some aerial steering.

Like all skydiving disciplines, a wingsuit flight almost always ends by deploying a parachute, and so a wingsuit can be flown from any point that provides sufficient altitude for flight and parachute deployment – a drop aircraft, or BASE-jump exit point such as a tall cliff or mountain top. The wingsuit flier wears parachuting equipment specially designed for skydiving or BASE jumping. While the parachute flight is normal, the canopy pilot must unzip arm wings (after deployment) to be able to reach the steering parachute toggles and control the descent path.

Wingsuits are sometimes referred to as "birdman suits" (after the brand name of the makers of the first commercial wingsuit), "squirrel suits" (from their resemblance to flying squirrels' wing membrane), and "bat suits" (due to their resemblance to bat wings or perhaps the aptly named DC Comics superhero Batman and his signature costume).