Wingsuit Flying
Peter Salzmann breaks world's longest wingsuit flight records
Jumping from a mountain ledge in Switzerland, wingsuit pilot Peter Salzmann pushed the limits of human flight, soaring farther than ever before with a groundbreaking wingsuit foil.
Austrian wingsuit pilot Peter Salzmann has just etched his name in the annals of human flight, achieving a record-breaking flight that could redefine the limits of aerial adventure.
On Thursday, October 24, 2024, Salzmann leapt from a snow-covered ledge at Switzerland's Jungfrau mountain at a height of 4,063m, equipped with a ground-breaking wingsuit foil. Reaching a top speed of 200kph shortly after the exit, he managed to fly for almost six minutes without engine propulsion, covering an incredible distance of 12.5km before deploying his parachute and landing safely on the ground between Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken.
The jump set new world records for the Longest BASE Flight Time of 5m 56s and Longest BASE Flight Distance of 12.5km (7.77 miles). Additionally, the jump's altitude difference of 3,402m (11,161 feet) also established a new record for Biggest BASE Jump from start to landing.
The never-before-seen technology is the result of a three-year-long collaborative development between Salzmann and wingsuit foil developer Andreas Podlipnik, as well as support from the engineering team at Red Bull Advanced Technologies with their knowledge in F1 and aerodynamics.
Peter Salzmann and his record-breaking foil wingsuit
© Mihai Stetcu/Red Bull Content Pool
Chasing the dream: Peter Salzmann makes wingsuit history with record flight
Not only did Salzmann make history, but he also achieved his lifelong goal of being able to keep himself air-born for longer, truly becoming one with the birds and soaring air currents.
It’s a truly remarkable, exhilarating feat and one Salzmann feels he's been working towards ever since he became aware of extreme sports as a child.
“I always loved Jackie Chan, and I always wanted to be a stuntman,” Salzmann says. “My friend and I would practice stunts growing up. Not just jumps, but coordination things, balancing, everything that challenges your body.”
Peter Salzmann made history with his wingsuit foil flight in Lauterbrunnen
© Mihai Stetcu/Red Bull Content Pool
At the time, it might have seemed like a childhood dream. No one Salzmann knew paraglided, flew planes or parachuted. But he kept going, upping his jumps from 20m to 25m to 30m and doing tricks like jumping out of a moving car or being dragged along by one. Deep down, he was addicted to the sense of freefall and began skydiving at the age of 20. 18 months later, he was BASE jumping. “I felt like, ‘this is it,’" he recalls.
Now 37, the Austrian is a renowned wingsuit flier who never keeps his feet on the ground for long before he's off on his next adventure. “When I'm on the ground, I long for what I can't do," Salzmann says of his desire to be in the air. “Everyone has their passion. For me, it's flying.”
For those not in the know, a wingsuit is supportive jump clothing worn to improve an athlete's performance and control during freefall. There are wings between the hands and feet and a large wing area between the legs, which inflates and develops a wing profile to help the wearer fly forward and travel horizontal distances.
Salzmann on the long hike to the top of his record flight
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Everyone has their passion. For me, it's flying.
Before a jump, Salzmann says he’s so focused that he doesn’t have much time to think. “You're in the moment and there’s no turning back in your mind,” he says. Mental preparation – going over every angle and a lot of visualisation techniques – begins even before he's travelled to a jump site. "If everything goes smoothly in your head, then everything is set," he says.
It's a precarious sport. Eying up a jump, there might come a point where Salzmann thinks ‘Wait a minute, maybe it's not right today after all, I'd rather leave it for now.’ “With a difficult jump, I measure the data and then at the exit, even if the data is good, I listen to my gut. If your gut says it's not right today, you have to be strong enough not to do it and go back down,” he explains.
Not reading the situation right can end in tragedy. There have been many fatalities among the BASE jumping and wingsuit communities. Salzmann recalls a time when conditions weren't good, but a younger athlete wanted "to be cool and jump from the top, because an older, more experienced jumper was up there." Salzmann and his friends tried to convince him to come down, but he jumped and lost his life.
"That was such a significant event for me," Salzmann says. "We had to watch him [suffer a fatal accident]. I believe that through such events, which you experience and learn from, you become more sensitive and develop your gut feeling."
The ground-breaking foil wingsuit has redefined human flight
© Joerg Mitter/ Red Bull Content Pool
Salzmann soared over spectacular Alpine peaks in incredible style
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Despite the risks, he says that adrenaline doesn’t play a big role anymore. "What you have is the most intense focus you can imagine," he says. "You are so focused that you can see yourself from the outside, imagining yourself flying. Physiologically, you have full body tension, but fear doesn't play a role. I always say that if I'm afraid, it's actually a warning sign. It prevents me from doing something stupid."
The focus is so intense that if any doubts were to come up, like whether I packed the parachute correctly, it would throw me off focus completely.
It helps that he does his research beforehand, scouring the internet for photos and videos of a potential jump, gaming it out before he goes anywhere near it. For the wingsuit foil project, Salzmann studied various potential jump points before selecting a ledge at 4,063 m (13,330 feet) in elevation on the north side of the Jungfrau mountain, the highest peak in Switzerland's Interlaken region.
“Finally, I mentally go through the jump again, focus and approach the edge. The focus is so intense that if any doubts were to come up, like whether I packed the parachute correctly, it would throw me off focus completely. Not just a little, but completely. But that doesn’t happen because you trust yourself and your equipment, so you can stay focused."
There’s also a daily physical workout of 10 to 20 minutes of mostly core work, combined with yoga.
Meticulous planning and development went into the new foil design
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Innovation in wingsuit flying is "not really about records"
Mostly, Salzmann says, it’s his ability to innovate that keeps the sport fresh, and gives him a feeling of success: "I want to advance things, develop something further and not be satisfied with the current state of development."
Enter the wingsuit foil project, for which Salzmann worked directly with designer Podlipnik to create a wingsuit capable of travelling longer distances than ever before.
"I'm not really about records, I'm more into the innovation side, discovering new flying equipment. It would be great to have a headline like: ‘Red Bull and Peter Salzmann develop new, innovative flying equipment that immensely improves performance in flying'."
The various stages of the foil's development
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Mission accomplished on both fronts.
As for the future, Salzmann says it would be "hard to imagine not doing it," but he can see himself paragliding at age 80, even if he's no longer flying wingsuits. And then, of course, there are high alpine jumps in the Himalayas and elsewhere, requiring days of hiking, acclimatisation and sleeping at 6,000m. "That is such a huge goal and passion of mine," he says.
Ultimately, Salzmann says that success is: "When you truly achieve the goal you had in mind, but with a good feeling and in a safe way.”"
In other words, the very definition of what Salzmann achieves every time he jumps from on high.
Mission accomplished, but this is just the start a new era of flight
© Mihai Stetcu/Red Bull Content Pool
The wingsuit foil: Answering the most important questions
What's a wingsuit and how do they work?
Wingsuits are made from ripstop nylon and have three wings: two between the arms and torso, and one between the legs. They work by creating lift, which slows down the wearer's descent and allows horizontal gliding. The wingsuit's shape and design increase the surface area, capturing air to generate lift and enable controlled flight. The wingsuit pilot can control the direction and speed of the flight by changing the angle and shape of the wingsuit.
What is the wingsuit foil and how was it built?
Peter Salzmann shows off his radical new foil wingsuit
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
The wingsuit foil has a 2.1m wingspan and features a sandwich construction with a foam core and 3D-printed components. It attaches to the front torso of the wingsuit pilot. The idea was inspired by wing foiling and hydrofoiling. Peter Salzmann, wingsuit foil developer Andreas Podlipnik and Red Bull Advanced Technologies collaborated to develop it. It took about three years to develop the wingsuit foil, from the initial concept to the final wing design. During this time, six different prototypes were created and tested. Before airborne tests, initial flights were conducted at the indoor wingsuit tunnel in Stockholm, Sweden.
Who developed the wingsuit foil?
The never-before-seen technology of the wingsuit foil is the result of collaborative development between Salzmann and wingsuit foil developer Andreas Podlipnik, with support from the engineering team at Red Bull Advanced Technologies. Red Bull Advanced Technologies, with their knowledge in F1 and aerodynamics, have supported to find the most efficient wing configuration, foil profile, geometry, size, distance from the body and other parameters to maximise performance.
The foil in full flight as Peter Salzmann soars high over the Swiss Alps
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Who is Peter Salzmann?
Peter Salzmann is a world-class wingsuit pilot, known not only for the remarkable flights he's taken across the globe, but also his skills as an aerial camera operator and his passion around using technology to expand the limits of human flight.
His journey began as a child, jumping from his parents' balcony onto cushions, and evolved into skydiving and BASE jumping at age 20. From early jumps off a 110m bridge in Croatia to a 1,000m rock face in Italy, Salzmann quickly amassed over 500 jumps worldwide. His focus then shifted to wingsuit flying, where he now contributes to the rapid evolution of the sport, combining expertise in weather paterrns, aerodynamics and geography to discover new flight paths.