Wingsuit Flying
A quiet revolution in the sky: Discover the world's first Wingsuit Foil
Peter Salzmann and designer Andreas Podlipnik talk about their groundbreaking design, the Wingsuit Foil, and discuss the courage and skill required for its historic maiden flight.
Innovations in extreme sports are vital for progressing the field and often literally pushing human achievement to new heights.
This is exactly what happened on October 24, when wingsuit pilot Peter Salzmann completed a jaw-dropping, history-defining 12.5km flight from the mountain Jungfraujoch in Switzerland. The jump set new world records for Longest BASE Flight Time, Furthest BASE Flight Distance and the Biggest BASE Jump from start to landing. The never-before-seen technology is the result of collaborative development between Salzmann and wingsuit foil developer Andreas Podlipnik, as well as support from the engineering team at Red Bull Advanced Technologies.
It was a simply astonishing achievement, but it didn’t come easy. For three years, Salzmann had locked himself away with designer Podlipnik and the Red Bull Advanced Technologies team to make his lifelong goal of being able to keep himself airborne for longer a reality and redefine what the sport of wingsuiting is capable of in the process.
Podlipnik first met Salzmann in a BASE jumping class where he was literally showing him the ropes. They became firm friends and jumped at the chance to collaborate to transform the skies with an innovative new wingsuit design.
Andreas Podlipnik works on the Wingsuit Foil
© Jörg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
“The idea came from Peter,” Podlipnik laughs.
From the start, Salzmann knew to provide increased lift, glides and longer access to altitude, the project would require an entirely new form of innovation, and thinking. “What’s unique about this project is that we’ve tried something that doesn’t yet exist in this form,” he says.
Both Podlipnik and Salzmann have been flying wingsuits most of their lives, so there were no finer minds to work on the problem. The issue was not only did they need to create something capable of setting a world record and successfully pulling off the first-ever wingsuit foil flight, but they would also have to take the wingsuit designs they knew and loved, and completely start from scratch – even if innovation had previously hit a brick wall.
“Suits for skydiving, which allow for longer glides, have been something we’ve been trying to improve over the past few years,” says Podlipnik. “With wingsuiting, [prior to this project], we eventually reached a point where we said, ‘We can't progress further with this.’”
Foiling has revolutionised other sports, such as sailing
© Jörg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Instead of giving up, they looked to foiling, specifically from wingfoiling and hydrofoiling, wondering if it would work to attach a foil underneath the wingsuit. “Could we design it in such a way that we can achieve more glide performance with the wingsuit compared to using just the wingsuit alone?” asks Podlipnik. “The big question was, would it be flyable – and how would it fly? Would it provide more glide performance?”
One question was key, especially for Salzmann, the pilot: would it fly? Not only does the success of the project depend upon answering this in the affirmative, but Salzmann’s life also hangs in the balance. In other words, the stakes couldn’t be higher – both literally and metaphorically.
And it wasn’t without its challenges.
“The main problem was that we built the wing, but whenever I got into position, it pulled me down because the wing had a bad flow,” Salzmann says.
“The wing must be designed in such a way that it actually has too high an angle of attack during normal flight,” says Salzmann. The fix? “We realised that there was such an extreme difference in angle that I had to adjust it while flying, or we had to make the wing adjustable. Ideally, depending on which body position you fly in, the wing also adjusts. That would be the best thing ever. But it is extremely complicated.”
Podlipnik and Salzmann have created six prototypes
© Jörg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
It came down to changing the angle range by as little as two or three degrees, with a safe wind tunnel test jump at each stage. Salzmann says it took them days to find the right angle, and at the time of speaking, they still weren’t 100 percent certain they’d nailed it – although he says they’re closer than they’ve ever been, there’s always room for improvement.
The first iteration took flight in September 2022 in an indoor wind tunnel in Stockholm. All in all, the pair tested six prototypes over the course of six years, tweaking everything from the glide ratio (the horizontal distance gained compared to the loss in altitude) to the chest mount, mast, aluminium connectors, wing parts and more. In the end, they went with a sandwich construction wing with a foam core, then laminated and vacuum pressing, and other 3D parts were printed.
With their knowledge in F1 and aerodynamics, Red Bull Advanced Technologies were an invaluable partner, supporting the team in finding the most efficient wing configuration, foil profile, geometry, size, distance to the body and other parameters to max out performance.
“The wings grew over several stages of evolution,” explains Podlipnik. “Of course, there were ups and downs, as always happens when you're doing something new. Sometimes, we were happy; other times, we saw that it was heading in the wrong direction and we had to shift course. The real challenge was finding the right configuration – the right size and making sure everything around it worked, too. The goal was always to not just jump out of a helicopter but also from a mountain, so you could essentially do wingsuit base jumps with it. One of the main difficulties was that we didn’t have a solution for how to start with the thing.”
The Wingsuit Foil needed to be portable as well as functional
© Jörg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
This last part was a particular issue. Yes, they were pretty certain the suit could fly, but could they get it where it needed to go? Did the suit provide access to mountains and other locations with previously impossible lines to fly? By focusing on a light and modular design, the suit did exactly that, allowing athletes to carry it up mountains and assemble it at the top. With a wingspan of 2.1m and a total wing weight of 3.8kg, hiking up is difficult, but not a backbreaking prospect.
Not that you don’t have to be selective. “For example, during testing in Italy, there was a bush below the rock ledge,” says Podlipnik. “With a normal wingsuit, you could easily jump over the bush. But with the wing, that starting point was ruled out because you’d get caught on the bush with the wing. For the jumper, this presents a bigger challenge.”
After all of their hard work, Podlipnik finally feels ready. “Red Bull Advanced Technologies supported us, and we’ve found the best possible configuration at this time,” he says.
As for the flight, "At the start, you fall at first and then transition into gliding.” Podlipnik explains. “With a normal wingsuit, we achieve a good glide ratio of 2.6 to 2.8, maximum three – meaning, one kilometre down, three kilometres forward. With the foil, we can glide flatter and even further, covering more distance from the same starting point.”
Podlipnik says it's too early to ask how the wingsuit has changed the sport – keep in mind this was developed behind closed doors, so the larger wingsuit community doesn’t yet know the ins and outs of its development or performance.
“We honestly haven’t asked if it will change the sport,” Podlipnik laughs. “How will this develop? I assume other jumpers would like to try it as well, but whether everyone will be jumping around with a foil in 10 years, I can’t predict. But with the ability to fly further, there will be new possibilities that we can’t yet imagine.”