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I think instinctually,
when you’re standing

on the edge
of a cliff,

you’re faced with two
different sides of your mind.

First of all,
all humans

are naturally afraid
of heights.

Second of all, all humans
kind of dream of flying.

Fear is your friend,
fear keeps you alive.

Fear makes you check
your chute again and again.

You know, your heart’s pounding,
you can almost hear your heart.

You’re completely living
in that exact

present moment
and it’s very addicting

to be that in tune
with your body

and everything around you.

So you’re sitting there
and it’s like, it’s wrong,

but at the same time,
you want to do it.

The dream
of human flight

is overpowering
for some of us.

And it’s far more important
than fear of the unknown.

In ancient times,
most cultures believed

the sky was a domain
reserved for demons,

gods, and mythical
creatures.

Countless stories
were written

about failed human attempts
to leave their earthly domain

and enter the forbidden world
of the air.

The most famous
of these myths

is the Greek story
of Icarus.

His father, Daedalus, crafted
wings of wax and feathers

for himself
and his son

to escape from
the labyrinth prison

they lived in.

Daedalus warned
the young Icarus

not to fly too close
to the sun,

in case his wings
might melt.

As Daedalus cautiously flew
to safety,

the youthful Icarus
was overwhelmed

by the exhilaration
of flight,

and carelessly arched upward
toward the heavens.

His wax wings melted
and he plunged to his death.

And for eternity,
the story has served

as a warning
to misguided dreamers

trying to experience
human flight.

Despite the obvious dangers,
man has aspired to soar

like a bird
since time immemorial,

but without much success.

In written records that document
early human flight,

it’s difficult to separate
fact from myth.

Only a few early designs
had the potential

to glide small distances
and no flying machines

could ever have achieved
actual flight.

Until the end
of the 19th century,

man didn’t even understand
the science of bird flight.

These misinformed pioneers
were doomed

to countless broken backs,
limbs, or death,

but science continued
to progress.

The first significant
advancement in flight

is owed to Otto Lilenthal,
the Glider King.

Otto studied bird flight
in airfoils extensively.

Based on his studies,
he started to design

fixed wing gliders
in 1891.

Otto was credited
as the first successful aviator

because his flights
were actually repeatable.

From a running start
on a hilltop,

he made thousands
of flights,

some up to 1,000 feet
in length.

But in 1896, he broke his spine
on a test flight gone wrong.

On his deathbed, he said,
"Small sacrifices must be made."

After reading about
Otto’s death,

Orville and Wilbur Wright
were inspired to research

his work and begin
their own pursuit of flight.

After designing
a few questionable prototypes,

they eventually created
a stable working model in 1903,

complete with a rudder
that could make turns

and glide hundreds of feet.

They felt confident
they could add an engine

and attempt flight
from level ground

instead of a hilltop.

After months
of designing,

building an airplane,
and waiting for perfect weather,

the first sustained
human flight was achieved.

On the windswept sands
of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina,

was written the opening verse
of a new chapter

in the history of man.

But they did not rest
on their laurels.

The Wright brothers
continued to improve

and demonstrate their airplane
in the United States and abroad

for another five years
before the last doubting skeptic

was convinced that man
had conquered the air.

To fly like a bird.

For ages,
that has been man’s ambition.

How often, during
the unrecorded centuries

of the past he has tried and
failed, we do not know.

We do know that
many courageous men

have given their lives
so that we might fly

in safety and comfort.

But the modern airplane
was a far departure

from man’s dream of flying
effortlessly like a bird.

So a select few
continued to pursue

man’s original dream
of flight.

Army planes
rolling overhead

at the national air races
in Cleveland, Ohio,

thrill 40,000 spectators
in the year’s

biggest flying show
with stunning

wing-to-wing formation.

After World War I,
pilots from the war

put on air shows
for massive crowds

throughout Europe
and North America.

The finale of most shows was
the new sport of parachuting.

The jumpers often tried
to outdo each other

to grab audiences’ attention.

Look, this fella’s in trouble,
too. No, I guess not,

he’s only spilling the
air out of his chute

to speed his descent.
He’s all right.

Clem Sohn was one of
these professional parachutists

who traveled the country
from air show to air show

in the 1930s.

Like many dreamers
before him,

he was enthralled
by the concept

of flying like a bird.

So he came up with
a simple design

based on flying squirrels
and bats.

Continuing to evolve
the ancient tradition

of constructing
bird-like wings,

Clem stitched sail cloth
to a metal frame.

His first flight
with these wings

was at an air show
in Florida in 1935.

He immediately went into
a glide, and was

successfully able
to perform banking turns

on his way down.

Clem Sohn,
America’s Birdman,

takes off in his plane
to give one more demonstration

of his marvelous powers of
gliding down from 10,000 feet.

After thousands of years
of failed attempts

at bird-like flight,
a small-town boy

from Michigan
had succeeded.

His flights made headlines
around the world and suddenly,

he was making thousands
of dollars to perform

at air shows.

Sponsors lined up
and a Clem Sohn "Birdman" doll

for kids was created.

But Clem never saw himself
as a novelty act.

He firmly believed
he was advancing human flight

and continuously modified
his wings

to improve his flights.

In 1937, Clem was invited
by the French government

to fly at the Paris
air show.

But when he pulled
his chute, it malfunctioned.

And 200,000 people
all but create a vacuum

as they draw in their breath
with horror

when Clem’s parachute
fails to open properly

and he hurdles down
from 10,000 feet.

Down, down, down,
to his death.

Despite his death, Clem inspired
dozens of imitators

had started the birdmen
phenomenon that continues

to this day.

But flying with heavy wings
was not as easy

as Clem had made it look.

Many copycat birdmen
were seriously injured

or died from going into
uncontrollable spins.

One birdman described
opening his wings in midair as,

"wrestling a tent
in a hurricane."

The successor to Clem
was Léo Valentin,

a famous parachutist
from the French military.

Leo started flying
with cloth wingsuits in 1950,

but after a few
disastrous flights,

he quickly gave up,
thinking that rigid wings

would be more controllable.

He was wrong.

It took years
of modifying and testing

before he had
a working pair in 1954.

Léo claimed to fly over three
miles on his first flight.

For the next two years,
he became an air show sensation.

But like most birdmen
of the time,

he tragically met
his death.

At a festival in England,
he was about to jump

when the wind sucked him
out sideways.

He struck the side
of the plane,

and his wings splintered.

For decades, no birdmen
attempted flight

with rigid wings.

Eventually,
the Birdman movement

fizzled out
in the 1960s,

and only a few skydivers
experimented with wings,

until Patrick De Gayardon
came along in the 1990s.

Before experimenting
with wingsuits,

Patrick made a comfortable
living as a professional

skydiver who dreamed up
spectacular stunts to film,

such as sky surfing
over the North Pole

and breaking the world record
for the highest jump

without oxygen.

He was also an avid
BASE jumper,

which involves jumping off
a fixed object

with a parachute designed
for quick openings.

His next big dream was to extend
his time in the air,

and a wingsuit
was the obvious way to do this.

He designed wings
that inflated using ram air,

which is the same system
that modern-day parachutes use.

Ram air systems use
the air flow that occurs

around a body in freefall
to pressurize the inside

of a two-layered
fabric wing.

This enabled Patrick
to fly with wings

similar to airplanes,
and as a result,

his wings were much more
stable and safe

than the canvas wings
of the past.

So, Patrick De Gayardon
was a very good skydiver

and I met him
when I was in the French team

living in Gap.

And he invented
the modern wingsuit

that inflates and that has
a good performance

compared to the old ones.

Before Patrick,
there was a lot of

persons--
Léo Valentin, Clem Sohn,

all these guys
that made the mistakes

that we didn’t do
afterwards.

Patrick was definitely headed
towards more performance.

He was making the suit
slightly bigger,

he was streamlining them
to make them more efficient,

and he was definitely
looking at trying to get

more performance and more
glide out of the suit.

In 1998, Patrick died
when his parachute malfunctioned

after he modified it
in an attempt

to streamline his parachute
with his wingsuit.

It was a devastating blow
to the skydiving community.

Yet his death did not deter
others to continue

his work
with wingsuits.

Soon after Patrick’s death,
a handful of skydivers,

including Loic Jean-Albert,
began to make

their own wingsuits.

Loic designed and sold
one of the first wingsuits

available to
the general public

called The Crossbow.

Since I was a little kid,
I liked to build toys

for what I need.

When I saw the first
wingsuits of Patrick,

I had some ideas
about how to improve it

and that’s how I got
into building the suits.

I built the first one
because I wanted

my toy, you know.

And then, um,
people started asking

to have toys, also.

So, that’s when we started
building suits for other people.

He had a wingsuit
that was far more comfortable

with far better performance
than any of his competitors

for the first five years
that he was making them.

We made bigger suits,
for North Face,

but also they are more stable
and more maneuverable.

The only way to learn
how to fly a wingsuit

is through skydiving.

Many skydiving operations

offer wingsuit flying
instruction,

but a minimum
of 200 regular skydive jumps

are recommended before
attempting a wingsuit flight.

Today’s wingsuit designs
allow experienced skydivers

to easily pilot
the suits through the air

for several minutes.

I grew up
on an airport.

Both my parents
were skydiver instructors.

As soon as there was
room in the plane,

I was hopping in.

I started skydiving
when I was 15.

I got into BASE jumping,
wingsuit flying,

all these things.

And I started flying
light planes, bigger planes,

and I fly helicopters, also.

I’m just interested
in everything that flies.

My introduction
to wingsuit flying

came at Gap in France
at Loic’s drop zone

using his suit, sort of
within his circle of friends.

I’m kind of from Loic’s
family of wingsuiting.

I think wingsuit flying
is the closer you can get,

in term of what
birds might feel,

but there’s a lot
of interesting things

in other flying machines.

Like possibilities that you
don’t have with wingsuits.

So I like mixing them
to show that they can

fly together
and they are all fun.

We all went to Gap
to go skydiving.

And fly our wingsuits
next to Loic,

who would be flying
his airplane next to us.

And our goal was
to be able to see

if we could fly
our wingsuits

at the same level
as his airplane.

The few times
I’ve done this,

with one person
in a wingsuit,

and this time
they were a group,

which is even more nice
because you have to set up

everyone together
and it’s not too easy.

I will turn around
like this, anyway.

So as you see me
turning around,

you just follow like this.

Okay?

Try and keep
a fast pace.

- Fast pace, no?
- For sure.

I’ve flown wingsuits a lot with
Mike and Matt and I knew that,

you know, we were able
to fly together well.

That wasn’t gonna be
a challenge for us,

but to be able to fly
with an airplane

was something that
we’d never done before.

Jumping with the three
is Noah Bahnson,

an aerial cameraman.

We’re flying and all of
a sudden, I looked down

and I see Loic flying his
airplane up and behind us.

Just seeing this huge airplane
that’s able to fly

right next to us,
it was breathtaking, really.

It’s a very nice visual,
and I always like to fly

with wingsuit flyers
and planes.

Mixing both disciplines
is really fun.

In the mid 1990s,
as news of Patrick

and Loic’s wingsuit flying
spread throughout

the skydive world,
BASE jumpers recognized

the incredible potential
for wingsuit flights

from cliffs.

BASE jumping
is a high-risk sport

by any measure,
but adding a wingsuit

makes it even more
dangerous.

Only the most experienced
and elite BASE jumpers

don wingsuits,
and today,

the most progressive
and advanced human flight

is happening in the wingsuit
BASE-jumping environment.

Skydiving definitely helps
prepare you

for wingsuit BASE jumping,
and in fact,

it’s one of the most important
things you can do.

Every wingsuit BASE jumper
has to skydive

as much as possible.

Now, it only helps
for certain things.

It helps you fly the suit,
it helps you

become stable in the air.

It helps you sort of develop
the foundation

that you’ll need to perfect
your glide performance later

in the BASE jumping
environment.

Modern wingsuits
are relatively easy to fly.

In fact, if you just relax
and sort of lay on top of them,

they’ll fly straight
all by themselves.

All you have to do
is sort of learn

how to give gentle inputs,
and work with the suit

instead of fighting.

Clouds are sort of
the ultimate training tool.

Clouds allow you
to pick a point of reference,

and set up.

And try and fly
as close as you can

to the edge of it
without hitting it.

Turning in a wingsuit
is very intuitive.

It can mean the difference
between rotating your shoulders

a little bit, maybe changing
the angle of your feet,

and even just
moving your head

and having your body
follow which way

your head’s going.

The movements
that you’re making

are very small,
but learning how to fly,

not only relative
to other people while skydiving,

but flying around clouds
and that sort of thing

is what kind of breeds
the skills

to be able to fly
along terrain,

making turns.

But skydiving doesn’t
prepare you for the exit.

It doesn’t prepare you
for learning how to

get your suit flying
as soon as possible,

and that’s one of the most
crucial aspects

of wingsuit BASE jumping.

That’s one thing
that you need to learn

while in the BASE
environment.

And your first few jumps
need to be from an object

that’s very forgiving,
that’s a very long,

vertical rock drop,
so that you have time

to figure out how to get
your wingsuit flying soon.

Later, more experienced
BASE jumpers

can move to objects
with shorter starts

where you throw a rock
and maybe it only freefalls

for six or seven seconds.

So those short starts
are reserved

for the most experienced
wingsuit BASE jumpers.

Jumping off of a cliff
adds a whole new aspect

that most people
don’t consider.

A lot of people
don’t think about

how the winds
are affecting the mountain,

which is going to be pushing you
in one direction

or the other,
they don’t think about

what’s gonna happen
if they pull a little bit lower

and have line twists.

In a skydive that’s not
a big deal,

but in BASE jumping,
these are things

that you have to be
absolutely dialed in.

People who don’t practice
these things

often tend to get hurt
and most of them die.

The Dent de Crolles
in France

is a really classic
BASE jump.

For a long time,
it’s been a test piece

of wingsuit BASE jumpers.

It’s something that I saw
for the first time

about six years ago.

At that time,
I had only heard

of one other jumper
who was jumping

and that was Loic.

There’s a mandatory
performance obstacle

that happens to be
a giant ledge

with the town
that’s on it.

If you don’t clear that,
you need to land in a field

that’s on it.

If you make the decision
too late

to try and land on
one of those fields,

you probably won’t have
enough altitude

to deploy your parachute
safely.

If you ask me
if I’d ever think

that I’d be able
to jump that

and clear the town,
I would’ve said no.

Maybe even up until
a year or two ago.

No way.

So we’re gonna be flying
past that entire village

down to that big town?

Is that what we’re
trying to do?

Yeah, all the way over
the plateau,

and down to the bottom
of the valley.

Holy crap.

It’s kind of a bit
of a glide

to the soccer field after,
but it’s definitely possible.

Otherwise, there’s plenty
of options to the left.

But we can’t see them
from here.

Okay, so I’ll just make that
call when I go

around the corner,
I guess.

Once you clear
the edge,

you’ll see lots
of options.

We should be able
to make it, right?

I think you can pass it,
but if you feel like

you’re not going to,
you have three bail-out fields

below on the right,
and those are

your only options,
basically, for landing.

And it does look like
a pretty long glide.

I’m sure it’s
gonna be fine.

Just decide early,
but I’m sure

you guys will make it.

Cool.

Three, two, one.

My plan in my mind
was, "Okay,

I’ll shoot for the plateau
and the valley."

If I get to that spot,
and I realize I’m high enough

to make it through
the canyon,

then I’ll go
to Plan B.

But I don’t really intend
to fly all the way out

to the very bottom
because I know

if I have that
in my mind,

that I might make
the wrong decision.

Super cool to fly
my wingsuit over the town

that I was once looking up
at the cliff going,

"That’s impossible
and insane."

It’s funny how
your perspective changes

not only based on
the suits

and the progression with
materials and technology,

but also with your skill
and comfort level.

Those things are the recipe
for innovation

and that’s what’s happening
right now,

we’re flying in ways
that we never thought

we’d fly,
it’s truly amazing.

It was awesome!

Nice.

When wingsuit BASE jumping
first came to be,

it was really exciting
because all of a sudden

we could fly ourselves
away from the object.

And that was just
sort of mind-boggling.

You know, for decades,
here we’d been,

freefalling right next
to the cliff, you know,

with everything rushing
just behind you.

It wasn’t really flying
at all, it was falling.

And then wingsuits
came along

and all of a sudden
people were able to fly

not just, you know,
hundreds of meters,

but even kilometers,
or miles,

away from the cliff.

I mean,
that was so impressive.

And so in the beginning,
the holy grail

of wingsuit BASE jumping
was distance and glide.

Who could fly furthest away
from the cliff?

How far could you
make it from Point A?

Typically, most of the jumps
that we’re doing these days

are anywhere between 4,000
and 6,000 feet vertical.

What that translates
to is most of the time,

we can fly twice as far
as we are high.

So if I’m one mile high,
I can jump off that cliff

and fly for at least
two miles

before I have to deploy
my parachute.

We don’t need
a 6,000-foot sheer wall.

We just need 500 little feet
of vertical

near the top
of the mountain,

and then we have
the entire mountain

to play with after we get
our wingsuits flying.

Jumping with a wingsuit
does offer

a lot more possibilities

in terms of where
you can jump,

in terms of flights
that you can do,

slowly changes
the face of BASE jumping.

As wingsuits got better
and pilots got better,

we could fly so far away
from the cliff,

it almost feels like
we jumped out

of an airplane.

It became too much
like skydiving.

Here we are,
two miles away from the cliff,

and thousands of feet
over the ground,

that almost got to be
a little bit boring.

In 2003, Loic performed
the first documented

proximity flight,
which is a wingsuit flight

in close proximity
to the ground.

I did a lot of other
proximity,

but not the same
and not as close.

I think this video
did open the eyes

on a lot of people
on the possibilities

with a wingsuit.

The images of him
flying his wingsuit

close to the snow slope
in Verbier

totally blew my mind.

Loic was literally
five or six years

ahead of everyone else
in the sport,

and this is a sport
that evolves a huge amount

in one or two years.

So, years before
anyone else,

he was doing this
over and over again,

and to a level that
even today

is barely matched.

All of a sudden,
the exciting thing to do

was not to fly
as far away from the cliff

as possible, but to fly
as close to the cliff

and as close to the terrain
as possible.

Being able to see
and judge glide

is very important,
but being able to recognize that

while you’re doing
100 miles an hour,

close to terrain,

I think that’s one of
the hardest things to learn

because there’s no real way
to learn that

without doing it.

It’s always a difficult
decision,

when you feel like
you’re ready to start

flying close to something.

Everybody wants that
as soon as possible.

They don’t want to wait.
They want it now.

The slowest progression possible
is the best and the safest.

And what a lot of
wingsuit BASE jumpers nowadays

aren’t doing
is starting slowly.

To be totally honest,
I can’t say

that I started slowly,
either,

even though I was in the sport
for six years

before I really even
flew close to anything at all.

You sort of have
to balance your desire

with a slow enough progression
to stay alive.

In most of these kinds
of sports,

there’s a very small
elite group

that participates
in them.

Very few people have
the ability to do it,

have the courage
to do it,

to do something
that’s really challenging

and really risky,
and to succeed at that,

there’s certainly a reward
for people to do something

that other people
can’t do or won’t do.

I think that drives
you to overcome

that aversion
that most people have.

Motivation for some
of these kinds of activities

or things that
happen by accident

is that they’re
life-altering experiences,

and once you’ve done that,
you’ve had that feeling,

I think if it was that profound
and that rewarding,

you’d tend to want
to do it again.

So, we’re just getting
to bed here at the refuge.

We’re at about
8,600 feet.

Tomorrow morning,
we’re gonna get up early

to go do one
of the longest,

coolest wingsuit
BASE jumps of my life.

A lot of the newer exit points
that are being opened up

are now expanding into different
areas of the mountains.

Getting into these areas
can be more technical,

and we can end up having to do
even multiple-day ascents,

so it’s important
that you’re comfortable

in a high alpine
environment.

The jump in the Dolomites
is about 6,000 feet

from where we exit
to where we land.

It’s in a pretty
remote area.

It got jumped for the first
time two summers ago,

and because it’s
a pretty high jump

and the access
isn’t super simple,

it hasn’t seen a lot
of BASE jumpers, actually,

so it’s relatively
new and fresh,

and actually,
I don’t even know

of any other Americans
that have been up there,

I think we’re
pretty much the first.

Who’s giving the count?

I’ll give the count.

Which way
are we exiting?

Straight out,
turning left.

-Ready?
-Ready.

Here we go,
have fun.

All right.

Three, two, one.

See ya.

People that
don’t approach

that level of activity
in their own lives

tend to look at these
sorts of things as odd.

They are risky.

They are dangerous.

These guys are as normal
as you and me,

they just have
a higher level of need

to achieve a goal,
a different kind of goal.

They’re trying
to challenge themselves.

They’re seeking something
that they can’t get

watching football
on television

or driving
a car fast.

They feel more alive
for having done this.

Maybe the risk of high rate
of injury or death

makes life more
attractive to them.

Oh, man.

That was amazing.

That was totally
incredible.

Sick.

Nice work.

Impressive exit, huh?
- Yeah.

It comes out fast.

A lot of ledges
down there.

It was the only thing
that had sun on it.

We had a little sun
on us on the exit,

and then right below us,
it was like

this golden
rock outcropping.

Accentuating your death.

Ahh...but it’s all good,
and then we went left.

Not all wingsuit
BASE jumpers are crazy.

Sure, there’s a couple,

but we come from
all walks of life.

I mean, I’ve jumped
with nurses and doctors,

airline pilots,
psychologists,

all sorts
of normal people.

I wouldn’t say that there’s
a particular personality type

that suits
wingsuit BASE jumping.

There’s people who use
sort of a surfer mentality

to kind of feel the line
and feel the technique,

and there’s people who
sort of crunch the numbers

on their computers,
and both work.

In sports like
wingsuit BASE jumping,

I think you find
more meticulous people.

I don’t think you find
many yahoos out there

doing this
kind of thing

because it takes
a tremendous amount

of commitment and time
and money and effort.

If you don’t take this kind
of care and caution

and pay this kind
of attention,

then you’re making
an evolutionary decision

about natural selection.

People BASE jump because
it is really exciting,

and you get a huge
adrenaline rush,

but it’s also about getting
out in the mountains,

and it’s about exploring
and enjoying nature.

One of the main reasons I like
to do this sport so much

is because I’m able to be
up in the mountains

where few people
ever go.

I’m seeing things from an angle
that no one ever sees them from

or very few get
to see them from.

I try to pretty much
only BASE jump from cliffs

because for me, it’s all
about the mountain experience,

I love being in the mountains
and the back country,

away from civilization.

BASE wingsuit flying
is really cool

because you walk
in the mountains,

be cool and calm.

It’s a different aspect
of wingsuit flying.

Once we’re on the edge
and we get to the exit point,

we have to gear up.

To be honest, the wingsuit
isn’t super comfortable.

It’s sort of tight
in the wrong places

and baggy in other places,
and you don’t really feel

like you’re in your
natural environment.

You sort of feel
out of place.

And so, once you put
the wingsuit on,

basically, your natural
environment becomes the air,

and you just
want to fly.

It’s only when
you leave the cliff

and you start flying,
you feel at home.

Before you jump
off of the cliff,

you’ve got a million things
racing through your mind,

and then you count down,
"Three, two, one,"

and then nothing,
it’s completely silent.

The first two seconds
after jumping

are totally calm.

There’s no wind noise.

That moment of freefall
lasts so much longer

than any other moment
of your life.

It’s incredible.

And gradually, everything
sort of speeds up.

A train comes at you
faster and faster,

the wind noises
increases.

You’re completely living
in that exact, present moment,

and it’s very
addicting.

All the way up here
to sit in the white room,

as you can see
behind me.

That’s where I’m
supposed to be jumping.

Hanging out in a cloud
on a mountain in Switzerland.

Worse things,
worse places.

All right.

Three, two, one,
gypsy tears.

How was that?

That was awesome.

Wow!

Three, two, one.

Ellen’s pretty
interesting.

There aren’t many women
in our sport

doing kind of this
fringe stuff

as far as
proximity flying.

Pretty much all of my
spare time that I’ve had

has been paragliding,
rock climbing,

going to the gym,
running, hiking.

All of that is focused
towards making BASE jumping

a more productive
sport for me.

Living in the States,
it’s very hard

to go wingsuit
BASE jumping.

There’s not very many cliffs
that are accessible,

so I’ve been spending
all of my spare time,

you know, if it’s
even just for a week,

I fly out
to Europe.

Every time I come out,
I meet new people

to wingsuit with because
it’s such a small community.

It’s really great to be able
to connect with everyone.

The relationships
you make in BASE jumping

seem to be a lot stronger than
any other relationship you have

because you’re able to share
something that’s so unique,

and few other people
understand the feelings

you get
from BASE jumping.

People who don’t
do the same sports

don’t really understand
how I work.

I will drop anything if it’s
a calm, beautiful morning

and go off
and jump off a cliff,

and a lot of people
just can’t understand

why I need to go do that,
but it’s something I need.

Woo-hoo!

Jeb Corliss has joined
the group in the Swiss Alps

for a group jump
called "flocking."

While common
in skydiving,

flocking is very rare
in BASE jumping

due to the complexity
of multiple pilots

jumping from a cliff together
and flying near the terrain.

Jumping with Jeb
was special.

There are definitely a lot
of people that were involved

in the progression
of wingsuits,

whether it was
wingsuit BASE jumping

or skydiving with wingsuits,
he’s one of the people

that’s been in the sport
for a long time,

and I’ve looked up to him
for a number of years,

so actually being able
to do a jump with him

is pretty cool.

Jeb, an icon
in the sport,

purchased his first wingsuit
in the late ’90s.

To this day, he continues
to push the limits

of wingsuit flying
and is one of the most

experienced wingsuit
BASE jumpers alive.

I feel really comfortable
flying with my friends

’cause I know what
their skill level is.

I’m very particular to who
I choose to jump with,

and especially if I’m gonna be
sharing the air space with them,

it ought to be somebody
I really know and trust.

With that many people
on an exit point,

which can be the size
of a picnic table,

is kind of a challenge
within itself.

If somebody slipped, if somebody
bumped somebody else on exit,

you really have to know
who you’re jumping with.

Being with somebody else
in the air, close to terrain,

by far one of the coolest
experiences I’ve ever had.

Very good work, guys,
that was awesome.

It was really,
really fun.

That was actually--it was
my most fun jump here so far.

I think mine,
too, honestly.

Yeah, it’s definitely
the most fun.

So much cooler seeing
people around you.

It really is.

The visual of other humans
in the sky flying

is so awesome.

It’s like, "Oh, that’s
what this feels like,

I can see the feeling."

I can see them do it
at the same time!

My family definitely
has concerns,

like any
family would,

about what I do
and my safety.

Their feelings
do affect me,

but I think
they understand

that this is something
that I need to do.

If I’m not doing this,
then I’m not who I am.

If you deal
with the reality

of the consequences
of mistake,

99 times out of a 100,
you’re not gonna walk away

from that accident,

somewhere you’ve come
to an accommodation

of that fact.

At that speed,
if you clipped a tree

or touch the ground,
it’s game over.

Lights out,
you’re done, for sure.

It’s hard
to hit anything

at more than 100 miles
an hour without dying.

I’m scared every time.

What is pushing
that fear down

are the skills
and the time and the energy

and everything that I’ve put
into getting to that point.

But you have to have
a high level of expectation

that this could
end badly today.

I would suspect
that they’ve accepted

that this is
the real risk.

This is really
part of the deal.

Because it is such
a calculated sport,

you need to be
able to take in

a lot of things
into consideration,

and the most important thing
is you need to be able to know

when to say no
and to hike back down.

It’s a very
unforgiving sport,

because once you make
a decision to BASE jump,

you become subject
to all of the variables

and all
of the conditions,

so really, the only
way to guarantee

that you stay alive
is to not jump.

I’ve had three or four
fairly close friends die

wingsuit proximity flying.

It’s something
that is a reality.

I was still taking
pretty high risks

when I had
my two kids,

and I broke my back
in the end of 2007,

and when you’re in a bed
lying for a few months,

you have time also to think
about life in general.

It was really fun,
I’m really happy

of everything that I did,
but I don’t think

I want to take that
much risk anymore.

I mean,
I’ve done enough.

I’ve spent a lot
of time doing it,

and I’ve lost a lot
of friends also.

When you do
this type of thing,

and you know all the guys
who are doing

this type of thing,
you know a lot of--

you have a lot of friends
that die doing it.

Skill does help,

but it does not
erase the risk.

It’s really
cool to watch

how Matt is progressing
in the sport.

He lives over here,
and he’s getting to jump a lot.

Having the precision
and the control

to be able to fly
through two objects

that are no more
than 20 feet apart

is really cool
to watch.

Three, two, one.

Our generation grew up

with all of these fantastic
sci-fi movies in the ’80s.

I’ll never forget
the image of Ewoks

speeding through the forest
on their Speeder Bikes

or Luke Skywalker diving
into canyons on the Death Star,

or even just the classic image
of Superman flying headfirst.

To me, wingsuiting is all
those things rolled into one.

It’s like the ultimate
dream of flight realized.

It’s definitely
the ultimate rush.

Flying your body
close to something

and having control
over where you’re at

is the ultimate.

It’s what we’ve been
dreaming about forever.

One of the most
technically-challenging

wingsuit BASE jumps
is called the "crack."

It requires the pilot
to fly nearly one mile out

before swooping down
between two trees

no more than
20 feet apart.

This leads to a long,
narrow canyon

which the pilot
must fly through

before having enough room
to safely deploy his parachute.

So, there’s really
just a handful

of wingsuit pilots
in the world

who are flying their
wingsuits at this level,

but what we’re gonna see
in the next few years

is that number
explode exponentially

because wingsuits are becoming
more comfortable to fly

and the performance is
increasing every year.

It’s very difficult
to say what the future

of wingsuiting will bring
because five years ago,

I think that a lot
of wingsuit BASE jumpers

never imagined
that we would be doing

the type of flights
that we’re doing now.

After decades
of development,

through trial and error
and after many deaths,

the wingsuit has evolved
into a spectacular vehicle

for human flight.

While wingsuit designs
will continue to be modified

to make flying
safer and easier,

cloth wingsuit performance
will always be limited

by the framework
of the human body.

The wingspan is dictated
by the pilot’s size,

and the length of flight
is completely dependent

upon our limited
human muscle strength,

which usually
becomes exhausted

after three minutes
of flight time.

Yves Rossy believes
he has found a solution

to these
natural restraints.

He’s gone back
to Léo Valentin’s idea

of a rigid wing

and utilizes
mini turbine engines

to achieve
airplane-like flight,

essentially turning himself
into a jet aircraft.

There are some possibilities
in hard wings

to take off, land,
safely with engines,

and also you can
fly with your body

which gives
the feeling of flight.

I think that’s quite cool,
it’s quite interesting.

The technical skills
you’d have to have

to be able to strap
two jet engines to your body

and jump out
of something and fly

is pretty far
out there.

I think being a Rocket Man
will happen for a select few,

but it’s definitely not
gonna be something mainstream,

even in the wingsuit
community.

A more realistic
future for birdmen

is combining
technology

with a traditional
nylon wingsuit.

In Switzerland,
significant progress

has been made in this field
in the last couple of years.

My name is
Raffaello D’Andrea,

I’m a professor of
Dynamic Systems and Control

at ETH Zurich.

Geo was a Ph.D. student
in our group.

We wrote
a paper together

on longitudinal stability
of wingsuit flight.

First time that anyone
had ever written a paper

about wingsuit flying
to that level.

You’re looking at the luckiest
man in the world

because I’ve
managed to combine

this recreational interest
in wingsuit flying

with my professional
and academic background

in engineering
and mathematics.

All right.

Geo had the talent
and the courage

to be a wingsuit flyer,
but he was also a scientist.

What’s the probability of having
both of those aptitudes

in one human being,
and Geo really had them,

and I think it really
was interesting to see

how scientific he was,
he was very rigorous.

He wanted to be able
to write mathematical models

and to use those models
to figure out

how to make humans
fly better.

The paper covered the dynamics
of wingsuit flying,

showing that these models
that are used for airplanes

also apply
to human beings,

and showing that it is feasible

to fly with thrusters,

although you’re prone
to instabilities,

and that you can control
these instabilities.

Our plan, which we
describe in our paper,

is to use steerable nozzles,
vector thrust,

and an onboard computer,

and basically a fly-by-wire
cruise control system

to stabilize
the flight.

Raffaello and his students have
developed complex algorithms

used in modified
quadrocopters

which can keep a rod
perfectly balanced.

While a human maneuvers
the quadrocopter

with a remote wand,

it balances the rod
upright autonomously.

Since these
human-controlled maneuvers

are random and not
pre-programmed,

the quadrocopter
is designed to learn

how to balance
the rod by itself.

Geo visualized
a similar system

to keep a pilot perfectly
balanced during flight

while the pilot chose whichever
flight path he desired.

So, the human being
wouldn’t even know

that there was
a computer system

doing all this
fine control.

As far as the human being
is concerned,

they’re just flying,
and they want to turn right,

they would turn right,
and the system would react

to what the human being
wanted to do

and make the vector thrusts
do what it’s supposed to do.

Perfect exit point.

And this opens up
a world of opportunities.

Instead of flying down
steep mountain slopes,

you could actually
fly over flat ground,

which would
be amazing.

He always used
to say that,

"If something ever
happens to me,

it’s gonna be because
of equipment failure,

not because
I miscalculated."

Geo was a very analytical
BASE jumper,

and using calculations,
he had decided

that it would be possible
to fly his wingsuit

through a col
in South Africa,

and like many pioneers
that came before him,

his attempt at pushing
the limits ended badly,

and it’s totally unfortunate
because he was a brilliant mind

and a really
nice person.

I mean, generally speaking,
people as smart as him

are way too smart to get
into wingsuit BASE jumping,

so he was definitely
a rarity.

Around a century ago,
the Wright brothers

thought they started
human flight.

It’s ironic that it’s taken
another hundred years

for us to start to look
at the type of bird-like flight

that our ancestors would have
dreamed of thousands of years.

Woo-hoo!

It’s a magical
and life-changing experience

just stepping off a cliff,
spreading your arms,

and flying like a bird,
you really do feel like a bird.

That’s my research.

I’m a very lucky man.

Woo-hoo!

He was, without question,
a pioneer in our sport,

and it’s really sad
that we lost him

because he was definitely
taking it in a direction

that few of us
could even imagine,

let alone conceptualize.

Another new exit point,
another day.

I think what happened was
the adventurer in him came out,

and he just wanted
to push the boundary,

and he tried something that
maybe he shouldn’t have tried,

but, you know, he easily
could have cleared it as well,

and then we’d all be
talking here about it,

and it’d be
a different story.

Oh, yeah,
life is good!

Geo died
a week later

attempting a different flight
from the same exit point.

His flight path required
that he fly over a ridgeline

that he wasn’t
able to clear.

Geo’s groundbreaking work
has not been continued

by anyone to date.

Thousands of years after humans
first leapt into the unknown,

a select few of us
have achieved

the very kind of flight
that our ancestors

have been envisioning
for eons.

Perhaps the transformation
to true birdmen

is not yet complete,

but as technological innovations
lead to newer designs,

the boundaries of human flight
remain wide open

for the adventurous
and courageous spirits

who long to fly
like birds.

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