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Witness History

The man who invented wingsuits

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.51.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2019

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The wingsuit is the ultimate in extreme sports clothing. An aerodynamic outfit for BASE jumpers and skydivers it allows them to free-fall for longer before opening a parachute. Skydiver Jari Kuosma developed the first commercial wingsuits and he has been speaking to Jonathan Coates about how exciting, but also how dangerous they can be.

Photo: Jari Kuosma. Copyright: BBC

Transcript

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0:00.0

Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

0:04.7

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

0:08.5

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

0:18.0

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

0:24.6

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

0:29.7

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC

0:35.4

Sounds.

0:38.4

Choosing what to watch.

0:39.4

Night after night.

0:41.1

The flicking through. The endless searching is a nightmare. We want to help you. On our

0:46.7

brand new podcast off the telly we share what we've been watching.

0:50.3

Cladie aider. Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming, lovely.

0:55.0

Off the telly with me Joanna Paige and me, Natalie Cassidy,

0:59.0

so your evenings can be a little less searching

1:02.0

and a lot more watching listen on BBC

1:04.7

sounds hello and welcome to witness history with me Jonathan Coates.

1:14.0

Today we're going back to the early 90s and the creation of the first commercial wing suit.

1:19.0

It's an aerodynamic outfit that allows skydivers and bass jumpers to glide through the air directing

1:23.7

their flight for as long as possible before finally opening their parachutes.

1:27.5

Online it's become the ultimate image of extreme sports. You feel that you can keep on flying,

1:38.0

keep on flying and keep on flying.

1:40.0

People get this feeling that they can keep on flying,

...

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