High-tech suits help these pilots to “fl y.”


A Flying Suit Not everyone likes hang gliding. Some people want to fl y in a diff erent way. Two people wearing a lot of high-tech fabric hunch down in the open door of an airplane. T ey are high above Earth. T ey fl ing themselves out and spread the fabric between their arms and legs. T ey have wings! T e pilots swoop across the sky. For this type of fl ying to work, these


pilots need a force to get them started. So, they jump out of a plane. Once they jump, gravity pulls them toward the ground.


Opening their fabric wings doesn’t


provide much liſt , though. So these suits need more liſt . Special valves built into the suit allow air to fi ll tubes. Once fi lled with air, the tubes create more liſt . T is keeps the pilot in the air for a longer fl ight. Pilots are moving too fast to land with


the wingsuit alone. T at’s why each suit comes with a parachute. Once opened, the air captured underneath the parachute increases the amount of drag, allowing the pilot to land safely.


SEPTEMBER 2015 13


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