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It takes strength to spread the wingsuit open. These pilots will reach speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour as they glide toward the ground.


A Flying Suit Hunkered in the open door of an airplane 4 kilometers above Earth, two people wearing suits made from high-tech fabric wait for the right moment. When it comes, they fl ing themselves out and spread the fabric—their wings. Like human versions of fl ying squirrels, wingsuit pilots glide and swoop across the sky. Pilots like strong, fl exible fabrics. T ey need


to spread their arms and legs easily to fl oat horizontally, swerve around clouds, or zoom through a canyon. T e pilots jump out of the plane to supply


the force needed to move forward. Once they jump their weight becomes a factor. Gravity pulls everything toward Earth’s center—the wingsuit itself, the pilot, birds, air, everything.


To fl y, the downward pull of gravity must be


counteracted by another force—liſt . Liſt opposes gravity by pushing an object upward. Wingsuits provide a little liſt when segments of the suit infl ate while the pilot moves through the air. T ese infl atable segments stretch from a pilot’s arms to each leg and between the legs. Once infl ated, they slow the pilot’s descent allowing for a longer, slower glide toward the ground. What wingsuit pilots cannot do, however, is


land safely using the wingsuit alone. T ey are moving much too fast. Once a pilot glides down to a certain level, he or she releases a parachute. It’s been carefully packed to unfurl within a couple of seconds. T e parachute’s shape and material work together to slow the pilot and enable a safe landing.


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