Wingsuit flyer beats record for flight without oxygen
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E-mail Xinhua, April 27, 2015
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| Zhang Shupeng is all smiles after landing yesterday. He set a world record for wingsuit flying when he leapt from a hot-air balloon at an altitude of 8,150 meters without an oxygen mask. [photo / Xinhua] |
The previous record of 8,000 meters was set by Swiss citizen Remo Lang last year.
Zhang took off from the Xilingol grassland in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 5:17am.
About 65 minutes later he launched into a vertical dive for the first 100 meters and then flew in a spiral for over 2,000 meters.
Zhang adopted a vertical style when he was below 6,000 meters in altitude and released his parachute when he was 800 meters above the ground.
He landed at 6:27am after flying a distance of 5 kilometers.
His freefall had lasted three minutes 26 seconds.
"My success proved that Chinese wingsuiters have abilities to fulfill their dreams," Zhang said.
His flight was not without its problems.
When the balloon reached 5,000 meters, it was intended to fly level to avoid civil aviation routes. However, there was no wind and the balloon pilot had to lower its altitude to 4,000 meters.
Due to a lack of oxygen when the balloon rose to 8,400 meters, the fire propelling the balloon went out for a while.
During his descent, the lack of oxygen slowed Zhang's reactions and he also suffered intense pain in his ears.
Zhang was a paraglider before he took up wingsuit flying. Since 2004, Zhang has won the national parachute gliding championship 10 times and he took the paragliding world championship points title in 2009.
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