Skydiver Performs the World’s First Human Flight in an Electric Wingsuit

A skydiver has performed the world’s first human flight in an electric wingsuit, pushing forward the possibilities for how we perceive human flight.

As reported by CNET, Austrian skydiver Peter Salzmann took the flight using a specially designed chest piece made in partnership with BMWi. As opposed to a traditional wingsuit flight, where the height you jump from largely determines your overall velocity and airtime, Salzmann’s electric-powered design is designed to keep him up higher, for longer.

As per a separate piece by CNET, Salzmann’s first outing took place over the Three Brother’s Peaks in Austria and saw him reach maximum speeds of 186mph, a figure which represents a significant increase in speeds normally managed by traditional wingsuits. Jumping from 3,000m via helicopter, the stuntman was able to surmount the first two peaks via wingsuit only and deploy his electric-powered device to help him reach the third mountain.

Salzmann in the suit. Image Credit: BMW

Fitted to the front of Salzmann, the chest piece itself looks a little like you might expect from a bright yellow electric jetpack. The device contains 50V lithium batteries that can be activated to power two carbon fiber rotors while the diver is in the air.

Although the suit still requires Salzmann to jump from a height, the rotors themselves are reported to provide up to five minutes of additional thrust and can be turned on and off with a simple squeeze of Salzmann’s left fingers.

As per an interview with CNET, Salzmann started as a stunt man in his teenage years before later becoming a skydiver. The daredevil explains that he got the idea for a powered wingsuit in 2017. “I was in the mountains with a friend of mine and we found this jump which was not possible with a current wingsuit,” explains Salzmann in the interview.

Image Credit: BMW

“And, we really thought about, ‘okay how could we make this possible to jump that?’ We needed like [an] additional boost system, something which would increase our performance to be able to fly at a flatter angle […] to fly down the whole mountain.”

After coming up with a number of possible solutions to his problem, Salzmann ended up coordinating with BMWi to develop the all-electric thrust system, which was then tested meticulously before the diver’s maiden voyage.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.