As a youth I would often dream of flying. In the first dreams I would soar with the birds, but as I aged the dreams shifted from flying to gliding, to just being able to jump really high. By the time I was ten they had stopped altogether. I had lost the ability to imagine human beings in self powered flight.
Then a few years back I came across a video on YouTube from a legend in the skydiving community. The man in question is Jeb Corliss, and the video is titled “Barnstorming“. In it I saw a man fly.
What Mr. Corliss demonstrates in his videos is called wing suit piloting. Or more accurately, wingsuit proximity flying. Watching his close proximity flights is something extraordinary – the closest thing to human flight I can conceive of. Truly magnificent, and truly terrifying in its potential for destruction.
Jeb is one of the few wing suit pilots I am aware of that has survived a ground collision during flight. In the majority of cases, failure means death, and only those people with years of experience ever attempt wing suit flight.
If I could somehow distill and upload the years of training and experience required to fly a wingsuit, I would absolutely go barnstorming.
Stay Wild!
Image is courtesy of Activision. As someone who grew up with an ATARI2600 I could not resist using some game art.
The Wild 
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