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Update 01.06.2017: Fraser Corsan has broken the world record for greatest speed flown in a wingsuit. He reached 249mph during his flight - beating the previous record of 234mph. The record is subject to ratification by Guinness. This makes Corsan the fastest man in the world without the use of machinery.

After his first attempt in Davis, California, Fraser Corsan also broke two new FAI Continental and FAI British Altitude Records in wingsuit flying. Fraser is officially the European or Brit to have exited a plane at the highest altitude at 10,823metres. He also broke the European records for the further distance of fall at 9,741 metres.

However, Corsan was unable to break three of the world records due to bad weather conditions on both attempts. The attempt has raised nearly £40,000 to date for SSAFA the Armed Forces charity.

Original story


Imagine jumping out of the sky at 42,000 feet from a hot air balloon. It's minus 137 degrees Celsius and all you’re wearing is a wingsuit. It might sound terrifying but that's what Fraser Corsan will be doing as part of his attempt to break four wingsuit world records today.

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Corsan, 42, is attempting to break the wingsuit records for highest altitude jumped from, longest time flown for, highest speed travelled at and furthest distance flown. When he leaps from the balloon, as part of Fujitsu's Project Cirrus, this afternoon, he will be monitored by Guinness and the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.

For the attempt he has travelled to Davis, California and will take the challenge on at 3pm BST today. He will head to Ontario, Canada to try for a second time, if needed, and to go for the altitude record.


"For the highest altitude we’re looking to get to 42,000 feet, which is 12,000 feet higher than Everest – so it's a hell of a challenge," Corsan tells WIRED after one of his training jumps at the Salisbury Plain Training Base in the UK.

Fraser Corsan's wingsuit will help him break four world records Fujitsu

The average forward speed of a typical wingsuit flyer is between 80-120mph, the current record stands at 234mph and Corsan is aiming for 250mph. The tail winds for this are crucial – it needs to be above 60 knots to make the record possible.

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The longest time flown in a wingsuit is 9.06 minutes, so Corsan is aiming for at least 10. His distance target is 20 miles – one mile more than the current record, and for highest altitude he has to make it higher than 37,265 feet.


Corsan’s suit is what will really help him here. “There’s a high density foam insert inside this wing and what that means is when I’m flying the actual wing is super smooth, which gives me very clean airflow and which enables increased lift, which is pretty important,” he says.

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"On top of that I need to keep the suit inflated obviously and it's a big suit. So, I have rigid intakes and when I’ve got to 160-170mph airflow it's flying straight into here and inflating the suit, which gives me a massive amount of pressurisation.”

“The other key feature really is the carbon fibre blades which allow me to steer and give me stability at over 200mph” he says. “Without these the danger is you’d actually reverse and spin but they mean that this is rock solid and super stable.”

“I’ll obviously have a helmet on, which is quite special, it's designed to have my oxygen system entailed within it because at the altitudes we’re going to – you can’t breathe.”

The flight data for Fraser Corsan's wingsuit world record attempts Fujitsu


To ratify the records he’ll be flying with a camera on his chest and helmet to document the entire flight as well as three GPS units – one to relay to the ground his exact position so the chaser team knows where he is as well as to air traffic control so they can manage the air lanes for commercial traffic. The second will log all his flight data; the third will relay all the information into his ear giving him an audible performance reading.

So why is Corsan, who has been wingsuit jumping for 17 years, deciding to jump from the harshest, coldest place on the planet? For Project Cirrus in support of British armed forces charity SSAFA. “I wanted to do something a little bit exceptional, a little bit different to one get the public awareness of SSAFA, what the armed forces charity do, and just to make people sit up a little bit and realise what’s out there."

Corsan is making his first attempt on May 22 and his second attempt will be on the May 29.