Red Bull athlete Peter Salzmann (Austria) has brought human flight a step closer to the way birds soar, achieving a continuous soaring flight in moderate winds and gaining altitude with the help of a specially designed foil wing. Above the volcanic cliffs of El Hierro in Spain’s Canary Islands, Salzmann used rising air currents along a mountain ridge to sustain a 160-second soaring run that included a 67-metre climb during his best ascent.
During the flight, he completed multiple 180-degree turns while losing less than 200 metres of altitude overall. For context, a standard wingsuit flight would typically lose ten times more altitude over the same duration, underscoring the significance of Salzmann’s performance.
Why This Flight Was Different
Wingsuit flying has traditionally been defined by continuous descent: pilots can glide forward, but gravity ensures they steadily lose altitude. To mimic birds and soar, wingsuit pilots have previously had to use extremely strong winds of around 120 km/h. In El Hierro, however, Salzmann flew in much lower winds — around 40 km/h — gentle enough that paragliders could still fly alongside him. It was the combination of his foil design and his ability to harness the wind and control his flight that made this possible, bringing the mental and physical challenge of wingsuit flight closer to a bird flight, not the strength of the breeze
Years of Development in the Making
Because standard wingsuits can’t generate enough lift to stay aloft without steadily losing altitude, Salzmann needed a specialised wing that would let him control his flight, stay close to the ridge, and complete the tight turns required for soaring. Drawing inspiration from fixed wings in aviation and hydrofoiling, a custom foil wing was developed in partnership with Red Bull Advanced Technologies and Austrian wingsuit expert Andreas Podlipnik. The aim was to reduce descent rate and increase flight stability with a wing design that helps maximize lift and efficiency when paired with the suit.
To reach that goal, the Red Bull Advanced Technologies aerodynamic team modelled real flight conditions using the same Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and analysis tools applied in the design of the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 car. Multiple wing profiles and winglets were developed in CAD, then simulated in CFD to measure aerodynamic lift and drag. Through these iterations, the team refined the design until it met the usability criteria defined by Salzmann.
Podlipnik describes the El Hierro flight as Salzmann’s most challenging yet, requiring extreme precision to stay in the high-lift and compression zone with very little margin for error — all while managing the complexity of controlling both the wingsuit and the foil.
In collaboration with Prada Linea Rossa, Salzmann also wore functional accessories designed for comfort and high-performance functionality, as part of an ongoing partnership supporting demanding challenges and the athletes who take them on.
A New Benchmark for Wingsuit Soaring
With the foil wing, Salzmann achieved his goal of flying along a mountain ridge without constantly losing altitude, marking a shift from “falling with control” to “soaring with the wind.” At El Hierro — a location chosen for its strong, constant winds in combination with a mountain next to the ocean and a ridge perpendicular to the wind, he completed six passes along a 740-metre soaring section during his best flight, sometimes climbing, sometimes holding level, and sometimes descending.
His best climb gained 67 metres over 450 metres of horizontal distance, with his longest continuous gain lasting 20 seconds. After multiple 180-degree turns, he was able to return to the same reference points at equal or higher altitude, illustrating the consistency of his soaring line. Although he lost too much altitude in the turns, an area he identifies as the greatest opportunity for improvement — Salzmann’s performance shows that, if a pilot can re-enter the lift zone repeatedly, the pattern could, in theory, be continued indefinitely.
