THE BRAND

 

 

BIRDMAN® International, ltd. was established 1999 by Finnish adventurer & skydiver Jari Kuosma. Birdman® was the first company ever to produce wingsuits for skydivers, as well as launch an education system to train them effectively to establish wingsuit flying as a sport we have it today.

 

 

THE GREAT INPOSSIBLE

 

Prior to 1999 wingsuit flying was virtually non-existent, and considered a certain death if one was crazy enough to attempt it. Man`s greatest dream has always been the ability to defeat gravity and fly; ever since the ancient times every known culture has had legends and stories about men who fancied to fly. However, few had actually survived their aerial escapades.

 

Fast forward to modern times. Man became air bound for the first time in the late 18th century, and almost right away a peculiar branch of aviators emerged: those, who wanted to jump out of their high-flying vessels. Some had the motivation to save their lives when something went awry, but many did it for the fall itself. Nevertheless, the plummeting people had great difficulties controlling themselves during the freefall, often resulting in death or serious injury.

To overcome this problem, some of them sought help from a natural source – birds. And those heavenly champions of flight certainly had something we do not. Wings.

 

 

ERA OF BIRDMEN

 

Many brave men built their own wings from canvas, wood, metal, bamboo, even feathers in order to fly. In the 20th century, those men were called the birdmen, and they flew – most of them to their death.

 

After decades of ill-fated winged men, a French skydiving guru Patrick DeGayardon entered the picture. His started using his self-made wingsuit in the mid-90´s – now widely considered the predecessor of all the modern wingsuits.

 

Patrick’s genius ram-air design was effective as well as safe, and he made numerous stunts and commercials with it before his fatal accident on a flight in Hawaii in April 1998. Patrick’s flying spirit did not die with him though, and it was destined to be BIRDMAN who carried his spirit and made his prediction of the future true.

 

 

WINGS FOR EVERYONE

 

In the end of the 90´s, Kuosma saw a picture of DeGayardon in his wingsuit – and it changed his life. He wanted to make them. For everyone. So together with his team and one employee, Robert, he designed and manufactured the first bunch of suits in a small family factory in Slovenia. 

 

That was the start of an experience filled journey.

 

And the start was not easy. After building a working wingsuit and figuring out how to fly it became the tough part: they had to test them. With the grim fates of past birdmen tucked away in the remote corner of his mind, Kuosma – ever the optimist – gave himself a 50% chance of success. But time after another, the suit worked perfectly. It was a success.

 

The biggest obstacle, however, was to convince other people that wingsuit flying can indeed be done right and safely – and you don’t need to be a skydiving guru to do it. Some countries took a strict approach to wingsuit-flying, and Kuosma & friends were not welcome to number of drop zones at all. Skydivers were tagged with a requirement of 500 jumps before being allowed to fly a wingsuit. Other aerial space restrictions were also introduced to limit the sport.

 

But there was no stopping us. Today we have brothers and sisters wearing BIRDMANS wings in every continent and country in the world.

 

Wingsuit flying has been the fastest growing sub-discipline among skydivers and wingsuit flying has been featured since in every imaginenable print and internet media, documentaries and movies throughout the world. Wingsuit flying videos in YouTUBE alone has  attracted hundred's of millions of wievs.