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Professor Designing New Wingsuit After Arizona BASE Jumping Death

A wingsuit creates more surface area for fliers with fabric between the legs and under the arms.
(Photo by Richard Schneider- CC BY 2.0)
A wingsuit creates more surface area for fliers with fabric between the legs and under the arms.

An Embry Riddle professor wants to design a new, safer winguit after a California man died in Paria Canyon northeast of Page last week in a BASE jumping accident. He was wearing a wingsuit when the accident happened. 

Professor Tim Sestak said the key is in the design and materials used.

“Using a very well established, well-known scientific engineering process like building an aircraft, you could significantly improve the aerodynamics of a wingsuit,” he said.

Sesteck says current wingsuits are dangerous because they don’t have the ability to fly at steep angles.

Efforts to retrieve the body have been unsuccessful because of the  treacherous location of the accident.

Katherine Fritcke was a morning producer at KJZZ from 2015 to 2017.