| Happy Birthday - BIRDMAN is eight years old ! Eight years is not a long time when you look at huma life - We have hardly started school at that age, but in the evolution of human flight, 8 years is very significant. Thanks to BIRDMAN, skydiving has become so much more in this time. Just eight years ago people told us we were crazy with our dream of flight. They said it was impossible and dangerous. It took courage to be the first to fly and it was dangerous back then, but they do say the crazy have the luck. Since then, we have witnessed skyflying become the fastest growing discipline in our sport, and helped by the education and teaching provided by the BIRDMAN Instructor program, the safest - there have only been two fatalities in skydiving with a BIRDMAN suit since we started.
Over the years I have seen BIRDMAN grow from a wild daredevil, to a courageous and wise birdman. We have seen an entire new industry emerge trying to follow in our footsteps, trying to imitate what we do. BIRDMAN leads the way for others to follow. 
We get our energy and passion from the dreams of flight, but we exist only because of you. We are driven because of you, and after all, flown by you.
We have so many new exciting plans for the future and we can not wait to share them with you, but for now, thank you. Thank you for the last eight years.
Jari Kuosma ceo, BIRDMAN, Inc., on behalf of the entire BIRDMAN family & team.
BIRDMAN Thank You Deal
To celebrate BIRDMANS 8th birthday we're launching our brand new BIRDMAN 'Thank You' Deal. For the whole month of May, we're offering a 20% discount off the base price of a new wingsuit* to anyone who has bought something from us before, or 10% for all of our new customers. It's our way of showing our appreciation and saying a MASSIVE thank you for helping us over the years, we really appreciate you! It doesn't stop there though, after May, we are pleased to offer 10% discount off the base price* of any of product in our range, for all of our previous customers!
* The BIRDMAN 'Thank You' discount applies to the base price and does not include options.
Macca joins the flock... BIRDMAN Instructor and Top Gun team member Macca has joined BIRDMAN Inc. as our new Public and Media Relations Coordinator.
He's worked in the media pretty much all his life, working for some of the biggest names in the UK. Working primarily in the radio industry, he has produced two award wining Breakfast Shows and written for both national, and international publications.
Now he'll be taking his media passion and mixing it with his love of human flight to let everyone know about BIRDMAN and what we do.
"BIRDMAN rocks as a company and I'm really looking forward to building on, and strengthening what people know about them. They make really great products, like the Blade, and there's people doing some very cool things with them out there, that are going unnoticed. I plan to change that and share with people our dream of flight."
If you have any media related queries, or just want to say hello, you can contact Macca here at BIRDMAN - media@bird-man.com
BIRDMAN Air Race! SkyJester will be putting on the third international wingsuit competition in Marl, Germany, 3rd - 5th of August 2007. Dubbed the BIRDMAN Air Race, it'll cost you 24 Euro to enter, which isn't bad considering they have a 5000 Euro prize purse, the largest of any wingsuit competition in the world.
The first prize though, is a brand new custom BLADE wingsuit from BIRDMAN. The BLADE sits at the top of the BIRDMAN performance range and has been designed for those pilots who want to fly further and for longer than ever before.
The competition will be spread across 3 rounds in two classes, an open class and a women only class (Women may also compete in the open class), with the prizes going to those with the longest free fall times. For more details and to register check out www.fallschirmsport-marl.de
BIRDMAN Big way skills campBIRDMAN Chief Instructor and author of 'Skyflying, wingsuits in motion' Scott Campos, will be holding a BIRDMAN Big way skills camp 10th to 13th May 2007 at Skydive Arizona in the USA.
The event is open to all skill levels and will work on improving pilot's skills and awareness in preparation for flying on big way wingsuit formations. This camp will be particularly good for you if you're planning to come to Germany this year for the AN72 BIRDMAN Big way boogie.
More details can be found at www.SkydiveAZ.com or from the man himself, BMCIScott@bird-man.com BIRDMAN hooks up with Para Gear The worlds oldest and biggest skydiving gear distributor Para Gear, will now BIRDMAN products through their store and catalogue.
They've been selling gear since 1960 and now sell to over 150 countries around the world. If you're thinking about buying a new BIRDMAN wingsuit, check them out at www.ParaGear.com
It just doesn't get better than BLADE Sitting at the top of the BIRDMAN performance range, Blade hasn't been around long, but it's already got a healthy following of performance addicts. Here's just a few of the comments we've received so far...
 "Its the most solid flying wingsuit I have flown, on my front and best of all
my back."
"The Blade feels more a part of me than any other suit I've flown, in the first few jumps my maxed out speeds were lower, flocks tighter and it still feels like there's plenty more potential to be unleashed."
"I love it, what more is there to say?"
"I love my Blade because it has awesome range and huge power and it gets me where I want to be in the sky."
"Ive seen the light. What a revelation!"
New BIRD Babe T ! BIRDMAN are proud to offer our latest T shirt for girls. Available in a beautiful pink, it bears a message true to the heart of anyone who has the desire to fly. "Come to the edge, Life said. They said: We are afraid. Come to the edge, Life said. They came. It pushed them...and they flew." Guillaume Apollinaire. Available now in our online store.
New UK BIRDMAN Instructor and dealer
Liz Ashley has become the newest BIRDMAN Instructor (BMI UK-011) and dealer in the UK. She is available for first flight courses and coaching in the air, or for measuring up and suit sales on the ground. You'll find her based at Netheravon DZ on the weekends and she can be contacted at eightwayliz@yahoo.co.uk
BIRDMAN Skyflying team BIRDMAN's own skyflying team Top Gun have been really busy recently behind the scenes and we have loads of plans for the coming season. Since returning from our intensive training camp in Spain at Christmas, we've been working hard to sort out the diary making sure we can attend as many boogies as possible.
There are now a number of dates around Europe where we'll be offering first flight courses, coaching and load organising - details and dates are being added to our MySpace page, www.myspace.com/birdmantopgun We've got some very special jumps planned as well, including wingsuit/canopy formations, flocking with aircraft, and a couple of record attempts involving balloons! 
The team is available for first flight courses, coaching, load organising, demos, air shows, corporate events and all forms of media work, including, Film, TV and print. For more info on the team and what we do, check out or dedicated web site - www.BirdManTopGun.com
Where's Rolf? Meike and I are about to fly into Pujaut in the South-France, located close to beautiful Avignon! Lots of BIRD people there have already called us, eager to see the new BLADE that we will be bringing with us.
We had a great weekend in Empuria Brava in the north of Spain, it's one of the busiest DZs in the whole of Europe. The weather wasn't great, (we've been told it was better in Germany), but we had time to take care of First-Flyers and help some Scandinavian BIRDS with technical questions (things like, how to pull with bigger wings etc). Although we only managed 5 jumps, the view was well worth it, it's one of the nicest places to look at!!
After Avignon? We're off to see Mr. Olav "Freefly" Zipser, in Tortuga, Italy! He is a very old, and very good, friend of mine, and eventually we want to get him HEADDOWN (in a wingsuit, ha ha ha)..
Delivery time now 8 weeks! At the start of the year we made a promise to reduce our lead times. We've changed the way we do a number of things, so that we can serve you, the customer, better. We knew when we started it wouldn't happen over night, and we really appreciate your patience while we continue to implement these changes.
With some changes already in place, we are pleased to announce that our delivery times are already coming down and are now down to just 8 weeks for a custom BIRDMAN wingsuit.
We still have more to do though, and we will be continually working hard to bring these times down.
Luigi makes history Residents and visitors to Rio de Janeiro witnessed something never seen before when BIRDMAN sponsored athlete Luigi Cani flew his BIRDMAN S6 wingsuit within two meters of 'Christ the Redeemer', atop Corcovado Mountain.
"This was the most exhilarating flight I've ever experienced," said Cani, who literally skimmed the bushes after flying past Christ the Redeemer. In spite of being so close to the ground, Cani maintained flight long enough to get to a location high enough above the ground to deploy his canopy. "It was almost miraculous," Cani said, "I truly felt a greater power was watching over me."
"I am hoping that the imagery captured during this flight will convey the sense of freedom, emotion and awareness of everything around you; especially when you only have control over certain elements in life."
After more than a year of planning this event, Cani was able to fly in his BIRDMAN S6 wingsuit, past the statue, which stands 38 meters (125 feet) atop the 710 meter (2,330-foot) tall Corcovado Mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city and its world renown beaches.
BIRDMAN would like to congratulate Luigi Cani on once again making history by continually pushing the boundaries of what we can do.
ROCKET BIRDMAN VISA PARVIAINEN Visa jumped his BIRDMAN BLADE wingsuit with jet engines and the Discovery Channel were there to film the action.
Discovery Channel: Stunt Junkies, Episode: Rocket Man - Premiere: April 9, 2007
Host Perry BARNDT's thoughts after show:
Little does the viewing audience know, this stunt took over a year to come to fruition and needless to say, it was worth the wait! What can you say about Visa? If you looked up 'crazy Finnish' in the dictionary, there would be our friend Visa! This stunt was an amazing example of man's constant quest for flight and Visa stepped up to the challenge. Since the Wright Brothers at Kittyhawk in 1903, to Visa Parviaien at Perris, Calif., in 2007, flight has gone from paper airplanes, to jumbo jets and back to single man flight as demonstrated by our Finnish friend. The miniature turbine engines and Visa's ingenuity in combining them with a wing suit to achieve level flight fascinated me. As I stood on the ground watching Visa pass overhead, it was an amazing sight to watch a man fly like Superman and although this is probably the first step in mans attempt for solo flight, I am sure it won't be long before we see something more amazing.
Host Eli Thompson's thoughts after show:
Having skydivers on the show is always an extra bonus for me, and shooting at Perris Valley Skydiving is even better. When I heard Visa was going to fly a wing suit with jet engines attached to his feet, I thought "Wow, what will us humans think of next?" Being completely consumed by skydiving for over ten years, I know the feeling of pushing human flight to new levels. For years, me and my skydiving team worked day-in and day-out helping to refine and define the art of flying or "freeflying" in all body positions. Skydiving has many disciplines and in 1999 I met with Jari Kuosma and he sponsored my team with the first commercial Birdman suits. I flew the suit in many parts of the world enjoying every flight and now years later the suits are more and more efficient and exciting. Now people like Visa are actually using miniature engines to push themselves through the air using their body and mind, totally cool. It's as close to becoming a super hero as I have ever seen.
So I met up with Visa and his crew, they were busy building a "jet bike" to start the show, they took one engine and mounted it on the back of a beach cruiser, once I got a chance to throttle up that engine and go for a ride I was sold. They had done a lot of work modifying the suit with the throttle, kill switch, and fuel bladders in the cells of the wing (not something you see everyday) most impressive though were these little miniature jet engines that worked so well, I know every skydiver who saw them was like " I got to get me a set of those!" Who knows maybe in the future everyone will be flying jet suits? Could definitely live with a little less time on the freeway. I did some bird jumps with Visa while he was here and we had a good time, we even got to jump out of a jet (DC-9) now that's fun in a wing suit. Visa, Juge and Jussi all from Finland were a blast to work with, always having a good time and keeping things exciting. When me and Perry watched his test jumps it was clear the engines werehelping out, you could even hear them at times. On test day I knew he could do it as long as the engines worked well and he wasn't to tired from the previous attempts, as he got out you could tell the adrenaline was kicking in and away he went, at almost two minutes from under 9,000 feet. I was truly impressed. It was one small flight for birds; one big flight for human birds.
More about Visa
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