Jari Kuosma (born 3 March 1969 in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
) is the original developer of modern and commercial wingsuit (as a product),
wingsuit flying
Wingsuit flying (or wingsuiting) is the sport of skydiving using a webbing-sleeved jumpsuit called a wingsuit to add webbed area to the diver's body and generate increased lift, which allows extended air time by gliding flight rather than just ...
(as a sport) and owner of BirdMan Inc.
Kuosma has over 5000 jumps. He has worked as an Accelerated Free Fall (AFF) Instructor in USA, Sweden and Venezuela.
He introduced the first wingsuit training program for skydivers in 1999. A wingsuit instructor program followed the year after.
Kuosma began skydiving in 1990. He took part in the breaking of the Finnish record for free-falling formation in 1993, and introduced a Russian low-altitude jumping technique into Finland.
[ He was introduced to wingsuits in 1997, based on those used by ]Patrick de Gayardon
Patrick de Gayardon (; 23 January 1960 in Oullins, Rhône – 13 April 1998 in Hawaii) was a French skydiver, skysurfer and a BASE jumper.
De Gayardon was famous for pushing the boundaries of skydiving. He was one of the first people to develop ...
. With Robert Pecnik, he began selling wingsuits in 1999, after making them in Slovenia.[
]
Early life
Kuosma was raised in Helsinki, Finland by his father, who owned an army surplus store, and his mother, who was a secretary. As a teenager he practised martial arts.[
]
References
External links
Jari Kuosma's profile at Birdman
1969 births
Living people
Finnish skydivers
Businesspeople from Helsinki
Sportspeople from Helsinki
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