“Asia’s No. 1 wingsuit pilot” Zhang Shupeng successfully challenged an oxygen-free wingsuit flight at an altitude of 8,150 meters on the 26th in Wuritula, Zhenglan Banner, Xilin Gol League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, setting a new world record.
Zhang Shupeng’s achievement broke the previous world record of 8,000 meters set last year by Swiss pilot Remo Leng in an oxygen-free wingsuit flight. This challenge was also the third project under the “Red Bull China Powered-Free Flight Extreme Challenge Plan,” and so far the most daring and imaginative high-altitude adventure by a Chinese person.
Figure 1: Everything is ready as Zhang Shupeng enters the hot air balloon basket
At 5:17 a.m. that day, Zhang Shupeng took off in one of the largest hot air balloons in China, with a volume of 8,000 cubic meters, from a starting point at 116.9° east longitude, 43.1° north latitude, and an altitude of over 1,300 meters. At that time, the ground wind was from the west-southwest, with only level 1 winds, and the sun had just risen above the horizon—the weather conditions were very suitable for the day’s challenge.
At 6:22:55, the hot air balloon pilot Liu Xiang reported via radio: “Dapeng has jumped out!” At that moment, the hot air balloon was at an altitude of 8,150 meters. After a vertical dive of 100 meters, Zhang Shupeng switched to a circling descent, dropping more than 2,000 meters in altitude. Circling flight is a method rarely used by ordinary wingsuit pilots, which was made possible thanks to Zhang Shupeng’s experience as a former world champion in paragliding.
After descending below 6,000 meters altitude, Zhang Shupeng switched to straight flight and opened his parachute at 800 meters above the ground, finally landing smoothly at 6:27:33. The total flight distance exceeded 5 kilometers, with 3 minutes and 26 seconds spent in the wingsuit and 1 minute and 12 seconds in the parachute descent. Zhang Shupeng successfully completed the challenge and also achieved his goal—“I want to prove that Chinese wingsuit pilots also have the ability to do things that are thoughtful and challenging.”
This challenge was full of twists and turns. On the 24th, during the second test flight, due to excessively strong ground winds, the hot air balloon couldn’t take off, causing Zhang Shupeng to miss the opportunity to conduct a test flight and test a new parachute from 4,000 meters altitude. Then, on the 25th, during the first challenge attempt, the hot air balloon failed to take off twice again due to strong winds, and even accidentally scraped against a nail on the fence at the edge of the site, tearing a nearly one-meter gash, which was only urgently repaired at noon on the 25th. All these unexpected situations meant that before today’s official challenge, Zhang Shupeng had only managed to conduct one test flight at 1,000 meters altitude and test the new wingsuit.
The challenge on the 26th could still be described as “fraught with setbacks.” According to Zhang Shupeng, the original plan was for the hot air balloon to fly horizontally after ascending to 5,000 meters to avoid the civil aviation flight paths at 6,000 meters. But at 5,000 meters altitude that day, there was a windless layer, forcing the balloon to descend to 4,000 meters and use the westerly winds to head east. Zhang Shupeng said: “Because all my gear was adjusted very tightly, I was extremely uncomfortable during the long wait. Also, the space in the hot air balloon basket was very small—I couldn’t move at all.”
After confirming they had avoided the civil aviation routes, the hot air balloon quickly ascended to 8,400 meters and entered the clouds. That’s when the second unexpected event occurred. Due to the high-altitude oxygen deficiency, the hot air balloon’s burner flame went out first, and it took a long time to relight it. Then the co-pilot, who was assisting Zhang Shupeng in organizing equipment, began showing symptoms of hypoxia due to excessive movement and oxygen consumption, almost reaching a near-unconscious state. Meanwhile, Zhang Shupeng’s oxygen mask also accidentally came off, and he too experienced oxygen deprivation, forcing him to breathe directly through the breathing tube. The main pilot Liu Xiang had to let go of controlling the balloon to help Zhang Shupeng adjust the wingsuit, and the unattended balloon slowly descended to 7,900 meters.
Figure 2: Zhang Shupeng conducts final equipment checks before the challenge
In the emergency, Liu Xiang quickly increased the balloon’s altitude. To allow the balloon to land as soon as possible for the safety of the pilots, Zhang Shupeng gave up his plan to attempt a higher altitude. When the balloon reached about 8,150 meters, he took several deep breaths of oxygen, then turned and jumped out of the basket.
Although he had undergone hypoxia tolerance testing at the Navy General Hospital’s Hyperbaric Oxygen Department before coming to Inner Mongolia, the thinness of the high-altitude oxygen still exceeded Zhang Shupeng’s expectations. Though fully conscious, his hands became somewhat uncontrollable during the flight. It wasn’t until descending to 4,000 meters that the hypoxia symptoms began to ease. But in his own words, “my reactions were still much slower at the time—even the parachute opening felt like a slow-motion process.”
The rapid change in altitude also caused intense ear pressure pain. “Because of the rapid descent, the ear pressure was extremely high, the reaction was severe, and it felt like my ears were about to explode,” Zhang Shupeng said. “I tried using the Valsalva maneuver to relieve it, but it had no effect at all. It wasn’t until I opened the parachute at around 800 meters above the ground and entered the parachute flight state that I quickly removed my cold-weather mask, covered my nose, and exhaled a few times to relieve the ear pressure issue.”
After landing successfully, Zhang Shupeng sat on the ground for a while before recovering. Only then did he realize: his challenge had succeeded. The feeling at that moment was a mix of surprise and immense relief.
Figure 3: Zhang Shupeng takes off in the hot air balloon at 5:17 a.m.
Having endured tests of extreme cold, low oxygen, and low pressure, Zhang Shupeng successfully completed the challenge. But on the way back, he was already thinking about when he would attempt to break the world record he had just set. And this was less than two hours after he successfully completed the 8,150-meter oxygen-free wingsuit flight. (End)