Golden Knight Makes Record Glide

If at first you don't succeed at 25,000 feet, try going higher.

That appears to have been the gameplan of Staff Sgt. Ben Borger, who on April 14 broke the world's record for distance glided in free-fall. Borger, a member of the Army's Golden Knights Parachute Team, made his jump April 14 from a C-17 Globemaster III transport over southwestern Oklahoma near Altus Air Force Base.

Borger, wearing a wingsuit that mimics the shape of a flying squirrel with arms and legs outstretched, glided more than 11 miles after dropping out of the aircraft at 32,500 feet. That effort bested his previous jump in February where Borger jumped from 25,000 feet and glided 10 miles before opening his chute, officials said.

Borger also was only seconds off the world record in free fall time, making the glide in 6 minutes, 35 seconds. The record is 6 minutes, 42 seconds, said Sean Capogreco, a spokesman for the Golden Knights.

The world record altitude jump belongs to Air Force test pilot Col. Joe Kittinger, who in 1960 – then a captain – stepped from a balloon-borne gondola at 102,800 feet. The jump, his third and highest, was part of Project Excelsior, a program to perfect pilot ejection from aircraft at high altitudes using a stabilizer chute and then a main parachute. Kittinger's entire descent lasted 13 minutes, 45 seconds, according to the Air Force.

Borger, an airborne infantryman, is a demonstration parachutist with the Knights' Black Team, officials said. Borger joined the Army in 2002 and deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004. He joined the parachute team in 2005. Since then, according to his biography, he has mastered many aspects of the team, including target accuracy, canopy work, wingsuits and narration. He has made more than 2,780 freefall jumps.