Setting his sights sky high

For the faint of heart, leaping off a cliff 1,400 meters high wearing only a wingsuit seems like a suicidal stunt reserved for blockbuster action movies.

But Chinese paragliding pilot Zhang Shupeng is ready to take his 10-year aerial sport experience to the highest level - by joining global sporting elites to become China's first BASE-jump wingsuit flyer.

"This is the only direct way that human beings can literally fly as a bird," Zhang, who used to be a professional paraglider, told China Daily during the 3rd Red Bull World Wingsuit League China Grand Prix at Tianmeng Mountain in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province, in late October.