Wingsuit pilot from Ireland glides past Sümela Monastery

TRABZON

The dramatic cliffs of the northwestern province of Trabzon became the backdrop for a breathtaking aerial performance as an Irish wingsuit pilot flew past the ancient Sümela Monastery, one of the country’s most famous landmarks.

Perched on a steep mountainside 300 meters above the Altındere Valley in the Black Sea city’s Maçka town, Sümela Monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Tentative Site and a major destination for faith tourism.

For the first time, it also served as the setting for a wingsuit “bat flight,” with Michael Morann gliding at speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour.

Morann launched from a paragliding platform, capturing his high-speed descent on an action camera before deploying his parachute to land safely in the valley below.

His flight added Sümela to a growing list of extreme sports venues in Türkiye, after Morann’s earlier wingsuit jump over Uzungöl, another popular tourism hub in the province.

Wingsuit flying, often called “batman flight,” uses a specially designed suit with fabric stretched between the arms and legs to slow free fall and allow pilots to glide through the air before opening a parachute.

With the monastery clinging to the mountainside and the pilot slicing through the skies above, the event offered a fresh perspective on one of the country’s most breathtaking heritage sites.

Türkiye has increasingly hosted high-profile extreme performances in recent years. One standout was a daring tightrope walk across the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, linking Europe and Asia.