Ski Flying is an extreme version of ski jumping, where competitors ski down large ramps and jump distances over of 200 meters.

An extreme version of ski jumping, ski flying is an event that takes place on big hills with a K-spot of at least 185 meters; ski jumping hills, comparatively have K-spot of 90 and 120 meters. There are five ski flying hills in the world today. Vikersundbakken in Vikersund, Norway; Oberstdorf, Germany; Kulm, Austria; Letalnica; Planica, Slovenia; and in Harrachov, Czech Republic. It's possible to fly more than 200 meters in all the ski flying hills, and the current World Record is 239 meters, set by Norwegian Bjørn Einar Romøren in Planica 2005. The longest jump ever was 240 meters long, achieved by Janne Ahonen at the same competition, but it is not recognized as a record because Ahonen fell when he landed. Since 1972 there's been a Ski flying World Championship every other year.

The goal of ski flying is to jump a distance of at least 185 meters while being judged on style.

The winner is decided on a scoring system based on distance and style. Each hill has a target called the calculation point (or K point) which is a par distance to aim for. This point is marked by the K line on the landing strip. For ski flying, the K-spot is set at 185 meters. Skiers are awarded 60 points if they land on the K Line. For every meter short/beyond this average, jumpers receive fewer/more points than the par 60 (1.8 points per meter).

In addition, five judges are based in a tower that lies to the side of the expected landing point. They can award up to 20 points for style based on: keeping the skis steady during flight, balance, good body position and landing.

The final score consists of the distance score plus the middle three style scores from the judges (the highest and lowest scores are ignored). For the individual event, the jumper with the best combined total from his two jumps is the winner.

Helmet
Ski Jumping Skis
Ski Jumping Suit

Training for ski flying centers around developing the technique necessary to perform the jumps consistently and with properly. Technique plays an integral role in gaining distance on jumps. Using the modern V-technique, pioneered by Jan Boklöv of Sweden in 1985, world-class skiers are able to exceed the distance of the take-off hill by about 10 percent compared to the previous technique with parallel skis. Form is also important because that is an element being judged in the event.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_jumping#Ski_flying