RIYADH: Most people live their lives on the ground, but Faisal Al-Olayan chose the sky.

The Saudi aviation athlete, this week’s guest on The Mayman Show, is an aerospace engineer, pilot, skydiver and a member of the Kingdom’s national paragliding team. Most of us travel, but he chases storms, soars above mountains and dives into clouds in ways most of us only dream about.

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From experiencing rain that “almost stops the heart” mid-flight to emotional moments when he completed his wingsuit training in Russia, Al-Olayan lives life one adrenaline rush at a time. His story is not so much about escaping gravity, as about finding freedom within it.

“I started having fun in flying because my mom, when I was young, she was telling me (I was) half bird. And when I started with this mentality, I started to do all of my activities in the sky. I started from graduating with sports until I am here with the national team,” said Al-Olayan.