Stuntman Felix Baumgartner has died aged 56, and the Mirror looks back at the daredevil’s greatest and recordbreaking stunts throughout his career that shot him to fame
Iconic stuntman Felix Baumgartner has died after a paragliding crash in Italy, aged 56. Felix reportedly complained of feeling unwell mid-flight – before he crashed into a swimming pool at a holiday resort, but his legend was cemented years ago when he undertook a skydive from the edge of space back in 2012.
An employee at the resort in Porto Sant’Elpidio, Fermo, was injured by the crash, and whilst she has been taken to hospital, local media have reported that she is not in a serious condition.
Children were playing in the swimming pool and surrounding area when the tragic incident took place, and despite the best efforts of emergency services who flew Felix to the Torrette Hospital in Ancona by air ambulance, he was pronounced dead.
It is reported that the Austrian daredevil may have suffered a cardiac arrest whilst he was paragliding, and before he took off on what would be his last flight, he posted on social media that there was “too much wind”.
Felix, a commercially trained pilot, repeatedly broke major records throughout his career, proving himself repeatedly willing to go further than his peers with his groundbreaking stunts. The Mirror looks back at five of his most daredevil moments.
Skydive from the edge of space
Felix made his name known the world over after a death-defying stunt in 2012 that saw him break the speed of sound, and skydive from the edge of space, back to earth.
This one was no mean feat, and the professional took six years to prepare for the big day. From the major practicalities, like the team having to construct a helium balloon big enough to get him to the jumping off point in the first place – this ended up being the size of over 30 football pitches, and it was made from such delicate material it took 20 people working in syncrony to carry it from one place to another – to building the mental resilience required for such a challenge.
Felix admitted to CNN Sports that it was the space suit he had to wear for the endeavour that he struggled with the most. Once it was on, he felt totally cut off from the outside world, and the sound of his own breathing was massively amplified.
He worked with sports psychological experts to build up his endurance, because on the day itself, he had to wear the suit for hours and hours.
For the first half of the fall – which lasted over four minutes – he had no training whatsoever, because the normal rules of skydiving simply are not the same in space, and it was not possible for him to replicate it anywhere else.
He span, faster and faster, in one direction and then another, before he finally got closer to earth, and into more familiar territory, and completed his 24-mile freefall – and broke a world record.
Flying across the English Channel
Felix flew – and not in a plane – across the English Channel back in 2003. With a pair of wings strapped to his back, he jumped out of a plane over England and crossed the sea to France, floating all the way.
He was the first to ever complete this incredible freefall crossing – but it wasn’t the only impressive stunt he completed that year.
Christ the Redeemer
In 2003, he also parachuted off the world-famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil. The state is 30 metres high, and stands on the peak of the Corcovado mountain, which itself is 700 metres tall.
Feliz jumped from one of the statue’s outstretched hands – around 29 metres – and this also broke a world record, this time for the lowest base jump ever completed.
Highest base jump world records
In 1999, Felix broke the record for the highest base jump – something he would do again later – when he took on the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia.
Standing at a whopping 450 metres, it was nearly a decade later when he decided to go again, this time, from just a little bit higher.
Taipei 101 in Taiwan was in 2007 the very tallest building globally, and Felix parachuted off successfully, breaking the world record once again.
The Millau Viaduct
The tallest bridge in the world caught Felix’s eye back in 2004: the Millau Viaduct, which crosses a deep French valley.
When Felix took on this challenge, he jumped from one of the masts that stand 343 metres above the ground.
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