Felix Baumgartner, who famously jumped from the ‘edge of space’ in a pressure suit, shared a photo with the caption ‘too much wind’ hours before dying in a freak paragliding accident aged 56
Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner said he was worried about ‘too much wind’ just hours before dying in a freak paragliding accident.
The 56-year-old, who rose to global fame in 2012 after jumping from the edge of space, died this afternoon after his motor paraglider reportedly crashed into a pool in Fermo, Italy. A hotel employee on the ground was taken to the hospital with neck injuries, according to reports. Just a few hours before the fatal accident, Felix posted a video on his Instagram showing him flying with a paramotor paraglider. He also shared a photo of an airfield with the caption: “Too much wind.”
In another selfie he posted to social media a few days before the accident, Baumgartner was seen flying the craft above the same area of Italy. He is said to have told suffered a “sudden onset of illness” during Thursday’s glide, causing him to lose control of the craft.
Baumgartner’s jump from the stratosphere in 2012 – in which he leapt from a height of approximately 24 miles above New Mexico in the US – saw him become the first person to break the sound barrier without engine power. He reached a top speed of 843.6 mph during his freefall, and broke three world records for maximum vertical speed, highest exit altitude and vertical distance of freefall.
Speaking to CNN Sports on the tenth anniversary of the jump, Baumgartner recalled staring up into space above him in the seconds before he leapt out of the pod. He said: “I’m standing there on top of the world outside of a capsule in space and in the stratosphere. I looked around the sky above me was completely black. I was really trying to inhale that moment.”
He added: “It’s very uncomfortable. You have a total lack of mobility. It always feels like you’re breathing through a pillow. You’re completely separated from the outside world.
“So once the visor is down, all you can hear is yourself breathing. I had to look at the suit like it is my friend, not my enemy.”
Other famous stunts included a 65-foot base jump from the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, and flying across the English Channel with carbon-fibre wings in 2003.
Felix jumped from a plane at 30,000 feet above Dover, and landed in France 14 minutes later after traveling 22 miles in his specially designed jumpsuit, which had a six-foot solid wing to allow him to glide through the air. He would later describe the experience as one of “total freedom”.
