Felix Baumgartner - the Austrian daredevil whose 24-mile plunge from the stratosphere captured the world’s imagination in 2012 - has died at the age of 56 following a tragic paragliding accident in Italy.
The renowned skydiver, pilot, extreme sports athlete, and BASE jumping pioneer was flying a motored paraglider in Porto Sant’Elpidio when he reportedly suffered a sudden onset of illness mid-flight, causing him to lose control of the craft, The Sun reports.
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Baumgartner’s paraglider crashed into a swimming pool at a holiday resort, where he was killed instantly.
A hotel employee on the ground was also injured in the accident, suffering neck injuries after being struck by the paraglider. The individual, a girl according to local reports, was rushed to hospital and is not believed to be in serious condition.
The Mirror is reporting that Baumgartner "had complained of feeling unwell while the paraglider was airborne, and lost control of the craft shortly after".
News of Baumgartner’s death sent shockwaves through the extreme sports community and beyond. Fans flooded social media with tributes to the man known globally for his audacious aerial feats."
Over on his Instagram account, his final post - which was shared less than 24 hours before news of his death, and which chillingly shows him working on his paramotor before taking to the sky - has also been flooded with tributes.
"Today is a sad day. Rest in peace Legend," one person commented. Another added: "Rest in peace, brother. Fly free."
Baumgartner’s name is forever etched into history books thanks to the Red Bull Stratos mission, an extraordinary stunt that saw him rise 39km (24 miles) above the New Mexico desert in a pressurized capsule tethered to a weather balloon.
On October 14, 2012, the world watched as he stepped off the edge and freefell to Earth, breaking three world records: highest freefall, highest manned balloon flight, and fastest freefall speed.
In that moment, he became the first human to break the sound barrier in freefall, reaching a top speed of Mach 1.25 – or 843.6mph (1,357.6kph). The jump, streamed live and sponsored by Red Bull, became one of the earliest viral phenomena of the digital age.
Reflecting on that once-in-a-generation feat, Baumgartner remarked: “When you're standing on top of the world, you don’t think of records any more, all you think is that you want to come back alive.”
Yet there was more to Baumgartner than just one sky-shattering leap. Born in Salzburg, Austria on April 20, 1969, he grew up with two dreams: to become a skydiver and to fly helicopters. Both came true. Starting as a skydiver for the Austrian military at age 16, he transitioned into commercial and aerobatic helicopter piloting after gaining recognition – and funding – through his skydiving accomplishments.
As he once explained, “It’s interesting that one childhood dream put me in a situation to make the other childhood dream work. Without the first, I never could have done it. I was a mechanic repairing motorcycles and you don’t make enough money repairing motorcycles to fly helicopters.”
Baumgartner's career was packed with boundary-breaking stunts. In 1999, he set a record with a leap from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Four years later, he flew across the English Channel using a custom carbon-fibre wing. In 2011, he completed the world’s lowest BASE jump from the hand of Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue. In total, he notched up 14 world records across his career.
His achievements earned him accolades including the Laureus Sports Award, National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year, and the title of Living Legend of Aviation.
Baumgartner also had a passion for motorsports, racing everything from Subaru rally cars to endurance vehicles for Audi, and even competing in the Volkswagen Scirocco Cup at Hockenheim.
Despite all he accomplished on Earth, he remained most synonymous with the day he jumped from the edge of space. And he never shied away from that legacy.
“Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you really are,” he once told Red Bull, a quote that now serves as an epitaph for a man who lived higher – and faster – than most could ever dream.
Felix Baumgartner is survived by a global community of fans, fellow adventurers, and all those who still look up at the sky with wonder.