Man who broke sound barrier while skydiving dies in paragliding accident

ROME: Austrian extreme sports pioneer Felix Baumgartner, famed for a record-breaking 2012 skydive from the edge of space, died on Thursday (Jul 17) in a paragliding accident in central Italy, local police said. He was 56.

Baumgartner lost control of his motorised paraglider while flying over Porto Sant'Elpidio in Italy's central Marche region, and fell to the ground near the swimming pool of a hotel. The reasons for the accident were unclear.

Porto Sant'Elpidio's mayor, Massimiliano Ciarpella, said reports suggested he may have suffered a sudden medical issue mid-air, and offered the town's condolences for the death of "a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flights".

The Austrian made headlines around the world in October 2012 when, wearing a specially made suit, he jumped from a balloon 39km above Earth, becoming the first skydiver to break the sound barrier, typically measured at around 1,200kmh.

Sporting a "born to fly" tattoo, Baumgartner recorded the fastest freefall by leaping from the capsule and reaching a top speed of 1,357.6kmh on the 65th anniversary of legendary American pilot Chuck Yeager's flight shattering the sound barrier on Oct 14, 1947.

His two childhood dreams were to be a skydiver and a helicopter pilot.

"I always had the desire to be in the air," Austrian media quoted Baumgartner as saying. "I climbed trees, I wanted to see the world from above."

Baumgartner said that his training for the legendary Red Bull Stratos jump, which ended safely in the desert of the US state of New Mexico, had begun 26 years earlier, in 1986, when he first jumped out of an aeroplane.

"AT HOME IN THE AIR"

In his youth, Baumgartner, who was born in the Austrian city of Salzburg, worked as a car mechanic and repaired motorcycles as he searched for ways to take to the sky.

Having completed his first skydive in his teens, he improved his skills in the Austrian military. Over time, he built up an impressive portfolio of stunts.

One of his first records was in 1999 for the lowest BASE dive from the hand of Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil, which is 29m above the ground.

BASE is an acronym for four things that can be jumped from: buildings, antennas, spans and earth.

A licensed helicopter pilot and gas balloonist whose hobbies included boxing and climbing, he also twice set world records for the highest BASE jump from a building.

In 2003, he completed the first winged "freefall crossing" of the English Channel, leaping out of an aircraft and flying the rest of the way to from England to Calais in northern France with a pair of carbon wings.

Though never quite in the limelight as much again as in 2012, Baumgartner continued to seek thrills throughout his life, flying loopings with helicopters and driving race cars.

His long career of daredevil jumps included skydiving across the English Channel and parachuting off the Petronas Towers in Malaysia.

Dividing his time between Switzerland and the US, Baumgartner commented avidly on politics and rubbed shoulders with Austrian far-right politicians in his native country.

In Austria, he was also known for courting controversy with views that included expressing support for dictatorship as a system of government.

On social media, he mocked the fight against climate change, actively speaking out against Green parties, and LGBTQ rights.

In 2016, he faced a storm of criticism when suggesting that anti-migration Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban should win a Nobel Peace Prize for protecting his country.

Baumgartner was fined £1,500 (US$2,300) after he punched a Greek truck driver in the face during a 2010 altercation that broke out in a traffic jam near Salzburg.

"BIGGEST DREAM"

Despite the dangers, the telegenic Baumgartner never seemed to fear having to pay the ultimate price for his passion - stressing that it was all about doing your homework.

"I hate it if someone calls me a thrill-seeker or an adrenaline junkie because I am not. I like the whole planning," Baumgartner said ahead of the 2012 stunt.

"When you're standing there on top of the world, you become so humble ... The only thing is you want to come back alive," Baumgartner told reporters.

Shortly before leaping, in footage beamed live around the world on a crackly radio link recalling Neil Armstrong's first words on the Moon, Baumgartner had said: "Sometimes you have (to go) up really high to (understand) how small you are."

Baumgartner later said that he had done the record-setting jump to "inspire people" and to "leave something to the world".

In a 2022 documentary, he said that he would leave the world with a smile on his face, knowing that "big dreams always win".