Shortly before his death, the sporting sensation posted a video to social media showing himself paragliding in circles over a field. Picture: Instagram
SOURCE: https://www.lbc.co.uk/world-news/felix-baumgartner-dies-paragliding-crash/
Posted on 07/17/2025 1:22:18 PM PDT by DFG
Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner has died in a paragliding crash in Italy.
The Austrian sportsman, 56, reportedly lost control of his aircraft on Thursday at around 4pm in Porto Sant'Elpidio, Marche.
Italian local media has reported the dare-devil crashed into the pool of the Le Mimose campsite after feeling unwell before taking off.
A woman was also left injured in the incident after being struck by Baumgartner as he plummeted to the ground. She was taken to Murri Hospital, but her condition is not serious, according to initial reports.
Baumgartner had taken off from Fermo, but while flying over the coast, for reasons still under investigation, he lost control of the powered hang glider. After the crash, he immediately lost consciousness and went into cardiac arrest.
Emergency responders requested an air ambulance for transport to the Torrette Hospital in Ancona, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Shortly before his death, the sports star posted a video on his social media alongside the caption: 'Too much wind'.
It showed him paragliding in circles over a field, completely unaware of the tragedy that was about to strike. Baumgartner had been in the area for a short holiday with his wife.
The sports sensation was internationally known for his spectacular jumps. He became particularly famous in 2012 with a jump from the stratosphere in which he set three world records.
Baumgartner dropped jaws after jumped from the edge of space, armed only with a pressure suit, a parachute, and nerves of steel.
He free fell to Earth for more than four minutes, during which time he reached dizzying speeds of 843.6mph and broke the sound barrier, before opening his parachute and safely gliding down to land in New Mexico.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
What you can do at 56 is less than what you can do at 36.
Guess it number 500. I read that one person dies for every 500 jumps. RIP.
SOURCE: https://www.lbc.co.uk/world-news/felix-baumgartner-dies-paragliding-crash/
Joseph Kittinger, who held the high-altitude freefall records for 52 years until Baumgartner’s jump, also lived past 90.
BTW...he had a GoPro camera on. That's the source of the video.
Moral of both stories: play stupid games,win stupid prizes.
No. At the aptitude he was jumping, the atmosphere is very thin. The 120 mile an hour terminal velocity limit does not apply up there. He was supersonic.
He had a death wish. It’s not right that he injured someone in the process of carrying it out.
Terminal velocity in the Earth’s atmosphere about 120mph, but he started jumping in the near vacuum of space, where he didn’t have the benefit of an atmosphere. He slowed down once he entered the atmosphere.
I saw a wreck where a girl was making a left turn and didn’t see a motorcycle coming from the other direction. Not her fault, she saw him but had no idea he was going well over 120 so she had no way to judge that he was outside a safe distance to turn in front of. He hit the front of her car, and cart wheeled away to his death.
But on his initial impact, his helmet came through the windshield before he cart wheeled away. She’s sad she saw headlight impossibly far away, then he impacted, she saw him come through her windshield face-to-face, and then instantly vanish. The impact severed one of his legs at the hip and it flew up and hit the street sign and fell down into the middle of the road. He was found quite some distance away. Those crotch rockets are made for the race track. But in the world of traffic, bad streets, and curbs, and light poles, they are deadly.
Winged it on his “Best if used by” date...
“Shortly before his death, the sports star posted a video on his social media alongside the caption: ‘Too much wind’.”
Sounds like too little, at least in this case.
Obligatory “Was he vaxxed?” post. :)
Jangling? Hang gliding you stupid auto correct.
Huge brass balls, and a touch of insanity
He wore a suit with a helmet and air canister.
He died doing what he loved...
IDIOT
Reading the comments and I’m astounded by all the fuddy duddy Freepers out there. I’m in awe of this guy’s style.
Years ago Neets was on her way to work driving up a place sometimes referred to as “The Damned Hill”.
Motorcycle coming the other way peeled her fender with his head.
Dunno if she still posts or wants to talk about it, it’s been awhile since we last talked.
Ping because I mentioned ya, Neets.
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