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A daredevil skydiver who died in a freak paragliding accident may have been dead before he crashed into a busy hotel pool, with claims that he suffered a cardiac arrest mid-air.
Felix Baumgartner, 56, lost his life at around 4pm Thursday in Italy’s Porto Sant’Elpidio while flying a motor powered paraglider.
The extreme athlete, also known as ‘Fearless Felix’, was feeling unwell prior to take-off and then lost control of his craft, Italian media reports.
The Austrian champion, who famously once jumped from the edge of space, came plummeting down to earth and smashed into a wooden feature near the bustling swimming pool of the Le Mimose campsite.
At the end of his descent, Baumgartner slammed into a hotel worker. She was rushed to Murri Hospital, but her condition is not serious, according to reports.
The swimming pool was reportedly crowded at the time of the incident, teeming with playing children who were forced to witness the sport star’s tragic death, as per Repubblica.
Some bystanders and staff attempted to resuscitate the athlete, but to no avail. By the time emergency responders got to the scene he was already in cardiac arrest, Italian media reports.
Baumgartner had taken off from Fermo in the scenic Marche region, but while flying over the coast, for reasons still under investigation, he lost control of the powered hang glider.
Emergency responders requested an air ambulance for transport to the Torrette Hospital in Ancona, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
His wife, Mihaela Schwartzenberg, who was also in the area as the pair had been on holiday, was immediately informed of his death and rushed to the scene.
Shortly before his sudden passing, 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.
The city’s mayor, Massimiliano Ciarpella, confirmed Baumgartner’s death in a social media post.
‘Our community is deeply affected by the tragic disappearance of Felix Baumgartner, a figure of global prominence, a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flight,’ Mr Ciarpella said.
His mentee, Diver Christian Redl, told of Baumgartner’s dedication and passion to his jumps.
‘He was very risk-conscious, a person who put a lot of thought into his jumps,’ he told Kleine Zeitung.
And tragically, just days prior, the 56-year-old posted a selfie almost directly above where he died.
Baumgarnter wrote on Saturday, July 12: ‘Flying holiday greetings from Fermo Italy. Where are you vacationing this year?’
He posed in his motorised paraglider, with the coastline below. Chillingly, the properties in the photo are less that two miles from where Baumgarnter plummeted to the ground.
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.
For the stratosphere jump that made Baumgartner world famous, the Salzburg native ‘prepared for over 10 years,’ Redl added.
‘He only jumped when he was truly confident.’
Baumgartner was an accomplished skydiver who had completed thousands of jumps before setting his sights on space.
His inspiration was Captain Joe Kittinger, a retired fighter pilot who had jumped to Earth from 102,800ft back in 1960.
Speaking to MailOnline in 2022, he said: ‘As a skydiver, you always want to push the envelope.
‘What Joe accomplished in the 1960s after only 33 skydives – this is what I call a true pioneer.
‘And I had a couple thousand skydives under my belt.
‘You’re always thinking, what more can I do? Go faster? Go higher? It’s always floating out there.’
Baumgartner had previously worked with Red Bull on base jumps, and reached out to them once again with the idea of jumping from space.
‘Because of all the trust I’d built with Red Bull with base jumps, we took on that challenge trying to find the right people,’ he explained.
This included his inspiration, Joe Kittinger, who agreed to help him.
‘Joe made it very clear the first time I met him – I’m interested but I’m only going to support you if you take it seriously. You can’t go from zero to hero. We have to do it the right way.’
The two years that followed involved rigorous planning and testing, which wasn’t always smooth sailing.
‘A lot of people didn’t believe in us, so it took us a while to convince people to come on board,’ Baumgartner said. ‘We had to be really patient.’
The plan was simple – Baumgartner would board the Red Bull Stratos capsule wearing a pressurised suit, before soaring up to the edge of space, guided by a helium balloon.
Once he reached an altitude of 114,829ft (35,000 metres), Baumgartner would open the capsule door and jump, free falling for four minutes before opening his parachute and gliding to the ground.
While the entire mission would take less than three hours, Baumgartner knew there were several things that could go wrong.
‘It’s a very hostile environment up there. If the suit fails, your blood would start to boil and you’d die in 15 seconds,’ he said.
‘The parachute could malfunction or you could flat spin, which pushes all your blood into your skull. If that happens, at a certain RPM your blood only has one way out – through your eyeballs.’
Following a briefing with a doctor, Baumgartner was told the ‘good news’ – if something went wrong ‘it would only take 15 seconds to die.’
The launch was originally scheduled for 9 October 2012, but was aborted due to adverse weather conditions.
‘The first test got called off, and we only had one spare balloon,’ said Baumgartner. ‘If the second test failed, we would have had to wait another six months to try again.’
Thankfully, Baumgartner woke up on the 14 October to better conditions, and felt optimistic for the second launch attempt.
‘You wake up a 2am and go out to mission control, do the weather brief and medical tests,’ he described.
‘They put on my pressure suit and then put me in the capsule. Once the balloon launched, it was a big relief – we were on the way.’
During the 90 minute ascent, several questions were going through Baumgartner’s head.
‘Will we reach jump altitude of 35,000 metres? Can I even open the door? It might be frozen shut?’ he described.
His worries were put to rest, however, when the capsule reached 38,969.3 metres (127,852 feet) and the door opened without a hitch, at which point he knew there was only one way down.
While you might think Baumgartner would be nervous at this point, he explained how he actually felt strangely peaceful.
‘I looked up and the sky was black,’ he said.
‘It was completely silent. All you can hear is yourself breathing. It was very peaceful.’
As much as he wanted to enjoy that moment, Baumgartner didn’t have long – he had already disconnected from the capsule’s oxygen supply, and now relied on an oxygen cannister, which would only last for 15 minutes.
He saluted the capsule’s camera, took one step forwards and jumped.
As he fell back down to Earth, Baumgartner quickly accelerated, going from 0 to 890mph in just 50 seconds and breaking the sound barrier.
His career began at a very young age, after he started skydiving at just 16-years-old.
In 1988, he began collaborating with the Red Bull brand, and from the 1990s onwards, he also tried his hand at base jumping, leaping from skyscrapers, natural features, and bridges.
He set several records and 14 world records: In 1999, the Austrian was the first to jump from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and from the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In 2004, he jumped from the Millau Viaduct in France, and in 2006, from the Turning Torso skyscraper in Sweden.
Then later on in 2007, Baumgartner became the first to jump from Taipei 101, which resulted in him being banned from entering the country.
In 2003 he became the first man to fly across the English Channel in a wingsuit.
