Daredevil Felix Baumgartner dies in paragliding accident in Italy

Felix Baumgartner, who made Daredevil, who made a record-breaking parachute jump out of the stratosphere in 2012, died on Thursday in a paragliding accident in Italy, confirmed a local mayor. Firefighters who reacted to the scene said that they had found a paraglider who had joined a swimming pool in the city of Porto Sant Elpidio on the east coast of Italy.

“Our community is deeply influenced by the tragic disappearance of Felix Baumgartner, a figure of global meaning, a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flight,” said the city's mayor, Massimiliano Ciarpella.

Baumgartner, 56, made global headlines 2012 When he was lifted into the stratosphere, about 24 miles high, in a capsule worn by a helium balloon and then down to a landing in New Mexico. During the jump he broke the record for the fastest free fall, rose at around 843.6 miles per hour and became the first person to broke the sound barrier without the support of a vehicle.

The Baumgartner from Austria started skydiving at the age of 16 and, according to his personal website, further improved his skills in the Austrian military. In 1988 he teamed up with Red Bull, which sponsored the stratospheric jump under the Stratos project and many other daring services.

The training and planning for the Stratos Jump 2012 took five years. Among the records, Baumgartner was the highest leap on this day, which had been held by Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger since 1960 when he jumped from an open-air gondola basket to 102,000 feet. Kittinger trained Baumgartner for the record-breaking Stratos jump. (Baumgartner's height record was broken two years later.)

In addition to skydiving, Baumgartner was an experienced base sweater that broke two records in 1999: the highest base jump and lowest base jump. The low jump he took out of one of the hands of Christ, the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, was only 95 feet. The high jump came from the 88th floor of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, although this record has now been broken and is currently held by the late Valery Rozov, who jumped in 2016 by Cho Oyu.

Baumgartner was also helicopter pilot and part of the Aerial Acrobatics team from Red Bull.

“Since I was a child, I've always wanted to jump out of an airplane,” said Baumgartner in an interview about Red Bull after becoming a licensed helicopter pilot.

“For Red Bull Stratos we had a very long list of 'what if', in other words, eventualities that could happen and how we would deal with them in an emergency. The list was longer and longer. I was only afraid of things that were not on the list.

While Baumgartner's Stunts inspired millions, it was known that his political views caused controversy. On social media, he mocked climate activists and others who restrict the effects of climate change and have expressed the opposition to LGBTQ rights, according to the AFP news agency. He also suggested that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his anti-immigration policy.

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