Fatalities from wingsuit flying have occurred almost from the inception of the sport. Below are listed the most notable ones, including when wingsuit practice was not the first cause of death.

Date Details
4 February 1912 Franz Reichelt (30), the inventor of a pre-modern wingsuit, jumped from the Eiffel Tower to his death in a failed test flight.[1]
16 September 1963 Stunt parachutist Gerard Masselin jumped from a biplane showing his wingsuit to the camera and was killed after his parachute failed to open.[2]
13 April 1998 Patrick de Gayardon (38) died testing his pioneer wingsuits in Hawaii.[3]
5 October 2003 Dwain Weston (30), an Australian skydiver who held the 2002 BASE jumping world title, died after hitting a railing on the Royal Gorge Bridge near Cañon City, Colorado.[4][5] This was not a BASE accident as he had jumped from an airplane; it was technically an illegal jump since he used BASE equipment containing only one parachute (i.e., no reserve parachute). The pilots were eventually reprimanded for allowing the jump.
22 October 2004 Roland "Slim" Simpson was a well known Australian BASE jumper. On 6 October 2004, Roland Simpson leapt from the Jin Mao Tower, the tallest skyscraper in China at the time, in a wingsuit. After a good jump and flight, his parachute opened with multiple line twists making it difficult to steer and he crashed onto an adjacent building. He went into a coma, and died several days later in Canberra Hospital.[6]
9 May 2007 American adventurer and TV personality Jimmy Hall (41) died on an expedition to Baffin Island in northern Canada. After several days of successful jumps, Hall attempted a wingsuit flight through a canyon. He failed to clear a ledge, and struck the cliff.[7]
26 March 2009 Shane McConkey (39) was a professional skier and BASE jumper. McConkey was performing a complicated ski-BASE jump in Italy. He experienced problems when he attempted to release his skis, and as a result failed to deploy his parachute in time.[8]
28 August 2009 Eli Thompson (36) died while performing a wingsuit proximity-flying jump from a helicopter in the Swiss Alps. He accidentally hit the side of the mountain.[9]
12 April 2010 Geoffrey Robson died during a wingsuit BASE jump from Stellenbosch, South Africa. He was a PhD candidate at ETH Zürich working on the mathematical modelling of the aerodynamic characteristics of wingsuits. He was described by a former professor as "very careful [, taking] the sport seriously".[10][11]
23 June 2012 Hervé le Gallou, who was, along with Dave McDonnell, one of the first persons to jump from the Burj Khalifa, died wingsuiting on Grande Tête de l'Obiou in the French Alps.[12]
7 July 2012 Alan McCandlish (31) was jumping with friends when he struck the cliff face and fell near Berner Oberland, southwest of Zurich. [13] He was part of the team that pioneered the Kaipo Wall in Fiordland National Park in 2008. They were first to claim the biggest vertical cliff in New Zealand.[14]
14 August 2013 Mark Sutton (42), a British stuntman who had parachuted into the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony as a James Bond character, was killed when he hit a ridge while wingsuit BASE-jumping near Martigny, Switzerland.[15]
18 August 2013 Mario Richard, an American wingsuit flyer, died during a wingsuit BASE jump from Sass Pordoi in Italy’s Dolomites.[16]
23 August 2013 Álvaro Bultó, a Spanish wingsuit flier, died after a wingsuit BASE-jump in Switzerland.[17][18]
9 October 2013 Hungarian wingsuit flyer, Victor Kovats, plunged to his death in trial run for world championships in Tianmen Mountain after parachute failed to open.[19]
13 March 2014 Prolific climber, adventurer, and BASE jumper Sean "Stanley" Leary was killed in a BASE jumping accident near Zion National Park, Utah.[20]
29 March 2014 Three experienced wingsuit flyers: New Zealander Dan Vicary (33), Frenchman Ludovic Woerth (34), and American Brian Drake (33) jumped from a helicopter over the Lütschental area near Bern, Switzerland. They had planned to land in the valley, but took a wrong turn, flew over the wrong ridge, and crashed into an alpine pasture. Vicary and Woerth were found dead; Drake died four days later in hospital.[21][22]
6 June 2014 Darío Barrio (42), a famous Spanish TV chef, owner of the Madrid restaurant Dassa Bassa and an experienced wingsuit flier, died in an accident while participating in the International Air Festival at Segura de la Sierra in Jaén, a province in southern Spain. Darío was supposed to fly over an old castle but, for unknown reasons, crashed into the cliff where the castle is located.[23]
2 September 2014 Alex Duncan, a 26 year-old Australian from Manly, Sydney, died after crashing into a mountain during a jump in the Swiss Alps.[24]
14 January 2015 Josh Sheppard (31) an experienced wingsuit flier and skydiver with more than 3,000 jumps, died when his parachute failed to open after he illegally jumped from a Michigan TV tower.[25]
16 May 2015 Dean Potter (43) and Graham Hunt (29) died during an illegal wingsuit flight from Taft Point, in Yosemite National Park.[26]
3 July 2015 Colombian Jhonathan Florez (32), known as "The Birdman", a 2013 wingsuiting world champion, died after falling from the exit point at Engelberg, Switzerland.[27][28]
10 July 2015 Damian Hrdlicka, a long-time skydiver and Yahoo-sponsored sky surfer, was found dead with nothing out, approximately two-thirds of the way through his flight path at Gitschen, Switzerland.[29]
1 October 2015 American adventurer Johnny Strange (23) crashed into the ground and died after jumping from a 2,000 metre summit in the Swiss canton of Uri.[30]
12 January 2016 Mathew Kenney (29) crashed and died while wingsuiting in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness in northern Arizona.
7 June 2016 Brazilian Fernando Brito (42) died while trying to jump from Pedra da Gávea, Rio de Janeiro.[31]
9 June 2016 Dario Zanon (33) an Italian BASE jumper known as "The Great Dario", one of the world's top wingsuit drivers, died on the side of the French side of Mont Blanc Massif after a failed wingsuit flight from the Aiguille du Midi.[32]
26 June 2016 Gary Kremer (30), an American BASE jumper and former U.S. Marine, died while wingsuit flying with friends in Canada.[33]
17 August 2016 Uli Emanuele (29), an Italian BASE jumper, died in a crash at Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland while shooting a new video. He was famous for his flights through a ring of fire and a "needle's eye" formed by a rock. The other fatality was a 49 year-old Briton who jumped from the "High Ultimate" peak at Muerren and who also crashed into a cliff.[34][35][36]
21 August 2016 Alexander Polli (31), an Italo-Norwegian BASE jumper, died after crashing into a tree at an elevation of 1,500 m near Chamonix.[37]
26 August 2016 Armin Schmieder (28), an Italian BASE jumper, died after jumping from Kandersteg, in the Swiss Alps.[38]
3 October 2016 Ratmir Nigimyanov (30), a Russian BASE jumper, died after jumping from Aiguille du Midi above Chamonix, France. His parachute failed to open. Witnesses saw him careening off a rocky outcrop just above the town, before crashing into a building site behind the train station. This incident prompted the local mayor to ban wingsuit flying above Chamonix.[39] [40]
18 November 2016 Mehdi Habibi, an Iranian BASE jumper, died after jumping with a wingsuit from the "High Ultimate" in the Lauterbrunnen, Mürren area of the Swiss Alps. He was found dead in rough terrain by a team of Air Glaciers in the afternoon of the same day according to the local police report. His body was subsequently recovered by the rescue team. The incident is believed to have occurred around 9 AM on Friday 18 November.[41][42]
25 January 2017 Canadian wingsuit flier Graham Dickinson died after a crash during training in south China. His body was found on a cliff at the Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park in Zhangjiajie of Hunan Province.[43][44]
24 May 2017 Matthew Ciancio (42), an American wingsuit skydiver, died after jumping from 13,000 feet in California as part of a wingsuit formation with "four or five" other people. Ciancio reportedly failed to follow correct emergency procedure to release his main parachute after it did not deploy correctly. Witnesses said he waited too long to release his main parachute and switch to his backup parachute.[45][46]
28 June 2017 Micah Couch, a skydiving instructor, an American resident of Dubai, wingsuit flyer, and Red Bull Aces wingsuit competitor, died during a wingsuit BASE jump in Aurland, Norway. Witnesses reported that his parachute failed to open, causing him to crash into the base of the mountain.[47]
6 July 2017 David Bugnion, a 30 year-old man from Switzerland died after his parachute failed to open during a wingsuit flight in Haute Savoie in France.[48]
11 November 2017 Valery Rozov (52), a Russian climb jumper, died while jumping with a wingsuit from a height of 6,812 meters (22,349 ft) off Ama Dablam mountain in Nepal. According to members of his group, Rozov crashed into the side of the mountain.[49]
22 January 2018 Aime-Jean St. Hilaire-Adam (27), a competitive skydiver from Calgary participating in the World Open Wingsuit Championships, was killed after he collided with another jumper, lost consciousness, failed to open his parachute, and crashed onto a roof in Perris, California.[50]
24 June 2018 Robert Haggarty (47), a UK national originally from Dumfries Scotland, but living in Goodworth Clatford near Andover in England, died on a wingsuit flight in the Italian Dolomites. The experienced BASE jumper lost control during a wingsuit jump and suffered fatal head and chest injuries.[51][52]
27 July 2018 Mike Racicot (37), known as "Treehouse Mike", died on a wingsuit flight in Switzerland.[53]
20 August 2019 Dr Angelo Grubisic (38), a Serbian-British wingsuit champion and astronautical engineer, died on a planned BASE jumping accident in Saudi Arabia. Grubisic had been leader of Southampton University's wingsuit design team and had set up a project to design a safer suit that could break records.:[54]
12 May 2020 Chinese female university student An Liu (刘安, 24) disappeared in Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park, Hunan Province after jumping from a helicopter at a height of 2,500 m. Her body was found on 18 May 2020. She was an experienced wingsuit skydiver with more than 500 flights.[55]
9 September 2020 34-year old wingsuit pilot David Wall died when he crashed during a flight in the Churfirsten mountain range in Switzerland.[56]
17 November 2020 "Jetman" pilot Vince Reffet (36) died during a training flight with his jet-powered wingsuit in Dubai.[57]
4 January 2023 Jarno Cordia (44), a Dutch wingsuit flyer, died BASE jumping with a wingsuit near Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. After jumping from a sheer cliff at Hig La Mousse, he crashed into a rock wall several times.[58][59]
3 June 2023 Mark Andrews (65), a retired engineer from Cornwall died after falling 400 metres down a rock face at Val Trementina in the Dolomites while wearing a wing suit.[60]
10 June 2023 Dominik Ertl (42), an experienced wingsuit flyer, died in a crash landing in Walenstadt Sputnik, Switzerland.[61] He had "nearly 2,000 jumps under his belt over the past 10 years"[62] He lost speed after performing a corkscrew maneuver, and initiated a flare that caused further deceleration, as opposed to gaining altitude. After two failed attempts to pull his parachute cord, he was successful on the third attempt. However, it was too late and he "[impacted] in a horizontal body position."[61] Ertl documented his wingsuit flights on camera, which he posted on his YouTube channel, Dom.e Wingsuit.[62]

References

  1. ↑ "Chute mortelle d'un inventeur de parachute". Le Temps (in French). Paris, FR. 6 February 1912. p. 4. Archived from the original on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  2. ↑ "Another bird man Gerard Masselin dies". British Pathé. 1963. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  3. ↑ Schatz, Bryan. "A life in flight: Wingsuit pioneer Loci Jean-Albert, "The Flying Dude"". Adventure Sports Journal. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "Base jumper was 'meticulous'". The Sydney Morning Herald. 7 October 2003. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  5. ↑ Jones, Lola (16 November 2008). "The Legend's last jump on the last day – 'Whatever happens, happens.'". XtremeSport. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "A leap too far: leading base jumper killed in Shanghai". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 October 2004. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  7. ↑ "Hawaii TV adventurer died in Nunavut base jumping accident". CBC News. 14 May 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  8. ↑ Steve Casimiro (26 March 2016). "Skier Shane McConkey killed BASE-jumping in Italy". adventure-journal.com. Archived from the original on 25 September 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  9. ↑ "Eli Thompson 1973-2009". Archived from the original on 31 August 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  10. ↑ "Base jumper was very careful". South Africa: News24. 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  11. ↑ "Geoffrey Robson". ETH Zürich. 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  12. ↑ "How a mythic base jumper met his untimely end". Newser. 27 July 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  13. ↑ Bowen, Matt (10 June 2012). "Kiwi 'legend' in fatal base jump". Stuff. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  14. ↑ McCandlish, Alan (8 May 2008). "The Kaipo. Aotearoa's Terminal Wall". BlogSpot. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  15. ↑ "London 2012 parachutist Mark Sutton killed". BBC News. 15 August 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  16. ↑ "Mario Richard dies in BASE jump accident". 20 August 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  17. ↑ "Alvaro Bulto dies while skydiving". Global Post.
  18. ↑ "Fallece Álvaro Bultó accidente los Alpes Suizos". Destacada. www.efe.com. EFE. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  19. ↑ "Wingsuit flier Victor Kovats dies after cliff crash horror". CNN. 12 October 2013.
  20. ↑ "Sean "Stanley" Leary killed BASE jumping". Rock & Ice. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  21. ↑ "US wingsuit flyer dies after weekend accident". The Local. 3 April 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  22. ↑ "Swiss wingsuit crash claims third victim". 3 News New Zealand. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  23. ↑ "Dario Barrio dead: Spanish TV chef killed in base jumping wingsuit crash". The Independent. UK.
  24. ↑ Koziol, Michael; Zielinski, Caroline (4 September 2014). "Extreme sports star Alex Duncan killed while wingsuit flying in Swiss Alps". Sydney Morning Herald.
  25. ↑ "Michigan skydiver dies after jumping from TV tower". NY Daily News. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  26. ↑ "Remembering pioneering climber Dean Potter". Adventureblog. Beyond the Edge. National Geographic. 17 May 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  27. ↑ "Jhonathan Flórez, el hombre pájaro, ensayaba un nuevo traje de salto cuando murió". El Heraldo (in Spanish). Columbia.
  28. ↑ Shammas, John (4 July 2015). "Jhonathan Florez dead: World record BASE jumper dies 'during parachute exercises while preparing for China tournament'". Mirror. UK. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  29. ↑ "Damian Hrdlicka". Obituary. BLinc Magazine. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  30. ↑ "Johnny Strange: American daredevil dies after wingsuit jump from summit in Switzerland". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  31. ↑ "Atleta de wingsuit que morreu após pular da Pedra da Gávea é velado". Globo. Rio de Janeiro. 8 June 2016.
  32. ↑ "Man dies in Mt Blanc wingsuit crash". ansa.it. Italy. 13 June 2016.
  33. ↑ "Seattle man who died BASE jumping in B.C. loved the sport, girlfriend says". The Star. 27 June 2016.
  34. ↑ "Base jumper Uli Emanuele dies". ansa.it. 18 August 2016.
  35. ↑ "BASE jumping exit point". BLiNC Magazine. Everything you ever wanted to know about BASE jumping, speed flying, and skydiving but didn't know whom to ask.
  36. ↑ "Two men die in base jumping accidents in Switzerland". The Journal. Eire. AFP.
  37. ↑ "Base jumper Alexander Polli dies". ansa.it. 22 August 2016.
  38. ↑ "Ancora un base jumper morto in volo. Schmieder si schianta in diretta Facebook". Gazzetta. Italy. 26 August 2016.
  39. ↑ "Russian BASE jumper killed in wingsuit crash in French Alps". Russia Beyond. Russia. 4 October 2016.
  40. ↑ "Chamonix Bans Wingsuit BASE Jumping After Latest Fatality". National Geographic. USA. 8 October 2016. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022.
  41. ↑ "Lauterbrunnen: Basejumper tödlich verunfallt (Medien) Kantonspolizei Bern". www.police.be.ch. Kanton Bern.
  42. ↑ "مرگ مهدی حبیبی، قهرمان پرش هوایی ایران". Persian sport. BBC. 21 November 2016.
  43. ↑ "Canadian wingsuit flier dies after crash in China". 27 January 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  44. ↑ Judd, Amy (1 February 2017). "Canadian wingsuit flyer Graham Dickinson dies during BASE jump in China". Global News. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  45. ↑ "Skydiver wearing a wingsuit crashes, dies in Northern California vineyard". LA Times. Associated Press. 25 May 2017.
  46. ↑ Chavez, Nashelly; Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra; Branan, Brad (25 May 2017). "'Parachute began spinning' during deadly skydive, Lodi center official said". Sacramento Bee.
  47. ↑ "BASE jumper fatality sparks calls for a crackdown". www.newsinenglish.no.
  48. ↑ "Swiss man dies in wingsuit accident in France". worldradio.ch. 7 July 2017.
  49. ↑ "A famed Russian daredevil is killed in a BASE-jumping accident". Spiegel. Germany. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  50. ↑ "Calgary skydiver killed after crashing into California home during wingsuit competition". Global News. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  51. ↑ "Wingsuit jumper Rob Haggarty hit rock face three times". BBC News. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  52. ↑ "Expert base jumper Rob Haggarty died after crashing into mountain-face in tragic accident, inquest hears". Romsey Advertiser. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  53. ↑ "'I want to be put back into the air': The life and death of BASE jumper Mike Racicot". Obituary. CBC News. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  54. ↑ "Wingsuit scientist dies in Saudi Arabia base jump". BBC. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  55. ↑ "不幸身亡 天门山翼装飞行失联女生遗体已被找到-中新网". www.chinanews.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  56. ↑ "Wingsuit flyer from Utah killed in crash in Switzerland". www.sltrib.com. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  57. ↑ "Vince Reffet, 'Jetman' pilot, dies in training accident in Dubai". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  58. ↑ "Experienced Dutch wingsuit pilot dies in base-jumping accident in Switzerland". nltimes.nl/. NL Times. 6 January 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  59. ↑ "Dutch base jumper killed in wingsuit accident in Switzerland". dutchnews.nl. Dutch News. 6 January 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  60. ↑ "British base jumper, 65, falls to his death in Dolomites". The Times. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  61. 1 2 "bfl-453". blincmagazine.com. BLiNC Magazine. 10 June 2023. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  62. 1 2 "Wingsuit Jumpers Race Down Alpine Mountain in Northern Italy". Yahoo! news. Storyful.com. 15 February 2023. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
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