Latest news with #Porto Sant'Elpidio
News.com.au
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Wife shares final footage of Red Bull space jump icon Felix Baumgartner
The grieving partner of famed skydiver Felix Baumgartner shared tragic footage of the extreme athlete's final flight — just moments before he crashed and died. The 56-year-old — who was renowned as the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound — died in a paragliding accident in the Italian town of Porto Sant'Elpidio. The Austrian daredevil reportedly fell ill and lost consciousness while flying a motorised paraglider. Video shared by Baumgartner's longtime partner shows him preparing his parachute and starting the propeller of his paraglider before taking off into the cloudless summer sky. 'I was filming him taking off not knowing that this will be his last flight of his extraordinary life,' Miha Schwartzenberg, 55, who was with Baumgartner since 2014, wrote in a social media post accompanying the video which you can watch above. 'For over 12y I was there for every take off and landing, from skydiving, paragliding, helicopter flights, paramotor to aerobatic shows,' she wrote, adding that he was 'going home now, up there, where he was the happiest ever.' In the short clip, the adrenaline junkie is seen wearing shorts and a crash helmet as he fires up his propeller pack and runs across the grass to get airborne. As his wing fills with air and lifts him up from the ground, he tucks in his legs. Baumgartner achieved global fame in 2012 when he successfully skydived 24 miles from the edge of space to the ground, becoming the first human to break the sound barrier with only his body. Schwartzenberg also recalled how when she hadn't been able to attend her partner's skydives, the couple had a 'WLC code,' or 'the Wifey Landing call,' when he got to the ground. 'Never missed one. Except … this one,' she added. The exact circumstances behind Baumgartner's death are still under investigation. The Red Bull-sponsored athlete is believed to have fallen ill midair which caused him to lose control and crash to the ground, into the side of a swimming pool, killing him instantly. A hotel employee on the ground was also injured in the fall when the paraglider struck them. Schwartzenberg, a Romanian-born TV presenter, also praised Baumgartner's fans who have reached out to her since her partner's tragic death. 'Thank you all for your support and for keeping his unique legacy high up. This man was truly special, in so many ways, and I'll make sure I'll keep telling his story,' she wrote. 'But now…., I have to deal with the shock, the pain, the sunrises where I get to make just one coffee, not two,' she said.
The Independent
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Space skydiver Felix Baumgartner dies in paragliding crash aged 56
Felix Baumgartner, known for his record-breaking skydive from the edge of space, has died in a paragliding accident aged 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, local police said. 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 24 miles (38 km) above Earth, becoming the first skydiver to break the sound barrier, typically measured at more than 690 mph. He made the historic jump over Roswell, New Mexico, reaching a peak speed of over 833 mph, on the 65th anniversary of legendary American pilot Chuck Yeager's flight shattering the sound barrier on October 14, 1947. The self-styled "God of the Skies" started parachuting as a teenager before taking up the extreme sport of base jumping. His long career of daredevil jumps included skydiving across the English Channel and parachuting off the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. In Austria he was also known for courting controversy with views that included expressing support for dictatorship as a system of government. Baumgartner was fined 1,500 euros after he punched a Greek truck driver in the face during a 2010 altercation that broke out in a traffic jam near Salzburg.
