About Felix
Accomplishments
Pilot Traning
Baumgartner Pilot Biography
Accomplishments
Pilot Traning
Baumgartner Pilot Biography
Set : 10.15.2012 12:48PM
Accomplishments
Felix's Record Breaking Jumps and Accomplishments include
2012 - (July 25) Felix Baumgartner successfully jumped from 18 miles / 29 kilometres above the Earth 97,063 feet / 29,584 meters and completed a free fall at a speed of an airliner - 536 miles or 864 kilometres per hour (latest figures sanctioned by USPA and NAA). This jump was a significant achievement in ballooning history but it also proved that safety and recovery systems are functional in preparation for the 120,000 feet attempt.
2012 - (March 15) First test jump with high altitude balloon and pressurized capsule: Freefall from 71,581 feet over Roswell, NM. Maximum speed: 364.4 mph. Felix is the third person to leap from that altitude and survive.
2007 - BASE jump from world's tallest building, Taipei 101 Tower, Taipei, Taiwan (1,669 feet)
2006 - Felix earned his motorized wings as a helicopter pilot at Twin Air Helicopter School, Van Nuys, USA.
2004 - BASE jump into Marmet Cave in Velebit National Parc, Croatia (623 feet deep)
2004 - World record BASE jump from the highest bridge in the world, Millau Bridge, France (1,125 feet)
2003 - Channel Crossing, Dover, England to Calais, France; first crossing of the English Channel with a carbon wing
2001 - Nominated for a World Sports Award in London, England (category: Extreme Sports)
1999 - World record BASE jump from the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1,479 feet)
1999 - World record lowest BASE jump from Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (95 feet)
1997 - World champion title for BASE jumping in West Virginia, United States
Pilot Training
"We've moved beyond simulations. The manned jump from 71,581 feet is the first step to our ultimate goal." Joe Kittinger, Colonel USAF (Ret)
In preparation for Felix's first jump from the stratosphere, a long list of procedures came before he ever stepped inside the capsule. His training started years ago practicing high altitude jumps with Luke Aikins, his skydiving consultant, to ensure a solid body position in a relatively stiff pressurized suit. In addition to skydiving Felix has a whole team who supports him from every angle you can imagine, just to get him to the point where his performance in the pressure suit feels like second nature.
The night before Felix's successful freefall from 71,581 feet, the Red Bull Stratos team received final safety and weather briefings. Meteorologist Don Day gave the go-ahead that the dawn 'weather window' was suitable for an attempted launch: relatively clear skies and calm winds. During the next eight hours, the capsule was positioned in its cradle on the launch crane, the runway cleared of small debris and the balloon laid out on a vast tarp to protect it from tearing.
Shortly before dawn, balloon inflation began. Felix suited up and began pre-breathing oxygen to eliminate nitrogen from his blood before he was sealed inside the pressurized capsule. With balloon inflation complete, the capsule lifted off the tarmac to begin its ascent.
Once the ascent was completed, Felix ran through his 39-step safety checklist before manually depressurizing the capsule, sliding open the round door and stepping off the external platform. He continued in freefall until reaching the optimum height to deploy his parachute and float safely back to earth.
Upon landing he was met by the retrieval team, medical checks were conducted, and he was returned to the launch site. Years of training for this moment in the stratosphere: 3 minutes and 33 seconds of freefall. In Felix's words, "That was the momentum we needed for the whole team. Now we are ready for the 90,000 jump."
Baumgartner Pilot Biography
Born in Salzburg, Austria in 1969, Felix began skydiving at the age of 16 and polished his skills as part of the Austrian military's demonstration and competition team. In 1988, he began performing skydiving exhibitions for Red Bull. The company's out-of-the-box thinking and Felix's adventurous spirit clicked, and they've collaborated ever since.
By the 1990s, Felix felt that he'd gone as far as he could with traditional skydiving, so he extended his canopy skills with BASE jumping - parachuting from a fixed object or landform. He finds that the lightning-fast reflexes and precise techniques required by such low-altitude feats also enhance his high-altitude skydiving technique.
Felix has made world-record BASE jumps and has been nominated for a World Sports Award and two categories in the NEA Extreme Sports Awards. He is also a prominent advocate for the nonprofit Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation. And, while he acknowledges that the Red Bull Stratos mission is a step into the unknown, his determination to reach the edge of space and break the speed of sound is unshakable. "If Red Bull Stratos is successful, we can share data that hasn't been available ever before," Felix states. "I would be proud to be able to make such a contribution."
Felix's Record Breaking Jumps and Accomplishments include
2012 - (July 25) Felix Baumgartner successfully jumped from 18 miles / 29 kilometres above the Earth 97,063 feet / 29,584 meters and completed a free fall at a speed of an airliner - 536 miles or 864 kilometres per hour (latest figures sanctioned by USPA and NAA). This jump was a significant achievement in ballooning history but it also proved that safety and recovery systems are functional in preparation for the 120,000 feet attempt.
2012 - (March 15) First test jump with high altitude balloon and pressurized capsule: Freefall from 71,581 feet over Roswell, NM. Maximum speed: 364.4 mph. Felix is the third person to leap from that altitude and survive.
2007 - BASE jump from world's tallest building, Taipei 101 Tower, Taipei, Taiwan (1,669 feet)
2006 - Felix earned his motorized wings as a helicopter pilot at Twin Air Helicopter School, Van Nuys, USA.
2004 - BASE jump into Marmet Cave in Velebit National Parc, Croatia (623 feet deep)
2004 - World record BASE jump from the highest bridge in the world, Millau Bridge, France (1,125 feet)
2003 - Channel Crossing, Dover, England to Calais, France; first crossing of the English Channel with a carbon wing
2001 - Nominated for a World Sports Award in London, England (category: Extreme Sports)
1999 - World record BASE jump from the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1,479 feet)
1999 - World record lowest BASE jump from Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (95 feet)
1997 - World champion title for BASE jumping in West Virginia, United States
Pilot Training
"We've moved beyond simulations. The manned jump from 71,581 feet is the first step to our ultimate goal." Joe Kittinger, Colonel USAF (Ret)
In preparation for Felix's first jump from the stratosphere, a long list of procedures came before he ever stepped inside the capsule. His training started years ago practicing high altitude jumps with Luke Aikins, his skydiving consultant, to ensure a solid body position in a relatively stiff pressurized suit. In addition to skydiving Felix has a whole team who supports him from every angle you can imagine, just to get him to the point where his performance in the pressure suit feels like second nature.
The night before Felix's successful freefall from 71,581 feet, the Red Bull Stratos team received final safety and weather briefings. Meteorologist Don Day gave the go-ahead that the dawn 'weather window' was suitable for an attempted launch: relatively clear skies and calm winds. During the next eight hours, the capsule was positioned in its cradle on the launch crane, the runway cleared of small debris and the balloon laid out on a vast tarp to protect it from tearing.
Shortly before dawn, balloon inflation began. Felix suited up and began pre-breathing oxygen to eliminate nitrogen from his blood before he was sealed inside the pressurized capsule. With balloon inflation complete, the capsule lifted off the tarmac to begin its ascent.
Once the ascent was completed, Felix ran through his 39-step safety checklist before manually depressurizing the capsule, sliding open the round door and stepping off the external platform. He continued in freefall until reaching the optimum height to deploy his parachute and float safely back to earth.
Upon landing he was met by the retrieval team, medical checks were conducted, and he was returned to the launch site. Years of training for this moment in the stratosphere: 3 minutes and 33 seconds of freefall. In Felix's words, "That was the momentum we needed for the whole team. Now we are ready for the 90,000 jump."
Baumgartner Pilot Biography
Born in Salzburg, Austria in 1969, Felix began skydiving at the age of 16 and polished his skills as part of the Austrian military's demonstration and competition team. In 1988, he began performing skydiving exhibitions for Red Bull. The company's out-of-the-box thinking and Felix's adventurous spirit clicked, and they've collaborated ever since.
By the 1990s, Felix felt that he'd gone as far as he could with traditional skydiving, so he extended his canopy skills with BASE jumping - parachuting from a fixed object or landform. He finds that the lightning-fast reflexes and precise techniques required by such low-altitude feats also enhance his high-altitude skydiving technique.
Felix has made world-record BASE jumps and has been nominated for a World Sports Award and two categories in the NEA Extreme Sports Awards. He is also a prominent advocate for the nonprofit Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation. And, while he acknowledges that the Red Bull Stratos mission is a step into the unknown, his determination to reach the edge of space and break the speed of sound is unshakable. "If Red Bull Stratos is successful, we can share data that hasn't been available ever before," Felix states. "I would be proud to be able to make such a contribution."
