Calais, France - An Austrian mechanic has become the first person to fly across the English Channel without the benefit of an aircraft. He glided from England to France, wearing only a special suit, in just 14 minutes.
Skydiver Felix Baumgartner started his unusual journey from 9000m - higher than Mount Everest - above the English port of Dover at 6.09am and ended it 1000m above Cape Blanc-Nez, near the French port of Calais, where he opened a parachute and landed at 6.23am.
He started his 35km, high-speed flight by jumping from a Skyvan aircraft and reached more than 200km/h in an aerodynamic suit fitted with a 1.8m carbon-fibre wing.
Continues Below ↓
He also had special breathing apparatus for the high-altitude launch and was insulated from the extreme cold at such a height by his supersuit.
| He had special breathing apparatus for the high-altitude launch |
The mission was named Icarus 2 after the mythical hero who came to grief after flying too near the sun wearing wings held together by wax – which melted.
Air-traffic controllers granted him a 30-minute window – from 5.45 to 6.15am – to make his jump. The early-morning start was scheduled to beat the cross-Channel aerial rush hour.
Baumgartner has a long record of daredevil jumps, including the lowest and highest parachute dives: from the statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro (29m) and from one of the two Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur (451m) – the world's tallest buildings.
He's also jumped from the top of a mountain on Baffin Island, Canada. - Sapa-AFP
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
