Overview
- On July 17 at about 4 p.m. local time, the 56-year-old lost control of his motorized paraglider after reporting illness and plunged into a hotel pool in Porto Sant’Elpidio
- Emergency responders pronounced Baumgartner dead at the scene and treated a female guest for non-life-threatening injuries
- Witnesses said he complained of stomach pain before takeoff and authorities are gathering testimony and examining the craft to determine what went wrong
- Baumgartner rose to fame in 2012 with his Red Bull Stratos mission, breaking the sound barrier during a free fall from roughly 39,000 meters
- The crash has highlighted the hazards of extreme aviation sports, even for seasoned experts