Alex Duncan died doing what he loved. The 26-year-old, from Manly, was new to the international wingsuit scene but had been involved in extreme sports since he was a teenager.
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He was killed on Tuesday after crashing into a mountainside during a jump in the Swiss Alps.
"You have to be brave," he said in a YouTube video, posted just a fortnight ago, in which he explained his love for the sport.
"You have to have a mix of a little bit crazy and a little bit brave, but you have to be sensible too.
"You need to have a good balance where you don't let fear overcome you."
Mr Duncan began skydiving when he was 19. After a few years, he started BASE-jumping and later tried out wingsuiting in Europe.
The Swiss Alps are a magnet for wingsuit flyers, who wear special jumpsuits that add surface area to the body, enabling them to glide like a bird before opening a parachute like a regular skydiver.
In his recent video, Duncan was frank about the sport's dangers.
He identified the initial cliff jump as a major hazard, as well as the temptation to fly close to the ground or tree tops once in motion.
"There's definitely a danger involved and it can be very high risk if you don't take precautions and you don't consider the conditions and you don't do training," he said.
"People are definitely getting hurt and dying and generally it's because they're making some sort of mistake that could have been avoided.
"Because it's a new sport, there's a lot of learning and every year it's getting safer, and more people are doing it and there's better technology. It's a nice time to be involved in the sport, when it's growing."
In recent days, Duncan had been wingsuit flying amid the clouds of the Chamonix Valley at Mont Blanc in the French Alps, before moving on to Switzerland.
He was killed in the rugged region of Valais while jumping from the near summit of the 2243-metre Croix de Fer peak with another jumper, police said.
Fellow flyers left tributes on his many videos.
"Sad day today, another good flyer with ambition and talent dies," one wrote.
Fans and friends have poured their grief out on Facebook and Twitter, with messages such as: "Those who felt the taste of the skies, will never have lived in vain" and "R.I.P Bro, fly free at the blue skies."
The world's extreme sports community is also in shock.
The World Wingsuit League (WWL) posted a tribute to the extreme sportsman, praising him for taking his "hard-core proximity flying" to the international "wingsuit scene" on Facebook and Twitter overnight.
"We are sorry to learn about the tragic death of wingsuit pilot Alex Duncan. Just recently, Alex had entered the international wingsuit scene by publishing videos featuring his hard-core proximity flying. Today he is gone ... Our condolences to family and friends of Alex."
Tributes have also begun flowing from ProBASE World Cup - an international competition for BASE jumpers, of which wingsuit jumping is a division - which called the wingsuit jumper a "superhero of the community".
"Only a few days ago this amazing shot of Alex went around the community, causing awe and inspiration. Now Alex is gone, another up and coming Superhero of the community has left us way too early. Our deepest condolences go out to friends and family. To everyone who is still around, DON´T BE NEXT!!"
Mr Duncan had been working in Perth in recent years at Vertech; a company that provides services to the energy industry. He is understood to have been part of the Australian BASE Association, described himself on Facebook as a "professional skydiver and BASE jumper with a passion for flying an adventure", while also enjoying rock-climbing, diving, surfing, skateboarding, speedflying and snowboarding.
President of the Australian BASE Association, Gary Cunningham, said he was aware of the incident, and said that "sadly in the last few years there has been a growing number of wingsuit fatalities".
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said consular assistance was being provided to the family.
Wingsuit base-jumping is openly recognised as dangerous. Wingsuits allow riders to descend vertically between about 65 and 110km/h but allow forward motion at speeds of up to 160km/h. People are advised to be proficient at freefall skydives before putting on a wingsuit.
"Although if correct qualification and training are carried out, wingsuit flights are safe and enjoyable, the reverse can very quickly develop – and hazardous situations can rapidly occur in the air," the Australian Parachute Federation states on its website.
Authorities stress the difference between wingsuit skydiving from a plane and the much more dangerous form of base-jumping from a mountain.
About 20 wingsuit pilots are killed each year, and the Swiss Alps are something of a hotspot. New Zealander Dan Vicary, 33, died there earlier this year, as did base-jumper Alan McCandlish, also from NZ, in 2012.
Late last year, 33-year-old Peter Farley died in a mid-air collision between two wingsuit flyers above Wilton, south-west of Sydney. It was understood to be the first wingsuit death in Australia. Mr Farley was not experienced and was later described by a safety officer as "out of his league" on that jump.
with AFP
