Dubai ‘ jetman’ could ‘ fly like a bird’
One of Dubai’s “jetmen,” whose f lights over the world’s tallest building and alongside a jumbo jet with engines strapped to his back wowed viewers online, died Tuesday while training in the deserts of the city- state, his organization said.
Vincent Reffet, 36, of Annecy, France, was killed during the training, Jetman Dubai said in a statement. The organization did not elaborate but said it was “working closely with all relevant authorities.”
Dubai police did not immediately acknowledge the incident. The United Arab Emirates’ General Civil Aviation Authority, which investigates all aviation incidents in the federation of seven sheikhdoms, did not immediately return a call for comment.
Reffet set a BASE jumping record when he leaped off Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, at 2,716 feet, the world’s tallest building. ( BASE is an acronym for building, antenna, span and earth.) He previously won gold medals as a free- f lying skydiver on a team and competed as an extreme athlete sponsored by Red Bull. Thrills were in his blood; his parents also were skydivers.
“I believe that if you dream big and if you love what you do, everything is possible,” Reffet was quoted as saying.
But the general public in Dubai came to know Reffet as part of Jetman Dubai. The organization, founded by Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy, sees its athletes zip across the sky with a fourengine, carbon- Kevlar wing strapped to their backs. The wings can f ly 30 miles, have a maximum speed of more than 248 mph and can reach an altitude of 20,000 feet.
Under the brand XDubai, which is associated with the crown prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the jetmen have f lown past the Burj Khalifa and other sites in Dubai. Famously, in 2015, Reffet and Rossy f lew alongside an Emirates Airbus A380 double- decker jetliner.
“It’s the sensation of freedom. Already, you know, when I am skydiving, I have, like, this feeling of freedom; I can, like, pretty much go where I want but always going down,” Reffet said in 2015. “With this machine … I can f ly like a bird.”