The cause of Felix Baumgartner's death, established by the Italian investigators: “a mere human error”
Felix Baumgartner died on Thursday, July 17, in an accident with paragliding: Profimedia
The Italian justice revealed the causes of the tragic death of Felix Baumgartner, who died on July 17 in Porto Sant'elpidio, in Italy, the explanation being, according to the prosecutor who investigated the case, “a simple trace error”, informs news.ro.
The famous Austrian parachutist, 56 years old, the life partner of TV star Mihaela Rădulescu, was the victim of a motorized paragliding accident. He collapsed in a holiday complex during a routine flight.
Quoted by the German daily Bild, the prosecutor from Ferm, Raffaele Iannella, presented the conclusions of the investigation. “A technical expertise has established that the accident was caused by a simple human error,” he said, eliminating the hypothesis of mechanical problems or a defect of Baumgartner's equipment.
He “failed to remove the paraglider” once the fall spiral started, which led to a rapid loss of altitude.
According to the prosecutor, it was precisely this spiral that caused the catastrophe. Despite his vast experience, the legend of parachutism failed to get out of the spiral, failing to activate the right command, necessary in such emergency situations. “This led to the loss of control over the device and the impossibility of leaving the spiral,” she said.
The spare parachute, which opened just a few seconds before the impact, could not save Baumgartner's life.
The relatives of the Austrian and his lawyers have now obtained the technical report to clarify the responsibility and analyze the possible legal consequences.
Who was Felix Baumgartner
Felix Baumgartner, the famous Austrian parachutist renowned for the leap in the stratosphere, died on Thursday, July 17, 2025, during a tragic paraglider accident in Porto'elpidio, Fermo province. He was 56 years old and was in a relationship for over a decade with Mihaela Rădulescu.
On October 14, 2012, Felix Baumgartner jumped from an altitude of almost 38,000 meters, reaching a maximum speed of 1,357.6 km/h – thus exceeding the sound barrier. The jump brought several world records: the highest altitude touched by a man with a helium balloon, the highest parachute jump and the highest speed in free fall. Its performance remained an emblematic moment in the history of parachutism and human exploration – although the record was surpassed in 2014 by Alan Eustace.
Born in Salzburg, Austria, in 1969, Felix began to practice parachutism at the age of 16, and later perfected his skills within the team of demonstrations and competitions of the Austrian army. In 1988, he began to demonstrate parachuting for Red Bull, he is shown in the biography published on his own site.
Until the 1990s, Felix felt that he reached the limits of traditional parachutism, so he expanded his skills through Base Jumping-jumping with parachute on fixed objects or formations-, one of the most extreme and dangerous sports in the world.
He has set 14 world -to -jumps in various corners of the world, being a pioneer who opened the way for paratroopers from around the world, for which he became an inspiration. Beyond Base Jumping, Felix was the first man to cross the sleeve channel with a carbon fiber wing and the first to fly in parallel with a plane.
Felix Baumgartner has had a relationship for over ten years with Mihaela Rădulescu, a television star in Romania. The two met in 2014, in an interview by Mihaela for Red Bull, and their relationship was publicly confirmed in December of the same year.
