Wingsuit flyer dies after leap off Gitschen in Swiss Alps

[ad_1] Ken Banks and Ben Philip BBC Scotland

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/19f9/live/7f983530-502c-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/19f9/live/7f983530-502c-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/19f9/live/7f983530-502c-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/19f9/live/7f983530-502c-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/19f9/live/7f983530-502c-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/19f9/live/7f983530-502c-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/19f9/live/7f983530-502c-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/19f9/live/7f983530-502c-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="BBC Man in wing suit flying through the sky. Picture taken from 2024 BBC Scotland documentary" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> BBC Liam Byrne, from Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, was featured leaping from a mountain prime in a current BBC documentary referred to as "The Boy Who Can Fly"

A Scottish wingsuit flyer has died throughout a leap within the Swiss Alps.

British champion Liam Byrne, 24, was critically injured on the Gitschen mountain on Saturday after taking off from 7,874ft (2,400m).

Mr Byrne, from Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, featured in a 2024 BBC documentary referred to as The Boy Who Can Fly.

He was described as a really skilled wingsuit flyer - which is a kind of skydiving which includes carrying a particular go well with with webbing to permit mid-air raise - and had accomplished greater than 4,000 jumps throughout his 10-year profession.

Mr Byrne had advised the documentary: "I feel I used to be about 13 after I stated to my dad that I wished to be taught to fly like a fowl."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/a8fb/live/fcf9f1e0-502b-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/a8fb/live/fcf9f1e0-502b-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a8fb/live/fcf9f1e0-502b-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/a8fb/live/fcf9f1e0-502b-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/a8fb/live/fcf9f1e0-502b-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/a8fb/live/fcf9f1e0-502b-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/a8fb/live/fcf9f1e0-502b-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a8fb/live/fcf9f1e0-502b-11f0-920b-d5c6e124573f.png.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Man with beard looking out to the horizon at top of a mountain" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Liam Byrne accomplished greater than 4,000 jumps throughout his profession

The skydiving teacher defined: "Even at college I'd stare out the window on the seagulls flying and all the time feeling that sense of envy that they've that freedom to only take off and fly away.

"I do marvel why I really like flying a lot? Perhaps my mind is wired in another way to different individuals's, perhaps I cope with concern in another way.

"However I do know myself effectively sufficient to know that an workplace job scares me way over the concern of dying from a base leap or wingsuit flight."

My Byrne stated regardless of how secure he tried to make the game, he did take into consideration how a lot it fearful his household.

He advised the documentary makers that preparation was key to being secure.

"I've spent the final decade coaching to extend the abilities and reduce any danger.

"For me I am about so far as a reckless adrenaline junkie as you possibly can presumably get.

"Preparation is all the time been on the coronary heart of all my challenges.

"The extra I put together, the extra management I've."

Excessive sports activities

Mr Byrne took to excessive sports activities from a younger age.

At 12 he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, a peak in Tanzania, Africa, standing at 19,341ft (5,895 metres) excessive.

That journey led to dog-sledging by way of the Arctic, scuba diving and a number of huge summit climbs.

At 16 he did his first sky dive and by 18 he was pulling on a wingsuit which he described as a "second pores and skin, letting me transfer by way of the air in a managed means".

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/6e01/live/23b16a40-502f-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/6e01/live/23b16a40-502f-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6e01/live/23b16a40-502f-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/6e01/live/23b16a40-502f-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/6e01/live/23b16a40-502f-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/6e01/live/23b16a40-502f-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/6e01/live/23b16a40-502f-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6e01/live/23b16a40-502f-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Byrne family Man - Liam Byrne - wearing wingsuit, upside down in mid air and smiling at camera, with sun in sky." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Byrne household Liam Byrne's mother and father Mike and Gillian paid tribute to his life

Mr Byrne's mother and father, Mike and Gillian, confirmed to BBC Scotland Information that their son had died.

A household assertion stated: "We wish to bear in mind Liam not only for the way in which he left this world, however for a way he lived in it.

"Liam was fearless, not essentially as a result of he wasn't afraid however as a result of he refused to let concern maintain him again.

"He chased life in a means that almost all of us solely dream of and he soared.

"Skydiving and base leaping was greater than only a thrill for Liam - it was freedom.

"It was the place he felt most alive."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/d9aa/live/8f577090-5030-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/d9aa/live/8f577090-5030-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/d9aa/live/8f577090-5030-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/d9aa/live/8f577090-5030-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/d9aa/live/8f577090-5030-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/d9aa/live/8f577090-5030-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/d9aa/live/8f577090-5030-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/d9aa/live/8f577090-5030-11f0-bdf6-9d43c4322174.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Byrne family Mountain - Gitschen mountain - in Switzerland, with water in the foreground." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Byrne household The Gitschen mountain was the scene of Mr Byrne's dying

The assertion added: "Liam was extra than simply an adventurer. He was a son, brother, grandson, cousin and pal. He was a supply of laughter and power.