Austrian duo complete a historic wingsuit flight along London’s River Thames
Two Austrian skydivers, Marco Fürst and Marco Waltenspiel, accomplished a remarkable feat by becoming the first individuals to successfully navigate a wingsuit flight through London’s iconic landmark, Tower Bridge.
Precision Navigation: After leaping from a Helicopter, the pair descended from an altitude of 3,000ft and flew across the River Thames 35m above the water between the bridge towers.
High-Speed Flight: Reaching a top speed of 246 km/h, they completed the jump and landed safely within 45 seconds.
Expert Execution: After flying through the bridge, the duo performed a complex ‘flare’ manoeuvre to safely ascend and deploy parachutes.
Rigorous Preparation: The pair conducted extensive training in Oxfordshire, UK, involving cranes to simulate the Tower Bridge dimensions.
At approximately 5:45 am on Sunday morning, Fürst and Waltenspiel initiated their descent from the helicopter, opening their wingsuit to soar approximately 35m above the water toward the Tower Bridge. After successfully flying through the gap, they ascended to a height of 80 metres for a parachute deployment, before making a controlled landing on designated barges on the Thames.
The wingsuit flight, which spanned from take-off to their emergence through the Tower Bridge, lasted for 45 seconds, with the pair reaching a maximum speed of 246 km/h.
Marco Fürst expressed his elation, stating: “I just feel amazing. The jump was beautiful and everything worked out really well. In the last two and a half years we planned everything through and had the best preparation and training. I really enjoyed the journey and I’m really grateful to work with Marco and such a good team to bring our dream to life”.
His fellow skydiver, Marco Waltenspiel, echoed his sentiment: “You can’t rebuild this unique bridge. We did around 200 training jumps just for this day, just for this minute. The difference between training and today is, of course, huge. It’s not a common jump, it’s unique. It was quite intense and I’m super happy now.”
Preparations for this undertaking commenced in April 2022 and involved the development of a training site in Oxfordshire, UK, which included two cranes that mimicked the dimensions of the Tower Bridge.
Wingsuit flying has revolutionized the world of skydiving, transforming vertical descent into horizontal flight, followed by a safe landing using a parachute. Fürst and Waltenspiel, members of the Red Bull Skydive Team, are among the top wingsuit practitioners globally, with extensive records of jumps such as flying over Croatia’s heart island and iconic downhill ski run ‘The Streif’ in Kitzbühl, Austria.
Waltenspiel revealed: It’s just insane to get this opportunity to fly through such a unique landmark – you see stunts like this in films, but to actually do it ourselves is amazing. It gives me goosebumps just talking about it.” (Red Bull Content Pool)
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