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 GroWings, Ep. 5 
 
 First Wingsuit Flight from Brevent with Alexander Polli 
 
 In Episode 5 Nate steps up the difficulty of his jumping before he takes on his goal of the summer, wingsuit jumping the notoriously technical, difficult and dangerous Brevent. 
 
 GroWings is a six-episode web series which follows wingsuit pilot Nathan Jones over the summer, traveling and training throughout the mountains of Europe to prepare himself to reach the goal of flying the more technical and advanced terrain of Brevent in Chamonix, France. 
 
 Credits: Music – Elegant Euphoria by Chris Haigh – Black Dub by Peter McIsaac 
 
 Camera man and editor – Mateffy Istvan 
 
 Wingsuit Cameraman – Brian Drake and Zak Tessier 
 
 Special thank you to: Brian Drake, Alexander Polli, Zak Tessier, Carlos Pedro Briceno and Jools Bee. 
 
 Director: Mateffy Istvan 
 
 Producer: Mateffy Istvan 
 
 Athletes: Nathan Jones, Alexander Polli, Zak Tessier, Alex Miziuk 
 
 First Wingsuit Flight from Brevent with Alexander Polli | GroWings, Ep. 5 ||||| See more of Alexander Polli on Facebook ||||| Two climbers, a paraglider, a hang glider and a wingsuit jumper lose their lives in incidents over two days 
 
 A deadly weekend for extreme sports in the French Alps has claimed the lives of two climbers, a paraglider, a hang glider and a wingsuit jumper. 
 
 
 
 On Sunday afternoon, rescuers found a paraglider’s body on rocks in the Haute-Savoie region on the Swiss border, security forces said. 
 
 The man had plunged to his death from the Buclon mountain, which is 2,072 metres (6,797ft) high. 
 
 Earlier on Sunday, two French climbers – a 34-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman – died further south after falling 164ft down La Meije mountain. 
 
 On Saturday, a 32-year-old man died after diving off the Dent d’Arclusaz mountain in a wingsuit. Another wingsuit jumper died in the same spot three years ago. 
 
 The victim, from the Drôme department in south-east France, had made a jump on Saturday evening with five other people. But it was not until the others landed and realised his absence that they sounded the alarm at about 7.30pm. A search was immediately launched, but his body was not found until Sunday morning. An inquiry has been opened to determine the circumstances of his death. 
 
 Earlier in the day, a hang gliding instructor died aged 49 after plunging out of his two-seater near Lake Annecy. His student, who was not harmed in the incident, managed to land and alert the emergency services. Rescuers were unable to resuscitate the victim. 
 
 Wingsuit flying has been described as the world’s most dangerous sport, with more than 20 people reportedly killed last year. Practitioners jump from cliffs or other high surfaces wearing “birdman” suits with parachutes and “wing” flaps between the legs and between ankle and wrists, and can fly for kilometres. 
 
 Last year Jhonathan Florez, who held the world record for longest distance, longest time and highest altitude wingsuit flights, died on a training jump in the Swiss Alps, and in June this year, Dario Zanon, whose videos of his daredevil flights had made him one of the sport’s best-known figures, was killed in a crash on Mont Blanc. 
 
 Statistics on extreme sports are sketchy, but a study published in the medical journal Bandolier in 2007 comparing sports found that Base jumping, of which wingsuit flying is a variation, was by far the most dangerous, with a one in 2,317 chance of dying on each leap. The technology has improved since then, but a 2013 study in the Wilderness Medical Society journal found that the sport’s rising popularity was leading to more deaths, and that most deaths happened because people miscalculated their flying path and hit cliffs or the ground. 
 
 The Bandolier study found that, for hang gliding, the chance of death was one in nearly 117,000 flights. 
 
 “We think in the context of the number of people doing it – we have 7,000 members in the UK – it’s safe,” said Bill Bell, the director of competitions at the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. “We don’t see it as an extreme sport,” he added, explaining that the amount of technical preparation and study required to get aloft put adrenaline junkies off. 
 
 The extreme sport English and Welsh mountain rescue services spend most effort dealing with is mountain biking, said Andrew Simpson, a spokesman for Mountain Rescue. Last year the service dealt with 30% more mountain bike accidents than the previous year, many of which happened during competitions and other organised events. 
 
 Most mountaineering and climbing accidents the service deals with these days are down to bad luck, he said. 
 
 “They tend to be very, very good at what they are doing, they have done everything by the book but they have fallen, and perhaps the protection they have put in was not enough,” said Simpson. “Accidents do happen, but it’s very rare these days to get called out for someone climbing a mountain in flip-flops.” 
 
 ||||| See more of World Wingsuit League (WWL) on Facebook ||||| Published on Apr 16, 2013 
 
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 Wingsuit / BASE-jump athlete Alexander Polli does the never before done—a tactical flight through a narrow cave on a rugged mountainside. The flight starts with a jump from a hovering helicopter, Alexander reaches speeds of 250 km/h (155 mph) while following a precise trajectory leading to the cave opening, he then fully commits and flies directly through the narrow opening of the "Batman Cave!" 
 
 Shot in full HD, this extraordinary flight exceeds the level of commitment most fliers would ever consider—there can be no attempting, the only option is success! 
 
 The narrow cave, no wider than Alexander is tall, is located in Roca Foradada Mountains in Montserrat, Spain—a location that has inspired this professional Italian Norwegian athlete's flying dream his whole life. Alexander hopes his success will inspire others not only to 'climb over their mountains,' but to also fly right through them! 
 
 
 
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 CREDITS: 
 
 
 
 Edit: Morals Arrivederci 
 
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 Post-production: Sugodesign 
 
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 Music and sound design: 
 
 Mnemonic Industries 
 
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 http://www.soundcloud.com/memory9 
 
 
 
 Music written and performed by Gadi Sassoon" and my 
 
 Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/memory9 
 
 
 
 For information regarding media licensing , please contact: licensing@chiwayentertainment.com ||||| The dream of flying like a bird is as old as humanity itself. Wingsuit flyers, or skydivers, come pretty close to the real thing. They jump from high altitudes wearing a special aerodynamic jumpsuit, which adds surface area to their body through fabric between their legs and under their arms, giving them an increase in lift. It allows them to soar for long distances before they open a parachute. But even the smallest mistake can de deadly. Twenty wingsuit flyers died this year alone. 
 
 DW: Alexander Polli, many people say what you do is absolutely crazy. You are risking your life. For what? 
 
 Alexander Polli: I don't see it that way, that I simply risk my life. I prepare extremely well. Before my first base-jump I'd already completed 1500 freefall skydives over two years. That meant that I had reached a level where it was beyond doubt that I could manage to fly after jumping from a cliff. I know I can. I never went out there to risk my life. 
 
 To be quite honest: I am extremely scared of dying - and I am scared of heights. I never would have embarked on this kind of sport if I had had to be the first to do it. But in fact there were other parachutists, skydivers and base jumpers who'd been doing this for twenty years. So I just asked myself why can they do that and I can't? Is there something I really can't do or is it simply fear that is stopping me? 
 
 But you keep on jumping. What do you get out of it? 
 
 Just yesterday I dived from Monte Brento [a mountain near Lake Garda in northern Italy], together with a man and his son. The father was 61 years old. At 26, the son was about my age, and we all jumped together! 
 
 But even today I stand up there in my wingsuit and ask myself: What are you doing here? Am I mad or what? But then it dawns on me what I'm about to do and I realize that I can simply enjoy it, because I have been through all that training. And then I think to myself, 'Good Lord, I am really going to fly down this mountain!?' And after landing, when I look back up or when I watch a video of my flight on a big screen, I think 'Wow! Is that really me?' I mean - this is a dream come true. 
 
 Is your goal to fly closer and closer to the face of the rock? 
 
 No, not at all. It is good to fly close to the cliff, because that's how you can gauge how fast you are. But my goal is not to break records, but rather to perform a task. I meet friends and we climb these mountains and onto these big cliffs no one else has jumped off before - or at least I haven't done so myself. 
 
 I'm not really a mountaineer. Mountain climbing is quite daunting to me. It worries me much more than the actual dive. When I finally stand there with my parachute facing down just before I jump, that is when I feel safe again. It is the climb to get there that I see as dangerous and scary. 
 
 But there's been a lot of discussion lately, because several wingdivers lost their lives. What do you say to critics? 
 
 Hungarian wingsuit flier Viktor Kovats' body was found by rescuers after he died in during a jump at Tianmen Mountain in central China in October 2013. 
 
 My answer is: It is a relatively new sport. There is a lot we don't know yet about how wingsuits work. When one guy with a fair bit of experience tries to teach a newcomer how to fly, it's rather like saying 'Stick your finger in the air and check where the wind is coming from and then let's see how it works.' There is no scientific data yet. These wingsuits were developed only eight years ago. 
 
 I really feel honored that I had the opportunity to meet some of the people who have since passed away. I believe some of them just had bad luck. Those wingsuit flyers were not all paragliders. We don't all really understand the principals of thermal lift and such things. But I have come to realize that these thermic conditions are vital: When warm winds fall off the face of the rock you've got good flying conditions, but you should perhaps not jump when the cliff is in the shade. But there are probably divers who don't think about that. I think it's because our sport is so new that our knowledge is still so limited. 
 
 Your videos are spectacular. Millions of people watch them. Doesn't that give you a sense of responsibility towards them? Maybe there are young people who say, 'Wow, I want to do that too!', although they really lack the skills. 
 
 Yes, maybe indirectly. I'd rather say no, because in this context responsibility really is a heavy burden, which I don't really want to lump myself with. But maybe I have indeed inspired the odd person who would not have ever considered diving in a wingsuit if he hadn't watched my video. 
 
 That's why I won't post any videos of me jumping this year. Instead, I will post a video where I speak about mental aspects and rules about wingsuit flying. Telling them to repeat them to themselves: 'Okay when I fly in a wingsuit, I will never do this or that.' If you internalize these rules then there is no reason you can't safely fly over and over again. 
 
 Watch video 06:16 Basejumper Alexander Polli 
 
 Do you think that will work better than laws and restrictions? 
 
 Of course! It is not really possible to regulate this efficiently. We can't set up safety check points on every mountain to decide, 'You can jump… but you can't!' [laughs] 
 
 So flying is your passion - do you think it will cool down at some point? 
 
 To be honest I've already been passionate about a lot of adventurous things. I have jumped and dived so many times, that I would quite like to focus more on mountain climbing now. Mountaineering is fascinating - I find those people really amazing and inspiring, what they do is really crazy. I'd really like to develop that skill - or surfing or white-water rafting or trekking large distances. There are many other adventures I could become passionate about. 
 
 Alexander Polli was born in Norway and lives predominantly in Italy. At the age of 28, he is one of the most experienced BASE jumpers in the world. This year, he made the headlines with a flight through a narrow cave on a rugged mountainside in Spain. 
 
 The interview was conducted by Stefan Nestler.
– Skydiving trailblazer Alexander Polli has died after a wingsuit BASE jumping accident in the French Alps, NBC News reports. The 31-year-old legend slammed into a tree early Monday during a jump in the dangerous Couloir Ensa near Chamonix. He died at the scene, the PGHM mountain rescue unit told NBC. The spot is popular with jumpers but one rescuer said, “It’s a location where there are a lot of accidents.” Polli, who has dual Italian-Norwegian citizenship, is famous for breathtaking stunts that have racked up millions of views on YouTube. His 2013 leap into the narrow Batman Cave in Montserrat Spain from a helicopter speeding at 155mph has been clicked nearly 14 million times. The move had never been attempted before. "In jumping he was fearless—or looked it, at least, doing stunts that took my breath away," Tony Uragallo, Polli’s friend and wingsuit designer, told NBC. Fans posted tributes on Polli's Facebook page and the World Wingsuit League wrote that Polli’s “legacy continues to inspire new generations of jumpers for years to come. Besides jumping, friends from all around the world are going to miss his free-spirit energy and contagious laughter.” Asked about his “absolutely crazy" stunts, Polli told Deutsche Welle he was well-prepared and never sets out to risk his life. He even confided that he was scared of heights. “To be quite honest,” he added, “I am extremely scared of dying." It’s been a deadly month in the French Alps for extreme sports. Accidents have claimed the lives of five people in August: two climbers, a paraglider, a hang glider, and a wingsuit jumper, the Guardian reports.