Adrian Nicholas (4 March 1962 – 17 September 2005) was a British

skydiver Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the Atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachut ...

who completed more than 8,000 jumps in 30 countries. He is best known for his successful test in July 2000 of

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's (1452–1519)

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

design, proving it to be in retrospect the world's first working parachute. A modified

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design was later also successfully tested by his

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

colleague Olivier Vietti-Teppa.

World records

On 12 March 1999, Nicholas stepped out of an aeroplane at . He flew for 4 minutes, 55 seconds and covered a distance of , establishing new world records for the longest sky dive and the furthest human flight. During the attempt the exhaust valve of his oxygen mask froze preventing him from breathing properly for about four minutes.

Death

On 17 September 2005 Nicholas was jumping in

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, the

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. While performing a high speed landing manoeuvre, his

automatic activation device In skydiving, an automatic activation device (AAD) is a dead man's switch consisting of an electronic-pyrotechnic or mechanical device that automatically opens the main or reserve parachute container at a preset altitude or after a preset time. ...

fired at approximately above the ground and deployed his reserve parachute. He attempted to correct the situation by releasing his main parachute, however, he still hit the ground hard enough that he died at the scene as a result of his injuries.

References

External links

* *Times Online
Adrian Nicholas (obituary)
* *Dropzone.com
Fatality Incident Discussion
1962 births 2005 deaths British skydivers Parachuting deaths People educated at Aldenham School Place of birth missing {{UK-sport-bio-stub