Adrian Nicholas (4 March 1962 – 17 September 2005) was a British
skydiver
Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes.
For hu ...
who completed more than 8,000 jumps in 30 countries.
He is best known for his successful test in July 2000 of
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
's (1452–1519)
parachute
A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...
design, proving it to be in retrospect the world's first working parachute. A modified
pyramidal design was later also successfully tested by his
Swiss
Swiss most commonly refers to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Swiss may also refer to: Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss Café, an old café located ...
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
Texel
Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...
, the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. 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 activates the opening sequence of the main or reserve parachute container when the AAD is f ...
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
Wingsuit flying
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