Patrick de Gayardon (; 23 January 1960 in

Oullins Oullins () is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is a suburb of the city of Lyon, and is adjacent to it on the southwest. Population Transport *Several Buses (C7, C10, 8, 12, 14, 17, 63, ...

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

– 13 April 1998 in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

) was a French

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 ...

, skysurfer and a BASE jumper. De Gayardon was famous for pushing the boundaries of skydiving. He was one of the first people to develop the unique style of skysurfing, in which skydivers use a snowboard to make

aerobatic maneuver Aerobatic maneuvers are flight paths putting aircraft in unusual attitudes, in air shows, dogfights or competition aerobatics. Aerobatics can be performed by a single aircraft or in formation with several others. Nearly all aircraft are capab ...

s. He also made many famous stunts with his development of a ram-air

wingsuit Wingsuit flying (or wingsuiting) is the sport of skydiving using a webbing-sleeved jumpsuit called a wingsuit to add webbed area to the diver's body and generate increased lift, which allows extended air time by gliding flight rather than just ...

, starting modern-day wingsuiting. In 1998 Patrick fell to his death in Hawaii during a skydive with

Adrian Nicholas Adrian Nicholas (4 March 1962 – 17 September 2005) was a British skydiver 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's (1452–1519) parachute design, provi ...

using the

while testing a modification to his parachute container; his death is attributed to a rigging error he made while making the modification.

References

1960 births 1998 deaths People from Oullins French skydivers Aviation pioneers Sports deaths in Hawaii Parachuting deaths Sportspeople from Lyon Metropolis {{France-sport-bio-stub