[imagesource: Vincent Thian / AP]

Vince Reffet, a French stuntman renowned the world over for his daring deeds, died on Tuesday morning in a training accident in Dubai.

The 36-year-old was flying for a company called Jetman Dubai, which has developed a jet-powered wingsuit capable of taking off from the ground and then transitioning to high-altitude flight.

Whilst the details around what went wrong remain scarce, the company did release a statement, reports CNN:

“Vince was a talented athlete, and a much-loved and respected member of our team,” the statement reads. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and all those who knew and worked with him.”

The company said it announced Reffet’s death with “unimaginable sadness.”

“We are working closely with all relevant authorities and ask that you please keep Vince’s family in your thoughts and prayers,” it continued.

The carbon-fibre wingsuit that Reffet piloted in February is powered by four mini jet engines, and allows skilled pilots to hover, stop, turn and manoeuvre, even performing rolls and loops.

Here’s that flight, with things really taking off around the 2:20 mark:

Not a bad view.

Together with Fred Fugen, as part of a duo dubbed the Soul Flyers, a wingsuit-wearing Reffet casually BASE jumped off a mountain and landed in a plane mid-flight in 2017.

As one does:

Vince and Fred also set a Guinness World Record by BASE jumping from above the pinnacle of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, in 2014:

The duo also featured in the 2019 documentary, LOFT: The Jetman Story.

Here’s the trailer for that one, which also features Yves Rossy:

Before we go, a bio of sorts via New Atlas:

Regardless of how he went out, Reffet lived a life few could even dream big enough to imagine. The son of veteran skydivers, he made his first solo jump in 2000, then went on to become a world champion at Freeflying, a team skydiving event that includes vertical body orientations and much higher speeds than traditional belly-down freefall…

He soared with jetplanes, jumped off the Burj Khalifa, shot the gap at China’s famous Heaven’s Gate. Only a couple of people in history have felt the things this extraordinary man has felt. Reffet is survived by his wife of three years, Agnes.

Fly on, you beautiful madman!

Let’s finish with that Heaven’s Gate flight:

[sources:cnn&newatlas]