Soul Flyers BASE jump and fly INTO a Porter!
It took more than 100 test flights and a first attempt that had to be abandoned, but the Soul Flyers achieved the seemingly impossible. Fred Fugen and Vince Reffet succeeded in the mind-blowing stunt of flying into the open door of a Porter in mid-air after BASE jumping from the summit of the Jungfrau in the Swiss Alps.
The French duo already wowed millions with their a-ma-zing wingsuit stunts BASE jumping the Burj Khalifa , the world’s highest building, freefalling from the stratosphere to speed fly over Mont Blanc and synchro wingsuit proximity flying over the Dolomites. This time around, they pulled off a breathtaking project in honour of revolutionary flyer Patrick de Gayardon. The pair have been flying together for decades and come up with incredible ideas for projects. How do they even think this stuff up?!!
Fred and Vince spent several months practising for the stunt by completing more than 100 training flights with pilot Philippe Bouvier and the Porter at Empuriabrava in Spain before they headed to the Swiss Alps. Despite several weather postponements and a failed first run, they eventually commenced by jumping from the top of the 4,158 metre Jungfrau summit. Their aim: to get in the back door of the moving aircraft – 3,200 metres of vertical drop meant 2 minutes 45 seconds to carry out their mission .
The Pilatus Porter was flown by pilot Philippe Bouvier and navigated by project coordinator Yves “Jetman” Rossy. The wingsuiters jumped from the peak on Philippe’s radio signal and met the plane perfectly for the approach angle. Vince flew (almost) smoothly into the cabin closely, then it was Fred’s turn to judge his angle for a perfect entry. They were both overjoyed, check their reaction here
Soul Flyers BASE jump the Jungfrau and fly into a Porter afterwards!
Vincent, 33, said: “The conditions were perfect and we were well prepared, but it was still an incredibly difficult challenge. It was very complicated for us as we tried the first time but we messed up a bit and that sucks so much energy out of you. Going up to 4,000 meters, it physically costs a lot. Once I got in, I only thought about one thing, my buddy behind.”
His buddy Fred added: “Right now our thoughts go to Patrick [de Gayardon] who was the first to re-enter a plane. We wanted to do it differently by jumping from a mountain. It is a huge achievement.”
