Aviation History: Leaping from the stratosphere

They seem an unlikely pair to have something in common—Alan Eustace is a computer scientist who could have been featured in a remake of Revenge of the Nerds, and Felix Baumgartner is an Austrian skydiver who dates supermodels. But both achieved the same thing—and Eustace did it better (nerd revenge!). Eustace, a pilot, holds the record for highest-altitude freefall stratospheric parachute jump, but Baumgartner did it first. Baumgartner jumped to Earth from a helium balloon on October 14, 2012. He ascended in the balloon for nearly 90 minutes, reaching just more than 24 miles above Earth. He then jumped and his parachute deployed 3 minutes and 48 seconds later. Eustace climbed to 26 miles in a gas-powered balloon, which he hung tethered below on October 24, 2014. An explosive separated him from his balloon and his freefall lasted 15 minutes. Because Eustace used a drogue parachute (more elongated, producing less drag) the two jumpers’ vertical speed and freefall distance records are in different world record categories.

Stories like this can be found in Freedom to Fly: AOPA and the History of General Aviation in America, published by AOPA on the occasion of its eightieth anniversary. Originally $39.95—buy it online now for $34.95.

aopa.org/freedomtoflybook