Dubai ‘jetman’ Vincent Reffet dies in training accident

‘Jetmen’ Yves Rossy and Vince Reffet fly over Dubai’s Palm Island

One of Dubai’s “jetmen”, whose flights over the world’s tallest building and alongside a jumbo jet with engines strapped to his back have wowed watchers online, died on Tuesday while training in the desert, his organisation said.

Vincent Reffet, 36, of Annecy, France, was killed during training, Jetman Dubai said in a statement. The organisation did not elaborate, though it said it was “working closely with all relevant authorities”.

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

Reffet had Base jumped off the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest building at 828 meters (2,716ft), setting a world record. Base is an acronym for building, antenna, span and earth, the four categories of object from which people jump. He had also earned gold medals while competing as a free-flying skydiver and competed as an extreme athlete sponsored by Red Bull.

Extreme sports were in his blood as his parents were also skydivers.

“I believe that if you dream big and if you love what you do, everything is possible,” Reffet said.

But the public in Dubai came to know Reffet best as part of Jetman Dubai, founded by Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy, whose athletes zip across the sky with a four-engine, carbon-Kevlar wing strapped to their backs. The wings can fly 30 miles (50km), have a maximum speed of over 248mph (400km/h) and can reach an altitude of 6,100 meters (20,000ft).

Under the brand of XDubai, which is associated with the crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the jetmen have flown past the Burj Khalifa and other sites around the city-state.

In 2015, Reffet and Rossy flew alongside an Emirates Airbus A380 double-decker jetliner over Dubai.

“It’s the sensation of freedom. Already, you know, when I am skydiving, I have like this feeling of freedom like I can pretty much go where I want, but always going down,” Reffet told the Associated Press in 2015. “[But] with this machine I can fly like a bird.”