Loic Jean-Albert straps himself into handmade suits equipped with wings and jumps off of mountains. He revolutionized proximity flying – the art of buzzing cliff edges while plummeting at 100-mph before pulling a parachute for what hopefully becomes a safe landing. His efforts gave birth to a generation of like-minded maniacs who take to the air like rockets and think nothing of terminal velocity.
Like Jeb Corliss, for example, who last year blasted into the side of a cliff while jumping from the summit of Table Mountain in South Africa. But without Jean-Albert, Corliss may never have had the pleasure of barely escaping a gory and crunchy death.
Adventure Sports Journal ran my story on Jean-Albert in Spring 2012.