The death of Australian Alex Duncan while wingsuiting in the Swiss Alps on Tuesday has prompted calls to legalise the sport in order to prevent further fatalities.
Duncan, new to wingsuiting but a star in the world of extreme sports, died when he crashed into a mountainside during a jump, marking the second Australian death while participating in the high-speed gliding sport in the span of a month.
The overseas accidents have led to Australian BASE Association president Gary Cunningham to call for the jump locations, under the eye of watchful experts, to be legalised Down Under.
“In Australia we really don’t have any legal BASE jumping sites, which in our opinion makes it a lot more dangerous, because we don’t have anywhere that people can safely, and in a controlled manner, practice and perform their BASE jumping,” Cunningham said.
“(Legalising jump locations) would allow inexperienced BASE jumpers to get more regular practice and maintain their skill sets. What we’re seeing is a lot of new jumpers are going overseas to learn, that they learn for a couple of weeks and come back with very basic knowledge and then try to figure out the rest in Australia.
“Experienced jumpers can’t go out and supervise them because it’s not legal to jump here, they’re committing an offence to help someone.
“So certainly making it legal would make it far more safer in Australia. The amount of jumps compared to incidents would decrease dramatically.”
21 people died while participating in jumping-based extreme sports last year, including British stuntman Mark Sutton, who was known for his role in the London Olympics opening ceremony where he parachuted down to the event as James Bond.
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