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| B.A.S.E. 502 versus Taipei 101 |
| Monday, 12 November 2007 00:00 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Following a series of stunning world records and breathtaking B.A.S.E. jumps, 38-year-old Austrian extreme sports legend Felix Baumgartner (B.A.S.E. code 502) pushed for another spectacular coup. On 11 December 2007, Baumgartner was the first ever to B.A.S.E. jump the world’s tallest building, the 509-meter Taipei Financial Center (Taipei 101) in Taiwan. This was not only an extremely hazardous operation but also an illegal one. After scouting and accessing the building James Bond-style and performing his historic leap, Baumgartner fled in a getaway car and flew out to Hong Kong. „I’ve been dreaming of this for so long and now I’m right here on top of the tallest building of the world, ready to jump off it. I can’t believe it.” Felix Baumgartner’s thoughts are all about the memorability of the upcoming jump as he stands on the platform, ready to B.A.S.E. jump the Taipei 101 in Taiwan. After months of preparation and research as well as several nerve-racking days of waiting due to strong winds (40 to 50 km/h) making a jump an impossible, maybe lethal action, Tuesday 11th December 2007 is finally bound to be day X. But Baumgartner does not have time to enjoy the view, nor to soak up the unbelievably impressive setting: the skyline, the airport, the sea and the metropolis of Taipei at his feet. His muscular body is tensed to the max, his heel is pounding because he bruised it heavily in a courageous four meter jump off the security barriers to reach the take-off location. He does not know whether the security staff is already behind him or if the police is on its way to bust him and put him in jail. Baumgartner is looking down, underneath him only several hundreds of meters of air... !  “Everyone has limits – not everyone accepts them”. It is Felix Baumgartner’s greatest ambition to break the limits, to be the first, best and only one in whatever he does. He has achieved worldwide fame and glory in the sport of B.A.S.E. jumping. With a parachute on their back, B.A.S.E. jump athletes leap off Buildings, Antennas, Spans and Earth (mountains) before they open their live-saving parachute only shortly before hitting the ground. A combination of the initials of the four take-off locations makes for the neologism B.A.S.E. Only those who have jumped off “all four initials” may officially call themselves B.A.S.E. jumpers and receive an official B.A.S.E. jump ID. Felix Baumgartner’s code is “B.A.S.E. 502” and he is more than proud of it, an impressive 502 tattoo on this back leaving no doubt about it. Baumgartner has come a long way in his career* which he is now ready to top off with yet another high-profile project, another record-breaking B.A.S.E. jump. The Taipei 101 (the name derives from the number of stories) was completed and inaugurated in 2004 and soon became Taiwan’s landmark and one of the country’s most important tourist attractions. The construction of the Taipei 101 cost 1.6 billion Euros, a major share of which had been invested in the security systems. Taiwan is located where the Eurasian and Philippine tectonic plates meet, which makes it one of the most active earthquake regions of the world (40,000 earthquakes a year). Also, up to four typhoons per year race across the insular state. To make the building resistant to such forces, its octagonal shape resembles a bamboo pole. A massive 660 tons and 5.5 diameter steel ball made of several separate discs have been integrated between the 88th and 92th storey to reduce swaying in case of an earthquake. A highly sensitive security system with 420 CCTV cameras monitors all entrances, electronic systems and people in the tower.  But no matter how safely a building might be constructed and how strictly it might be guarded – if it’s on Baumgartner’s list, it’s on his list. “When the building was completed in 2004, I was almost sure that someone would jump it soon and take the world record off me (1999, B.A.S.E.-jump of the world’s tallest building at that time, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). But nothing happened”, remembers Baumgartner. “It looked like I would get the chance to be the first one to B.A.S.E. jump off this prestigious building”. Without a doubt, the trophy was to be his. During two reconnaissance missions to scout out the tower in the past two years, “agent” Baumgartner gathered information and aerial shots of the building with the help of a small remote-controlled helicopter. Everything had to be top-secret because what he had in mind was highly illegal. However, when you know Felix Baumgartner, you know that he does not care about rules and regulations. So Baumgartner had prepared for the leap and his escape using intelligence agency-style tactics. Disguised in different sets of clothing, he first checked out where the security cameras were located and surveyed the building’s security system and zones of exclusion. The day before his leap, Baumgartner smuggled his parachute past the tight security and hid it in a bathroom ceiling in the tower. On day X, he picked it up and hid it underneath a green rain jacket. Just before the leap, Baumgartner used a distraction of the Taipei 101 guards to quickly climb over the three-meter security barrier. However, this is where agent 502 encountered an unexpected problem. Right behind the security fence, there was a four-meter chasm he had to overcome to reach the ledge. There was no way back either as he had just managed to avoid the security staff and clear the barrier. Six cameramen and two photographers in and around the building were waiting for Felix, and if he did not jump, the whole project would be at risk. After some seconds of scanning through the possibilities he had in this situation, Felix decided there were none but to jump and quickly get off the Taipei 101!  Now, Baumgartner is standing at the take-off location with a bruised heel knowing that the next one-of-a-kind world record is only a few minutes and hundreds of meters away. Adrenaline is rushing through his veins, his heart is beating fast. Now or never! He makes a brief statement into the DV camera attached to his left arm and focuses on his goal. Felix Baumgartner leaves solid ground at 4.18 p.m. local time to free-fall towards the city roofs of Taipei. Five seconds later, Baumgartner opens the parachute just before landing safely on a multi-storey car park where a taxi is waiting for him to leave the site.  Two hours later, Baumgartner and his team are sitting on a plane bound for Hong Kong, everybody full of joy. “I am super happy everything worked out well and I managed to be the first one to jump the Taipei 101”, says Felix with a big smile on his face. “After months of meticulous preparations and complicated coordination a dream has come true.”  Felix Baumgartner: „Born to fly“ – Felix Baumgartner’s forearm tattoo unmistakably displays what he lives and breathes for. Born on 20th April 1969 in Salzburg, Austria, Felix began to skydive at the age of 16. In 1996, he performed his first B.A.S.E. jump and became B.A.S.E. jumping world champion a year later, leaping off the 274 meter New River George Bridge in West Virginia, USA. Baumgartner holds the world record of the highest and lowest B.A.S.E.-jump ever. In April 1999, he disguised as a businessman and reached the jump spot by climbing through the air conditioning system of the 451-meter Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (the tallest building of the world at the time). Shortly after, he took off to free-fall along 88 vertical stories into the concrete canyon of Kuala Lumpur. Immediately after landing on a car park, Felix Baumgartner managed to escape from the police in a Hollywood-worthy flight. The same year, he B.A.S.E. jumped off the Christ Statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in another clandestine operation. The night before his jump, Baumgartner used a crossbow to fire an arrow with an attached cord over the arm of the statue and climbed up the cord. At the break of dawn, he leaped off the statue’s forefinger with only 29 meters for him to open the parachute. Following numerous record-breaking jumps – among them free falls in dark and winding caves in Croatia and Oman – and spectacular projects like crossing the English Channel (2003) with a delta-shaped carbon wing on his back, Baumgartner has done it again. He is the first B.A.S.E. jumper ever to jump the Taipei 101! DVD info: ”I’m not a madman, no adrenaline hunter. I’m a guy who has goals that nobody else has ever had before. And I reach my goals.” Two DVDs feature twelve of Felix Baumgartner’s most spectacular extreme sports projects. Breathtaking views and images show his jump off the Christ Statue in Rio de Janeiro as well as his flight across the English Channel or the “Petronas Twin Towers” project in Kuala Lumpur. Documentaries of the projects “Channel Crossing” and “The Cave” reveal how much effort, professionalism and technical skills as well as imagination and ideas it takes to make Baumgartner’s dreams come true. DVD available on: www.felixbaumgartner.com
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Comments (7)
Mudasir
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... I feel him this movie is sooper m not see this movie plz......send me movie links PLZ...... thanks |
Mudasir
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... My Id This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it PLZ..... Send me the links |
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