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Franz reichelt timeline6/24/2023 ![]() ![]() On the one hand, his confidence in his invention is admirable, but on the other hand, his decision was reckless and he paid for it with his life.Ĭheck out the early history of the parachute here. In the end, Franz Reichelt joined a myriad of other individuals who lost their lives in the pursuit of safe human flight. Had the suit design worked, sponsors would be just as likely to back the project if it was tested with a dummy. Some sources say he felt pressure to make a statement in order to attract sponsors, but this seems unlikely. It’s a tragic and needless end to the story, without a clear reason behind Reichelt’s decision to jump himself. There is video of the fatal jump, which shows a mass of formless fabric trailing behind his body as he falls to the ground. The parachute never fully opened, and Reichelt fell to his death in front of a crowd of onlookers. Once at the ledge, with the suit partially deployed already, he hesitated for roughly 40 seconds before leaping into the air. After some initial confusion and pushback from the police, he was allowed to climb to the tower platform. For some reason, however, he would not be convinced otherwise. After the surprise announcement, numerous friends of his tried to dissuade him from jumping himself. According to the Chief of Police at the time, if they knew it was going to be a live jump they would not have granted him permission. Upon arriving at the tower wearing his suit, he announced that he would be jumping himself. The authorities believed Reichelt was going to use a dummy for the demonstration. ![]() He secured permission for a test jump in early 1912, and he subsequently announced to the press that the jump would take place on 4 February 1912. This was roughly five times higher than his previous launch points. He set his sights on the first deck of the Eiffel Tower, which was 57 meters, or 187 feet, above the ground. This would allow the dummies to gain sufficient speed for his parachute to properly deploy and slow the fall. Reichelt believed higher launch points were needed to properly test his designs. Still, he continued with his studies and made numerous test-jumps from low launch points, around 10 meters, or 32 feet, in height. He applied to organizations in the hope of securing financing, but was unsuccessful. His focus was on reducing weight while increasing surface area for the canopy. These initial tests were promising, but he ran into difficulty when he tried to create a wearable suit out of the design. He tossed the dummies from the fifth floor of his apartment building in Paris. His first designs consisted of foldable wings made of silk, and he used dummies for testing. Reichelt believed he could develop a wearable version of the frame-less parachute, which would greatly increase it’s potential. He was inspired by the work of André-Jacques Garnerin, who developed and successfully tested the first frame-less parachute design. In 1910-1912 he developed a wearable suit for pilots that would expand into a parachute should they need to eject themselves from their aircraft. We don't talk about it because we don't want to give people ideas.Pictured above is an illustration showing Franz Reichelt, a French tailor and inventor who was an early pioneer of parachuting. ![]() "Some years it's two or three, some years none at all. Most of those who leap from the tower are suicides, but the SNTE spokeswoman declined to say exactly how many jumped to their death. The first, an Austrian named Franz Reichelt, jumped from the first floor with a parachute of his own invention in 1912. The two "base-jumpers" - parachutists who jump from a fixed point rather than an aircraft - were being questioned, as were another two who had climbed the Eiffel tower with the jumper who later died, the police spokesman said.Ī spokeswoman for SNTE, the company that runs the tower, said security measures meant very few parachutists or hang-gliders managed to launch themselves from the monument, which opened for the 1889 World Fair. Police sources said two more Norwegians had been intercepted by private security guards earlier on Monday as they were making their way to the top of the 210-metre Montparnasse tower on the other side of Paris, apparently to prepare for a similar leap. "His parachute got caught, he became detached from it, and he hit the first floor more than 50 metres below," the officer said. The spokesman said the man died at about 10pm on Monday after jumping from the tower's 115-metre high (350ft) second floor. Eiffel Tower Death JumpFranz Reichelt was an Austrian-born French inventor who made a living as a tailor but spent his free time working on a flying parachut. ![]()
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