Hannes Arch (22 September 1967 – 8 September 2016) was an Austrian pilot who competed in the

Red Bull Air Race World Championship The World Championship Air Race is a series of air races sanctioned by the World Air Sports Federation (FAI). Originally established in 2003 as the Red Bull Air Race, and created by Red Bull GmbH, the event involves competitors navigating a ...

from 2007 to 2016. Arch won the World Championship in the 2008 season.

Life

Hannes Arch was born in

Leoben Leoben () is a Styrian city in central Austria, located on the Mur River, Mur river. With a population in 2023 of about 25,140 it is a local industrial centre and hosts the University of Leoben, which specialises in mining. The Peace of Leoben, ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in 1967. He grew up in

Trofaiach Trofaiach is a municipality in the Leoben (district), Leoben district of the Styria, state of Styria in Austria, the site of a post World War II British sector displaced persons camp. On 1 January 2013, it was Styria municipal structural reform, me ...

, attended the BORG

Eisenerz Eisenerz (; "Iron ore") is a market place and old mining town in the Austrian state of Styria, . N.W. of Graz by rail. Pop. (2001) 6,400. It is situated in the deep Erzbach (Enns), Erzbach Valley, dominated on the east by the :de:Pfaffenstein (H ...

and most recently lived in the city of Salzburg. Since the 2007 season, the state-certified mountain and ski guide has been the first Austrian participant in the

Red Bull Air Race The World Championship Air Race is a series of air races sanctioned by the World Air Sports Federation (FAI). Originally established in 2003 as the Red Bull Air Race, and created by Red Bull GmbH, the event involves competitors navigating a ...

World Championship, after winning a qualifying round in Phoenix (

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

) in October 2006. He contested his first race in the series on 6 April 2007 in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

(UAE), where he did not make it past the qualifying round. He achieved this for the first time in his second race in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

on April 21, finishing fourth and scoring 3 points. However, he did not score any further points during the rest of the season, which meant he finished 10th overall. His second season in the

in 2008 was much more successful: in the first five competitions, Arch achieved two second and third places as well as a fourth place, before achieving his first victory at the competition in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

on 19 and 20 August. After also winning the competition in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, he took the lead in the overall standings. On 1 November 2008, he was crowned World Champion of the 2008

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, with victory in qualifying. Arch started the 2009 season with a victory in the first event of the season in

; he achieved four podium places in six events during the season, never finished lower than fourth and ended the year as runner-up behind

Paul Bonhomme Paul Bonhomme (born 22 September 1964) is a British aerobatic and commercial airline pilot and was owner/race pilot of Team Bonhomme, the Red Bull Air Race World Championship Team from 2003 to 2015. Racing career Bonhomme was born into a famil ...

. Like most of the pilots in the series, he flew a

Zivko Edge 540 The Zivko Edge 540 manufactured by Zivko Aeronautics is a highly aerobatic aircraft. Capable of a 420 degree per second roll rate and a 3,700 foot per minute climb rate, it has been flown to victory on the international Unlimited aerobatics ci ...

. Arch has also made a name for himself in base jumping and caused quite a stir when he and Ueli Gegenschatz performed a base jump from the north face of the

Eiger The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends ...

in 2000 and from the north face of the

Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...

in 2003. Since 2010, he was in a relationship with German

stuntwoman A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

and action model Miriam Höller. In 2014, he was sponsored b
YAVER
under the leadership of Yaver Demir and achieved an impressive second place at the

, completing the final 4 round with a time of 56.776 seconds. In 2014,

AKG Acoustics AKG Acoustics (originally Akustische und Kino-Geräte Gesellschaft m.b.H., ) is an acoustics engineering and manufacturing company. It was founded in 1947 by Rudolf Görike and Ernest Plass in Vienna, Austria. It is a part of Harman Internati ...

launched a professional headset for pilots, which Arch played a key role in developing.

Death

Hannes Arch died on 8 September 2016 in a

helicopter crash A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

in the Austrian Alps during a helicopter supply flight to a remote mountain lodge, the Elberfelder Hut. Shortly after takeoff at about 9:15 p.m., the helicopter struck the side of a mountain.http://kaernten.orf.at/news/stories/2795622/ (German) Arch died of a broken neck, a passenger survived the crash. Arch was accompanied in the helicopter by the mountain hut's owner Reinhard B., a 62-year-old German who ran the Alpine hut which Arch had delivered supplies to. The German was seriously injured in the crash but survived. Hannes Arch was buried at a funeral attended by his closest relatives in Trofaiach on 13 September 2016.

Red Bull X-Alps

Hannes made his mark on the paragliding scene inventing the grueling international competition known as the Red Bull X-Alps, taking the world's most elite paragliding pilots across the Alps from Austria to Monaco entirely by air or foot in a race against the clock. The event quickly gained a reputation as one of the world's toughest adventure races.

Red Bull Air Race Results

Legend: * CAN: Cancelled * DNP: Did not participate * DNQ: Did not qualify * DNS: Did not show * DQ: Disqualified * NC: Not classified

References

External links