Patrick de Gayardon (; 23 January 1960 in

Oullins Oullins () is a former Communes of France, commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in eastern France. It is a suburb of the city of Lyon, and is adjacent to it on the southwest. On 1 January 2024, Oul ...

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...

– 13 April 1998 in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

) was a French

skydiver Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For hu ...

, skysurfer and a

BASE jumper BASE jumping () is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend to the ground. BASE is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antenna (radio), antenna ...

. De Gayardon was famous for pushing the boundaries of skydiving. He was one of the first people to develop the unique style of skysurfing, in which skydivers use a snowboard to make

aerobatic maneuver Aerobatic maneuvers are flight paths putting aircraft in unusual attitudes, in air shows, dogfights or competition aerobatics. Aerobatics can be performed by a single aircraft or in Formation flying, formation with several others. Nearly all a ...

s. He also made many famous stunts with his development of a ram-air

wingsuit Wingsuit flying (or wingsuiting) is the sport of skydiving using a webbing-sleeved jumpsuit called a wingsuit to add webbed area to the diver's body and generate increased lift (force), lift, which allows extended air time (parachuting), air time ...

, starting modern-day wingsuiting. In 1998 Patrick fell to his death in Hawaii during a skydive with Adrian Nicholas using the

while testing a modification to his parachute container; his death is attributed to a rigging error he made while making the modification.

References

1960 births 1998 deaths People from Oullins French skydivers French aviation pioneers Sports deaths in Hawaii Parachuting deaths Sportspeople from Lyon Metropolis {{France-sport-bio-stub