I had the privilege of meeting Felix Baumgartner and interviewing him on at least a couple of occasions. There were some aspects of his hard character, very rigid, even annoying. He did not like journalists, but tolerated curious people, who approached his passions and profession with respect. Perhaps this is why I managed to interview him by scratching his superman physiognomy, a definition that he did not stand. Much of his inflexibility came from a very rigid family education and a very rigorous military approach. He had been in the Austrian special bodies, the Spezialeinsatzkräfte, then in unconventional special units. He had worked on several operational missions, of which he never spoke.

His second life after 1990

What defined his second life had started after 1990, when he decided to take leave: it was a discreet boxer, another discipline that began under arms. But as a professional he went to the ring only once, winning. One of his first sponsors was the Red Bull. The one that puts the wings, owned by Dietrich Mateschitz, a brilliant Austrian entrepreneur who disappeared not long ago that, tasted this drink in Thailand (they had advised him to remedy the sleepiness of the Jet Lag), decided to risk everything he had on his marketing in Europe. Needless to tell a commercial success that everyone knows. Mateschitz had the aim of focusing on large extreme sports companies, little known. And his big dream was the flight. It is from here that events such as the Red Bull Air Race were born, but also Flugtag, cardboard planes put together with fantasy and the hope of floating in the air at least for a few seconds.

Baumgartner signs his first contract with the Red Bull to make paragliding: “The idea of the limit annoyed me, every company opened another one, and then another and then another one – had told me the last time I met him – the man was born to overcome his limits knowing well knowing that there are limits that he will never exceed. In the middle it is all space for conquest: I work to raise this limit without ever overcoming …”.

An impressive meticulousness

He was the first to dive with some wingan suits, contributing to their patent, to test helmets, protections, watches, precision tools, lenses, glasses, visors. It was of an almost unbearable meticulousness: “To the engineers who make me test the equipment I always ask two questions: how and why. And I ask him dozens and dozens of times. If I don’t trust I don’t throw myself, if I’m not sure I don’t fly. I am not a superman and I am not crazy. I am one who calculates everything: I am the first insurer of myself”. Precisely for this reason the Austrian, who tragically died at 56 in a paragliding accident in Italy, was much more than an extreme athlete. He was a visionary, a man who rewritten the very concept of “impossibility”. When in October 2012, wearing a pressurized suit, he launched himself from a platform located 39 kilometers above the earth, becoming the first person to break the sound of sound in free fall, his concept of impossible was definitively rewritten for all humanity.

A company that challenged the laws of physics

That day, suspended in the silence of the stratosphere above Roswell, New Mexico, was not just making a sports company: he was challenging physics and dynamics, redefining the human possibilities and enchanting millions of people who observed him holding his breath. Obviously he succeeded. And immediately before diving, many caught that gesture, a military greeting, which somehow reflected not only his culture, but also his spirit of service: “I am convinced that this company one day will serve others,” he said at the time of the landing. During that extraordinary jump, Baumgartner reached record speed of 1342 kilometers per hour, pulverizing world records and providing precious scientific data for future space missions, confirming his role as a pioneer and innovator.

Precision was his obsession

Precision was his obsession, courage his fuel. In 2004, Baumgartner surprised the world by flying through the sleeve channel with a special carbon fiber wing without vector. Even earlier – in 1999 – he was the first to jump by Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers, the highest twin towers in the world at the time. Then in 2007 he faced Taipei 101, showing that no building was too high for his courage. He hated those who improvised. He had a bad consideration of the patients of protagonism: “There is nothing temporary or improvised in what I do. If people want to kill for a video do it. I don’t …”

Baumgartner, for many, was an enigma: it appeared inflexible, sometimes even angular, even not very nice. During his life there was no lack of controversial moments, such as his political declarations or an episode, in 2010, when he was fined after a dispute with a truck driver. But those who knew him beyond the surface also tells of a generous, sensitive and deeply human man. “If I am fine, others must be able to feel good,” he often repeated. He silently participated in many beneficial initiatives that involved associations that allowed paraplegic children to fly with the paragliding or to face extreme companies that are also measured by disability. Because not even that was impossible. The only condition: no cameras.

Felix Baumgartner, struck down by a heart attack, has certainly shown the world that the limits are made to be overcome. He taught that behind every undertaking there is an immense job, a meticulous preparation, a will of steel. But he too was afraid of something: “I am afraid of fear – he confided to me in 2009, while I interviewed him before an event of the Red Bull Air Race – if they are not in conditions of serenity and absolute trust, the company is impossible. I work from all life on this, on the limit between respect and fear”.