Extreme sports community mourns Jean-Jacques Wallis

Renowned wingsuit pilot Jean-Jacques Wallis has died in a paragliding accident off Lion’s Head in Cape Town.

Wallis, who represented South Africa at the Wingsuit Flying World Championship in China and won a gold medal, was highly experienced and had long been regarded as a leading figure in the country’s extreme sports community.

The incident occurred while Wallis was flying a more advanced and dynamic type of paraglider than those typically used for training or recreational flights.

The Civil Aviation Authority is now investigating the accident, with officials appealing to the public for any photographs or video footage from the area at the time of the flight to help determine the exact conditions and contributing factors.

Louis Stanford, South African Hang Gliders and Paragliders Association chairperson, emphasised that Wallis’ death – along with three other paragliding fatalities in the Western Cape this year – underlines the inherent risks of the sport.

"This has been a particularly bad year with three fatal accidents earlier this year, and then obviously now with JJ's accident as well. These accidents do happen, and we go through a formal process of investigating. Statistically, as with any sport, there will be certain hazards, and there will be risks associated with an activity. What I don't like is when we refer to them as freak accidents, because every accident does have contributing causes. The whole purpose of us going into an accident investigation process is to understand what those contributing factors are so that we can learn from them and hopefully, through that, we can improve either the regulations or our operating parameters or designing equipment and so on."

To listen to Louis Stanford in conversation with CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit, click the audio below: