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Hannes Arch, daredevil aerobatic pilot – obituary
Hannes Arch, who has died in a helicopter crash aged 48, was a one-time world champion Austrian daredevil pilot who graduated from flying hang-gliders himself (in the form of BASE jumping) to helicopters and stunt aeroplanes.
He was best known in Britain as a Red Bull Air Race pilot, placing third last month at the event at Ascot race course. The contest is a visually dramatic spectacle in which pilots fly between inflatable pylons over an aerial racetrack, demonstrating a combination of high speed, low altitude and extreme manoeuvrability.
In his Zivko Edge 540 V3 aircraft, Arch was considered one of the top pilots, having won the world championships in 2008, just a year after entering the sport. Numerous wins followed at the race’s various global stops and he achieved four podium positions in the following years, although the series crown had since eluded him.
A pilot of renowned nerve and fearlessness, Arch was none the less cool behind the controls. Among spectators, his displays at air shows and events invariably brought out gasps, whether he was performing a mid-air stall, multiple rolls or a low-level dive over the tops of their heads.
Unlike many pilots, Arch came to the sport via an unconventional, and unpowered, route – he set out as a climber and acrobatic hang-glider pilot.
The son of a patissier, Johann Arch was born on September 22 1967 at Trofaiach, Austria, and studied Sports Science at Graz University before leaving to following his flying passion.
He had his first solo flight in a hang-glider aged 15 and got his licence the following year. At 19 he climbed the Shield, a 2,900ft big wall climb on Yosemite’s El Capitan, America. By his twenties he had qualified as a ski and mountain guide but it was in the air that he chose to make his mark.
He became an accomplished paragliding test pilot and is credited with being one of the world’s first “aerobatic paraglider” pilots. He began experimenting with aerobatics in 1998, moving from free flying to motorised flying, and joined the Swiss National Aerobatic Team in 2001.
At the same time he was drawn to BASE jumping, the sport of leaping from cliffs before deploying a parachute seconds later. With Ueli Gegenschatz he become the first to jump the north face of the Eiger in 2000 and three years later jumped off the Matterhorn. This was in the days before aerodynamic wingsuits that allow forward flying momentum, and the pair had only two seconds to open their parachutes.
“Columbus found his fulfilment in sailing to America… and I find mine with the Air Race or BASE jumping,” Arch once said. “I’m prepared to take risks, but I’m by no means a 'risk-taker’.”
Arch also founded the Red Bull X-Alps, a 1,000-mile paragliding and hiking race between Salzburg and Monaco held every two years. He wanted to create a pure adventure race that would pit man against the elements. “It’s about body and soul, not hundreds of rules and regulations,” he said.
That spirit defined Arch. A noted celebrity in his native Austria and a familiar face on billboards and on television, he was a man of some swagger and style. At the offices of the Red Bull X-Alps he was noted for turning up to meetings in his helicopter – parking it just a few feet from the office door – and often with a leggy blonde in tow.
That was his partner Miriam Höller, herself a stunt women, who survives him along with his parents Heidelore and Johann and sister Lisa.
Arch died shortly after take-off after ferrying supplies to a remote hut in the Austrian mountains.
Hannes Arch, born September 22 1967, died September 8 2016