The TERRIFYING Last Minutes of Vince Reffet

November 17, 2020 started like any other day for Vince Reffet, the Jetman. But during a training session in the deserts of Dubai, tragedy struck.

Watch more Tragic Stories:

We use images and content in accordance with the YouTube Fair Use copyright guidelines and section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act. This video could contain certain copyrighted video clips, pictures, or photographs that were not specifically authorized to be used by the copyright holder(s), but which we believe in good faith are protected by federal law and the fair use doctrine.

[margaretedwards]

Unimaginable destiny ? Anyone who followed his career would admit Vinci's cause of death was a very distinct possibility.

[IMiteBeWrong]

"Defying the laws of physics" is a poor choice of words. Maybe, "Defying conventional methods of flight" would be better stated.

[zachcouch]

Micah Couch was Vince’s sky diving friend when they worked at Sky Dive Dubai.
Micah was my brother.
He died base jumping in 2017 in Norway.
I flew to Norway for my brother’s funeral.
There I met Vince.
He truly was the nicest person I have ever met.
He made my family Crêpes.
He kept calling them “Little pancakes” in a very French accent.
That make my whole family laugh.
My wife flew in for the funeral a day after I arrived. Vince seeing the look on my face of not knowing how to get to the train station jumped up and without missing a beat drove my other brother Matt and I to the train station to pick up my wife.
A day after the funeral we all went sky diving in memory of my brother Micah. I remember being able to hold hands with Vince and look in to his eyes and see his smile.

[colin]

17, 000 parachute jumps, 1, 400 base jumps, night jumps, wing suits, maximum altitude jumps and then hundreds of hours with a wing and little turbines strapped to his back. His early departure denied us all videos of his upcoming adventures poking tigers with a stick and kicking bears in the nuts.

[paulleigh]

This wasn’t a tragic accident. The inevitable came to pass.

[carlhopkinson]

Skydiving and proximity wingsuiting at night??
What a truly stupid idea.

[RazorBrain]

It's always that one little thing that gets you. You do something so many times that you gain a little too much confidence and it bites you. RIP Vince.

[Para_Ninja]

As a paramotorist I hope when the time comes I pull my own reserve chute fast enough. This story reminds me a bit of scuba divers are told to drop their weight belt as the first thing you do when you get into trouble, its very easy to remove by just flipping a big buckle and yet most bodies are recovered with their weight belt still on.

[hennies]

It was bound to happen. The odds ran out, and the more jumps, the closer he came to his last.

[kahlesjf]

He did not "dance with the clouds" and the skies were not his "final resting place". His final resting place was firmly on the ground....where the narration belongs. A sad and tragic loss. I cannot imagine the constant stress of loving someone who feels a need to push the edge of increasingly dangerous activities.

[jovianr]

The sky did not become his final resting place, what a ridiculous thing to say. Also, an altitude of 33, 000 feet is not the edge of space. Check your facts.

[PcBguitarLibrary]

Imagine playing a musical instrument that will kill you if you play a wrong note

[roybarnes-thewildlifeman]

Imagine defying gravity? It’s not defying gravity! It’s what killed him.

[ExpatChef]

This is why parents should use old Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons as educational materials. We learned at a very early age that putting on a jet powered flying suit might end badly.

[glenntaylor]

He was addicted to the high he got after every jump and the law of averages caught up with him, same thing happened to my sister who never made it to 40, and over 3000 jumps, pushed it too far, thinking nothing bad will happen!

[Bootmahoy]

I admire his zeal with great enthusiasm. He strove to push the envelope out every time he went out. The same could be said for the test pilots striving to break the sound barrier in the 40s….that demon that lived in the air. Many died in that pursuit. Others called them crazy, reckless, irresponsible showoffs with a death wish, etc. Did that stop them? Hell no. It’s called having the right stuff. It’s sad that people who couldn’t imagine taking risks like this often scoff and mock these ‘foolish daredevils.’ I salute this man and his legacy. May he inspire others to push the envelope out even further.

[JoeC-hh]

Thank you for the video story about Vince. He was definitely a remarkable talented inspirational guy. My perspective on this: I was a hang glider pilot for 18 years, an ADV motorcyclist from 1980 to present, a commuter motorcyclist in the S.F. Bay Area for 17 years. My advice to anyone contemplating to do things like Vince or myself: if you’re seriously afraid of an activity like this, don’t do it, but you need to have a healthy fear of it. The reality is, you can do everything right, but sooner or later, stuff happens (I’m speaking from decades of experience). The hang glider instructor told me when I first started, “There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.” I apply that premise particularly to the higher risk activities I’ve done. I learned from experience too, if you’re having a bad day, leave it parked, there is always tomorrow. If you decide to pursue a risk activity and can’t stop having bad days, stop. You got to know when to hold’em and fold’em. Always have a contingency Plan B because Murphy is alive and well. Finally, keep these activities in context with what they are. In the pecking order of life, your relationships with your loved ones is much more important than your personal thrill activities. Make sure they will conclude that about you years from now. The prize later is that you will likely inspire your kids and others to embrace ADV’s. It’s actually pretty cool.

[carolyns]

"Fearless spirit and thirst for adventure" aka "death wish". As an earth-bound soul I often wonder what people are missing that their lives are a constant search for the next thrill. Still, each to their own. But it is unfortunate how often "living life to the full" actually means "dying young".

[nltput]

He made his choice at the beginning of his life. He had his fun. In the end, he was just a guy who was bored with his old tricks, and inevitably, gravity always win. There is no such thing as defying gravity -- people only said it to make themselves appear larger than they are.

[d.f.]

It's called being so rich that you dont need to work.