Expert appointed after Baumgartner's death

Marco Rech, president of the Italian Association of Flight Schools and Instructors and a leading figure in the field of free flight in Europe, has been appointed to provide an expert opinion on the motorized paraglider in which extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner crashed last week in Porto Sant'Elpidio, Italy. The appointment was made by Fermo Public Prosecutor Raffaele Iannella, who has opened an investigation into Baumgartner's death.

Rech will begin the assessment next week and has 60 days to submit a report to the public prosecutor's office. The report will clarify whether the paraglider's engine and its safety devices functioned properly and whether the sudden and rapid crash was due to human error.

Baumgartner, 56, died last week when his aircraft crashed in a resort in Porto Sant'Elpidio in the Marche region of central Italy. Investigators are currently not ruling out any hypothesis—including the possibility of feeling unwell during the flight. However, the autopsy ruled out a heart attack as the cause of death.