Chamonix, in France, is banning wingsuit flying. Eric Fournier, the Mayor of Chamonix, has announced that the sport will be banned for six months in the resort.
The ban follows the death of a Russian wingsuit flyer who died instantly after crashing into a chalet in Chamonix earlier this week. In a statement, Fournier said “We can’t consider that flying over inhabited zones is something that’s normal, when they’re putting residents at risk.”.
The tragedy that led to this ban is not an isolated incident. In 2016 alone, 35 people have been killed in accidents resulting from wingsuiting globally. There were three deaths just in August alone, including one in Chamonix, when Italo-Norwegian wingsuiter Alexamder Polli died after hitting a tree.
