Adrian Nicholas was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 skydiver

Skydiver

A skydiver is a person who engages in the sport of parachuting. It may also refer to:* SkyDiver a futuristic submarine featured in the TV series UFO* "Skydiver" a carnival ride produced by Chance Morgan...

 who completed more than 8,000 jumps in 30 countries.

He is best known for his successful test of Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...

's (1452–1519) parachute

Parachute

A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...

 design, proving it to be in retrospective the world's first working parachute. A modified pyramidal design was later also successfully tested by his Swiss colleague Olivier Vietti-Teppa.

Death

On 17 September 2005 he was jumping in Texel, Holland. While performing a high speed landing maneauvre, his automatic activation device

Automatic activation device

Automatic Activation Device in skydiving terminology refers to an electronic-pyrotechnic or mechanical device that automatically opens the main or reserve parachute container at a preset altitude or after a preset time....

fired at approximately 300 feet above the ground and deployed his reserve parachute. He attempted to correct the situation by releasing his main parachute, however, he still hit the ground hard enough that he died at the scene as a result of his injuries.

External links

• Daily Telegraph: Adrian Nicholas (obituary)
• Times Online: Adrian Nicholas (obituary)
• British Parachute Association: Adrian Nicholas - People in the Sport
• Dropzone.com: Fatality Incident Discussion