On the first anniversary of his death, teammates of Vince Reffet took to social media on Thursday to pay tribute to the talented athlete.
In a video posted on Jetman Dubai’s Instagram, the short clip showed the Jetman pilot zooming past the camera laughing while performing an impressive flyby in his wingsuit.
The Frenchman, who often performed groundbreaking stunts above Dubai using jetpacks and carbon-fibre wings, died on November 17 last year during a training flight.
The accident happened at the Jetman base in the desert outside the city.
Fellow teammate and Frenchman, Fred Fugen, was tagged in the tribute video alongside the caption “the laugh says it all”.
Reffet, 36, regularly made headlines in Dubai for his daring stunts and was described as a “talented athlete and much-loved and respected” member of the Jetman team by friends and colleagues.
Living in Dubai for several years, Reffet achieved a world record in 2014 after completing a base jump off the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.
Early on in his career, he joined France’s national Freefly team and was crowned the Freefly World Champion in 2004.
At the time of Reffet's death, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, paid tribute to the Frenchman.
Sheikh Hamdan posted the message “We will miss you” on his Instagram page.
The simple, poignant message was added to hundreds of other words of support for the XDubai team of which Reffet, was also member.
