Free-falling over to France

CALAIS, France - An Austrian who specializes in high-risk parachute jumps flew across the English Channel on Thursday with a sleek, aerodynamic carbon fiber wing.

A plane dropped Felix Baumgartner into the sky at an altitude of more than 30,000 feet, letting gravity and the wind shoot the wing through the air and over the Channel.

Baumgartner, who became the first person to skydive the Channel, made the 21-mile trip in 14 minutes, reaching up to 217 mph, said spokeswoman Sarah Christofi.

"It's very cold up there," the 34-year-old skydiver said after landing at Cap Blanc-Nez, near the Channel port of Calais. "I still can feel nothing."

Baumgartner was wearing a parachute as he rode the metallic blue wing, which has a span of nearly 6 feet and is similar to a hanglider, but with a much more modern design.

He opened his parachute as he neared Calais to slow down and land in a grassy field.

Clouds obscured Baumgartner's vision, forcing him to follow two lead planes as he glided through the sky in an aerodynamic suit equipped with cameras and monitoring equipment.

Baumgartner is the first person to parachute from Malaysia's Petronas Towers, the world's tallest building. The extreme sports fanatic said he was following the tradition of historic flight.

"It's exactly 100 years ago that the Wright Brothers were doing the first flight with a plane," he said. "And now I'm here, with my little wing."

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