Obituary: Dwain Weston

Base jumper. Died aged 30.

One of the world's best Base jumpers, Australian Dwain Weston, died on Monday when a stunt parachute jump in the United States went awry and he hit a bridge before falling onto rocks.

Base jumping is sky-diving from fixed objects. Base is an acronym for Building Antenna, Span and Earth.

Weston, 30, and another parachutist, had jumped from an aeroplane and were to descend either side of the 316m high Royal Gorge Bridge, the world's highest suspension bridge near Canon City in Colorado.

Weston, who was travelling at an estimated 160km/h, miscalculated his distance from the bridge.

Known for pushing to the limit, Weston misjudged the tricky winds, struck a railing and fell onto a rock face roughly 90m from the bottom of the gorge.

Weston was wearing a "wing suit", which has fabric extending below the arms to the body and between the legs, allowing a skydiver to catch the air and travel more horizontally.

Before the accident, Weston had participated in the Go Fast Games, jumping off the bridge with about 40 other Base jumpers.

Weston, who also worked as a computer analyst, was a prominent member of Australia's Base jumping community, and had been president of the Australian Base Association.

Weston had performed hundreds of Base jumps across the globe, including jumping from the 73rd floor of Malaysia's Petronas Twin Towers building.

He was well aware of the risks involved in the sport, which is not recognised in Australia.

"You jump off something and after 2.8 seconds you're going 100km per hour," he was quoted as telling a magazine website in 1997. "After six seconds you're going 180, and after nine seconds you're doing 200km per hour."

His death left international devotees of the sport shaken.