There are some people in the world whom we lack suitable words to describe them for instance “daredevil” is not doing justice to the great feats that they perform. In this article we will focus on one Sebastian Alvarez.
He is a former Air Force Pilot in Chile. He has now completed one of the feats which has been described as “by far the most extreme” flight of his career by flying in and out of the crater of an active volcano.
However, Alvarez was not in a helicopter or a plane, he was wearing a wingsuit.
He effectively becomes the first person in world history to attempt such a dangerous feat. However, he told media that the feat was a success because it had taken him a lifetime to prepare.
“Everything started because I had the dream of flying,” Álvarez says.
“Since I was a kid, I just wanted to fly — and somehow, I made it happen.”
He luckily joined the Air Force in Chile as a pilot and later as a skydiver.
He now known to be one of the world’s best skydivers.
He later undertook BASE jumping and then wingsuit flying.
“[It] also happened to me when I was flying the planes because I was really focused on some things, but at the same time an air force pilot is not just sitting down, they’re doing tons of missions. So that mix in between totally focused and a little bit of adrenaline, it blows my mind away.
“It’s like, that was what I was really looking for, and I just knew that I liked it, but I didn’t know the explanation. I guess a few years ago, I realized: ‘Oh, this is it. This is why.’ It’s because I focus on those minutes or seconds where my mind is totally on this and also feel that adrenaline that I love.”
His home country, Chile, is known for its breath-taking landscapes. He used his talents to showcase what his motherland was to offer.
Being a thrill-seeker, he then decided to jump into an active volcano in Chile- Villarrica- it is one of the most dangerous. Even from its nickname, you can tell how dangerous it is – “the Devil’s House”
He leaped from a helicopter flying at 3,500 meters in altitude and used the wingsuit to reach top speeds of 280 km/h and flew into a 200 m wide crater of the volcano.
“This is by far the most extreme project I’ve ever done,” he says. “That’s for sure. Especially because of all of the factors; it was an active volcano, it was at high altitude, cold, windy and so there were a lot of things that I needed to take care of.
“Mentally, it was to me hard because, again, my mind doesn’t want to be there, but you need to kind of force it to make it happen. I really enjoy doing these projects because I really like to push the sport a little bit more.” Alvarez added.
This feat was made possible because Alvarez had perfected a technique known as ‘flaring’ which involves gaining sufficient speed while in a vertical position and later transferring it into the horizontal speed.
Alvarez too more than 12 months to prepare for the jump. In addition to doing more than 500 practice jumps, he also made some complex calculations using air pressure, speed and whether it was possible after all.
“The preparation for this was all my life, pretty much, it’s been all my life,” he says.
“You need to be a skydiver, a base jumper and if you are a pilot, even better. All the paths [I’ve taken] came together.
“Even if you train for two years but you’ve not been skydiving before, it’s never going to be possible. So it was a lifetime of preparation.
Since Chile can sometimes have harsh weather, he had very limited times in which he would attempt the jump. Hence, attempts were cancelled many times due to snow, high winds and rain.
“I was really afraid that we were not going to find a beautiful and nice gap to make this happen,” Álvarez recalls.
“But I guess me and the volcano, we really get along,” he adds with a smile.
“Or at least he let me do this. So we got good weather and the volcano was not that active during that week, and if you ask me, yes, I asked the volcano [permission], I had my conversation with this place.
“But let’s talk seriously, this is a volcano and it’s active and if I fail, you know the result. If the volcano doesn’t want me there, he can do whatever he wants, you know, so I asked for permission and then I went there [afterward] and said thank you.”
“I cannot express how happy this makes me feel,” he explains.
“But it does, you know, and I think that’s what life is about. I mean, you need to do what makes you happy.”
Alvarez has attempted many daredevil attempts in the past. Every time he talks about them he gets a lot of excitement.
Alvarez is a meticulous planner and that helps his approach feats which may be seen as absurd or impossible but for him he approaches them with confidence, calm and rational mind.
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