At least 250 million netizens have watched the video that records the last jump by a female wingsuit pilot, which was released on Tuesday. The accident marks the first death of a Chinese athlete from wingsuit flying. 

video screenshot

Liu An, the skydiver, was found dead in the Zhangjiajie Mountains in Central China's Hunan Province. She was confirmed missing on May 12 and her body was located at an altitude of 900 meters, a drop of about 1,600 meters from the helicopter, media reports said. 

Business insiders in the niche sport circle have sent their condolences and professional athletes believe it might take a long time for society to get rid of misunderstandings about the sport. 

Wingsuit flying is known as a luxury sport, as it requires not just a long time and a lot of effort to get prepared. There are also other resources and services required. Xu Taizhou, a manager with 91geekhome, an extreme sports gear company, told the Global Times that wingsuit flying depends a lot on weather factors and that Liu's accident will need a professional investigation. 

Talking about cost, another insider, who asked to use his pseudonym "Fengyun," told the Global Times on Wednesday that it takes millions of yuan to get trained, which is one reason why few people participate in the sport.

"Since Liu was a female college student, the accident got a lot of attention, and we do expect some consequences for the entire parachute and paragliding industry," Fengyun said. While expressing his condolences, he also noted that there are many misunderstandings about the risks of wingsuit flying. 

"The huge investment requirement means it is not a household sport at all. The Zhangjiajie Tianmenshan Scenic Area might have been a new environment for her, so the risk might be higher," Fengyun said. 

Wu Yong, winner of the World Championship at the 9th FAI World Paragliding Accuracy event in Albania in May 2017, echoed Fengyun's observations during an interview with the Global Times. 

He said that it takes experience of 500 parachute jumps to begin wingsuit flying. "For some professionals, they spend 350,000 yuan ($49,000) to 400,000 yuan for the junior level and 700,000 yuan to 1 million yuan for the senior level." 

"I also watched that video clip and I don't think her posture was correct. There could be something wrong with her body condition," Wu said. 

After the accident, Wu said that some people who wanted to give it a try might be more cautious. 

"Similar to paragliding, wingsuit flying is considered to be dangerous, but we know people who love sports all love life; we all intend to compete and come back safely. Outsiders' misunderstandings might take a long time to overcome. China has enough reasons not to encourage wingsuit flying, and those who are interested in it may have to look abroad, to the US, for instance," Wu said. 

Liu was the first Chinese person to have an accident while wingsuit flying, Wu noted. 

Previously, there have been foreign victims. Viktor Kovats, a Hungarian wingsuit diver, had his final flight in the Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park in October 2013. Canadian wingsuit flier Graham Dickinson went missing after his flight in January 2017, and his body was then found in February on a cliff at the Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park. 

A staff member of the Aero Sports Federation of China told the Global Times on Wednesday that about 10 years ago, the organization made a decision not to include Wingsuit Flying in the regular sports under their management.