On This Day In History: Parachute Jump From 1,000 m Above Paris Is Recorded – On Oct 22, 1797

On October 22, 1797, first recorded parachute jump from one thousand meters (3,200 feet) above Paris, was made by André-Jacques Garnerin.

A balloonist and student of the ballooning pioneer professor Jacques Charles, Garnerin (1769 –1823) was also involved with the flight of hot air balloons, and worked with his brother Jean-Baptiste-Olivier Garnerin (1766–1849) in most of his ballooning activities.

Garnerin was the inventor of the frameless parachute.

On this day, Garnerin rose to a height of 3,200 feet, then made a dizzying descent to Earth by parachute and took his bows.

Several others had parachuted before him, but he is credited as the first to jump using a parachute without a rigid frame.

In the aeronaut’s jumps, he used a white canvas umbrella-shaped parachute, 23 feet across.

He lifted off in a craft that incorporated his parachute.

On top was a hot-air balloon. At 3,200 feet, he cut off the balloon, his parachute opened and he made a rather wild descent to the ground.

Garnerin died in a construction accident when he was hit by a wooden beam while making a balloon in Paris on 18 August 1823.