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World-renowned wingsuit flyer Sebastián 'Ardilla' Álvarez has just completed an incredible stunt. He just became the first person to fly in — and, crucially, back out — of an active volcano.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Álvarez flew into the crater of the Villarica volcano, one of the most famous volcanoes in Chili, wearing just a wingsuit, before swooping out again, opening the parachute, and landing safely on the slopes of the active stratovolcano.
The stunt was not taken lightly, however, and you should not generally try this yourself in the vicinity of any volcano.
Redbull-sponsored Álvarez first had to calculate if the flight was even possible. Then the former pilot had to get to know the volcano and its activity as well as the weather patterns around it.
Álvarez, whose nickname "Ardilla" means squirrel in Spanish, flew across the volcano’s crater at a whopping 280 kilometers (174 miles) per hour, dipping 8 meters (26 feet) into the volcano before flying back up and out of the crater.
You can watch the whole POV flight below.
Villarica is known in the language of the Mapuche people, the native inhabitants of the region, as Ruka Pillañ or the "great spirit's house", with the Pillan being powerful and good spirits in the Mapuche mythology that can also dispense punishments.
"The volcano gave me a terrifying sensation," Álvarez said in a statement. “The feeling of going into 'the devil’s house' [sic] was one of the scariest, most dangerous, and weirdest things I’ve experienced. I had to talk with the volcano first because it does what it wants, and if I made a mistake, I could’ve stayed there.”
In the mood for some more daredevil breathtaking stunts? Watch a pilot make nail-biting aviation history with the world's first airplane flight through a tunnel.
