ICON Aircraft co-founder and former Air Force pilot, Kirk Hawkins, passed away Tuesday in a wingsuit accident in the Swiss Alps. Hawkins jumped out of a helicopter with three other wingsuit divers near the 13,000-foot peak of the Eiger before crashing into trees on his descent.

Hawkins’s death was announced by his ICON co-founder Steen Strand on LinkedIn, where Strand eulogized his late friend.

“Kirk was the most extraordinary person I’ve ever known, or ever will know. He started life with nothing and climbed to the top–Clemson, Stanford, the Air Force (F-16s), then Stanford again for business school. At ICON, he led the charge to create the most badass recreational aircraft in history. His new startup was poised to transform the world again,” Strand wrote.

After starting ICON in 2006,

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