Quote:

“He really is like Santa Claus”

History:

Best known as one of the world’s top aerobatic paragliding pilots, Santacroce is among only a handful ever to master a maneuver known as the Death Spiral. But Santacroce’s resume transcends that of a typical action-sports athlete — he also ranks among the sports’ top innovators, instructors, ambassadors and business leaders. So in addition to accumulating competitive titles in paragliding (for aerobatics and cross-country) and awards (for instruction and lifetime achievement), Santacroce runs a company called Super Fly (now the largest handler of paragliding products in North America) and works as a certified instructor, instructor’s instructor, and examiner (for the national hang gliding and paragliding associations). And in his spare time, he’s managed to become perfectly handy at other “free-flight” disciplines like hang gliding, sky diving, BASE jumping, piloting ultralights and powered-paragliders (and he’s close to completing work on his instrument rating). Santacroce has also pulled off one-of-kind adventures on the wing of his paraglider, including a two-week long trans-Andean odyssey, in 2003, from Santiago, Chile, to Mendoza, Argentina, with Red Bull teammates and friends Othar Lawrence and Will Gadd.