A British wingsuit base-jumper sang 'Happy Birthday' to his friend then died from 'unsurvivable injuries' after he failed to clear a cliff ledge on an 8,000 ft high Italian mountain, an inquest has heard. Robert Haggarty, from Andover, Hampshire, died from multiple head and chest injuries following the accident. He smashed into a rock and lost control after leaping from the Castelleto Della Busazza in the Dolomites. The 47-year-old, who had completed 500 jumps previously, had joined a group of 27 for a base-jumping holiday in the area, his Winchester inquest heard. Dr Angelo Grubisic, a lecturer in astronautics and advanced propulsion at the University of Southampton, told the hearing that Mr Haggarty had sung Happy Birthday to him minutes before carrying out the jump. Dr Grubisic said that the jump required clearing a sloping cliff 20 to 30 metres below the jump point which he said Mr Haggarty failed to do, which sent him spinning forward out of control and causing his parachute to deploy. He said: 'He was very calm, there was nothing to indicate he was in any worse shape than he was usually.'It was my birthday, he had just sung Happy Birthday to me minutes prior to the jump, he was in good health and in a good state of mind.'
