Michael Pelkey makes the first BASE jump from El Capitan along with Brian Schubert. Both came out with broken bones. BASE jumping has now been banned from El Cap.

Michael Pelkey (born March 28, 1940) is considered one of the first individuals to influence the mass practice of BASE jumping as a sport, together with fellow skydiver Brian Schubert. Pelkey and Schubert's first jump was made on July 24th 1996, from the summit of El Capitan mountain. Pelkey made his second jump on October 15th 2005 at the 26th annual Bridge Day event where he and Shubert were attending as guest speakers. Pelkey's planned third jump at the 27th annual Bridge Day in 2006 was unperformed due to the death of Schubert, from a parachute malfunction, moments before Pelkey's jump.