An American man has captured the moment he avoided death when he crashed into trees at high speed while flying in a wingsuit in the French alps.

Eric Dossantos posted footage of the incident on YouTube this week, which was taken from a body-mounted camera at Chamonix, a town near the French, Swiss and Italian border.

“I should have died on a wingsuit crash in France but I didn’t so working on my healing from that,” he wrote on Facebook on October 4. “I will try to get back to everyone whose contacted me but for many reasons it’s not easy right now. I appreciate your concerns and positive energy directed my way.”

Wingsuit flying — a variant of BASE jumping which sees participants launch themselves off cliffs and glide at high speeds in nylon suits — has already claimed several lives this year.

There have been at least 36 BASE jumping deaths around the world so far this year, according to Blinc Magazine’s online forum that tracks fatalities in the sport.

Watch Eric Dossantos’s flight

Mr Dossantos, an experienced wingsuit flyer who has posted images of his flights for years, suffered severe injuries, his friend Mathias Ringstrom said.

Mr Ringstrom, who has created a fundraising page for Mr Dossantos, said his friend suffered injuries to his shoulder, collarbone, neck, head and had a liver laceration from the September 29 crash.

“Altho (sic) Eric has a good insurance, they are not going to cover everything. We don’t know the full extend of his head trauma yet, but we are hopefull (sic),” he said.

BASE jumping and wingsuit flying is banned in Australia, leading local enthusiasts to travel overseas to perform their stunts.

Supporters want the sport legalised, claiming deaths and injuries will be reduced due to safety regulations.

“There’s plenty of buildings in Australia that if the owners allowed us to jump off in good conditions, the sport could be practised safely and we could continue to keep up the currency of the sport while we’re back in Australia,” BASE jumper Ashley Walsh told the ABC this month.