(CNN) Extreme sports legend Dean Potter was one of two BASE jumpers found dead in Yosemite National Park after attempting an aerial descent from Taft Point, authorities said.

The two men's bodies were located during a helicopter search around noon Sunday, said Scott Gediman, a spokesman for the park.

Potter, 43, and Graham Hunt, 29, were reported missing late Saturday by friends, Gediman said. The two had jumped from Taft Point, a scenic overhang, into Yosemite Valley, a descent of roughly 3,500 feet.

It wasn't immediately clear what had caused their jump to go fatally wrong. The pair are believed to have jumped together, but were reportedly found at different points. BASE jumping is illegal in Yosemite Park.

The magazine Outside reported on its website that Potter and Hunt were attempting a wingsuit flight from Taft Point.

Potter was renowned for his climbing, tightrope walking and wingsuit exploits -- and for sometimes taking his dog, Whisper, along for the ride in a backpack.

'Premonition of falling to my death'

A resident of Yosemite, Potter redefined the boundaries of climbing with solo ascents of famous rock faces without a rope or tether, taking just a small parachute for safety. He also set records for BASE jumping with a wing suit and precarious walks across high lines.

"He loved to do things like that," said Charles "Chongo Chuck" Tucker, a close friend of Potter. "He was a very, very gifted extreme athlete, and he was just able to do things that other people ... were not able to do, so he just kept on doing them."

Potter said he was driven to attempt such jaw-dropping feats by a desire to overcome a childhood fear of falling to his death.

"When I was a little boy, my first memory was a flying dream. In my dream, I flew -- and I also fell," he said in a video interview with Outside published online last year. "I always wondered as I got older if it was some premonition of falling to my death."

Rather than being cowed by the dream, he turned it into his motivation.

"I started free-soloing harder and harder routes, kind of proving to myself that I could take control of this, pretty much the biggest fear I had -- falling to my death," he said.

Dream of flying unaided

Potter's fascination with flight led him to study avian aerodynamics and aerospace technology.

Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits A base jumper leaps from the 980-foot open deck of Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Tower. Base jumping is an extreme sport in which participants leap from fixed objects and use parachutes to slow their falls. Hide Caption 1 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits People watch a surfer ride a wave off the coast of Praia do Norte near Nazare, Portugal. The fishing village features a 16,000-foot-deep underwater canyon, churning up some of the largest and most dangerous waves on the planet. Today's big-wave surfers are often towed onto massive waves by jet skis or helicopters. Hide Caption 2 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits Adriana Jimenez competes in the finals of the 2014 Red Bull Cliff Diving Women's World Series, held in Yucatan, Mexico. Cliff divers will often hit the water at speeds over 50 mph. Hide Caption 3 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits Ice climber Will Gadd ascends Helmcken Falls at Wells Gray Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada. The 450-foot cascade never fully freezes, but it leaves a blanket of ice on the surrounding walls. It's considered one of the world's most difficult climbs. Hide Caption 4 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits Mexican kayaker Rafa Ortiz drops over the 189-foot Palouse Falls in southeast Washington. He was the second person ever to paddle over the edge. American Tyler Bradt set a world record in 2009 when he successfully kayaked the falls. Hide Caption 5 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits Alain Robert , known as the "French Spider-Man," scales a 610-foot skyscraper in Paris' La Defense district. Often forgoing ropes and harnesses, Robert has established himself as one of the world's best free solo climbers. He has racked up numerous arrests and a few serious injuries along the way. Hide Caption 6 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits Switzerland's Ueli Gegenschatz flies over Botafogo Bay in Rio de Janeiro. The special wingsuit he's wearing allows skydivers and base jumpers to soar through the sky with their arms spread open. Hide Caption 7 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits Dean Potter walks high above the air at the Three Gossips in Utah's Arches National Park. Unlike tightrope walking, highliners must maintain their balance on a slack line instead of a taut one. Potter died in a wingsuit flying accident at Yosemite National Park on May 16, 2015. Hide Caption 8 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits A motocross rider performs during a show in Ashkelon, Israel. Freestyle motocross involves high-flying stunts meant to impress judges. Hide Caption 9 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits Freeskier Ted Davenport soars over Mount Aspiring National Park in Wanaka, New Zealand. Speed riding, aka speed flying, combines freestyle skiing and paragliding for a fast, thrilling ride close to the slope. Hide Caption 10 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits Roland Morely-Brown rides down a ridge during the 2011 World Heli Challenge at Wanaka's Mount Albert. In heli-skiing, skiers and snowboarders travel by helicopter to areas not accessible by other means. Hide Caption 11 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits Freerider Kyle Strait competes in the 2014 Red Bull Rampage near Zion National Park in Virgin, Utah. Freeride mountain biking usually involves large drops, jumps and stunts. Hide Caption 12 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits Cave divers explore the Orda Cave in Russia's western Urals region. Cave diving is one of the most dangerous kinds of diving or caving in the world and requires specialized equipment and training. Hide Caption 13 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits Two men coast down the Cerro Negro volcano in Leon City, Nicaragua. The Cerro Negro is one of Nicaragua's most active volcanoes, and it is a popular spot for the young sport of volcano boarding, or volcano surfing. Hide Caption 14 of 15 Photos: Extreme sports: Pushing the limits A paraglider flies over the Oster-Jansjon lake in Are, Sweden. In the right conditions, paragliding flights can last for hours and reach thousands of feet in altitude. Hide Caption 15 of 15

His ultimate aim, according to his website , was to safely fly and land the human body unaided.

Safety, Tucker said, was a top priority for the daredevil athlete. Something rare and unexpected must have gone awry on Saturday, he said.

"I wouldn't have expected this to happen. I don't even know how it could have happened. I'm really surprised, because Dean was safe," he said. "These sports, you can be safer than people think, but you just ... really can make no mistakes at all. A single mistake, that can be the end of everything."

Potter's and Hunt's deaths are just the latest from the risky extreme sport of BASE jumping . Unlike skydivers, who parachute out of planes, BASE jumpers practice their sport from fixed points like skyscrapers, mountains or bridges. ( BASE stands for building, antenna, span and earth.)