The reason I am unsympathetic is because he literally was not able to learn from the mistakes and experiments of those that came before him.

That is what 'believing' in flat earth did to him. He was unable to discern between good information and bad info, so he had to 'prove it all himself'.

All he had to do was watch the Red Bull Stratos video, they show the entire ascent and descent of Felix Baumgartner. And yes, there was curvature, and no, there was no 'ice wall' or 'infinite plane'.