First person lands unhurt without parachute

May 23, 2012

Making aviation history today, a stuntman became the first skydiver in the world to land safely without the use of a parachute, reports My Fox in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Wearing a wing suit, the 42-year-old man leapt from a helicopter one mile high. Then he glided down before landing on an 18,000 cardboard box "runway."

"My calculations obviously worked out, and I'm glad they did," he told Sky News when it was over.

Landing a wing suit without a parachute had been a dream of skydivers since the modern wing suit was invented in France in 1997.

Leaping from mountains, cliffs, and even the Eiffel Tower to perfect his wing suit glide, and studying the flights of kite birds and how they use their tails to control their direction are the things that helped prepare the stuntman for this experience.

The stuntman made his first parachute jump at age 23 in the army. Then he went on to become a professional stuntman, completing 880 skydives and 450 base jumps.  He has been a stuntman in movies such as The Beach, Die Another Day, and Batman Begins, and he has been a stunt double for actors such as Gary Oldman, John Hurt and Rowan Atkinson.

If you are someone you know has had his or her safety compromised on a commercial or private airline, the aviation accident attorneys at Nurenberg, Paris, Heller & McCarthy may be able to help.

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