Thursday, May 24, 2012

Stuntman's parachute-free skydive Gary Connery

Stuntman's parachute-free skydive Gary Connery
Stuntman's parachute-free skydive Gary Connery Check out my website:www.bnelsonblog1.com Twitter Bnelson911twitter.com Facebook: Add me: www.facebook.com Gary Connery, 42, a veteran film stuntman, became the first man to leap out of a helicopter and land safely back on earth, without using a parachute. He did it with the aid of a specially designed "wingsuit": a contraption that, on land, makes Gary look like a flying squirrel, but in the air allowed him to come closer to natural flight than a human being has probably ever come. Speaking to The Independent before the stunt, which took place in and above a farmer's field near his hometown of Henley, Mr Connery admitted to being "a bit scared", but assured onlookers -- not among them his long-suffering but supportive wife Vivienne -- that he would tell them whether or not wingsuits are dangerous, once his jump was over. Two test jumps later and he was hovering 2400 feet above the ground in a helicopter, preparing to make stunt! history. To succeed, he would need to leap from the aircraft, then guide his suit like a magic carpet down to earth, where a giant landing strip of 18600 cardboard boxes, 350 feet long, 50 feet wide and 12 feet had been constructed for him, nearly a mile from the jump site. During the test jumps he released his parachute just before landing. This final time, it was just him, the wingsuit and a lot of clear blue sky. Organisers estimated that Connery would be hitting the boxes at 50mph. "No-one's ever ...