HD Video: UK Wingsuit Flyer Lands Without Deploying Parachute... On Cardboard Box Runway
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 09:52PM
To be honest, I wasn't sure I wanted to post anything about the successful wingsuit jump accomplished earlier today by Gary Connery in Henley, England. But after seeing him speak about the jump immediately after (as this video shows), I decided that his effort was not driven by runaway ego and excessive pride. I can certainly respect that, and his accomplishment.
The jump was from 2,400 feet out of a helicopter, and Gary was wearing a parachute as a backup plan in case the approach was not deemed proper. His runway for the landing was made of over 18,000 empty cardboard boxes stacked about 12 feet high, 350 feet long and about 50 feet wide. After making a couple of practice jumps where the parachute was used, the successful landing was accomplished on what appears to be the first actual attempt at landing without the parachute. As any pilot would expect, the approach was at a very steep angle and high speed with a hard flare maneuver slowing the rate of sink for the landing into the boxes. Airspeed at first contact with the boxes is estimated at about 50 mph.
The point of contact was just past the halfway point down the runway, and Gary was completely unharmed by the landing. This is believed to be the first time a wingsuit has been used to land on the ground without using the parachute.
The extreme wingsuit flying phenomenon of the last 10 years is both fantastic and too close to the edge of death in my opinion. And while I do think this was a very impressive accomplishment, my fear is that others will push the concept forward without being properly prepared to handle the risks. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I honestly have a hard time understanding the justification of these risks against the potential gain. The sport won't truly advance if a lot of these guys wind up dead. Agree? Disagree? Feel free to let me know how you feel about it.
Reader Comments (1)
Oh this is too risky. I can't even handle this. You are awesome!