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View Full Version : Wingsuit Man lands sucessfully from 2400 feet with NO parachute



littleroundman
05-23-2012, 07:52 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TLsD-4czOXg

A STUNTMAN has made aviation history by becoming the first skydiver to land without using a parachute. Gary Connery, 42, from Oxfordshire, leapt from a helicopter 1.5km above Henley-on-Thames in southern England, then glided down using a specially adapted wing suit before landing on a "runway" of 18,000 cardboard boxes.

"It was so comfortable, so soft. My calculations obviously worked out and I'm glad they did," he said after the jump.

His wife Vivian said she was "relieved it's all over".

To prepare for the jump he underwent weeks of intensive training in Switzerland and Italy, leaping from mountains and cliffs to perfect his wing suit glide angle.

As part of the preparations, Mr Connery studied the flight of kite birds and how they use their tails to control their flight direction.

"Kites steer by twisting their tail one way or another and I'll be doing the same," he explained before the jump.

Mr Connery said he "got a really nice exit. I started to fly very, very stable very quickly but there must have been some turbulence.

"I was experiencing a lot of bouncing in that flight that I hadn't experienced before, so it was a little weird. But these suits are amazing. There is so much stability in them."

Mr Connery made his first parachute jump at 23 after joining the Army.

He went on to become a professional stuntman, completing 880 skydives and 450 base jumps.

He has acted as a stunt-double for the likes of Gary Oldman, John Hurt and Rowan Atkinson and appeared in films such as The Beach, Die Another Day and Batman Begins.

He also leapt from the Eiffel Tower, Nelson's Column, Tower Bridge and the London Eye.

Landing a wing suit without a parachute has been a dream of skydivers since the modern wing suit was invented in 1997 by French skydiver and aristocrat Patrick De Gayardon.

The unique design of his suit enabled "pilots" to barrel-roll, swoop and fly in formation.

De Gayardon died a year later in a skydiving accident in Hawaii after a modification to his suit caused his parachute to malfunction.

US skydiver Jeb Corliss planned to become the first to land a wing suit without a parachute but his plans were suspended after he was seriously injured during a recent jump in South Africa.