25K foot freefall with no parachute. This may be the craziest stunt I've ever seen.

[LeeH]

*** Looks like the video is shut down due to copyright violation. I found a couple of more, but they got shut down, too. If anyone has a good link, please post. ***

HERE IT IS ON VIMEO - We'll see how long this lasts. I'm confused as to why they'd create an event like this then not capitalize on the interest by posting it everywhere.



Hope this doesn't become the new base jumping. Going be a lot of greasy spots to clean up.

[TheMentat]

That actually looked pretty safe to me. And not requiring much skill, other than controlling a free fall.

Honestly, if I was forced to attempt a "crazy" stunt, that would probably be it.

[masraum]

That looked pretty foolish to me. hardly safe at all. Hitting a net at 125-150mph. As you're coming down to that thing even though it's large, it probably wouldn't be that hard to miss. Also, gauging when to roll over as you approach at those speeds is probably not that easy. The extreme sports folks, like to cut things as close as possible.

Yeah, if that got to be a thing (which I doubt) it would lead to many accidents. I'm sure getting that net up in the air and the liability of it all would prove too much to make it a regular thing.

[cashflyer]

[motion]

Jesus, that video had me sweating and nervous. I nearly passed out! To anyone who thinks something like that is easy: It's most definitely not. There are so many factors involved, and he had to nail every one of them. Under canopy its hard enough to nail a landing location, and thats moving at only 30mph or so. He looked pretty puffed up under his suit, so I think he was wearing quite a bit of protective gear, which tells me he was prepared for something going a bit wrong. Remember, people die like every day doing base jumps, and those people have thousands of jumps. Stuff does go wrong quite often in this sport.

[seanratpel]

.....what about an unforseen wind gust of 3-4 miles an hour..........stupid is as stupid does

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by motion

Jesus, that video had me sweating and nervous.

Just READING about this a few days ago caused me anxiety.

(I didn't realize he was gonna flip himself tits up before he hit the net, and go in "blind". Wow. Brave, sure but boy-howdy, there's so many things that could have gone wrong here.....and I've got a very big imagination!)

[Shaun @ Tru6]

terminal velocity looks to be 118 mph. bigger balls than those crazy terrain bike riders

[74-911]

Originally Posted by TheMentat

That actually looked pretty safe to me. And not requiring much skill, other than controlling a free fall.

Honestly, if I was forced to attempt a "crazy" stunt, that would probably be it.

Surely you jest? Shouldn't this post be in green or something ?

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Just READING about this a few days ago caused me anxiety.

(I didn't realize he was gonna flip himself tits up before he hit the net, and go in "blind". Wow. Brave, sure but boy-howdy, there's so many things that could have gone wrong here.....and I've got a very big imagination!)

If he hadn't landed on his back he would have broken his back and maybe much more damage...

[motion]

The peeps over on dropzone.com (base and skydive forum) all think he's absolutely insane to do this and are amazed that he pulled it off without killing himself or breaking his back in the net.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by TheMentat

Honestly, if I was forced to attempt a "crazy" stunt, that would probably be it.

I think mine would be having sex with 10 supermodels in one afternoon. I know, failure would be pretty humiliating, but I would plan carefully, train hard (ahem) and practice a lot, you know, start with one and work myself up.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by motion

The peeps over on dropzone.com (base and skydive forum) all think he's absolutely insane to do this and are amazed that he pulled it off without killing himself or breaking his back in the net.

It appeared to me, a complete layman in this arena, after watching the video that the net apparatus was extremely well designed.

Somebody on the his squad knows physics. I was really impressed.

[cstreit]

That's some seriously crazy stuff.

[cashman]

look at where he hits the net. Not far from missing.

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by motion

To anyone who thinks something like that is easy: It's most definitely not. There are so many factors involved, and he had to nail every one of them.

This.

You are falling at 120+ mph, fighting the relative winds (which can change drastically ad you pass through different altitudes).
Your head, body, arms, and legs are ALL control surfaces that you use/coordinate to "fly your body" to the target.
Now add to that the huge stressor that you literally only have one shot at this. No do-overs, and no turning back.

Under "normal" conditions, you aren't even mindful of your (exact) ground track in freefall, as it's not critical.
You deploy your chute around 3k and have plenty of time to maneuver your canopy back to the LZ.
However, even then you can/will have issues if you don't "spot" your exit correctly.

[flatbutt]

uhh...no.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by Eric Coffey

This.

You are falling at 120+ mph, fighting the relative winds (which can change drastically ad you pass through different altitudes).
Your head, body, arms, and legs are ALL control surfaces that you use/coordinate to "fly your body" to the target.
Now add to that the huge stressor that you literally only have one shot at this. No do-overs, and no turning back.

And add to all of that the fact that the net was, relatively speaking, the size of a postage stamp!

That was really crazy. I would not have wanted to be there live!

[M.D. Holloway]

it was very well thought out and practiced. I watched it on TV. At the last moment while he was airborne they told him he had to wear a chute in case things went sideways. He hadn't prepped or calculated for that additional weight or resistance. With 10 minutes to go he was given permission to not wear the chute. They had many runs up to that jump. They even used weighted sacks to make sure the safety net was properly designed. The made all calcs on a 7 mph wind which was a very typical force. That day it was 7 mph. All conditions perfect. They used the heck out of GPS.

Ya, I would do it...for anything north of $1MM...

[bell]

johnny utah did this first....

[BK911]

At least he wore a helmet. Safety first!